Article

# Elijah - Number Ten

1856

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

October 13, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Isaiah’s 65-Year Prophecy: Represents the period between 1798 (the “time of the end”) and 1863, covering the Millerite movement’s rise and transformation.
- Seven Times Curse: The “seven times” prophecy against Ephraim and Judah aligns with key events in Millerite history, marking spiritual milestones like the arrival of the first and third angels’ messages.
- Laodicean Message: Introduced in 1856 by James White, signaling a spiritual decline and a call for revival and repentance within Adventism.
- Transition to Seventh-day Adventism: The Millerite movement officially transitioned into the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church in 1863, marking a new phase in its prophetic identity.
- Parallel Political Events: The article draws parallels between 19th-century U.S. political history (e.g., Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, and Republican Party formation) and prophetic movements.
- Modern Implications: Links past prophetic interpretations to contemporary events, particularly in Adventism and U.S. politics, emphasizing the cyclical nature of history and prophecy.
- Adventist Eschatology: Highlights the church’s spiritual challenges, identifying the need for repentance and adherence to prophetic truths as society approaches a global crisis.

The Millerite movement was represented in Isaiah chapter seven by a sixty-five year prophecy, that began in 742 BC. Those sixty-five years that took place in the history of Isaiah represent the sixty-five years from 1798 until 1863. Alpha and Omega will always portray the end, with the beginning. The sixty-five year prophecy identifies the curse of seven times against the northern and the southern kingdoms of Israel. The first seven times against the northern kingdom began in 723 BC, nineteen years after Isaiah presented the prediction to king Ahaz. The last seven times against the southern kingdom, began at the end of the sixty-five years in 677 BC.

The first curse of seven times against Ephraim ended in 1798, which was the time of the end when the vision of the Ulai River of chapters eight and nine of Daniel was unsealed. It prophetically marked both the arrival of the first angel’s message and the prophetic beginning of the Millerite movement. The last curse of seven times against Judah ended in 1844, which was the arrival of the third angel’s message. Nineteen years later in 1863, the sixty-five years represented in the beginning of the prediction marked the end of the Millerite movement, and the beginning of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church. Seven years prior to 1863, in 1856, James White began to identify that the Millerite movement had ceased to be the church of Philadelphia and had become the church of Laodicea. His grandson, when writing Ellen White’s biography, writes about the history of 1856, and the Laodicean message.

## “The Laodicean Message

> “The Sabbathkeeping Adventists had taken the position that the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 pictured the experience of the Christian church down through the centuries. It was their conclusion that the message to the Laodicean church applied to those they now termed nominal Adventists, those who had not accepted the seventh-day Sabbath. In a short editorial in the Review of October 9, James White raised some thought provoking questions that he introduced by stating:

> “The inquiry is beginning to come up afresh, ‘Watchman, What of the night?’ At present there is space for only a few questions, asked to call attention to the subject to which they relate. A full answer, we trust, will soon be given.—Review and Herald, Oct. 9, 1856.

> “Of the eleven questions he asked, it is the sixth that zeroed in on the Laodiceans.

> “6. Does not the state of the Laodiceans (lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot) fitly illustrate the condition of the body of those who profess the third angel’s message?—Ibid.

> “The last question lays the matter open:

> “11. If this be our condition as a people, have we any real grounds to hope for the favor of God unless we heed the ‘counsel’ of the True Witness? I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Revelation 3:18–21.—Ibid.

> “It is clear that the truth of the matter was just dawning on the mind of James White. The next issue of the Review carried a seven-column presentation of the seven churches, under that title. In his opening remarks he declared:

> “We must agree with some modern expositors that these seven churches should be understood as representing seven conditions of the Christian church, in seven periods of time, covering the ground of the entire Christian age.—Ibid., Oct. 16, 1856.

> “He then took up the prophecy, dealing with each church separately. Coming to the seventh, the Laodicean, he declared:

> “How humbling to us as a people is the sad description of this church. And is not this dreadful description a most perfect picture of our present condition? It is; and it will be of no use to try to evade the force of this searching testimony to the Laodicean church. The Lord help us to receive it, and to profit by it.—Ibid.

> “After he devoted two columns to the Laodicean church, his closing remarks made a strong appeal:

> “Dear brethren, we must overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, or we shall have no part in the kingdom of God. . . . Lay hold of this work at once, and in faith claim the gracious promises to the repenting Laodiceans. Arise in the name of the Lord, and let your light shine to the glory of His blessed name.—Ibid.

> “The response from the field was electrifying. Wrote G. W. Holt from Ohio on October 20:

> “Yes, I do believe that we who are in the third message with the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are the church this language is addressed to; and we cannot be too soon in applying for tried gold and white raiment, and eyesalve, that we may see.—Ibid., Nov. 6, 1856.

> “From the Northeast a new voice was heard on the subject, that of Stephen N. Haskell, of Princeton, Massachusetts. As a first-day Adventist he had begun to preach at the age of 20; now three years later he was in the third angel’s message. A thorough Bible student, after having seen White’s brief initial editorial introducing the question of the seven churches, he chose to write an extended piece for the Review:

> “The subject referred to has been one of deep interest to me for some months past. . . . I have for some time been led to believe that the message to the Laodiceans belongs to us; i.e., to those who believe in the third angel’s message, from many reasons which I consider to be good. I will mention two.—Ibid.

> “This he does, devoting two columns to his conclusions. As he closed he declared:

> “A theory of the third angel’s message never, no never, will save us, without the wedding garment, which is the righteousness of the saints. We must perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.—Ibid.

> “As James White continued his editorials on the message to the Laodicean church the concepts the Sabbathkeeping Adventists were now reading in the Review were startling, but on thoughtful, prayerful consideration they were seen to be applicable. The letters to the editor showed quite general agreement and indicated that a revival was under way. That the stirring message was not the outgrowth of excitement was attested to by the first article in Testimony No. 3, published in April, 1857, titled Be Zealous and Repent. It opens, “The Lord has shown me in vision some things concerning the church in its present lukewarm state, which I will relate to you.”—1T, p. 141. In this Ellen White presented what was shown to her of Satan’s attacks on the church through earthly prosperity and possessions.” Arthur White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, volume 1, 342–344.

The Millerite movement began prophetically as the Philadelphian church, and in 1856 it became the Laodicean church. Seven years later the movement ended, and the Seventh-day Adventist church began as the Laodicean church and will remain so, until it is spewed out of the mouth of the Lord. The movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand came out of the fold of the Laodicean church, just as the Millerite movement came out of the fold of the church of Sardis. The movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand parallels the Millerite movement in that the first movement changed from Philadelphia to Laodicea and the last movement changes from Laodicea to Philadelphia. The point of transition from Philadelphia unto Laodicea in Millerite history is specifically marked as 1856, so the point of transition must also be marked in the last movement, for God never changes. The point of transition is identified in Revelation eleven with the two prophets that are slain in the streets.

> And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:7, 8.

The last movement would die, then stand and thereafter be resurrected as the ensign. In so doing it would align with the Republican horn. The Republican horn forms an image to the beast, and the beast that it forms the image of is addressed in Revelation seventeen, and that beast is identified as the fifth head that received a deadly wound, that would be resurrected as the eighth head. It would be resurrected as the eighth that was of the seven.

> And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Revelation 17:11.

The Republican horn would form an image of that beast, and it therefore would be killed and then resurrected. When it was resurrected it would be the eighth head that was of the seven previous heads. The Protestant horn, rides upon the same earth beast as the Republican horn and would need to possess the same prophetic dynamics. The transition from Philadelphia to Laodicea in the Millerite movement prefigures the transition from the Laodicea to Philadelphia in the last movement.

When the last movement received a deadly wound on July 18, 2020, it died as Laodicea. When, as represented in Revelation eleven it transitioned to Philadelphia, it would represent the eighth church, that is of the seven. The death in the year 2020, was paralleled by the Republican horn, for since the time of the end in 1989, there had been six presidents. The sixth president received a deadly wound, that will be healed in 2024. That head will then be the eighth head of the United States since the time of the end in 1989, and it will be of the seven. Both horns were the sixth that becomes the eighth. This truth is a large part of the message of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed just before the close of probation.

For this reason, it is important to be clear about the Millerite history that typifies our current history. Sister White confirmed James White’s application of Laodicea upon the movement in 1856, so this is not an application that is derived by human logic. Seven years before the Seventh-day Adventist church was legally connected with the Republican horn, it was identified by inspiration as the Laodicean church. This means there has never been one day in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church when it was anything other than naked, poor, blind, miserable and wretched. This prophetic reality provides the context and justification for recognizing the four escalating abominations of Ezekiel chapter eight as the four generations of Adventism.

When the Millerite history is approached from the structure of Isaiah seven’s sixty-five years, it is to be recognized that the prophecy of the seven times is the prophetic umbrella that covers the entire history of the Millerite movement. In 1856, the message to the Laodicean church became present truth for Millerite Adventism. The one who presents the message of Laodicea was not James or Ellen White, it was the Faithful and True Witness.

> And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Revelation 3:14–22.

The True Witness identifies that if any man would “hear” His voice, He would come in and “sup with him.” If Laodicea would open the door, Christ would come in and sup with them. If Christ is allowed to enter, he brings a message, for the symbolism of eating represents the reception of a message. The message can be generalized as simply the Laodicean message, but that is a shallow consideration of what the message He offers represents. In 1856, Hiram Edson set forth a series of eight articles that contained the prophetic information that expands the understanding of the very first “time prophecy” the angels of God led William Miller to recognize and proclaim. In those eight articles, Edson correctly identifies the sixty-five years of Isaiah seven.

The beginning of Miller’s work was the discovery of the seven times, and seven years before the movement named after his service was to end, a deeper revelation of that very prophecy was offered to Millerite Adventism. It was offered in the same year they were identified by inspiration as Laodiceans. Prophetically, twenty-five hundred and twenty days later in 1863, Miller’s first discovery of prophetic time was rejected. The Laodicean message for the Advent movement arrived in 1856, and the Lord knocked on the door eight times, with eight articles to see if He could find entrance. At the ending of the movement, the True Witness wished to sup together with His people by dining upon the very first message of time from the beginning of the movement. His people refused to eat, and seven years, or twenty-five hundred and twenty prophetic days later, His people shut the door that had been opened with the key of David that had been placed into the hand of William Miller. They returned to an old Samaritan prophet who fed them a lie, sealing their fate to die between an ass and a lion.

In 1856, the Protestant horn was in the crisis of the valley of vision, for where there is no vision, the people perish. In 1856, the Republican horn was also in a crisis.

1856, marked a continuation of the violent conflict known as Bleeding Kansas, the Kansas-Missouri Border War. The struggle was over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free state or a slave state. The conflict included violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers.

On May 22, 1856, a violent incident also occurred in the United States Senate chamber, when Congressman Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery advocate from South Carolina, brutally attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with his cane. Sumner had delivered an anti-slavery speech titled The Crime Against Kansas, which deeply offended Brooks. The caning incident highlighted the growing tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery.

In 1856, the Republican Party was founded as a response to the political turmoil caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, passed in 1854, which produced the growing opposition to the spread of slavery into new territories. The party’s first national convention was held in Philadelphia, and John C. Fremont was chosen as their first presidential candidate in the 1856 election.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed the settlers in those territories to decide whether they would allow slavery within their borders. This concept, known as “popular sovereignty,” effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had prohibited slavery north of the 36°30’ parallel in the Louisiana Territory. The act had a profound impact on the issue of slavery in the territories. It reignited sectional tensions because it opened the possibility that slavery could expand into areas that were previously considered free soil, such as Kansas. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to a rush of pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers into the Kansas Territory, each hoping to influence the outcome of the popular sovereignty vote. This competition for control of the territory led to violent clashes and a period of lawlessness known as Bleeding Kansas in 1856.

The presidential election of 1856 was a significant political event. It featured a three-way race between Democrat James Buchanan, Republican John C. Fremont, and former President Millard Fillmore of the American Party. James Buchanan won the election and became the 15th President of the United States.

James Buchanan’s presidency is primarily known for its failure to effectively address the growing tensions and divisions between the North and the South, ultimately culminating in the outbreak of the American Civil War shortly after he left office. His presidency is often viewed as one of the least successful presidency in American history, due to these significant failures in leadership and crisis management.

The infamous Dred Scott Decision in 1857, declared that slaves whether enslaved or free were not citizens and could not sue in federal courts. It also declared that Congress could not prevent slavery in the territories of the United States. The Democrat Buchanan publicly endorsed the pro-slavery Dred Scott Decision.

Not only did the pro-slavery position of the Democrat Buchanan allow tensions to escalate into Civil War, but his inability to manage the economics of the country led to the Panic of 1857, which was one of the greatest economic downturns in American history prior to the great depression. The Panic of 1857 resulted in a severe economic depression that lasted several years. Businesses and banks closed, unemployment increased and the stock market declined.

During Buchanan’s presidency the Southern states began their process of seceding from the Union, and they broke away in response to the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. Buchanan took a passive approach to the secession crisis, arguing that the federal government lacked the authority to forcibly prevent secession. This lack of decisive action allowed the secession movement to gain momentum. His lack of strong leadership and his reluctance to take decisive action to address the secession crisis contributed to the South’s perception that it could leave the Union without facing military opposition.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln the first Republican president, was elected. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed and issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory were to be set free. This executive order had a significant impact on the Civil War as it turned the conflict into a struggle not only to preserve the Union, but also to end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free all enslaved individuals. It applied specifically to Confederate-held territory, where the Union had limited authority. As Union forces advanced and gained control over Confederate territory, the proclamation was enforced, and enslaved people in those areas were set free. The Emancipation Proclamation was a crucial step toward the eventual abolition of slavery in the United States and paved the way for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was passed and ratified on December 6, 1865.

The Republican horn from the 1850’s onward was in the crisis of the issue of slavery. Two primary divisions in the country represented by two primary classes of political thought. A separation process began in 1856 as anti and pro slavery groups moved into the Kansas territory in attempt to uphold their views of slavery, at the very time Philadelphia was being separated from Laodicea. Democrats were pro-slavery and Republicans were anti-slavery.

In 1856, Bleeding Kansas represented a microcosm of the impending war. In that year a pro-slavery Democrat was elected as head of the Republican horn, and his ineffective leadership became the symbol of an ineffective presidency, until these recent last days. He preceded the first Republican president that was forced to clean up the mess left by Buchanan’s presidency.

By 1863, the Republican horn made the most significant executive order in the history of the earth beast of Revelation thirteen. The executive order was addressing slavery. One paragraph of the proclamation states, “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” Though the resolution of the problem of slavery was historically incomplete at that point, the essence of the Constitution is recognized when Lincoln wrote, “all persons held as slaves within any state … shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Lincoln was returning to the foundational principle expressed in the Constitution, which identifies that “all men are created equal.” Lincoln was returning to the foundational truths at the same time the Protestant horn was rejecting its foundational prophecy, which is the prophecy of slavery. Therefore, at the very time the Republican horn was making its most significant “executive order” in history concerning slavery, the Protestant horn made the most significant executive order in its prophetic history concerning the prophecy of slavery, represented by Moses’ oath and curse. The Republican horn chose to return to the foundations, the Protestant horn chose to reject its foundation and return to those it had been instructed to never return unto.

In 1863, the Republican horn had been divided into two camps, as was ancient Israel’s kingdom divided in the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. In 1863, the Protestant horn became legally attached to the Republican horn, as represented by Jeroboam’s two altars at Bethel and Dan. The two horns move through history in parallel to each other, and the history of 1863, especially represents the history of the last days.

Millerite history is repeated in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand with a few prophetic caveats. One of those caveats is that the target audience in Millerite history was first those outside the movement, and thereafter the movement itself. In the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand the two voices of Revelation eighteen, identify two target audiences, but those targets are in reverse of Millerite history. The first target is God’s people and the second voice is God’s other flock, that are still in Babylon.

Another prophetic caveat is that though both histories transcend from one church unto another, the Millerites moved from Philadelphia to Laodicea, and the mighty movement of the third angel moves from Laodicea unto Philadelphia. This identifies that the Millerites went from the sixth unto the seventh church and the one hundred and forty-four thousand go from the seventh church unto the eighth church, which is of the seven.

The Republican horn began its movement from a pro-slavery nation unto an anti-slavery nation in the history surrounding 1863. The crisis of that history established two political parties that are the same antagonists in these “last days.” Just as the first Republican president from that history was assassinated just days after the war ended, the last Republican president was symbolically assassinated and left in the street as dead while the world rejoiced. He was assassinated, not just days after the Civil War ended, but just before the final civil war begins.

The first Republican president was preceded by the most ineffective president of American history, and the last Republican president will be preceded by the same. The ineffectiveness of the Democratic president that preceded the first Republican president precipitated the crisis that evolved into the civil war, and the same ineffectiveness is now taking place. The Democratic president that precedes the last Republican president managed the economy in such a fashion that it produced the greatest economic crash in American history up until that point in time. The two horns run parallel unto the Sunday law. In 1863, the first generation of both horns began, and for both horns the fourth and final generation will be facing the east, and bowing down to the sun.

The Elijah message is always accompanied with the judgments of God confirming the message of warning. The society of the world is now living as the people before the flood. They are eating, drinking and expecting the globalist techno-giants to solve any problem that might arise. God’s Word is identifying that the world is now on the verge of a tremendous crisis.

> “‘What of the night?’ Do I discern the import of these messages? Do I understand the place they occupy in the closing work of the great remedial system? Am I so familiar with the ‘sure word of prophecy’ that I can see in the events transpiring around me positive evidence that the coming King is even at the door? Do I sense the responsibility that rests upon me, in view of the light God has given? Am I using every talent entrusted to me as his steward, in well-directed effort to rescue the perishing? or am I lukewarm and indifferent, partly mixed up with a wicked world, using the means and ability God has given me, largely in self-gratification, caring more for my own ease and comfort than for the advancement of his cause? Am I by my course strengthening ‘the conviction that has been gaining ground in the world that Seventh-day Adventists are giving the trumpet an uncertain sound, and are following in the path of worldlings’?

> “We hear the footsteps of an approaching God to punish the world for their iniquity. The end of time is close upon us. The world’s inhabitants are being bound in bundles to be burned. Shall you be bound up with the tares? Do you realize that every year thousands and thousands and ten times ten thousand souls are perishing, dying in their sins? The plagues and judgments of God are already doing their work, and souls are going to ruin because the light of truth has not been flashed upon their pathway.” General Conference Daily Bulletin, April 1, 1897.

> With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9.

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