“We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teachings in our past history.” LS p196 as a people have we forgotten the way the Lord has led us? We may answer with a resounding no, but when we endorse 1863 as the starting point of our church and can scoff at Miller’s work as being fanatical isn’t this forgetting? Again we are counseled ” The record of the experience through which the people of God passed in the early history of our work must be republished. Many of those who have since come into the truth are ignorant of the way in which the Lord wrought. The experience of William Miller and his associates, of Captain Joseph Bates and other pioneers in the advent message, should be kept before the people.” CW 145.2. Is this work being done among us as a people today, when in celebrating our history the work of Miller and the pioneers has been completely overlooked? The pen of inspiration also says ” we must study to find out the best way in which to take up the review of our experience from the beginning of our work, when we separated from the churches and went forward step by step in the light God gave us.” CW 145.3 Again I ask, did we separate from the churches in 1863? Is this date the starting point of our work?
Who was God’s chosen vessel in the leading out of our work? Let us see from the pen of inspiration whom God had appointed for this work. “God sent His angel to move upon the heart of a farmer who had not believed the bible, to lead him to search the prophecies. Angels of God repeatedly visited the CHOSEN ONE ( emphasis mine), to guide his mind and open to his understanding prophecies which had ever been dark to God’s people.”EW 229.1 So we see that William Miller was chosen by God, she continues by saying ” the commencement of the chain of truth was given to him” Miller was not only chosen but the commencement of the chain of truth was given to him. In the book Great Controversy she states ” an upright, honest hearted farmer, who had been led to doubt the the divine authority of the scriptures, yet who sincerely desired to know the truth was the man specially chosen of God to lead out in the proclamation of Christ’s second coming.” GC 317.1 Ellen White went even further in describing the work of this humble servant of God she says ” as Elisha was called from following his oxen in the field, to receive the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office, so was William Miller called to leave his plow and open to the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” GC 331.1
Not only was he called but he was given a mandate of God! GC 368.1 ” To William Miller and his co-laborers it was given to preach the warning in America. This country became the center of the great advent movement———- the writings of Miller and his associates were carried to distant lands.” it was William Miller who led out in the warning message of the first angel which is an integral part of our church, without the first angel’s message we would not have a second or a third, if we forget this where will we stand as a people in these last days? If our history began in 1863 where are the message that makes us a peculiar people in the earth led and directed by God? Are we following the injunction given to God’s servant to become acquainted with the work and experience of this great pioneer. When we say his work was error what does God say about it? “I saw that God was in the proclamation of the time in 1843. It was his design to arouse the people and bring them to a testing point, where they should decide for or against the truth.” His, William Miller’s mistake was appointed by God as a test to his people, but was this mistake corrected? “those faithful, disappointed ones who could not understand why their Lord did not come were not left in darkness. Again they were led to their Bibles to search the prophetic periods. The hand of the Lord was removed from the figures and the mistake was explained. They saw that the prophetic periods reached to 1844 and the same evidence which they had presented to show that the prophetic periods closed in 1843 proved that they would terminate in 1844.” EW 236.1
In concluding God raised up William Miller and placed him at the head of the proclamation of the final messages to the world, He gave him the commencement of the chain of truth, his message was designed to be a test to the people of God and last but not least his mistake was corrected. Will we be excused before God for scoffing at his messenger whom He had chosen and also for neglecting to become acquainted with his work and experience?
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