Adventist Heritage Ministries (AHM) invites you to attend a very special anniversary weekend, October 17-19, 2019, to be held at the 1815 home of William Miller, located just off U.S. Hwy 4 between Whitehall, New York, and Fairhaven, Vermont. This event, the 175th Commemoration of October 22, 1844, will help you to recall and recapture the passion, purpose, and power of those long-ago committed pioneers who experienced what is now referred to as the Great Disappointment.
Millerite Adventists (spiritual forerunners of Seventh-day Adventists) met frequently in homes, schools, barns, tents, churches, and even out under a tree, to fervently study their Bibles, enthusiastically sing inspiring songs of hope, listen to powerful preaching, earnestly pray, and then go out to share with others the exciting news that Jesus is coming!
Weekend programs will begin Thursday evening, October 17, and continue until the following Sabbath afternoon. The weekend will include children’s meetings; powerful preaching, stories, and enthusiastic singing of early Advent hymns in the big tent; heritage seminars; bus tours of area sites where Miller preached; tours of the Miller home, barns, Maple Grove, Ascension Rock, Miller Chapel, and Cemetery; and Communion Services in the Miller Chapel. Also available will be an opportunity to purchase materials that will enable you to share your Adventist heritage with family and friends.
It is so easy for us today to forget what the Millerites actually experienced. It definitely was not an easy time to be an Adventist. The ridicule and scorn that was heaped upon them from every direction proved overpowering to the faith of some. Family and neighbors thought their loved ones were insane, and they most assuredly did not mind telling them so! Many popular preachers denounced the Millerites from their church pulpits; newspapers included every scandalous story or tantalizing bit of gossip they could find, followed by newsboys hawking on the street corners of large cities printed newspapers containing hostile, anti-Millerite comments. But not everyone succumbed to all the negativity. Others prevailed and remained faithful to their beliefs, including those who eventually founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is a story that inspires, encourages, warns, and must be kept alive— especially now, when, for many people, it seems that everything in our world is spiraling out of control. For Adventists, what we see going on around us assures us that God is still in control—He has forewarned us regarding what will happen just before Christ’s return. Our courage is good because our future is so bright!
Please visit the AHM website at www.adventistheritage.org and click on the 175th Anniversary link for additional information, including directions, speakers, seminar titles and presenters, area motels, handicap accessibility, and registration for Communion Service in Miller Chapel on Friday and then again on Sabbath afternoon.
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Alice R. Voorheis, editor, Adventist Heritage Ministries Bulletin
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