Millerite Movement
Q: What is the Millerite Movement?
A: The Millerite Movement was a group of people who under William Miller's guidance believed Armageddon would come in 1844.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment
When the end did not come, William Miller admitted he was wrong and went about his way.
But would this be the end of false prediction? No.
Q: What Christian denominations came from the Millerite Movement?
A: Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Church of God(Seventh Day). Several other small denominations came out of the Millerite Movement, too.
http://www.adventist.org/
http://www.watchtower.org/
http://cog7.org/
Q: When were these denominations formed?
A: Seventh-Day Adventists(1844), Church of God: Seventh Day(1858), Jehovah's Witnesses(1881)
In 1844 William Miller stepped down from making predictions, but Ellen G. White did not want to end all hope.
So she recruited thousands of members and created a “Shut Door Policy.”
The Shut Door Policy is identical to the Jehovah's Witnesses belief that at Armageddon only the Jehovah's Witnesses will be saved.
In Ellen G. White's policy, she stated that only Adventists would be saved and that anyone who did not join would perish forever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut-door_theology
White predicted Jesus would “visibly” return in 1844, just like Charles Taze Russell(founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses) predicted Jesus would visibly return in 1874.
But when her prediction did not come true, she changed her prediction and stated that Jesus had started his
“investigative judgement” “invisibly” in 1844, which is very similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses prediction that Jesus “invisibly” took his throne in 1914 AFTER Russell was wrong about Jesus “visibly” returning in 1874.
It is also identical to the "investigative judgement" that Jehovah's Witnesses claim occured from 1914-1919.
"Anointed Christians who survived the
testing period of 1914-19 were freed from the dominating influence of the world and from many Babylonish religious practices. The remnant went forward as a
cleansed and refined people, willingly offering sacrifices of praise to God and having the assurance that they as a people were acceptable to him." ”
Watchtower 1998 May 15 p.17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigative_judgment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Coming_of_Christ
Ellen G. White created a large amount of beliefs, and Charles Taze Russell would “borrow” heavily from her teachings.
1. Ellen G. White believed the other non-adventist churches were under the power of Satan. To this day Adventists secretly believe the Catholic church is “the whore of Babylon.”
"Here we find the mark of the beast. The very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, on the part of the Catholic church, without any authority from the Bible."-Ellen G. White
This is identical the the Watchtower's teachings that the non-Witness churches are under the power of Satan.
"
Is it presumptuous of Jehovah's Witnesses to point out that they alone have God's backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God's backing in spite of the Egyptians' belief, or when the first-century Christians claimed to have God's backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists."
Watchtower 2001 June 1 p.16
Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer,
have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of
this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil." Watchtower 1989 Sep. 1 p.19
But wait, Ellen G. White began the Adventist movement in 1844, and Charles Taze Russell didn't start the Zion's Watchtower until 1881. Something is fishy here.
Let's do a comparison of the Seventh-Day Adventist(EST 1844) original beliefs and the Jehovah's Witnesses(EST 1881) original beliefs:
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) accept and donate blood?
Yes(the JW would go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth with their blood policy, but they currently do not allow blood transfusions).
Watchtower quotes
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) believe in the Trinity?
No. (in 1980 , the SDA church officially accepted the trinity, although they still believe Jesus is the archangel Michael, just like the JW religion).
Did the original SDA(Est. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) believe that Jesus was the archangel Michael?
Yes(both still believe this to be true).
Did the original SDA(Est. 1844) and JW(Est. 1881) believe that salvation comes from works and faith, with works being a major requirement?
Yes, both still hold this belief.
Did the original SDA(Est. 1844) and JW(Est. 1881) disfellowship and shun family members and friends for questioning one or more of their beliefs or not attending meetings regularly?
Yes(The Seventh-Day Adventists are no longer told to shun family members, but they still practice disfellowshipping. The Jehovah's Witnesses still practice both).
'You have seen the benefit of godly love, but
do you know how to hate? These very strong words are an expression of godly hate, and
you too must have this quality to be pleasing to God. Hate causes a feeling of disgust to well up inside you. You loathe, abhor, despise the object of your hatred Godly hatred never has as its object our Christian brothers, no matter how imperfect.'
The Watchtower, July 15, 1974, page 442
"Love your enemies. ... Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
"
Luke 6: 26 - 37
Did the original SDA(EST 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) believe that the members of their religion's bodies are asleep until Armageddon?
Yes, both still hold this belief.
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(Est. 1881) preach door to door?
Yes, both groups still preach door to door. SDA's and JW's preach on Saturday morning.
They both will have magazines and Bibles, when they go to your door, although Jehovah's Witnesses are more prone to using Theocratic Warfare since it's included in their doctrine.
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) believe in eternal hell?
No. (SDAs and Jws believe non-members are put to death by God at Armageddon).
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW (EST. 1881) believe in celebrating holidays?
Yes.
Contrary to popular beliefs, Jehovah's Witnesses frequently celebrated holidays that they refer to today as pagan. While SDAs still consider holidays pagan, they usually have celebrations during some holidays without acknowledging any significance for the day.
"
What caused the Bible Students to stop celebrating Christmas? Richard H. Barber gave this answer: "I was asked to give an hour talk over a [radio] hookup on the subject of Christmas. It was given December 12,
1928, and published in The Golden Age #241 and again a year later in #268. That talk pointed out the pagan origin of Christmas. After that, the brothers at Bethel
never celebrated Christmas again."
Yearbook 1975 p.147
In fact, Charles Taze Russell has a pagan symbol
AND A CHRISTMAS WREATH on his grave site.
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) badmouth Catholics and other denominations?
Yes. Both the SDA books and JW Watchtower Magazines frequently talk negatively of other denominations to this day, especially the Catholic Church.
"Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer,
have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of
this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil." Watchtower 1989 Sep. 1 p.19
Did the original SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) believe Christ would visibly return?
Yes. Ellen G. White predicted it would happen in 1844 and then backpedaled and claimed it was the start of Jesus' invisible investigative judgment. Charles Taze Russell changed his 1874 visible return of Christ into Jesus' invisible return of Christ in 1874 and then when his Armageddon prediction was wrong in 1914 changed his prediction to Jesus' invisible rule over the heavens.
Do the SDA(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) refer to themselves as being “remnant?”
Yes. Both groups claim to be the “chosen ones.
"Only Jehovah's Witnesses,
those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil."
Watchtower 1989 Sep. 1 p.19
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remnant_(Seventh-day_Adventist_belief)
Do SDAs(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) promote healthy eating and instruct their members on how to dress and groom themselves?
Yes. SDAs created many vegetarian cereals and canned products from Kellogs and Loma Linda, and many of their members exclude some or all meat and seafood from their diets. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that in paradise, the animals and humans will live in peace and will therefore be vegetarian.
SDAs and JW both have dress codes and encourage the members to shave.
Do SDAs(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) have magazines and other types of literature that they use along with the bible?
Yes, although SDAs use the King James Bible and do not believe their magazines have exclusive truth. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Watchtower & Awake magazines are a prerequisite to salvation and using the New World Translation alone is a sin.
"From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah's people those, who, like the original Satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude. ...They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home." --The Watchtower, August 15, 1981, page 28-29
Do SDAs(EST. 1844) and JW(EST. 1881) have baptism through full immersion?
Yes.
It's almost like Charles Taze Russell copied the vast majority of his beliefs from Ellen G. White.
Watchtower Society claims everyone except them will die in 1975. We are now in the year 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DPe1iznoXI
The Link between the Millerite Movement and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society:
William Miller used arithmetic to come up with his 1843 and 1844 end of the world prediction.
What did the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society use? Arithmetic.
"But it requires 457 full years before Christ, and 1843 full years after Christ [457+ 1843]
to make the 2300. Now the decree of Artaxerxes did not go into effect at the beginning of the year 457 B.C., but in the autumn of that year[+ 9 months]; it follows that the 2300 days would not terminate in 1843, but would extend to the autumn of 1844."
http://www.sdabol.org/BOL%20Research/2300day.htm
New World Translation Bible:
"Chronology: A. 1914(CE) ends Gentile Times: 1. Line of Kingdom rulers interrupted in 607 B.C.E.
"Seven Times" to pass until rule restored. Seven=2 X 3 1/2, or 2 X 1,260 days. A day for a year[makes 2,520 years] to run until kingdom's establishment."
These are the Bible quotes the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society uses to manipulate the truth and pretend their arithmetic has anything to do with the Bible.
But notice how none of the Bible quotes say 1874, 1878, 1881, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1925, 1941, 1975, or 1994.
But Luke 21:8 of the New World Translation does say this, "Look out that YOU are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name saying, "I am he" and,
"The due time has approached." DO NOT GO AFTER THEM."