The great disappointment

Sometime during 1818, William Miller, a veteran of the 1812 war, determined that Christ's second coming would occur in 1843 based upon his interpretation of scripture.

Initially he kept this to himself but from 1822 onwards he went public with his ideas. And many were receptive. During the 1830s his movement grew and the date was further refined until it was finally pinned down to be October 22 1844.

Well October 22 1844 came and went and nothing particularly spectacular occurred. The Millerite movement withered but didn't die - offshoots are still with us such as the Seventh Day Adventists and there is also a connection with the Baha'i faith. The events of October 22 1844 became known as "The great disappointment" in Millerite circles.

There is something deeply compelling about "end of the worldism" to the human psyche it seems. Every age produces its own version and it is not particularly hard to identify how it has been reworked to match the ethos of our age.

And true believers will hold on to their faith in future catastrophe in the face of evidence that their particular catastrophe is not about to occur anytime in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps the biggest irony in all of this might be that those many who subscribe to the present incarnation of "end of the worldism" would be amongst the first to mock the Millerites as unsophisticated rubes for being taken in by a previous incarnation of their own belief structure.

Indeed - the world will end someday but scripture tells us that no man will be told when that will be and that it will surely come as a surprise.