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The Great Disappointment.

By Liam Newton-Harding.

Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. - King James Bible.

Matthew 24:36 But on that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. - King James Bible.

William Miller.

It was the study of the Book of Daniel, and specifically Chapter 8, verse 14 that led William Miller (1782-1849) to declare that the world would end upon October the 22nd 1844. His first calculation for the return of the Son of God and what would become know as The Rapture was for 1843; a miscalculation of the transition from the B.C. Calendar to the A.D. Calendar caused him to revise the date of the Second Coming. This would not be the last time an Adventist would revise and re-revise the date of Christ's second appearance on Earth.

Preaching at public gatherings and from his own pulpit and spreading his revelation through the use of printed posters, news letters and fliers William Miller was able to gather some 100,000 believers, or “Millerites” to his side. These “Millerites” came from all denominations of the Christian Church and included Ministers, Pastors, and lay people.

Publishing his beliefs, and his reasoning’s behind them, in the Baptist paper, the Vermont Telegraph, William Miller was able to increase his church from a local, up-State New York following to something that would have National attention. It was held that Jesus would return to lift up the chosen, the true believers, on 12:00 am October the 22nd, 1844. Many of William Miller's followers, calling themselves “Adventists”, but “Millerites” by their detractors gathered upon hilltops or upon roofs (there are reports of one follower flinging himself from the roof of a barn at the anticipated hour in the expectation that he would be “swept up”).

The appointed hour came and went and Christ had not appeared. In a manner that would become familiar most Millerites had discarded all their worldly possessions, leaving them destitute and facing a nation and a world that openly mocked them. It was not uncommon for youths to accost them in the streets in the days that followed calling out, “Got ya ticket then?” The distress, anger, and disillusionment that swept through the Millerites became known as “The Great Disappointment”.

As has happened through out history the Millerite Church splintered into sects. Each parsing the Bible for more specific dates of what they were sure was, “the Coming Event.” Each certain that the true Word of God would be revealed to them and none other. The strongest group to emerge from this splintering were the Seventh Day Adventists, a church that now numbers some 15,000,000 members, worldwide (Though Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses were never Millerites).

The most notorious modern Adventist has been Harold Camping, the founder of Family Radio and “prophet” who had announced the “End Times” on multiple occasions, the most famous of which was that he stated the Rapture would take place on May 21st 2011 with the End of the World following on October 21st 2011. He and his followers (again, may of who had divested themselves of both life savings and worldly goods) expressed confusion and consternation when these events failed to take place.