Turkey had dominated southeast Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East for centuries. Hundreds of thousands of people feared the power of the Turks. At one point, it was even feared that Turkey would conquer all of Europe. But by 1838 that mighty empire was falling apart. The leadership in Constantinople grew weaker and weaker, as whole nations broke free and declared their independence. In 1838, Egypt decided not only to seek independence, but to conquer Turkey. By land and sea, Egypt gained several victories, and by the summer of 1840 it appeared that Egypt would win. Egypt’s success concerned several European nations who preferred the weak Ottoman Empire to a victorious Egypt as their southeastern neighbor. People talked about what to do. Four European nations decided to intervene. Three of these nations would be directly affected by whatever happened to their Turkish neighbor: Russia, Austria, and Germany (Prussia). The fourth nation, Great Britain, was then the world’s most powerful country. Whatever affected the other three European countries affected Britain.

These countries made a proposal to Turkey to stop Egypt and force it to go back home. By September the same newspapers that published Litch’s article were publishing more news about Turkey. The Ottoman Empire surrendered for the first time in centuries to those four European nations on August 11, 1840.

Today we recognize that the final fall of the Ottoman Empire happened in 1922, forming the modern country of Turkey. But that initial surrender happened exactly the day Josiah Litch’s newspaper article predicted in 1840.

The result was powerful. Over 1,000 former atheists personally contacted Josiah Litch to tell him that, because of the fulfillment of this prophecy, they now trusted the Bible and the God of the Bible. Hundreds of thousands of Christians all over eastern America committed themselves to God with new devotion. The certainty that the Bible could be trusted became even more accepted around the nation. People realized with fresh conviction that God’s Word should be taken as accurate, understood personally, and used as its own interpreter.

The zeal for Scripture manifested by the population in 1840 is hard for us to understand today. Why? In our day we are overwhelmed with information from the internet, television, radio, and thousands of books and magazines. We are surrounded by so many distractions and curiosities that we do not take any of the information as seriously as our ancestors did.

The 1840s were different. Back then, the churches had more employees than the federal and state governments combined. It was much more common to hear a sermon than receive a piece of mail. There were few institutions in society besides churches and religious associations. The only media was local newspapers. Knowledge was primarily gained from experience and observation. Thousands of Americans were migrating westward and leaving their families, friends, and churches behind. Many of these families had only one book in the whole house, a Bible provided by the recently organized Bible Society. Many children learned to read from that Bible.

Farmers and carpenters, blacksmiths and business people discussed the Bible, for that was the intellectual world of many Americans. In the newspapers, over dinner, on front porches, and down at the stores where everyone talked about issues, the real debate was about the meaning of the Scriptures. The events of August 1840 confirmed to a significant part of the United States population that the Bible was full of truths that could be trusted completely.

This led to discussing other parts of the Bible. History books were becoming available and people were comparing history and Bible prophecy to see what was already fulfilled and what other prophecies would be fulfilled in the near future. Daniel 2 and 7 were subjects the family talked about over dinner. Many understood the prophecies of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. It was popular to understand the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. Most believed the 70 weeks ended with Christ’s death on the cross, which they understood was in a.d. 33. (Later research would uncover the mistake and demonstrate that Jesus died in a.d. 31.)

Only a few understood the longest time period in the book of Daniel: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Daniel 8:14). People puzzled over when that 2300 days would start. Many couldn’t figure it out. A few here and there did. As had the greatest Bible students of Protestant history such as Martin Luther, Isaac Newton, John Wesley and Adam Clarke. But William Miller did more to help explain the answer to that puzzle than any other person. Yet he found this answer by “accident.”

As a young adult, William made fun of the Bible. Later, he found the same book to be the best revelation of Someone who could solve his fear of death. Friends asked William how it was that he could trust a book that he used to make fun of. In the process of answering his friends, Miller found an explanation of the two-thousand three-hundred-day prophecy.

The discovery bothered the farmer. He talked to local ministers and to friends. But no one could find a mistake in his conclusions. Soon he was invited to preach in local churches on this subject. His sermons were more than just prophecy. Miller was too interested in Jesus to just talk about prophecy. He showed how prophecy talked about the same Jesus who went about healing the sick and helping the hurting some eighteen hundred years before. The more he talked of Jesus, the more he was invited to preach across the United States about the prophecies of Jesus.

Soon people began to attack his character. But no one could offer a better explanation or even show where Miller was wrong. The criticism was frustrating, especially when some started claiming he had “monomania.” Miller decided to get help the next time the doctor came over.

When he had a chance, Miller asked the doctor, “Do I have monomania? How do you diagnose it?”

“Monomania is a mental illness where someone is rational on everything but one subject; and, when you mention that particular subject, he will become crazy,” replied the doctor.

William said, “Sit down with me for two hours, while I present to you the subject of Jesus’ coming again. If I am a monomaniac, please treat me and cure me. You can charge me for your time.”

The doctor remembered having called Miller a monomaniac and found the interview a little uncomfortable. But they began. William asked the doctor to read Daniel chapter 8 and explain what the animals described there mean. The doctor said they represented Persia, Greece, and Rome. Then Miller asked him how long this vision of the great world empires was supposed to last.

“2,300 days,” the doctor responded.

Did those nations only last 2,300 days (i.e. six and a half years)?

“No, those days are years, according to all commentators; this vision describes those nations over 2,300 years.” [As the doctor said, most Bible commentaries in 1840 explained the two thousand three hundred days as two thousand three hundred years.]

When will those years begin or end? The doctor didn’t know.

Then they started reading chapter 9 of Daniel. William asked, what vision is meant in verses 21 and 23? The doctor replied that it was the vision of Daniel 8.

What are the seventy weeks of chapter nine part of? “The seventy weeks are part of the 2,300 days.”

Do the two-time-periods start together at the same time? “Yes,” said the doctor.

When did the seventy years end? “In A. D. 33.”

How far would the 2,300 years extend past a.d. 33? The doctor subtracted 490 from 2,300 and replied, “1,810.” The doctor realized that 1,810 years should be added to a.d. 33. He did the addition and it came to 1843. This shocked the doctor. (Later, he admitted that he never saw where the discussion was headed until he finished adding and found the answer to be less than ten years away.) Angry, the doctor grabbed his hat and left the house.

The next day he was back. “Mr. Miller, I am going to hell. I didn’t sleep since I was here yesterday. I have looked at the question in every light, and the vision must end about a.d. 1843; and I am unprepared, and must be going to hell.”

Each day of the next week, the doctor visited Mr. Miller, as the farmer pointed him to Jesus who can save us from the frustration and fear in our souls. The doctor found peace and went on his way rejoicing, as great a monomaniac as Mr. Miller.

This simple experience of explaining the 2,300 years to the doctor was repeated over and over again with many others. People hadn’t noticed the connection between Daniel chapters 8 and 9. It was there, but it went unnoticed for centuries. And when people heard the explanation and did the calculation, it led them to the same conclusion as the doctor arrived at. They became monomaniacs for Jesus. They wanted to be ready to meet Him. They read the Bible to know Him and to hear Him.

They then became like the Samaritan woman at the well. They ran home to tell their family, their friends, and their neighbors about Jesus. It was easy to do the math and see that something was happening in their own lifetimes. No one found a mistake with the numbers. Famous professors and theologians disagreed over which event should be expected, but they couldn’t disagree with the math.

Nor was Miller the only person to reach this conclusion. “Spontaneously” around the world the same message appeared. Joseph Wolff took a similar message to the Middle East and all the way to India. In Palestine he found people already teaching Jesus would return about 1840.

Others in Germany, Russia, and Holland proclaimed the same message. A large group of ministers in England, and Manuel Lacunza in South America spread the news of Jesus’ soon coming.

“As early as 1842, second advent publications had been sent to every missionary station in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in America, on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. . . . The commanders of our vessels and the sailors tell us that they touch at no port where they find this proclamation has not preceded them, and frequent inquiries respecting it are made of them.” The Great Second Advent Movement, p. 105.

In Sweden, it was illegal for adults to preach the message of Jesus and the prophecies of His coming, so children did it. John Loughborough later interviewed some of those children and they told him that they spoke without being prepared by adults. When it was time for the service, the adults would help them get up high enough that they could be seen and then they would preach things too wonderful for their six or seven-year-old mind but that made perfect sense to adult minds. After the service these children went right back to playing with the other children.

This message influenced 10% or more of the adult U.S. population of that time. People became serious, happy, and caring. Silly things were ignored. Important matters were taken care of. Households endeavored to make sure that all was right with each family member. People got rid of grudges. They prayed regularly, and prayed for the happiness and success of their families, neighbors, and friends.

Poor and rich, educated and ignorant forgot the differences between themselves as they focused on how to share with anyone they could, the story of Jesus coming soon. Rich people donated their wealth. Poor people found a way to work a little extra just to help. People forgot to be selfish. It was more important than anything else to think about Jesus, to tell others about Jesus, and to change their habits so that they were ready to live with Jesus. Every Bible story of Jesus was a story of Someone they were about to see. Every lesson Jesus taught was a lesson for them to understand in order to live with Him. People read the Bible to know Jesus, not just to satisfy their curiosity.

The foundational principle of the movement of the first angel was that the Bible was for every person. The Scriptures did not need preachers and theologians to explain it. Anyone could understand by reading. That book was not just a book of occasional ideas. It was a whole system of truth that could be discovered by studying and searching. A text here and there were not enough. People tried to understand the whole theme of a subject across the Bible. It was a revelation of God’s ideas in human language, provided and protected by God.

One’s perception of inspiration mattered. The Scriptures were trustworthy and people pointed to historical events and natural phenomenon to demonstrate this as true. The movement attacked higher criticism on one side and verbal inspiration on the other. Neither of those viewpoints recognized the Bible to be the ideas of God, even though it is not His choice of words.

Many could remember the largest shower of falling stars in recorded human history (November 1833), when it looked as if the very sky was falling in on the earth. There were reports of other amazing signs. Not only the dark day of 1780 in the eastern and southern United States, but the strange darkness that lasted several weeks in Europe around the same time. And more strange things that we have since forgotten about like the spectacle of seeing three suns at the same time in the sky.

A former atheist wrote a letter to the editor of an atheist magazine, telling of how he used to disbelieve in the Bible and in heaven: “Having read every work of note that I could obtain, and having heard many lectures opposed to God and the Bible, I considered myself prepared to overthrow the Christian faith, and feared no argument that could be brought from the Bible. With these feelings, I attended a full course of Mr. Miller’s lectures. He gave his rules of interpretations, and pledged himself to prove his position. I approved of his rules—to which I refer you—and the result was, he established the fact that the Bible is what it purports to be—the word of God—to my mind, beyond a doubt; and I have taken it as the man of my counsel. I am personally acquainted with nearly one hundred former atheists, who were converted under the preaching of Mr. Miller; and we did not yield the point without a struggle, nor without due consideration. Each and every prop and refuge of infidelity and unbelief was taken away from us, and our sandy foundation was swept by the truth of the Almighty as chaff is driven by the wind. Yet we parted with them much as a man parts with a diseased tooth. We tried to cure and keep it there, and when made to know that the root and foundation was rotten, it was painful to part with; but we rejoiced and felt better after the separation.”—Life Incidents, p. 64.

With such a significant interest in the United States and the world, in Jesus’ return around the year 1843, what happened? Nothing that anyone could see. In the United States, people expected something to happen by March 21, 1844. Yet March 22 dawned as just another day. Suddenly, thousands became confused.

Their disappointment was as strong as their hope had been. Why didn’t Jesus come? Were we wrong to believe the Bible? What should we do? No one could explain. And so each person came to a personal choice. Should I look back on a belief and experience that made me the best person I’ve ever been and continue to believe I was right? Should I consider that I may have made some mistake, but that not everything was a mistake? Or should I throw away my belief in the Bible itself just because I assumed that Jesus would come before now and nothing has happened. It was one of those little moments when people made big decisions. Many decided to abandon their dependence on the Bible because they could not immediately explain their own mistake.

Our western civilization came to a crisis 150 years ago. Most Christians have continued to read the Bible since then but without the same implicit confidence in it. They generally fall into one of two errors about that book. Those who believe that God dictated the scriptures through verbal inspiration tend to depend on religious terminology too much. As long as specific words are repeated, they tend to believe a doctrine is right or a person is holy, even if the ideas or actions contradict the words that are being repeated.

Those who take the Bible as a collection of human stories, without believing God originated and preserved the Bible, fail to take the whole Bible. They place themselves as wiser than God Himself and pick and choose the parts of the Bible that suit them. Both groups of people miss part of the truth and much of the power of the Bible along the way.

We are not here to attack those that see differently than we do. Jesus did His best to bless those that disagreed with Him. So must we. Nor are we here to brag. We also have made mistakes. But our compassion and humility will never lead us to abandon these truths: The Bible is the highest authority available to humanity. It was provided as God infused His thoughts into the human writers through thought inspiration. It can be understood by common people. Its truths are revealed to those who humbly search its pages. Even though we are prone to misunderstand the Scriptures, any idea or fact consistently taught throughout the Bible is trustworthy. Prophecy is fulfilled by literal events and should never be considered as mystical.

Our Adventist forefathers were clearly mistaken about what event would happen in their lifetime, but they were not mistaken to take the Bible seriously and completely. They were not mistaken in the math or application of prophecies except for the specific event. They were not mistaken in trusting God over human opinion. Our forefathers that rejected the Adventist hope also were clearly mistaken. Just because of an embarrassing disappointment, they gave up too much. Let us learn from their mistakes. May God speak to us through His Word personally. May we commit ourselves to live by its truths at any cost. May we consecrate our lives to submission to God and service to others, in preparation for heaven by living heavenly, based on the Word of God alone. For, “God speaking in the Bible, . . . is the one infallible guide.”