Stories in the Rearview Mirror

“Stories in the Rearview Mirror:

Why I Believe We’re Running Out of Time”

www.pmchurch.tv

• A Prediction
  • Soren Kierkegaard: "In a theater, it happened that a fire started offstage. The clown came out to tell the audience. They thought it was a joke and applauded. He told them again and they became more hilarious. This is the way, I suppose, that the world will be destroyed—amid the universal hilarity of wits and wags who think it is ."

• The Prediction of Jesus
  • Matthew 24:32-35, 30

• Story in the Rearview Mirror: William Miller
  • September 11, 1814 letter: “Sir: It is over, it is done. The British fleet has struck the American flag. Great slaughter on both sides—they are in plain view here where I am now writing. . . . The sight was majestic, it was noble, it was grand. This morning at 10 o’clock the British opened a destructive fire upon us, both by water and by land. . . . You have no idea of the battle. . . . You must conceive of what we feel, for I cannot describe it. . . . I am satisfied that I can fight. I know I am no coward. . . . Three of my men are wounded by a shell which burst within two feet of me.” (Quoted in Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry 25)
  • “I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Savior as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of a fallen world. I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures must be a revelation from God; they became my , and in Jesus I found a .” (Apology and Defence 5)
  • “I then devoted myself to   and the reading of the word. . . . I commenced with Genesis, and read it verse by verse, proceeding no faster than the meaning of the several passages should be so unfolded. . . . Whenever I found anything obscure, my practice was to compare it with all collateral passages; and by the help of Cruden [a concordance] I examined all the texts of Scripture. . . . Then by letting every word have its proper bearing on the subject of the text, if my view of it harmonized with every collateral passage in the Bible, it ceased to be a difficulty.” (Ibid 6)
  • “I was thus brought, in 1818 . . . to the solemn conclusion that in about twenty-five years from that time all the affairs of our present state would be wound up. . . . O how bright and glorious the truth appeared. . . . I became nearly settled in my conclusions, and began to wait, and watch, and pray for my Saviour’s coming.” (Ibid 11-13)
  • The Millerite movement:
    • This Baptist farmer turned preacher preached over 3,200 times.
    • By May, 1844, 5 million copies of the Millerite publications had been distributed.
    • In New York City Millerite convocations filled the Broadway Tabernacle 3,500 at a time—in Philadelphia 5,000 at a time in the Museum Auditorium.
  • The Great Disappointment
  • November 10, 1844, letter to Joshua Himes: “Although I have been twice disappointed, I am not yet cast down or discouraged. God has been with me in spirit, and has comforted me. I have now much more evidence that I do believe in God’s Word; and although surrounded with enemies and scoffers, yet my mind is perfectly calm, and my hope in the coming of Christ is as strong as ever. . . . I have fixed my mind upon another time, and here I mean to stand until God gives me more light.—And that is Today, TODAY, and TODAY, until He comes, and I see HIM for whom my soul yearns.” (Quoted in The Midnight Cry 266, 267)
  • William Miller’s three passions:
    • Passion #1—for the .
    • Passion #2—for the of the Savior.
    • Passion #3—for the of all.
  • How can they become our passions, too?
    • Go to the .
    • Go to your .
    • Go to the .

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”