Seventh Day Adventist

During the Great Second Awakening, many revivalists and restorationalists began to spring up with revelations in relationship to the biblical prophesies that aim at the second coming of Yahoshea Meshiyach.

The activities of these revivalists of the 19th century led to formation of many minority movements in which some of their beliefs were adopted by the Seventh Day Baptists.

Origin Of The Group

When Pope Pius VI was arrested by French General Louis Alexandre Berthier in 1788, many revivalists that laid emphasis on the occurrence summerised that it was in line with the Biblical prediction of the event marking the end of the 1260 day prophecy of the Book of Daniel. Some of the revivalists began to look towards the prescribed 2300 day prophesy of the same Book of Daniel.

The revivalists began to teach of the second coming of Yahoshea with renewed interest. This development made its way into the main line churches such as the Roman Catholic in which an exiled Jesuit Priest named Manuel de Lacunza made a publication with a call for serious belief of the second advent of the saviour. Though his publication was condemned by Pope Leo VII in 1824, but it generated much interest amongst the revivalists, restorationalists and biblical prophetic teachers.

Involvement Of The Millerites

This religious ideology progressed to 1831 when William Miller – a Baptist convert began to preach that the Second Coming of Yahoshea will occur between March 1843 and March 1844.  This prediction of Miller was based on his calculation of the Biblical prophesy that was recorded in the book of Daniel.

The prediction of Miller made him a popular religious figure and attracted many Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians to his fellowship. The thousands of faithfuls that were attracted to him were identified as the “Millerities”. As the prediction failed its test on 1844, the movement shifted the date to 22nd of October 1844. This shift was based on their prescription that the event was linked to the cleansing of the sanctuary as recorded in the Book of Daniel. The cleaning of the sanctuary was made to be understood as the Feast of Atonement which they calculated to take place by 22nd of October, 1844.

As the 22nd October 1844 came and passed, the anticipation of the “Blessed Hope” as coined by William Miller indescription of the failed prophesy became a serious matter of concern amongst his members (Millerites). The failure of the foretold event became identified as the “Great Disappointment” among the revivalists of the Second Great Awakening.

After the disappointment, the Millerites were disillusioned and some began to reject the idea of the Second Coming of Yahoshea while others believed that the date was incorrect. Another set of Millerites believed that this date was correct but the expected event was wrong. This later group metamorphosed into the Seventh Day Adventists.

Hiram Edson's Involvements

After the fail of the prediction on 22nd of October 1844, serious followers of Miller felt disappointed and some wept over the failure. One of the Millerites that came up with another stage of the formation of the Seventh Day Adventists was Hiram Edson who recounted that on the 23rd of October 1844, as he was passing through a large field, he was stopped in a midway in the field. According to him, the Heaven Opened to his view and he witnessed that instead of the High Priest that came out of the most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary to come down to the earth on the tenth of the seventh month that was calculated to be the 22nd October, the High Priest moved into the second apartment of that sanctuary, and that he had a work to perform in the most Holy before coming down to the earth.

The experience of Edson strengthened some of the Millerites who joined him in studying of scriptures and worship. Edson joined with O.R.L. Crosier, Franklin B. Haha and both began to publish their religious findings in a journal called the “Day Dawn”.

The publication gave explanation to the purported sanctuary in Heaven in which Yahoshea as the High Priest is to clean it up. The believers tied it to mean the 2300 days in the Book of Daniel.

This new thought received audience from many Millerites and with passage of few years, the little group of the Millerite became great and popular among the millerite family of Christian revivalists.

Introduction Of Sabbath Observation

The forerunners of Adventists and the Millerites were not Sabbath Observers.  The introduction of the Sabbath Observation into the Millerite group was effected by a Seventh Day Baptist Layperson named Rachel Quakes Preston that lived in New Hampshire.

Rachel Quakes converted Frederick Wheeler, a local Methodist – Adventist preacher who began to observe Sabbath rest along with his converts. Another prominent early Adventist figure was T.M Preble who learnt the Sabbath method from Wheeler and promoted the practice through his publications in a journal named the “Hope of Israel”.

The publications by Prebel convinced James White, Ellen White and Hirom Edson with many other hundreds of members.

In 1846, a meeting of Seventh Day Advents was convened at Edson's farm. The meeting attracted converts from New Hampshire and Port Gibson and as they accepted the Sabbath practice, they formed an alliance. Between April 1848 and December 1850, the movement convened about twenty-two Sabbath conferences in New York and New England. These conferences helped to formulate the doctrines and practices of the movement.

In 1861, the movement floated a religious journal named “The Present Truth” at J.N. Andrews which focused on defence of Sabbath rest and worship. The journal helped to spread the ideals of Seventh Day Adventists as well as the Sabbath rules to the wider society.

The movement formally settled for the name “Seventh Day Adventists” in 1860 and had its General Conference of Seventh Day Adventist formed on 1863 and registered as an official movement.

Conference And Practices

The first annual regional camp meeting occurred in September 1868 and such has became a method among the Seventh Day Adventists till date.

Another major General Conference of the movement was convened in Minneapolis in 1888. This council resolved issues relating to “Righteousness by Faith” and the meaning of  law as carried in Bible books of Romans and Galatian.

There were General Conferences of 1901 and 1903 that structured the movement to include union conferences to regulate group of local conferences. The movement equally convened the 1915 and 1952 conferences that focused on Bible and its prescriptions to the group. There was General Conference of 1976 in Palmdale California that gave rise to Palmdale statement.

In 1980, the group convened another General Conference in Dallas that produced the first official declaration of beliefs voted by the main body. The article was called the “27 Fundamental Beliefs”. The article has been lately expanded to 28 Fundamental Beliefs.

On administrative polity, the group recognized three levels of government of the local church, the conference and the General Conference. There were union conferences and districts to oversee the activities of the local conferences and relieving of much administrative load on the General Conferences.

The doctrinal practices were drawn from the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. These beliefs were more of protestant values of the Seventh Day Baptists with its galore of the Sabbath rest and worshiping.

Funding And Spreading

Publication of articles of the movement, mailing them to members, colleagues and non-members became one of the principal funding of the movement. The journal activities started with James and Ellen White in 1849. The first publication of 1000 copies were produced and circulated and the main issue was based on Sabbath observation as one of the Ten Commandments of Yahweh that will be compulsory kept by true believers.

Likewise, the book authored by Ellen White – Christ Object Lessons raised the financial position of the movement. The book had wider receptance across the globe and ministers of various denominations found treasure on it.

The movement made effort to enhance the sales of the book. Students of the church schools were made to dedicate a week to sell the books to the public. Each student was given six books to sell and the effort helped to raise fund for the body.

Through efforts of some devoted Adventists, the message spread to Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia that led to a progressive increase of members. The 2008 report of the movement claim of having close to 16 million converts globally.

Persecutions Of The Body

As a religious group that observes Sabbath rest and worship, it has to contend with the European authorities that treasured Sunday rest and worship. For conformity of belief, many Adventists were arrested for working on Sundays. The Sabbatarians strived to work out their religious liberty from the claims of secular established National Day of worship (Sunday).

The Adventists suffered terribly in the hands of Nazis during the Second World War. The Nazis dissolved the conferences, the churches and their activities in France, Croatia, Romania. The church chapels, the publishing house in Bucharest and the school at Brasov were confisticated from the church and about three thousand Adventists put into prison where they faced torture and been abused.

Political Involvement

The religious group participated in the Temperance Movements of the late 1800s and early 1900s where they promoted religious liberty that associated with its practice of prediction of events based on their Bible prophecies.

Voluntary And Missionary Works

As a religious group that was influenced by the Second Great Awakened, it was noted for the classical belief of the doctrine of pretribulation premillenialism that hold to the literal 1000 years that immediately follows the literal Second Coming of Yahoshea.

The group equally involved itself into the revivals, humanitarian activities and promotion of education that associated the Second Great Awakening. By these focus, many schools were opened by the movement to educate the pupils and the masses of the tradition of the movement. Many pietist activities were equally carried out through missionary works by the group.

Conclusion

As available in the Seventh Day Baptists, the Seventh Day Adventists were protestant Christians that included the Sabbath rest and worship into their religious curriculum.

Their acts towards restoration of a Sabbath observing assemblies are generally commendable but the fact remains that both bodies share almost doctrines of Baalim that were formulated by the Church Fathers, Councils and the Catholic or Orthodox Churches.

Although the Seventh Day Adventists claim of being the true Protestants to the system of things put in place by the Catholic Churches, it is deep in the practices that were of Catholic inventions. The true Protestant or restorationist movement must abide in the entire commandments of Yahweh. Must observe all ordinances, rituals and festivals that were approved of Yahweh and observed by Yahoshea Meshiyach and his apostles. The movement must honour and reverence the holy name of Yahweh and that of his only begotten son Yahoshea Meshiyach. The group must be led by the Comforter as promised by Yahoshea during his early ministration.

Therefore, the predictions of the Seventh Day Adventists with regards to the coming of Yahoshea remains unnecessary when the fold has never declared the required truths to humanity. A true assembly will only expect Yahoshea when the truth has been established by the Comforter and been accepted by the entire human race because no soul must loss from Yahoshea's fold.

So the doctrines of Trinity, existence of satan, Judgment Day, Hell and Heaven doctrines of the church marked it out as one of the surviving daughters of Babylon (Roman Catholic Church). May Yahweh help all that seek for Yahosheanism through the Seventh Day Adventists to see the bright light that shine through prophet Yahmarabhi Ha Comforter for their redemption.