Church Heritage

A Pathfinder Honor offered by the

Florida Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist Youth Department

Power Point developed by J. Roger Huff, MG, PLA

Arkansas/Louisiana Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist 2009
 1. What were the three
spectacular signs in the natural
world that pointed to the coming
of Christ? ( in 1755, 1780, and 1833 )
Ellen G. White says
"These signs were witnessed before the opening
of the nineteenth century. In fulfillment of this
prophecy there occurred, in the year 1755, the most
terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded.
Though commonly known as the earthquake of
Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe,
Africa, and America." Great Controversy, p. 304.

Does the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755 compare to the one described
in Revelation 6 with mountains and islands moving out of their places and the
Kings of the earth hiding in caves and rocks?
THE DARK DAY:
The 19th of May, 1780, was a remarkable day. Candles
were lighted in many houses; the birds were silent and
disappeared, and the fowls retired to roost. The legislature of
Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very general
opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The
house of Representatives, being unable to transact their
business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the Council was
under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel Davenport
was asked, he answered, "I am against an adjournment. The
day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not,
there is no cause of an adjournment: if it is, I choose to be
found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be
brought."
 Stars Fall From Heaven

"And the stars shall fall from

heaven." Matthew 24:29

The great star shower took

place on the night of November
13, 1833. It was so bright
that a newspaper could be
read on the street. One writer
says, "For nearly four hours the
sky was literally ablaze."* Men
thought the end of the world
had come. Look into this. It is
most fascinating, and a sign of
Christ's coming.
2. Summarize the Three Angels’
Message and give the Bible texts
where they are found.
 First angel
"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the
earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people, saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory
to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship
him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters.'" (Revelation 14:6,7 KJV)

The first angel's message is a prophecy

that states that the gospel will be preached
to every nation on earth.
 Second angel
"There followed another angel, saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication.'" (Revelation 14:8 KJV)

The second angel's message is a call to repentance. Broadly taken, it is a call

to everyone everywhere to leave their sins ("Babylon") behind them and give
them up.
 Third angel
"The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If any man worship
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the
smoke of their torment will ascend for ever and ever: and they have no rest day
nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the
mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.'" (Revelation 14:9-12 KJV)

The third angel's message is a warning

to the people of the earth, not to worship
the beast or his image. (The "beast" and
his "image" were introduced in chapter 13
of Revelation.)
 3. Who was the first and most
prominent American preacher on
the second coming of Christ?
William Miller (February 15,
1782–December 20, 1849)
was an American Baptist
preacher whose followers
have been termed Millerites.
He is credited with the
beginning of the Adventist
movement of the 1830s and
1840s in North America.
Among his direct spiritual
heirs are several major
religious denominations
including Seventh-day
Adventists and Advent
Christians. Later movements
found inspiration in Miller's
emphasis on Bible prophecy
 4.What prophecy did Miller
study to set the time for Christ’s
coming, and what date was
finally set?
Miller's interpretation of the 2300 day prophecy and its
relation to the 70 week prophecy
Basing his belief principally on Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," Miller assumed that
the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the Earth's purification by fire
at Christ's Second Coming. Then, using an interpretive principle known
as the "day-year principle", Miller, and others, interpreted a day in
prophecy to read not as a 24-hour period, but rather as a calendar year.
Further, Miller became convinced that the 2,300 day period started in 457
B.C. with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia.
Simple calculation then revealed that this period would end in 1843. Miller
records, "I was thus brought… to the solemn conclusion, that in about
twenty-five years from that time 1818 all the affairs of our present state
would be wound up.
 5. Who had a vision that helped
the early believers understand
the real meaning of this
prophecy and what did the vision
show?
 On the morning of October 23 as Edson
and some friends were passing through
Edson's grain field he claimed to have
seen a vision. In this vision, Edson came
to understand that "the cleansing
of the sanctuary" meant that Jesus
was moving from the Holy Place to
the Most Holy Place in the heavenly
sanctuary, and not to the Second
Coming of Jesus to earth:

"We started, and while passing through a large

field I was stopped about midway of the field.
Hiram Edson (1806–1882) was a Heaven seemed opened to my view, and I
pioneer of the Seventh-day Adventist saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our
Church, known for introducing the High Priest coming out of the Most Holy of the
investigative judgment doctrine to heavenly sanctuary to come to this earth on the
the church. Edson spent October tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of the
22, 1844 with friends waiting for the 2300 days, He for the first time entered on that
event, and was heart-broken when day the second apartment of that sanctuary; and
that He had a work to perform in the Most Holy
Jesus did not return as expected.
Place before coming to the earth.”
 6. Where is the church of
the first Sabbath-keeping
Adventists located, and who
was their first
minister?
Washington New
Hampshire
Frederick Wheeler,
First Sabbath Keeping Pastor
7. How old was Ellen Harmon
when she received her first
vision, and what was the first
vision about?
In 1844, at age of 16, Ellen White
reported her first “message from God”

At this time I visited one of our Advent sisters, and in

the morning we bowed around the family altar. It was
not an exciting occasion, and there were but five of
us present, all females. While praying the power of
God came upon me as I never had felt it before, and
I was wrapt up in a vision of God's glory, and
seemed to be rising higher and higher from the earth
and was shown something of the travels of the
Advent people to the Holy City...
In this vision she reportedly saw the “Advent people”
traveling a high and dangerous path towards the city
of New Jerusalem [heaven]. Their path was lit from
behind by “a bright (light)...which an angel told me
was the midnight cry.” According to her vision, some
of the travelers grew weary and were encouraged by
Jesus; others denied the light, the light behind them
went out, and they fell “off the path into the dark and
wicked world below.” The vision continued with a
portrayal of Christ’s second coming, following which
 8. Ellen White wrote many
books. What name is used for
them?
During her lifetime Ellen
White wrote more than
5,000 periodical articles
and 40 books
commonly referred to
as “The Spirit of
Prophecy”
 9. Which of Mrs. White’s
books deals especially with
the life of Christ?
The Desire of Ages is a
book about the life of Jesus
Christ authored by Seventh-
day Adventist pioneer and
prophetess, Ellen G. White.
It is part of her five volume
Conflict of the Ages series.
A contemporary adaptation
named Messiah has been
authored by Jerry D. Thomas.
 10. What early pioneer in the Advent
movement was noted for the following:
a. Encouraging the
organization of the early
church.
b. Wrote the first Sabbath
School lessons.
c. Was elected the first
president of the General
Conference but declined.
d. Later held this position for
three terms.
e. Became the husband of
Ellen Harmon.
 James Springer White also known
James White as Elder White was a co-founder of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church
and husband of Ellen G. White. In
1849 he started the first Sabbatarian
Adventist periodical entitled "The
Present Truth" (now the Adventist
Review) in 1855 he relocated the
fledgling center of the movement to
Battle Creek, Michigan, and in 1863
played a pivotal role in the formal
organization of the denomination.
He later played a pivotal role in
the development of the Adventist
educational structure beginning in
1874 with the formation of Battle
Creek College (which is now
Andrews University).
11. Who was the first official
overseas missionary of the
SDA church and to what
country did he go?
 Born in Poland, Maine in 1829, Andrews
became a Millerite in February 1843 and
began to observe the seventh-day Sabbath
in 1845. He met James White and Ellen
G. White in September 1849. Later, the
Whites boarded with the Andrews family.

In 1874 , John, along with his

two surviving children, Charles
and Mary, were sent as the
first official Seventh-day
Adventist missionaries to
Europe. Andrews helped start a
publishing house in Switzerland
and an Adventist periodical in
J. N. Andrews French, Les Signes des Temps
(John Nevin Andrews)
(1876).
 12. Who was the first
president of the General
Conference?
 In 1852, upon reading a copy of the
Review and Herald, Byington began to
keep the seventh-day Sabbath. For three
years he conducted Sabbath meetings
in his home, then he erected and owned
a church building on his property. This is
reputed to have been the first Seventh-
day Adventist-built church. In a nearby
home his daughter, Martha taught
what is thought to be the first Adventist
elementary school (1853).Byington
relocated to Battle Creek, Michigan in
1858. He worked closely with James
White and J. N. Andrews. In 1863 at
the initial organization of the General
Conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, he
John Byington became the denomination's first president
- an office he held for two one-year terms.
(1798–1887) James White, who was elected first,
declined the position.
 13. Who wrote the book,
Daniel and the Revelation,
and was a leader in the
discussions of
righteousness by faith?
 Uriah Smith was born in 1832 in New
Hampshire. His family accepted the
Millerite message and in 1844
experienced the Great Disappointment.
That same year, Smith had his left leg
amputated due to an infection. Following
the Disappointment, Smith lost interest in
religion and went to school. Around 1852,
he became involved in the early Seventh-
day Adventist Church. In 1853, he began
working at the offices of the Advent
Review and Sabbath Herald, becoming
its editor in 1855. His main contribution to
Adventist theology was a commentary on
the prophetic Biblical books of Daniel and
the Revelation, but he also wrote
extensively on conditional immortality Uriah Smith
and other topics.
 14. What was the name of
the ship sent by the Sabbath
Schools of North America to take
missionaries to the many islands
of the South Pacific?

Today there is an island

inhabited almost entirely by
SDAs that has the same name
as the ship.
The Pitcairn Islands, are a
group of four volcanic islands in
the southern Pacific Ocean. The
islands are best known as home
of the descendants of the Bounty
mutineers and the Tahitians who
accompanied them, an event
retold in numerous books and
films. This story is still apparent
in the surnames of many of the
islanders. With only 50 inhabitants
(from nine families), Pitcairn is
also notable for being the least
populated jurisdiction in the world.
The Pitcairners also converted
to Christianity; later they would
convert from their existing form
of Christianity to Seventh-day
Adventism after a successful
Adventist mission in the 1890s.
15. When was the Pathfinder
Club officially adopted by the
General Conference?
 The Pathfinder Club is a worldwide
program organized and directed by
the Youth Department of the General
Conference of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. It offers a wide
range of learning experiences for
youth age10-15.

The first camp was held in Town Line

Lake, Michigan USA in 1926.
Activities include community service,
camping, crafts, classwork,
marching, Bible study, Seventh-day
Adventist Church history, and
leadership training.

Pathfinders officially became a ministry of the

Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1953.
 16. Where is our General
Conference located, and who is
the current president?
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, USA

Elder Jan Paulsen

President
General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist
Time for a Quiz!
 Quiz
1. What Sign of Christ's second coming happened in 1833. ?
2. Who was the First American preacher of the second coming ?
3. How many books did Ellen White write?
4. Who was the first SDA Missionary ?
5. What was the name of the Adventist Mission ship to the South Pacific ?
6. Who was President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church 3 times ?
7. How many angels carried special messages to the world ?
8. The book “The Desire of Ages” was written by who ?
9. When did Pathfinders officially become a ministry of the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church ?
10. Who is currently President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church ?
Proceed to the Next
Slide to Check Your
Quiz Answers
 Quiz Answers
1.Stars fell
2. William Miller
3.40
4. J.N. Andrews
5. The Pitcairn
6.James White
7.3 angels
8.Ellen G. White
9.1953
10. Jan Paulsen
 Congrats!
You’re Finished!
Make sure you have your instructor, club
director, or a Master Guide sign your
paperwork.