Description
What in the world happened in 1844? Followers of William Miller and the Millerite movement expected the Advent, the Second Coming of Jesus, in 1844. When the Advent did not happen as expected, the Great Disappointment ensued. Miller was wrong. But was he? Did the spirit of Christ return in 1844 in the Middle East? The dawn of God’s Prophets of today’s major religions had all arisen in the East. After the Great Disappointment, the Millerite movement splintered into many Adventist sects, and the history of the three remaining today––the Advent Christian Church, the Church of God (Seventh-day), and the Seventh-day Adventist Church––is given. In the East, the year 1844 saw the emergence of the Báb, the Herald of Bahá’u’lláh, and the Bábí movement, and then the emergence of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet of the Baha’i Faith. These events are likewise presented. Miller followed biblical guidance as best he could, and he may well have been part of God’s plan in the nineteenth century. Miller and other Adventist Bible scholars did accurately pinpoint the year 1844, but events unfolded a world away in Persia and they had no inkling of them. Today the world suffers increasingly from the divisive forces of strife and intolerance, armed with strident ideologies and weapons that could kill countless millions of people. What is the destiny of our global civilization? Has divine light once again risen from the East for our day? Explore the prophecies of Daniel and follow the events in nineteenth-century East and West to an amazing conclusion that will affect everyone.
About the Author
Eileen Maddocks has spent many years studying biblical prophecies and their importance to us today.
She wrote and self-published her first book, 1844: Convergence in Prophecy for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá’í Faith, which explored expectations in the West of the return of Jesus Christ and in the East of the return of the Twelfth Imam, the Promised One. Out of this Islamic milieu emerged the Twin Prophets of the Bahá’í Faith, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, as promised in the sacred scriptures of the Hebrew Bible, as Christianity had emerged from a Jewish milieu.
Eileen discovered and accepted the Baha’i Faith in midlife and subsequently served at the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, for 16 years in a position that required much research and writing. Upon retirement, she returned to her New England heritage and is now a researcher, editor, and writer living in the bucolic state of Vermont where billboards are banned.
She balances her cerebral, writer’s lifestyle with a serious study of classical ballet. She performed for four seasons in Ballet Vermont’s “Farm to Ballet,” a production that brings classical ballet to Vermont farm venues.
Eileen shares her home with two cats who edit her work by walking across the keyboard and trying to nudge her from writing to playing (or serving dinner).
Marina D. Kirsch –
Eileen Maddocks has completed a highly engaging insight into a perplexing episode in western Christianity—the prophecies of the Second Coming of Christ that were predicted for the mid-1800s which seemingly failed to materialize. Through connections between those prophecies and a dramatic series of events in the Middle East at the predicted time, the author arrives at an intriguing conclusion—that the Second Coming did indeed occur, but in the Middle East rather than in the Western world as was expected. The book is well written and meticulously researched and referenced—a recommended read not only for Baha’i readers, but also for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim readers who are willing to consider the material with an open mind.
PW –
In CONVERGENCE IN PROPHECY the author has presented a complex subject in a straightforward and readable style. She knows how to tell a story and hold a reader’s interest. Whether you are intrigued by religious prophecies or just curious to see how these major religions are part of one story, you will find this book to be informative and thought-provoking. The book is not directed so much at scholars as at a general audience of students and truth-seekers.
Frannie over Miami –
Learned things I never knew. Thanks
Eric Mondschein –
A compelling look at how the world’s three major religions foretold the coming of the latest world religion in this captivating and intriguing journey that is thoroughly researched and documented, yet reads like a mystery. Well written, thoroughly engaging, informative. Speaks to the heart of today’s problems!
Mike Koutelis –
If you are researching or fascinated by the mid-nineteenth century biblical prophecy than you will find this book compelling, explaining how major religions prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ are connected to the Bahai Faith.
Lover of Humanity –
Wanted access to a few prophecies without having to go to comsult more than one source. It helps me there but doesn’t go into enough detail on a couple of instances like the 1290 days. But it will serve my purpose in having the resources I need at my fingertips when I’m discussing here issues so I recommend this.
JayTee –
This is a fascinating book about religious prophecy, as seen through a wide-angle lens.
Most books on religious prophecy focus on the prophecies of a particular religion; sometimes they are even limited to a focus on only a few of the prophecies of a particular religion.
This book, on the other hand, focuses not only on the latter-day prophecies from the Old and New Testaments, but also moves outward with some additional focus on Islamic expectations.
The author provides a fairly detailed review of the expectations of William Miller and the Adventists, whose teachings and proclamation efforts, the 1830s and 1840s, were the motivating force behind the Second Great Awakening. She shows how their studies of the Book of Daniel and Matthew pointed them directly to an expectation of Christ’s return in 1844.
It is indeed fascinating that 1260—the only prophetic number that appears in both the Old and the New Testaments (i.e. in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation)—turns out also to be the year 1844 in the Islamic calendar. I don’t think that such a convergence can be found anywhere else in the religious history of the world. Moreover, while many Christians in the West harbored great millennial expectations for that year, many Muslims in Iraq and Persia harbored nearly identical expectations for the Promise One of their own religion during the same year.
The author shows how all three religions can find their fulfillment in the appearance of the Baha’i Faith, with the coming of the Bab, its forerunner/Prophet, which occurred in 1844.
Her familiarity with the Millerite movement may come in part from family connections as described in the Foreword, and in part from the proximity of her hometown of Burlington, Vermont, which is not far from the William Miller’s farmhouse in Low Hampton, NY.
Susan Spencer –
I was thrilled by this book. Not generally a lover of non-fiction, I found this story gripping from the first page. I knew some things about 1844; as a Baha’i, I was aware of the story of the declaration of the Bab and the beginnings of the Baha’i Faith, and I knew something about the Millerites, who expected the return of Christ in 1844. But the careful, scholarly, very clear and beautifully organized story of the beginning of humanity’s coming of age brought the whole picture into elegant perspective for me. I recommend this book to anyone who is open to a new look at millennial prophecy and to a new view of modern history – a real thriller and a treat to read!
LindaO –
I had no intention buying either of her books and only did after a conversation about Abraham led me to buy them. I’m really glad I did. They were fascinating and both equally engaging.
There were SO many things I never read about and frankly, just didn’t know. I copied several quotes from it to use later.
If you like Biblical prophecy, she has done all the research work for you and made it so easy to understand.
No, Eileen Maddocks did not pay me to say these things (or give me the books for free).