I founded Something Or Other Publishing because I believe everyone has a story to tell. Mine includes a man named Herbert W. Armstrong – a religious leader, of Quaker stock, who was ordained in the Church of God 7th Day and went on to launch a Christian movement of his own. At its peak the Church founded by HWA, as he was known, claimed over 100,000 members and a media and education empire that, at the time of his death, had global influence. The Church of God 7th day, and thus Armstrong’s church, grew out of the so-called Great Disappointment of 1844, in parallel with the Adventism of Ellen G. White. These three, and a number of other religious movements owe a debt of gratitude to the work of William Miller and his preaching and teaching about the interpretation of prophecies related to the return of Jesus to this earth. They were the inheritors of a religious fervor generated by the expectation that though Jesus said no man knew the day or the hour, He Himself, along with Daniel and other prophets, had left carefully coded math that could help “the wise” arrive at the exact year.
That year was 1844 which came and went without the expectations of the faithful being fulfilled. Many believers concluded that something must have been wrong with the calculation. They started a process of providing new interpretations. Some made calculations to push the date forward, while others determined that the date was related to activities in heaven, rather than to Christ returning to earth. But were there other possible explanations?
Jay Tyson has written a book which looks to the example of the Wise Men of the East—those Zoroastrian magi from Persia who undertook a successful search for the promised One of their age—a search that took them far beyond the boundaries of their own country, religion, and culture. As they searched for ‘the King of the Jews,’ they remained open to the unexpected ways in which God often fulfills His promises.
“The Wise Men of the West—A Search for the Promised One in the Latter Days” asks, “What if some wise men from the West had carried out a similar search in the 1840s? What if they had followed Jesus’ instruction to look to the east? What might they have found? And how might their discoveries, even today, enhance the legacy of William Miller?” Interestingly, his main protagonist is a Quaker like HWA’s parents. “The Wise Men of the West” invites the reader to a voyage of discovery which may provide answers to those who were left hanging when HWA, like William Miller, died without the events he had spent his life teaching about coming to pass. At least not in the way he expected.
-Wade Fransson
Purchase the book now via Amazon and receive it in time for Christmas.
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