Magnificent Disappointment – 1844 and the Sanctuary

In 1994, the late Dr. C. Mervyn Maxwell wrote a book entitled Magnificent Disappointment for the Pacific Press Anchors Series.

The book had 3 sections. In the first section the basic question was how do we calculate the date? This calculation has been done by many and here in basic terms is a quick overview of how Adventists have calculated 1844 from Daniel 7-9. Such calculations are abundant in many places. In fact the current Sabbath School Lessons seem to be totally about defending the Investigative Judgment and the date 1844.

In section two there is a discussion of what happened in 1844. Here we have a basic description of the traditional Adventist understanding of what happened.

Finally, Section 3 is where Maxwell attempts to explore the meaning of 1844 for contemporary Adventists. This section is the majority of the book and I think is the reason why this book is still of value to Adventists today. Maxwell Celebrates the doctrine and thus it is relevant to this website. In addition, Maxwell attempts to answer the question, “Sanctuary So What?” This question is what interests me as I discuss the Sabbath, nonimortality of the wicked, and Sanctuary themes. I wish to find out what does it have to say about individual and communal ethics? What does it mean for us as a people?

For the next few weeks I will take a chapter every other day or so and interact with the book. A stated before, if you want to understand the traditional understanding of the the Sanctuary message of Seventh-day Adventists including an overview of the calculation of the date 1844, a discussion of what happened on that date, and the ramifications of that belief for Adventists, then this book will provide that for you. It is too bad that the book is out of print, but you can purchase a reprint of the book at Maxwell’s Gifts and Books. You may also be able to find it used at Amazon.Com.

Sanctuary Books On-Line

An individual wanted me to find ebooks on line that have to do with the Sanctuary in that we are studying that Subject this quarter in the Sabbath School Lesson. You will find a lot of books on the web that talks about that very subject.

First you should know that the Sabbath School Lesson itself is on line at this link. You can also find The Consecrated Way by A.T Jones of 1888 fame at this link. Edward Happenstall, who was a professor at Loma Linda and at Andrews University, wrote a book entitled Our High Priest, you can find it here.

Roy Gane, professor of Old Testament at the Adventist Seminary at Andrews University wrote a book on the Sanctuary entitled Alter Call which is also available on the net.

Maranatha Media has F. C. Gilbert’s Messiah in the Sanctuary, M. L. Andreasen’s The Sanctuary Service and S. N. Haskell’s Cross and Its Shadow. All of these and a few more can be found at this link.

Finally I was able to find Why Jesus Waits by Herbert Douglass at this link.

Preaching With Power – Dr. Hyveth Williams

Preaching With Power
Hyveth Williams is the Senior Pastor of the Campus Hill church in Loma Linda California as well as a published author and an in demand preacher. She is among the few female senior pastors in Adventism.

Understanding of Preaching

Dr. Williams was strongly influenced by two individuals. First is Barbara Jordan. Second is Chuch Swindall whose story telling ability attracted Dr. William’s attention. She believes that the preacher’s responsibility is to be a mouthpiece of God. In addition the preacher should be a prophet. She separates the prophet function into foretelling as well as forthtelling. While she does not believe that she has the ability to foretell the future, she does accept the forthtelling which is to preach with confidence to God’s people.

Method of Sermon Preparation

Dr. Williams interestingly uses the common lectionary. She sees this as an aid to planning her preaching. THis allows her to read books and get ready for sermons way ahead of time. You might be interested in seeing my own lectionary blog.

Pastor Williams states that she spends several weeks researching her sermons and will read up to 10 books to prepare for any one sermon. She writes out the sremon totally and then summarizes it into an outline which she takes into the pulpit.

Dr. Williams also reads magazines like Time and People and stated that we suggested that we do not use internet illustrations becuase everyone has heard and seen them.

Women Preaching

The interview in the book did not go into her understanding of Adventist preaching or her understanding of Black preaching, but she did speak a little about her role as a leader among preaching women. She states that she would rather be seen as a preacher who is a woman rather than a preaching woman. Thereby she takes the role of preacher as primary. She states that she has been attacked (verbally) over the fact that she is a woman preacher. But she states that none of these attacks really affect her becuase her calling came from God and she did not ask for or seek the office but the office of preacher found her.

She finally states that one of the books that affected her the most was Ella Mitchell’s Those Preaching Woman.

Those Preaching WomenDr. Williams’ interview was a little different in that she was the only woman in the book. Also nothing was stated about Adventist preaching or about Black Preaching. However she does note that we should be attempting to copy preachers like T.D. Jakes. She states that we should get to know God so well that we will have our own story to tell.