Debunking 2520 "Prophecy" SERIES: Obsessed with 1843 Chart

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, 

and lie not against the truth.

James 3:14

"The 1843 prophetic chart was the power point that was used by the Advent Movement evangelists leading up to 1844. It contained several of the key historical events from Daniel and Revelation with their respective dates. In the upper right hand corner of the chart was the so called prophecy of the 2520. 

Those who believe that there is a 2520 prophecy have claimed that Ellen White endorsed the 1843 chart and therefore she also endorsed the 2520 prophecy that was on the chart:

“I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them; that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until His hand was removed.” Early Writings, p.74.

This statement makes clear that some of the figures in the 1843 chart were mistaken because it was God’s will that it be so. But why would the hand of God cover a mistake in their calculations? 

Ellen White explains the reason: 

“I saw the people of God joyful in expectation, looking for their Lord. But God designed to prove them. His hand covered a mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. Those who were looking for their Lord did not discover this mistake and the most learned men who opposed the time also failed to see it. God designed that His people should meet with a disappointment [in 1843]. The time passed, and those who had looked with joyful expectation for their Savior were sad and disheartened, while those who had not loved the appearing of Jesus, but embraced the message through fear, were pleased that He did not come at the time of expectation. Their profession had not affected the heart and purified the life. The passing of the time was well calculated to reveal such hearts. They were the first to turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed ones who really loved the appearing of their Savior. I saw the wisdom of God in proving His people and giving them a searching test to discover those who would shrink and turn back in the hour of trial.” Early Writings, pp. 235, 236.

 

Millerites themselves after the people were disappointed because

Jesus did not come in 1843. The alteration took place between 1843 and 1844 when the Millerites realized that they had not taken into account the ‘year zero’.....the Millerites studied inspiration (the Bible) and realized their mistake. 

In other words, when the faithful ones were disappointed when Jesus did not come in 1843, they went to inspiration (the Bible) and discovered the reason for their mistake and as a result the chart was altered. The date was thus changed by inspiration. When they realized that there was no ‘year zero’ the date was changed from 1843 to 1844.

 

James White examined the inspired evidence from Scripture for the 2520 and found it wanting. Ellen White could have rebuked her husband’s repudiation of the 2520 and yet she did not.
Thus the Spirit of Prophecy thus indirectly reaffirmed what James White had discovered from his study of inspiration. 

 

--By not repudiating her husband’s clear article on the 2520  

--and by stating that the prophecy of the 2300 days is the longest in the Bible Ellen White tacitly agreed with her husband. 

 

*After all, if the 2300 day prophecy was the longest, then the 2520 which is clearly longer was no prophecy at all!"

Stephen Bohr