“A great disappointment,” the story of the return of Christ.
As we, the Baha’is in the world, are preparing to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of the Bab, the Herald of the Baha’i Faith, as I was reading through the daily news. I found a piece that, to a point, displays how naive us humans view the promises given by the holy books and scriptures in return of Christ, Mahdi, Ahmad, Bahram Shah, etc., where ironically, a few lines below this story the birth of the herald of His return is celebrated in the same page. It seems like everyone is awaiting a miraculous event to take place while expecting the return of any of the promised ones such as Christ, a flight on the clouds, a major disaster, a division in Niles, or perhaps the reverse flow of the Niagara Falls. And we always forget that even when they appeared the very first time, they came quietly and attracted only a few, a few champions, a few saints, or a few apostles. Imagine if Christ would have come to the public before divulging His mission to His apostles. He would have been on the cross before uttering a few sentences. We all have forgotten that he has said he would come like a thief at night.
Please read the following story as many are still awaiting the return of Mahdi, Ahmad, Messiah, Bahram Shah, Buddha, and of course, Christ to come with a “Big Bang.”
This article was published in “Times Telegram,” Posted Oct 20, 2019, at 8:00 AM;
RELIGIOUS EVENTS IN HISTORY
On Oct. 22, 1844, Baptist preacher William Miller and thousands of his followers, known as Millerites, experience what becomes known as the “Great Disappointment.” Since 1833, Miller had been preaching the “Second Advent of Jesus Christ” would occur in 1843–44 based on his study of the Bible and the prophecies of Daniel. Thanks to several published articles and his public sermons, “Millerism” and the belief of the second coming of Jesus Christ was imminent, transformed from a regional movement into a national campaign from 1840 on. After being urged to narrow down his time frame, Miller predicted that Jesus would return to earth between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Although his original prediction came and went without incident, Miller then made several adjustments to his prediction using the Karaite Jewish calendar which all later passed without incident. Miller and his associates then made a final prediction in August 1844 using the “seventh-month message” that the return would take place on Oct. 22. As thousands prepared for the second coming, Oct. 22 came and went without any incident once again, finally disillusioning the Millerites and the movement which resulted in the “Great Disappointment.”
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RELIGION CALENDAR
Oct. 20: Birth of the Bab (Baha’i)
