
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 19, 1993                   TAG: 9305190613
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

UNWANTED PUBLICITY FOR DENOMINATION

IN HIS APRIL 22 commentary ("When religion clashes with evil, who draws the line?") about the Waco nightmare, Professor Marshall Fishwick gives an interesting history of cults and notes that many developed out of religious movements throughout history.

As a retired Seventh-day Adventist minister, I was interested in his comments on the Millerite movement of the 1830s and 1840s. They believed that the second coming of Christ and the end of the world would occur in 1843 or 1844. Fishwick gives the wrong date as Oct. 24, 1844 for the end of the world, but the Millerite date was Oct. 22, 1844. Other followers chose this date, not William Miller.

The commentary states that the Millerite followers renamed themselves Seventh-day Adventists. After Oct. 22, 1844, some Millerites returned to churches they had left, and others gave up religion entirely. For a brief time, they were called Evangelical Adventists. Other Millerites became part of the Advent Christian Church, and still others were part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was organized in 1863.

David Koresh took leadership of the Branch Davidians in 1984. They broke off from the Shepherd's Rod and later called themselves Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. The Shepherd's Rod was organized in 1937. Their leader had been "dis-fellowshipped" from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1930.

It is interesting that Seventh-day Adventist get a great deal of publicity from the Branch Davidians. We are thankful that those who know us do not confuse us with many of the strange teachings and practices of the Branch Davidians. JOHN W. McGRAW VINTON

by CNB