1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in, and a special thank you 4 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: to people who reached out and checked on whether or 5 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: not my voice would return. It's not, but it's there, 6 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: and I'm very grateful to our own Mr Noel Brown 7 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: and our super producer Max Williams for Barry, there's that 8 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: golden voice. Who was that golden voice? Jeez, you know 9 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: out of that golden boy. We're glad to have you back, buddy. 10 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: Thanks man. You know, Um, we don't talk about it 11 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,919 Speaker 1: too much on air, but um, for any show that Max, 12 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: Noel and I do, uh, we end up becoming pretty 13 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: close friends because we worked together all the time. And 14 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: I just want to thank you guys so much for 15 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: being in my corner. Thankfully it wasn't COVID, but couldn't 16 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: work with a better bunch of people. And and um, Noel, 17 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: you and I have talked about it in the past 18 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: when we're hanging because we are actually friends and we 19 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: do hang out outside of the show. We've talked about 20 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: how weird and extraordinary it is to genuinely vibe with 21 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: pretty much everyone you work with. I think we're immensely fortunate. 22 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, it's no coincidence that, 23 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: like most of my and your and uh, many of 24 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: our friends are people that we work with, or we've 25 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: been lucky enough to bring people that are our friends 26 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: were our friends into the work family. So it all 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: kind of lines kind of blurred. Like I knew Max, 28 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: you know, uh and his brother Alex before they worked 29 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,559 Speaker 1: for us, and now we just get to hang out more. 30 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: And uh, you guys, are you guys in particular not 31 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: a ding on anyone else who work with but you 32 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: guys in particular is such a such a gift to 33 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: this show. And I'm always grateful to hang out. So um, 34 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: the gift that keeps on giving, but not like in 35 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: the Herpes kind of way, right, and not in like 36 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,519 Speaker 1: the not in the short form animation gift way though, 37 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: the gift that keeps on gifting I think would be 38 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: interesting anyway. So if it didn't gift, it wouldn't if 39 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: it didn't keep on gifting, it wouldn't be a proper gift. 40 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: That is a very good point, Noel, That is a 41 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: very good point. So we're gonna be talking about some 42 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: very good points today with some help from one of 43 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: our excellent research associates and Mr Zach Williams. When previously 44 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: we left you without a dope beat two step too, 45 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: we were talking about the end of the world as 46 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: imagined by a man named William Millard now Noel Max. 47 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: When we ended part one, we had set up some 48 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: pretty in depth context about Miller's origin story and about 49 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: his move from a small town preacher to a man 50 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: obsessed with calculating the return of Jesus Christ, to his 51 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: role as a pop culture phenomenon of the time. Really 52 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: he was a superstar. Uh, And things got incredibly um oh, 53 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: they just escalated as he got closer and closer to 54 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: his imagined prediction the second Coming of Christ. But man 55 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: wet teased, we teased, how um how other denominations established 56 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: Christian denominations started to clap back at Miller because, like 57 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: where we leave off, let's see, churches started saying, if 58 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: you're a traveling preacher and you talk about Millerism, you 59 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: can't preach here. And then they started cracking down on 60 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: people who, um, who are just church members who might 61 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: read newspapers or pamphlets about Millers and I mean and 62 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: in a doomsday theology by any other name is still 63 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: as is depressing. Maybe they didn't call it Millerism directly 64 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,839 Speaker 1: or claimed to be miller Rites, Like I kind of wonder, like, 65 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: would you even claim that it would be more just 66 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: kind of like you know, uh, something people would understand 67 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: based on what your theology is. I don't know you 68 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: necessarily even make that some sort of badge that you'd 69 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: wear around. But I imagine that anyone starting to preach 70 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: these end times kind of prophecies would start to be 71 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: ostracized to some degree. In fact, there's a great example 72 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: of a church elder by the name of Levi Stockman 73 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: who absolutely refused to stop preaching this doom and gloom stuff, 74 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: I mean Doom's Day and glooms Day stuff, I guess. 75 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: And this, this this went hard in terms of like 76 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: church leaders and in the way these these folks who 77 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: are these hardliner Millerites retreated. He fell deathly ill with 78 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: with the consumption. Then you described it as as the 79 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: doc holiday disease. He was our he was our huckleberry, 80 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: somebody's huckleberry. He was at the very least the huckleberry 81 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: of his wife and child who were in desperate danger 82 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: of being left penniless because the church officials, you know, 83 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,600 Speaker 1: he was an elder of the church who was therefore 84 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: kind of his livelihood was tied to their rulings, were 85 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: threatening to you know, strip him of his pension if 86 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: he didn't stop talking all that job, yeah, which meant 87 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: that his wife and his children would not have any 88 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: pension benefits, all but condemning them to the poorhouse. Yet 89 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: Stockman stuck to his ideological theological guns and as a 90 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: result he was expelled from the ministry officially, and just 91 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: a few weeks later he died of consumption. This this 92 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: is one example that shows us the larger, the larger horizon. 93 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: Here by the summer of eighteen three, Millerite Adventist and 94 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: the more established Protestant denominations of Christianity are at loggerheads. 95 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: They're super tense, and a lot of Adventists, many of 96 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: whom already had like their own membership and an established denomination. Right, 97 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: they might be like Methodists, they might be Protestants, but 98 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: they're also Millerites, and they started saying, well, should we 99 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: get out of our membership with our current denomination. They 100 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: almost did, but an announcement went out in one of 101 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: those publications that we talked about in part one. This 102 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: one was called the Signs of the Times, and it 103 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:57,239 Speaker 1: encouraged them to stay put, and it said, look, don't 104 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: run away, because you are already embedded in this community. 105 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: So stay there, and while you're there, start talking about Millerism, 106 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: start talking about how Jesus Christ is on the way 107 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: and very soon. We want to thank lineage journey dot 108 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: com for their excellent article a snapshot of the Millerite 109 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: movement from eighteen thirty nine to eighteen forty four. No 110 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: spoilers just yet. Uh. And you would think the Millerite 111 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: apparatus suing for peace would have maybe calm those tensions somewhat, 112 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: but it wasn't. It wasn't enough. That's why things like 113 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: the Congregational Journal, another publication, went out on August twelfth, 114 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: eighteen forty three, and put this hit piece out on 115 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: the front page that said, look, the second advent God 116 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: Spool is malarkey. And then later that year, also eighteen 117 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: forty three, they published an article by Nathaniel Wells that 118 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: was a takedown of everything Miller had written about and 119 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: lectured about. And this became a smear campaign. Honestly, regardless 120 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: of what you think about Christianity or or differences between denominations, 121 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: there was no real civil discussion of his weird math 122 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: that we mentioned earlier, or his his philosophically. No one 123 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 1: was talking about that. No one was adding up the numbers. Instead, 124 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: they were jumping to third base and saying, look, all 125 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: these Millerites, any second Adventist is a fanatic. Their leaders 126 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: are dangerous to society. They want you to think the 127 00:08:54,200 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: world is ending, and they're mad, they're lunatics. Yeah, I mean, 128 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: you know it's it's I kind of get it. Just 129 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: you know, it's like, can we find some silver lining here, 130 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:10,719 Speaker 1: especially given that like the dude was just kind of 131 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 1: digging looking for he was kind of what you call 132 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: that Ben, when you like sort of have like a 133 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: a an outcome that you're sort of searching for, Uh, 134 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: you find ways of of of finding the information that 135 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,360 Speaker 1: validates your your pre your foregone conclusion confirmation bias. Yeah, 136 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: nail on that, that's the one. Would you would you 137 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,319 Speaker 1: agree there's a little bit of that going on with Miller? 138 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: I mean, or or do you think he? I can't 139 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: remember exactly didn't he sort of like always have a 140 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: bit of a doomsday mindset around religion, or did he 141 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: just figure that he he felt like he cracked the code. Yeah, 142 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit of column a little bit 143 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: of column B. Because he was originally more of a 144 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,199 Speaker 1: deist when he was introduced to the idea of a 145 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: god who made everything right, a god who exists who 146 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: made everything. But it's sort of too high level now 147 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: to be con earned with the day to day stuff. 148 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: And then when he had his crisis of faith and 149 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 1: he encountered these revelations, he became obsessed with figuring out 150 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:17,559 Speaker 1: exactly when the messionic figure Jesus Christ Jesus H. Christ 151 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: by some accounts, uh, mostly mostly stand up comics would return. 152 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: And uh, And so I think that we see established 153 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: denominations grappling with a couple of issues here. First, this 154 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: takes away socio political control from these established denominations, and 155 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: yeah it is in second, if it's all gonna come 156 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: crashing down anyway, then what's the point. And like, why 157 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: believe one over another in terms of like, you know, 158 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: them being able to exercise control over this earthly realm. 159 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: If you put all the emphasis on the afterlife exclusively. 160 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,559 Speaker 1: Then how are you going to control old people and 161 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: amend them to your will? Right? Right? So why do 162 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: I need to put uh ten percent tythe on my 163 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: income to build a church that's not being constructed intol eight, 164 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: you know what I mean? So this is a problem 165 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: for them. But I would argue secondly, there's also the 166 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: issue of there there's also the issue of putting an 167 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: expiration date on things, right, And it's an expiration date 168 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: we have to remember that's coming very soon. And this 169 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:35,479 Speaker 1: was making no mistakes, sowing some amount of chaos in society. 170 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: There was one, this anonymous report. We couldn't really find 171 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,559 Speaker 1: the specifics here, but according to the Dartmouth article we 172 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 1: looked at in part one, there was supposedly a selectman 173 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: a committee member in some town in New Hampshire. This 174 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: is a secular, you know, local municipal thing. He was 175 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: a miller, right, and he resigned. He quit his job 176 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: and said, look, I need to spend the rest of 177 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: the year getting my affairs in order for the end 178 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: of the world. Imagine quitting your job for the end 179 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: of the world. Imagine like imagine we get an email 180 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: or a text from Max one day and Max says, hey, guys, 181 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: I've been reading some stuff. I've been on some blogs, 182 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure the world as we know it 183 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: is ending in September. So I'm gonna just take some 184 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: time and play sky Rim what once more, get my 185 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: house in order? All right, my sky ramows guys, I 186 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: I guess you haven't picked up on that, but you 187 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: know I'm disappearing in September. I'm going off to Seattle 188 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: in Portland. I mean, I wasn't gonna come on straight 189 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: forward and stays to freak you guys out, but you 190 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:56,960 Speaker 1: know there there might be a reason behind that. Guys. 191 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna put a pin in this for now. 192 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 1: We're gonna have a suit Arius talk off air. But 193 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: in the meantime, Ben, this is where I start asking 194 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 1: myself the question of what differentiates a religion from a cult. 195 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: When you start talking about these sort of like doomsday 196 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: cults and people that are rallying around they perceived end 197 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: of the world and it is sort of more of 198 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: a niche kind of thing, is that what you'd consider 199 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,559 Speaker 1: a cult? Are we starting to get into more cult 200 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: like territory here that is maybe more rallying around a 201 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: single figure. Also, as we know, cults don't necessarily have 202 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: to rally around a single figure. You can rally around 203 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: like an idea. Um, what do you think though, is 204 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: is this is this sort of an example of an 205 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: early version of kind of a doomsday cult. That's a 206 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,000 Speaker 1: great question. Yeah, it's uh one of early America's very 207 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,959 Speaker 1: first doomsday movements for sure. And I'm so glad you asked, because, um, 208 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: you know, we've worked extensively on stuff they wants you 209 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: to know. Another show we do investigating various cults, like 210 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: add nonok Tars sex cult in Turkey that's out now. 211 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: We've also looked at how colts are formed, and one 212 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: big misconception about cults is that they always are oriented 213 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: around a religious belief. Multi level marketing schemes can be cults. 214 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: Life coaching groups and fitness groups can be cults. Uh No, 215 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: ding on you CrossFit just don't feel like after email us. 216 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: And one thing that's interesting, this is a little bit 217 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: of a tangent, but if you want to understand cults, 218 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:40,320 Speaker 1: I would say look toward tactics rather than ideology. The 219 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: ideology is fluid and it does the ideology doesn't really matter. 220 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: One of the best analyzes of what creates a cult 221 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: is something called the BITE model, which was created by 222 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: Steve Hassan, and it's really a model for authoritarian control. 223 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: What differentiates a cult from a legion, I would say 224 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: would be the tactics applied the authoritarian control. BITE stands 225 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: for behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional control. 226 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: And you can read a full list of of what 227 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: that means, but they're all the hits. Separation from your family, 228 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, separation from information from the 229 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: outside world, the idea of thought crime, the idea of 230 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: manipulating the ranges of emotions that people or followers can 231 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: experience without being punished. I actually I will put this 232 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: in our chat because this is such a great link 233 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: for everyone. And if you feel a friend is involved 234 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: in a cultic organization of some sort, look at the 235 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: bite bite model and see what kind of control is 236 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: being exercised upon them. But it's funny though, because they 237 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: were talking about you know again, like sometimes there's a 238 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: little bit of confusion between like what is a religion 239 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: versus what is a cult? And Uh, to me, it's 240 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: like if people are leaving a more let's say traditional religion, 241 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: like a regular Protestant Christianity and going for this like 242 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: Adventist Millerism, that could ostracize them from their families. They 243 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: could be you know, treated as outsiders and shunned and 244 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: fully be like all about that. It's like, it's fine, 245 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: you know, it's gonna change my life, but I'm gonna 246 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: I'm putting my money where my mouth is and I'm 247 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: committing to this. So what we don't necessarily have specific 248 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: examples of this per se outside of this elder you 249 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: know who's he ultimately died um as a result of 250 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: his belief system. So it's a little I don't know, 251 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: maybe we'll put a pin in that one too, because 252 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: I think it's a it's more of an interesting question 253 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: than it is something that we necessarily have an answer for. Because, 254 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: as we know, many religious movements some people call cults, 255 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: other people call like, you know, religious community or religious movements. 256 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: So it is it is a little bit of a 257 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: kind of gray area sometime. But Ben, do you have 258 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: an opinion on whether Millerism is a cult or just 259 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: an offshoot of a religious movement. Yeah, that's a good question. Um, 260 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: I think I will also put a pin in that, 261 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: because it's a bit of a sticky wicket. Maybe you, 262 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: fellow ridiculous historians, can give us your take at the end. 263 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: We have some plot twist ahead. I would say that 264 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: another like definition of a cult that I just sort 265 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: of made up along the years is really it's a 266 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: matter of time, right, because you know, one person's cult 267 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 1: is another person's revealed religion with a tomb and everything. 268 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: So maybe maybe you're a cult until you make it 269 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: past the first two hundred years or something like that. 270 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:49,959 Speaker 1: Again totally made up, but but okay, so we know that. Um, 271 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: we know that there were other reports of people leaving 272 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: their day to day lives. The Sentinel reported uh that 273 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: same year that two Justice commissions who were working in 274 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: New Hampshire also left their jobs. And we're supposed to 275 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: join up with the Millerites and said, hey, the world's ending, 276 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: I don't need to go to work anymore. You know, 277 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: it gets really ugly too, because people started saying that 278 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: this Millerite movement or Millerism was also responsible for suicides. 279 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: They were saying, some people are so certain that the 280 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,440 Speaker 1: world is ending that they are taking their own lives. 281 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: But as you and I found nol this was often 282 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: not based on uh not based on really solid evidence. 283 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: We actually have an excerpt from the Boston Evening Journal 284 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: which was reprinted by the Sentinel. That's right. The headline 285 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 1: is end of the World died in Pelham, New Hampshire. 286 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: John H. Shortage, aged about fifty five. Mr s was 287 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: formerly a merchant of respectable standing in Portsmouth, but by 288 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: misfortunes in business, had suffered much from almost incessant mental derangement. 289 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,399 Speaker 1: On the day of his death, he was imagining the 290 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: time of the Second Advent was to take place. He 291 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,120 Speaker 1: had a garb made for the occasion, and with this 292 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: he was waiting until became impatient. He climbed to the 293 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: top of a high tree. There, mantled at his long 294 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: white ascension robe. He made one aspiring effort but was 295 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 1: precipitated to the ground and instantly died from a broken neck. Okay, 296 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: once again, whenever we read these kinds of things on 297 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: the show been I'm just always taken by the ass 298 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: around the elbow approach to get to like a really 299 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: simple thing. It's like ed he fell out of a 300 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: tree and died, and instead it's there mantled in his 301 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: long wide ascension robe. He made one aspiring effort but 302 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: was precipitated to the ground and instantly died from a 303 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: broken neck. I mean, I'm saying I think it's wonderful, 304 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: but it is funny to see the the literary gymnastics 305 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: that that happens sometimes in these older like editorial pieces. 306 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they're feeling themselves for sure. I agree. Also 307 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: that snarky last sentence that says maybe he was jumping, 308 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: maybe he was trying to fly to heaven. That's really 309 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: rude to someone who has died, Yes, exactly now, it's 310 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: the subtext is dripping with with sarka. And this also 311 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,919 Speaker 1: props to the Sentinel because they did say this was 312 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: doubted by the local paper. They're in Portsmouth and Portsmouth Journal. 313 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: But stories like this they get eyeballs. People like reading 314 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: about these things. Is this same reason people slow down 315 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: to watch car accidents in traffic Today these stories were 316 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: reprinted across the Northeast. And again we've talked in the 317 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: past about how the big red meat will run on 318 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,160 Speaker 1: the cover of a newspaper on Monday, and the retraction 319 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,639 Speaker 1: or correction will be in the back of the newspaper. 320 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,160 Speaker 1: On Tuesday, and no one will read it, so nobody's 321 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: really fact checking these, and nobody bothered to look into 322 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 1: the background of the people who were allegedly committing suicide. 323 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: For this, It's kind of like when you hear the 324 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: old argument about video games making people violent or something, 325 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: or music making people violent. What you see in a 326 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: lot of those cases is the person who committed an 327 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: act of violence was already maybe not in the best 328 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: place mentally, right, and they just happened to play a 329 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,919 Speaker 1: video game, or they happened to enjoy a certain genre 330 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: of music. Yeah, some people just need a little push 331 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: off the cliff or out of a tree. Um. It 332 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: really is kind of something that was probably going to 333 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,399 Speaker 1: happen one way or another sooner and or later, and 334 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: then it's easy to craft and narrow around it, which 335 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: is clearly what was happening, because all of these suicides 336 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: were beginning to be kind of placed on the shoulders 337 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: of Miller, based almost entirely on like anecdotal evidence, like 338 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: the kind of thing we just saw reprinted. And then 339 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: people realize, publishers and journalists realized that they could sell 340 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: a lot of papers doing this, and this exacerbated the problem. 341 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 1: You know that all journalistic catchphrase it falls out of trees, 342 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:33,640 Speaker 1: it leads, Yeah, or one of the popular statements that 343 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: papers throughout New England which said that Miller frightened old 344 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: women by scores into fits and young you know, old 345 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: children half out of their wits. Uh great. Yeah, So 346 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,360 Speaker 1: so we know a little bit about human psychology, which 347 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,719 Speaker 1: hasn't changed for thousands and thousands of years. Obviously, we 348 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:58,439 Speaker 1: always say people throughout history were just as smart and 349 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: as vulnerable as the of us tuning in today. Well, 350 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: because I mean, you know, I remember growing up in 351 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: the Methodist Church, and I went through a period of 352 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: being terrified of of of going to hell, and of 353 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: of the devil and sin and all that stuff. And 354 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: then you you kind of goes even further and the 355 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: guilt gets piled on even harder with like Catholicism and 356 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: the idea of you know, God being this kind of 357 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: vengeful God. But this really like you know, takes the 358 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: cake in terms of like striking fear into the hearts 359 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: of followers, right, I mean it's like, not only do 360 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: you have to worry about the afterlife, you kind of 361 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,120 Speaker 1: gotta worry about fire and brimstone coming here to where 362 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: you live, Like it's almost like a war is coming. 363 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: I just can't imagine living with that, you know, kind 364 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: of like it. I think some people probably took it 365 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: as a comfort in some ways and wanted others to 366 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 1: know and repent, because they believe the only way to 367 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: save your soul is to repent in advance of this 368 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,439 Speaker 1: apocalypse of this you know, uh, this doomsday. But I 369 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: just can't imagine it like being a very pleasant existence. No, yeah, 370 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: it's a it's a hard sell to write act now. 371 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 1: But what what you're talking about with your early time 372 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: in the church reminds me of a a personal story. 373 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: I will share it. It's quite brief. When I was 374 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,360 Speaker 1: a kid, for a time I was, I was forced 375 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 1: to attend a church I won't name the denomination, and 376 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: I think I just didn't pick up the right vibe 377 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: they were trying to convey because when I learned that, 378 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: I learned that Jesus Christ and again this is not 379 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: dinging on Christians, is dinging on me as a stupid kid. 380 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: I learned that there was this guy named Jesus Christ, 381 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: and at one day in your life, he would find you, 382 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 1: he would get you, he would change you. And before then, 383 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: the only creatures I had heard capable of doing this 384 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: sort of stuff we're boogeim in. So I used to 385 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 1: stay up at night thinking Jesus Christ could be anywhere. 386 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 1: He could be in my closet, he could be under 387 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: my bed, and I couldn't let my guard down because 388 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: he would get me. That wouldn't be me anymore. Um, 389 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: picture young ben bolan U with the uh Sunday school 390 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,439 Speaker 1: teacher trying to figure out how to both correct, reassure, 391 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: and at the same time punish this wildly paranoid child. 392 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: What the patients of a saint, Well, that's the Sunday 393 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 1: school teacher at least. But the reason we're bringing up 394 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: psychology and bring up psychology because we know that in general, 395 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: when people have beliefs that are emotionally based and very 396 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: close to what they see as their identity, attacking those 397 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 1: beliefs doesn't tend to get them to question those beliefs. 398 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,239 Speaker 1: It makes them double down. So it should be no 399 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: surprise that attacks on people who believed in Millerism only 400 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 1: made them double down. They went further into the extremities 401 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: of their school of thought they started as a result 402 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: of this persecution in the press and the smear campaigns. 403 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: They the Millerites started writing to Miller, finding him button 404 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: holding him in person, and saying, look, we need more 405 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:19,680 Speaker 1: details about exactly when Jesus is returning. And by this 406 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,399 Speaker 1: time in eighty three they thought they finally got their answer. 407 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: They narrowed the date down to a specific day, which 408 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: Miller had not done before. He had only made a 409 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: window of time when he was pressed for it. And 410 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: so it came to pass that after a few different 411 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:45,959 Speaker 1: pitches and brainstorming, the Millerite movement believed that Jesus Christ 412 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: would return to Earth on October twenty two, eighteen forty four. 413 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: And by this time there were somewhere between fifty thousand 414 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: to a hundred thousand active Miller rights in the US 415 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: and in Canada. Most of them were in England and 416 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: New York. So imagine all of a sudden, You're not 417 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: a Miller right, right, but all of a sudden you here. 418 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:16,240 Speaker 1: It's like a hundred thousand people coming in unison and saying, 419 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,920 Speaker 1: oh watch out. October twenty two, eighteen forty four, that's 420 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 1: when it goes down. They've got their expiration date. And 421 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: this is I think what we were teasing earlier and all, 422 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: if the world ended in October of eighteen forty four, 423 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: how on earth are we here in a making this podcast? Yeah, 424 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:39,880 Speaker 1: I mean somebody what we whisk the expression even using 425 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: ben sort of weird math um. Again, it's sort of 426 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 1: a hallmark of a lot of these kind of doomsday 427 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: theologies where there's uh an end date, you know, an 428 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: expiration date for humanity. Inevitably, you gotta pass it. Things 429 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: don't go as expected, you gotta find a way to 430 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: pass the buck and say, oh, here is it was 431 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: an honest mistake. And here's why. The biggest and funniest 432 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,199 Speaker 1: version of this, I think is in the Church of 433 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: the sub Genius, which is a fake cult, a mock cult. 434 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: But then again, it's one of these ones that has 435 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 1: taken on such a life of its own that some 436 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: people are really into it. Um. It's it's all kind 437 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: of a satirical sort of like back in Alien kind 438 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: of society of of folks that like to you know, 439 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: smoke a lot of weed and live kind of openly 440 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: hippie sort of sexual lives and and do these weird 441 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: parties they have called X Day and different like gatherings 442 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: every year, multiple ones across the country. Um, but their profit. 443 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,160 Speaker 1: You know, Bob Dobbs Jr. Bob Dobbs, he he had 444 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: a doomsday prediction as well, or at least when the 445 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: these aliens are gonna come and and you know, bring 446 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: all the sub genius up into their mothership. Maybe I'm 447 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: giving this not quite right, but the point is they 448 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: justified it with oh is he was looking at it 449 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: upside down, and then so if you look at it 450 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: right side up, the date becomes or what it should 451 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: have been that day becomes like thousands of years in 452 00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: the future. So it's easy. That was an easy one 453 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: to pass the buck with, right. And this was a 454 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: social crisis in the United States and to a degree 455 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: in Canada at the time because spoiler alert, folks, Miller's 456 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: calculations seem to be incorrect. And we've had well more 457 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: than a century to think about that. Uh. As far 458 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: as we can tell, there was not a second coming 459 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: on Occouber twenty second, eighteen forty four. This became something 460 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: called the Great Disappointment. When I say social crisis, what 461 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: we mean is that numerous people gave up their farms, 462 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: they quit their jobs, they sold off their earthly possessions. 463 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: They thought they were on a one way ticket to heaven. 464 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 1: There were women in Worcester, Massachusetts who were giving away 465 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: their jewelry, They were getting rid of their clothing, they 466 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: cut off their hair are a lot of Miller Rights 467 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: started making these white gowns for themselves and sadly shades 468 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: of heaven. Heaven's Gate another cult that would come much later. 469 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: They called these gowns ascension robes. People in Groton, Massachusetts 470 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: actually climbed nearby Mount Wassachusetts to await the Second Coming, 471 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: and there was you know, they're heartbreaking human interest stories. 472 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: There was one older guy in Harvard, mass who couldn't 473 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: get all the way up to the mountain due to 474 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: some physical restrictions, so he climbed to the top of 475 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: the tallest apple tree he owned. Uh And there were 476 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: so many stories of people throughout New England climbing on rooftops, 477 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: any peak of natural elevation, just so it could be 478 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: in their mind easier to lift them to the sky, 479 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: all of them waiting for October. October passes. You'll see 480 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: that a lot of people in Austin, Hartford, Cincinnati, Pennsylvania, 481 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: on and on they were waiting in various places for 482 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: the end of the world in the Second Coming, and 483 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: a lot of them got together on the twenty three 484 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: October because there was still some debate about the exact day, 485 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: and they said, maybe it'll be you know, just like 486 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 1: people today who are waiting on a delivery in the 487 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: mail during the pandemic. They're like, well, maybe it's like 488 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: you know, heavenly supply chain issue. So midnight comes, don comes, noon, 489 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: maybe sundown, and the days passed uneventfully. Some people wait 490 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: for multiple days, and some of them, just like you said, no, 491 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: some of them start to say, well, we've got a regroup. 492 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,520 Speaker 1: Everybody's making fun of us, and were we feel pretty down. 493 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 1: Miller himself, by the way, is still alive and he's 494 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: been game. Okay, maybe I got some part of the 495 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: math wrong, you know what I mean, because again, he 496 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,479 Speaker 1: really believed in this. He wasn't trying to get I know, 497 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,239 Speaker 1: and I know I've been sort of toying with that 498 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: idea and and in experimenting with this whole idea of 499 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: like the huckster versus the true believer, and uh, it's true, 500 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: he really wasn't getting trying to get money. And then 501 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess it's true. I guess you're right. 502 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: He really did. But he really was a true believer. Um, 503 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: he really did think he cracked some kind of you know, 504 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 1: mystical code, and he just wanted to spread the word 505 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: of what he knew. So he really was trying to, 506 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: like to understand what went wrong. Yeah, he really was. 507 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: And he would continue waiting for the end of the 508 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 1: world until he passes away in eighteen forty nine. But 509 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: as this happens, this thing we call the Great Disappointment, 510 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: We've got to go back to our great pr man 511 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: propagandist Joshua V. Himes, who really pulled the levers of 512 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: mass media to popular as Millerism. He continued publishing The 513 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: Advent Herald well into the eighteen fifties, and then he 514 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: went west and became an Episcopal priest. I believe for 515 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: a lot of people when this day came and passed, 516 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: it was this tremendous, bitter disappointment, almost a tragedy beyond words. 517 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: They felt they had given up everything for their religion, 518 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: and in a secular sense they very much had, and 519 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 1: they started praying. You can read again from the excellent 520 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: Dartmouth College Library bulletin article The End of the World 521 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: by Gary Waite, You can read in full a recounting 522 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: of this that sounds a lot like a prayer, Come 523 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,120 Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, and come quickly. But he did not come. 524 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: And now to turn again to the cares, perplexities and 525 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: dangers of life, and full view of jeering and reviling 526 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: u leavers who scoffed as never before, was a terrible 527 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: trial of faith and patience. When Elder Himes visited Waterbury, Vermont, 528 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,319 Speaker 1: a short time after the passing of the time and 529 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 1: stated that the Brethren should prepare for another cold winter, 530 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,480 Speaker 1: my feelings were almost uncontrollable. I left the place of 531 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,799 Speaker 1: meeting and wept like a child. And this was an 532 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 1: experience shared by many people following the Millerite movement. William Miller, 533 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 1: for himself, did not He was confused, but he he 534 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: didn't give up his faith, his certitude that the second 535 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:40,600 Speaker 1: coming of Christ could be predicted, and he held this 536 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: belief despite public ridicule in the years that followed, all 537 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: the way to his death on December twenty eight, forty nine. 538 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,399 Speaker 1: On his gravestone is the inscription, but go thou thy 539 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: way till the end be for thou shalt rest and 540 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,760 Speaker 1: stand in thy lots at the end of days, which 541 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: as many of us in the audience may recognize, is 542 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,799 Speaker 1: from Daniel twelve thirteen. It might surprise you now at 543 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:11,520 Speaker 1: this point, folks, to realize that Adventist theology has continued. 544 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 1: The movement fell apart. Joshua Vie Himes tried to raise 545 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 1: money for people had given away all their stuff. William 546 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: Miller died largely forgotten, but a mill wright, a teenager 547 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: from Maine named Ellen White, continued to preach a version 548 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: of Adventist thought, and her followers, at first were called Sabbatarians. 549 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty three they formed something called the Seventh 550 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: Day Adventist Church. And this group is around today and 551 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,840 Speaker 1: it's bigger than Millerism ever. Was there nineteen million members 552 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Yeah, it's again. That's 553 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: where I was familiar outside of advent calendar as the 554 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 1: idea of being an Adventist from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 555 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: But I didn't really know much about what their their 556 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: beliefs were. So this was super interesting and educational, I 557 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,080 Speaker 1: think for for for all of us. But here's the thing. 558 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 1: It's another one of those examples of like, okay, the 559 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:15,000 Speaker 1: date it passes, but it can also lead to other conversations. 560 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,240 Speaker 1: So the exact date of the Second Advent was revised 561 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: a couple of times. So you might point to critics 562 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,800 Speaker 1: of of the movement saying that, well, I mean, we 563 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: passed Miller's prediction. Therefore the whole thing was bunk. And 564 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: then the guy, you know, was was a fraud, or 565 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,479 Speaker 1: at the very least was not keyed into the Holy 566 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 1: Spirit in the way that he may have thought. Miller's 567 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: year of the Second Advent came with the appearance of 568 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 1: a very visible and uh and brilliant comment. Uh. It 569 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: was it was, you know, one of these things that 570 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: was like an event, you know, on planet Earth at 571 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: the time when people really didn't understand much about the 572 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,879 Speaker 1: movement of of this of the spheres, or at least 573 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,120 Speaker 1: in so much as they do today. Yeah, And this was, 574 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: by the way, a these revisions come about partially because 575 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: people were committing a sunk cost fallacy. They had already 576 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,439 Speaker 1: gotten rid of all their stuff, you know what I mean, 577 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: They had become convinced that they were right. They had certitude, 578 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: and when this didn't come to pass, they were parodied. 579 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: They had to, in many ways start life over again. 580 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,799 Speaker 1: This was a great disappointment. It was a great disappointment 581 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: for William Miller himself. He was still convinced the end 582 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: was near, but as as we said earlier, he thought 583 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 1: maybe he had made a slight miscalculation. The error was 584 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,919 Speaker 1: not divinity, the error was human on his part. So 585 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: he wrote this letter to his pal Himes and a 586 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:52,280 Speaker 1: general address to his followers, and he apologized. He apologized 587 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,960 Speaker 1: in a very sincere way, and he added a poem, 588 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 1: and we thought that would be a nice place to end. 589 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: It's a little bit long, so I think we're gonna 590 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: double dragon. Uh no, you want to do the honors here, 591 00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: and let's just like really lean into the emotional depth. 592 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,359 Speaker 1: Will you say? Two lines apiece, days and even number. Yeah, 593 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: let's try how tedious and lonesome the hours while Jesus, 594 00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: my savior delays, I have sought him in Solitude's bowers 595 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: and looked for him all the long days, Yet he lingers, 596 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: I pray, tell me why his chariots no sooner returns 597 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 1: to see him in clouds in the sky. My soul 598 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:47,279 Speaker 1: with intensity burdens. I longed to be with him at home, 599 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:52,840 Speaker 1: my heart swallowed up in his love on the fields 600 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:58,920 Speaker 1: of New Eden, to room and to dwell with my savior. 601 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:05,959 Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's that's powerful stuff. And let's we're leaning 602 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: into the reading. Is it's fun? We're not mocking the Uh, 603 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,960 Speaker 1: it's it's just it's fun to do. Uh. This kind 604 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 1: of writing lends itself to this sort of reading. And 605 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: that's where we leave it for today. This is a 606 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,920 Speaker 1: really interesting two part episode on the history of I 607 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 1: guess one of America's first doomsday theologies. Is it a cult? 608 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,960 Speaker 1: Is it just a niche religion? It's certainly your Seventh 609 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:33,880 Speaker 1: day Adventist. Can't really call niche? What I believe? What 610 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:38,400 Speaker 1: did we say? Ben? Nineteen million followers? Uh, that is 611 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: is pretty pretty massive. So why don't you let us know? 612 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: We have ways that you can contact us. In fact, 613 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: um Ben and I both exist on the Internet as 614 00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:48,960 Speaker 1: individual human people, and if you send it to one 615 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:50,919 Speaker 1: of us, we share it with each other and we'll 616 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:53,000 Speaker 1: we'll write back to you. You can find me on 617 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,240 Speaker 1: Instagram where I am at How now Noel Brown. Ben's 618 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,560 Speaker 1: got a couple other ways, one of which might be 619 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:00,600 Speaker 1: one of the best ways to to reach out in 620 00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:06,040 Speaker 1: terms of a tweet goodness. Yes, i am on Instagram 621 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: at Ben Bowling bo w l I N where you 622 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: can learn more about some stuff that I can't quite 623 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,560 Speaker 1: say on air. But I've got a ton of secret 624 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: projects on the way. If you are more of a 625 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 1: Twitter Twitter native, then you can find me at Ben 626 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,759 Speaker 1: Bowling hs W on Twitter, where I don't need a 627 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: voice to contact people, and I love to hear from 628 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,240 Speaker 1: all our fellow ridiculous historians. The big what Corporate America 629 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: we call the value add for hitting me up on 630 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: Twitter is that you will also be able to find 631 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: the one and only Mr Max Williams. Yes, you can 632 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,399 Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at a t L underscore Max Williams. Well, yeah, 633 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: you'll see all my fun activities and trolling of Ben 634 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,800 Speaker 1: and stuff. Okay, great, Yes, So come for the tweets, 635 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:57,400 Speaker 1: stay for the trolling as Noel, Max and I figure 636 00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,440 Speaker 1: out what our own prediction for the end of the 637 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 1: world is. In the meantime, we can't wait for you 638 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,319 Speaker 1: to join us again, folks, where we're going to talk 639 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: about some very unethical shenanigans. Uncle Sam got up to 640 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,240 Speaker 1: in our own St. Louis, Missouri. Thanks as always the Max, 641 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: thanks to our composer, Mr Alex Williams, and again special 642 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,439 Speaker 1: thanks to you knowl and you Max for bearing with 643 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:25,240 Speaker 1: me when I thought I would I would be mute. 644 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:28,359 Speaker 1: I'm glad you won that particular battle with the Sea 645 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:32,960 Speaker 1: Witch this time down, so we mean there's that golden voice, 646 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 1: that golden blessing. See you next time, folks. For more 647 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 648 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,720 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,