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Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission - Contents
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    D. Summary

    During the 1843-44 period a shift took place in the ecclesiology of the Millerites. The concept of Babylon came to be theologically formulated in relation to both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches. The rejection of the proclamation of the Midnight Cry, the Judgment Hour message, and the fast growing anti-Millerite sentiment among Protestants led to the conclusion that their churches had not only become a part of Babylon but that the fall of Babylon was a present reality. This added a new dimension to the Millerite mission proclamation: the call to God’s people to separate themselves from Babylon.FSDA 100.2

    In this crisis period various attempts were made to discover the precise date for Christ’s return, and various dating systems were employed in determining both the limits of the year 1843 and the specific time within that year when the Second Advent was to occur. A number of time settings were made during that year. The failure of a time setting did not diminish the hopes and missionary zeal of most Millerites because they were convinced that the Second Advent had to take place within 1843. Every failure brought them closer to the parousia, implying that the next time setting could be looked upon with greater expectation than the previous ones. These expectations were translated into an active mission to warn others of the coming events because they realized their responsibility for the salvation of mankind. Thus these time settings played an important part in the missionary activity. When finally the end of the year 1843 passed without the appearance of Christ Millerites experienced a general disappointment. For some their mission outreach slowed down. Further adjustments of time calculations and a study of the cleansing of the sanctuary in the light of the typological implications of the Old Testament Day of Atonement for Christ’s high-priestly ministry led to the most important time-setting movement-the Seventh Month movement-which predicted the Second Advent to occur on October 22, 1844, the 10th day of the seventh month of the Jewish Karaite year. This movement, which brought about a great revival of missionary enthusiasm, was identified as the True Midnight Cry and interpreted as the fulfillment of the parable of the ten virgins. Stimulated by convincing arguments, the Millerites went forth in a final attempt to proclaim their message of warning. When Christ did not return at the predicted time, the second or great disappointment was a reality.FSDA 100.3

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