The Scroll

Below is a brief bio on Charles Fitch a mighty man of God. His faithfulness to his Savior to the point of death is to be greatly admired and emulated. I pray that we like those who have gone before will pick up our cross and follow Christ. The following was taken from The Faithful Witness

In 1842, feel­ing the need of an accu­rate chart, Fitch and Apol­los Hale pre­pared the famous chart illus­trat­ing the ful­fill­ment of the last-​​time prophe­cies of Daniel. This was used exten­sively by the Mil­lerites. Fitch him­self used this chart and also other visual aids includ­ing a replica of the Daniel 2 statue that could be sep­a­rated into its var­i­ous parts. Charles Fitch became seri­ously ill, prob­a­bly with pneu­mo­nia, in the month of Octo­ber, 1844. He had chilled while bap­tiz­ing con­verts. He died on Mon­day, Octo­ber 14th, in full faith that he should awake in a few days in the like­ness of his Redeemer.

Another notable con­tri­bu­tion to Mil­lerism came in the sum­mer of 1843. At the time the pub­lic sen­ti­ment had begun to turn against the Mil­lerites, and many preach­ers and believ­ers were faced with expul­sion from their churches. But up to this point, William Miller had advised his fol­low­ers not to sep­a­rate from their churches.

Charles Fitch then preached a pow­er­ful ser­mon based on Rev­e­la­tion 18: “Baby­lon the great has fallen… Come out of her, my peo­ple!” Up to this point, most Protes­tants had iden­ti­fied Baby­lon in the text as the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. In this ser­mon, Fitch labeled all the Protes­tant churches that had not accepted the mes­sage of Jesus’ Sec­ond Com­ing as Baby­lon. He then invited the Mil­lerites to sep­a­rate from their churches.

This cry was taken up by George Storrs, who cau­tioned the Mil­lerites not to orga­nize a new church, for “no church can be orga­nized by man’s inven­tion but what it becomes Baby­lon the moment it is orga­nized.” Joseph Marsh, edi­tor of the Voice of Truth, also sup­ported this call to sep­a­rate. The Mil­lerite lead­ers them­selves with­held from sup­port­ing this call, but nei­ther did they do any­thing to pre­vent it.

As we continue our look at the pioneers, those faithful men and women who laid the foundation for this wonderful advent movement, we consider Joseph Bates, affectionately known as “Father Bates.” The below biography was taken from the White Estate. I hope that as you read you will be blessed.
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The Present Truth was a magazine published by James White in the mid 1800s. After hearing the term “present truth” bandied around so much, many might wonder what it is. The below excerpt from the first article published will help to give some insight. As always read and be blessed.
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As we continue to revisit the foundation of this advent movement, it is essential that we acquaint ourselves with the individuals that the Lord used mightily in its inception. Routinely, I will be posting biographical information on leading figures of the advent movement, William Miller, James White, J.N. Andrews, Joseph Bates, J.N. Andrews, John Loughborough, Rachel Oakes, Uriah Smith, O.R.L. Crozier, A.T. Jones, E.G. Waggoner, Stephan Haskell, John Harvey Kellogg, etc. I pray that as you read about these individuals you will be inspired. God is no respecter of persons, the same way He used others in the past is the same way He desires to use you and me today.

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Below is the first chapter from the book “Bible Adventism” by James White.  This first chapter totally blew my mind.  I was struck by the fact that he took one text and was able to enlarge on it as he did.  The Word of God truly is deep, far deeper than we think.  You can read the book online at  http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/jswhite5.html. 

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“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”  Hebrews 11:4

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours: and their works do follow them.  Revelation 14:13

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