Gilbert Jorgensen’s Weblog

[Editor’s note: All 15 Proofs as well as William Miller’s 1843 chart (that Ellen White said was just as God wanted it) are also available in my Library at DefendingTheGospel.com.]

In part 1 we identified that the foundation for Adventism is laid in Ellen White’s comprehensive endorsement of William Miller’s methods and message. If Miller was right, so was Ellen G. White.

In part 2 we carefully examined what Ellen White said about William Miller and saw that her endorsement of William Miller was comprehensive. We found that Ellen White unequivocally stated that Miller was guided by God in his methods, his conclusions, and his message.

Part 3 began an examination of William Miller’s 15 proofs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) that Ellen White said constituted a “a perfect chain of truth” (Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, p. 129).

Much of the material covered in this series is explained in much greater detail in Cultic Doctrine by Dale Ratzlaff. Dale has done a masterful job with the facts clearly laid out before the reader to evaluate. I consider this book to be invaluable in understanding how the 1844 Sanctuary doctrine and the 1857 Investigative Judgment doctrine came to be in the first place. No matter what your theological perspective, this book presents the historical backdrop in a gripping, easy-to-read, narrative. This is one of those books that you will be unable to put down until you complete it. If you don’t have it, you should order it today.

As Dale points out in chapter 4, “William Miller: His Methods and Message”

Did he really discover “a perfect chain of truth,” as Ellen White stated? The stakes are high for Adventists. If Miller was wrong, then Ellen White was equally wrong.

Let’s examine proof #11 of William Miller’s “Time Proved Fifteen Different Ways”

ELEVEN: The trumpets are also a revelation of time. See Rev. 9:5: “And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.” These five months began when the Turks made incursions into the Greek territories, according to Gibbon, in the year 1299, on the 27th day of July. 5 months is 150 years, 5 x 30 = 150. This trumpet ended in 1449. And the sixth trumpet began to sound, and was to sound 391 years and 15 days, as in Rev. 9:15: “And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year for to slay the third part of men; and ended 1840 on the 11th of August. Then the seventh trumpet begins, and ends with the fulness of times. Rev. 10:5, 7: “And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh an-gel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” And synchronizes with Daniel 12:7. See section 7, where it is shown to end in the year 1843.

As Dale Ratzlaff notes in Cultic Doctrine

What evidence does Miller have for starting this “prophecy of the second coming” in 1299? There is no mention of the second coming here. The “hour, day, month, and year” part of this passage says nothing about the duration of time. Rather it speaks about a precise point in time. Miller completely misses the point. This is another broken link in the “perfect chain of truth” which Ellen White said God gave to Miller.

Ellen White said God chose William Miller, guided his mind, his methods of Bible study, his conclusions, his charts, his mission, and more.

Next time we will begin examining William Miller’s proof #12.

Things are not going well at all for Ellen White. We have examined 11 of 15 proofs and have not found a single one to be valid.

Isn’t it quite revealing that Seventh-day Adventists will "trumpet" loud and long about the 4th commandment (to the exclusion of the other nine), but when we examine William Miller’s 15 Proofs that underpin the Seventh-day Adventist endorsement of his 1843 chart, they suddenly go "stone silent"! That in itself is quite remarkable.