LEFT, William Miller-- RIGHT, Dr. Robert Holt, MD.  In the middle, Dr. Bob Holt's book.

THE MILLERITES

DISAPPOINTED IN 1844

     This story really begins in the 4th century, in 325 and 381 AD, not in 1844.  Before the 4th century there was no clearly stated Doctrine of the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ because Christians were busy trying to stay alive in spite of Roman persecution, and those who became martyrs were happy to die with the belief that they would reincarnate or be resurrected as they were taught that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.

     Constantine the Great not only brought to a halt the persecution of Christians, but also made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the new World Religion needed to predict that some day their church would be ultimately victorious over all other churches.  This would take place at the so-called "Second Coming of Jesus Christ", which was pictured using the symbolism of Daniel 7:9-14.

    Daniel 7:9 "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire."

    10 "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousands  times ten thousand stood before him, and the books were opened."

    13 "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him."

    14 "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a  kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall never pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

     As restated by the Christian bishops in 381 (The Council of Constantinople) --

---"he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end."

 

William Miller converted from a Deist to a

Baptist Christian - On reading the Bible to confirm his own newly found Faith --he decided it was possible using Biblical Numerology, to predict the year Christ would return ---

     "Miller commenced with Genesis 1:1, studying each verse and not moving on until he felt the meaning was clear. In this way he became convinced firstly, that postmillennialism was unbiblical; and secondly, that the time of Christ's Second Coming was revealed in the Bible." f

Miller's interpretation of the 2300 day prophecy time-line and its relation to the 70 week prophecy

     "Beginning of the 70 Weeks: The decree of Artaxerxes in the 7th year of his reign (457 BC) as recorded in Ezra marks beginning of 70 weeks. Kings' reigns were counted from New Year to New Year following an "Accession Year". The Persian New Year began in Nisan (March–April). The civil New Year in the Kingdom of Judah began in Tishri (September–October)."

     "Basing his calculations principally on Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed", Miller assumed that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the Earth's purification by fire at Christ's Second Coming. Then, using the interpretive principle of the "day-year principle", Miller (and others) interpreted a day in prophecy to read not as a 24-hour period, but rather as a calendar year. Further, Miller became convinced that the 2,300 day period started in 457 B.C. with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. Simple calculation then revealed that this period would end in 1843. Miller records, "I was thus brought... to the solemn conclusion, that in about twenty-five years from that time 1818 all the affairs of our present state would be wound up."

     "Although Miller was convinced of his calculations by 1818, he continued to study privately until 1823 to ensure the correctness of his interpretation. In September 1822, Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15: "I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years,--on or before 1843." Miller did not, however, begin his public lecturing until the first Sunday in August 1831 in the town of Dresden."

      "Despite the urging of his supporters, Miller never personally set an exact date for the expected Second Advent. However, in response to their urgings, he did narrow the time-period to sometime in the Jewish year beginning in the Gregorian year 1843, stating: "My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844."    March 21, 1844, passed without incident, and further discussion and study resulted in the brief adoption of a new date (April 18, 1844) based on the Karaite Jewish calendar (as opposed to the Rabbinic calendar).    Like the previous date, April 18 passed without Christ's return. Miller responded publicly, writing, "I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door."

In   "August 1844 at a camp-meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, Samuel S. Snow presented a message that became known as the "seventh-month" message or the "true midnight cry." In a discussion based on scriptural typology, Snow presented his conclusion (still based on the 2300 day prophecy in Daniel 8:14), that Christ would return on, "the tenth day of the seventh month of the present year, 1844." Again, based largely on the calendar of the Karaite Jews, this date was determined to be October 22, 1844."

     Meanwhile, the great majority of Americans, and an even greater majority of the people in Europe and the rest of the civilized world, who had little or no exposure to Miller's teachings, were quite willing to make fun of those who believed that the world as they knew it was about to come to an end.  

      Satirical cartoons were popular in the large newspapers in the big cities, and some of them have survived to this day, although most of them, of course, are no longer available.   But then, as now, there were so many things to worry about, and so many other things to be satirical about, that a relatively few people expecting Christ, not mankind itself, to bring the world to an end wasn't a very big deal.

"I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, sent me a curiously

wrought casket about ten inches long by six square, made of

ebony and pearls curiously inlaid."

"To the casket there was a key attached...I immediately took

the key and opened the casket.."

"when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all

sorts and sizes of jewels, diamonds, precious stones, and gold

and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully

arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus

arranged they reflected a light and glory equaled only by

the sun."

"I thought it was not my duty to enjoy this wonderful sight

alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy,

beauty, and value of its contents......I therefore placed it on

a center table in my room, and gave out word that all who

had a desire might come and see the most glorious and

brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life."

"The people began to come in, at first few in number, but

increasing to a crowd......When they first looked into the

casket, they would wonder and shout for joy."  "But when

the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble

the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them

on the table."

"I began to think that the owner would require the casket and

the jewels again at my hand;.."

"...and if I suffered them to be scattered,.."

"I could never place them in their places in the

casket again as before;.."

 "and I felt I should never be

able to meet the accountability, for it would be immense."

"I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor

take them out of the casket; but the more I pleaded, the more

they scattered;.."

"---and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on

the floor and on every piece of furniture in the room."

"I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they

had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels

and counterfeit coin."

145 Years Later, in Jerusalem,

Again on "Yom Kippur"

October 12, 1989

     While three of us, Ron Wyatt, and Randy Osborn, and myself, Dr. Bob Holt, md, were engaged in trying to reach this ark with an electric jack-hammer drill and bring it to the surface, we were met by a "Man in White" who we later decided was Jesus himself dropping by to "Wish us success on our mission."

       An actor playing Jesus looked like this in one of the Jesus movies put out by Hollywood, but perhaps did not when Ron talked to him, or some other entity playing his role and making speeches for him that noon by Ron Wyatt's excavation near Gordon's Calvary.  He quite likely had a more modern appearance, as an artist has pictured him here.   I don't know because I was hidden a few feet away but heard both sides of the conversation clearly.

    The same week that we met the "Man in White," but before this encounter, Randy and I, but not Ron Wyatt, met two other "Angels" that looked and talked like humans at a place identified as Har Zin in the Negev Desert.

   This other encounter became more important to me than it was to Ron Wyatt, because it became the first of my own encounters with such "beings".  Encounters that continued for many years, some of which I did relate later on other pages.

The mountain called "Har Zin" as seen in the distance across the desert.

 

      Acts 9:1 "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,  2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this WAY (another name for the Essenes, used consistently throughout Acts), whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."

      3 "And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined about him a light from heaven:--"

     4 "And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

     5 "And he said, Who art thou, Lord?  And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

     6 "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

    7 "And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."

 

  

    Now here's where the story get's really strange, quite extraordinary, because this is what actually happened to me -- 147 years after the Great Disappointment of Yom Kippur 1844!

    Acts 9:7 "And the men (one man, me) which journeyed with him (Paul, the first-century man preparing to "save" everyone with the Blood of Christ, as Ron was trying to do it with his new theory that Christ's blood actually dripped on the Mercy Seat of the Hidden Ark) stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."   Ron both saw and heard the "Man in White" speak. I only heard him speak, but did not see him, as Mary Nell confirms in Ron Wyatt's account to her.

"--and the “prophet” was in the shade of a large bush eating his lunch. Where they were sitting was, at that time, many feet lower than the ground level just behind them because this was where Ron had excavated down years earlier. It’s necessary to understand this in light of the next event.

      "Ron heard a voice behind him say “God bless you in what you are doing here”, and he looked up. Standing on the much higher ground many feet above him was a tall, slender man with dark hair wearing a long white robe and head covering similar to that worn in Biblical times – except that it was all pure white. Startled, mainly because he didn’t TELL anyone what he was “doing here”, he wondered who this man was.

      "He tried to make polite conversation and asked him if he was from around the area. The man replied simply “No” then remained silent. Ron then asked him if he was a tourist, and he again replied simply, “No”. More silence, then the figure in white said, “I’m on my way from South Africa to the New Jerusalem”. Ron was so startled that he couldn’t say anything, but just stared at him. Then, the man again said, “God bless you in what you are doing here”, and then turned and walked away.

       "After a moment, the “prophet”, who couldn’t see the man because he was beneath the shade of the bush, said, “Ron, do you think we’ve been talking to an angel?” Ron replied, “At least…”

       Now that I've taken this closer look at what happened, and compared it with Acts 9:6,7 -- I can see WHY the man, angel, or Jesus (whoever it might have been, it makes no difference) was dressed in WHITE.  He was showing me, the one of two listening to him, that He was an ESSENE.  Those who "dress in white".  And I, not Paul and not Ron, am the one "the prophet" told by Jesus to "go into the city" (Acts 9:6) or "into the New Jerusalem" (the Man in White's actual words to us both) -- where I (Dr. Bob Holt, the "prophet") will be "told what I must do."    Ron was stuck with the "old theology".  I must move on and learn the new.

    

1: THE TRUTH IS: NO ARK THERE!   As Jewish Archaeologists found when they dug out the cistern where Ron had dug before 2: NOT ENOUGH BLOOD!  Would be left in Jesus' heart to drip 20 feet!