Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
QAnon and the Great Disappointment of 1844

QAnon and the Great Disappointment of 1844

Last updated on: February 2, 2021 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

QAnon and the Great Disappointment of 1844 2021-01-28T21:04:32-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s hard to describe all I felt when Joe Biden took the Oath of Office as the 46th President of the United States. Fear that we might see a repeat of the January 6 insurrection. Agonizing over balancing aggressive goals with realistic expectations. Concern about the massive amount of work ahead of us.

But mainly, relief and hope and a bit of joy.

For the 80% or so of blog readers who see the political world similarly to me, I imagine you know exactly what I mean.

Some other people were feeling something very different.

I’m talking about QAnon, the uber-conspiracy theorists who believe Donald Trump has been fighting a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibals who control the United States. They expected that on January 20, we would see a “storm” of martial law, mass arrests, and the triumphant inauguration of Trump’s second term.

Saying they were disappointed would be a gross understatement. Here are some quotes:

“We’ve been lied to.”

“I think we have been fooled like no other. Hate to say it. Held on to hope til this very moment.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

And also:

“It’s over and nothing makes sense . . . absolutely nothing.”

“He sold us out.”

I hate conspiracy theories and I am not above schadenfreude. But my pleasure over the QAnons’ disappointment and my genuine happiness that some are walking away from it was tempered by the understanding that conspiracy theories are very sticky things. True believers are rarely swayed by facts, even facts they see with their own eyes.

All of this reminded me of another event in American history: the Great Disappointment of 1844.

The new apocalyptic prophecies of fundamentalist Christianity

I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church that preached “the Rapture” was coming soon, when Jesus would return, take “the saved” to Heaven and leave everyone else behind to deal with “the tribulation.” That would culminate with Jesus defeating Satan, binding him forever, and setting up a “new Heaven and new Earth.” I was taught that “real Christians” had always believed this.

I was taught a lie.

While Christians have always speculated about “end times” (especially in difficult times), the “rapture and tribulation” doctrine so popular among Evangelicals began with John Nelson Darby around 1830. Catholics and most Mainline Protestants reject it.

Apocalyptic prophecies are nothing new. They began in Zoroastrianism 3500 years ago – they have been wrong every single time. They persist because they’re comforting: something big is going to happen, the bad people are going to be punished, and everything is going to be made right for the true believers.

The core of QAnon is no different than the core of Left Behind.

William Miller and the Great Disappointment

William Miller (1782 – 1849) grew up Baptist. As a young adult he became a Deist, but after serving in the War of 1812 he returned to the religion of his childhood. He became obsessed with biblical prophecies, and based on some completely arbitrary interpretations he determined that the Rapture would take place somewhere in the year between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844.

He amassed quite a following, some of whom quit their jobs, stopped working their farms, and prepared for “the going up” and “the great day of burning.”

When March 21, 1844 came and went they were greatly disappointed. Many latched onto Samuel Snow’s refinement of Miller’s work, which revised the date to October 22, 1844. That date too came and went, leading to more disappointment.

But despite their disappointment, by and large the Millerites did not abandon Millerism. They simply reinterpreted his prophecies. And they’re still with us – some of them became the Seventh Day Adventists.

Meanwhile, Darby’s ideas remain orthodoxy among fundamentalist Christians. Those ideas tortured me with fear as a child, and they drive the anti-Palestinian politics of the religious right as they try to bring about the end of the world.

QAnon thinks Donald Trump will be President on March 4

The Great Disappointment of 1844 is playing out again in 2021.

Rather than accepting the plainly obvious fact that Joe Biden is President of the United States, QAnon has latched onto a “sovereign citizen” conspiracy theory that an 1871 act of Congress turned the U.S. republic into a corporation. They’re now saying that Trump is going to restore the republic and take the oath of office on March 4, which was Inauguration Day until the 20th Amendment in 1933 changed it to shorten the lame duck period.

History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes. March 4, 2021 rhymes with October 22, 1844. Expect a similar outcome, both short term and long term.

QAnon in my local park…

Normalizing lies and conspiracy theories

It’s tempting to laugh off these people as gullible fools. But the insurrection of January 6 shows what happens when blatantly false conspiracy theories are not just tolerated, but encouraged.

Trump’s lies that he won “by a landslide” and that the election was “stolen” played right into the QAnon narrative. If you already believe the United States is run by a secret group of Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibals, of course you’re going to believe they manipulated election results to get rid of the hero who’s fighting them.

We will always have conspiracy theories – they’re as addictive as heroin, and as dangerous. When we can keep them marginalized, we can minimize the harm they cause. When we normalize them, we get the Satanic Panic sending innocent people to jail and ex-military people storming the capitol to overturn an election.

There are now two QAnon supporters in the United States Congress, and many more happy to pander to them to get their votes.

The truth matters. Politicians are always going to spin things in their preferred direction, but we cannot tolerate outright lies.

For all his bad policy and vile personal conduct, Donald Trump’s greatest crime is his complete and utter disregard for the truth.

The payoff of apocalyptic thinking is the fantasy

The failure of one apocalyptic prophecy inevitably leads to another equally faulty prophecy. That’s because the payoff of these prophecies isn’t in accurately predicting the future, but in how they make people feel while they’re contemplating them. They feel good thinking that their “enemies” will be punished, and they feel great thinking about how they’ll be able to say they knew it was coming all along.

In the moment, reality is no match for fantasy. Reality always wins in the end, but not before dangerous fantasies do massive amounts of harm.

QAnon isn’t going to go away just because they were wrong. Like fascists, xenophobes, white supremacists, and other nasty people with nasty ideas, they were enabled and empowered by the previous administration. Our job is to strongly oppose them when they take action and to ridicule and isolate them when they attempt to spread their ideologies and conspiracy theories.

And if we can get a laugh out of the Great Disappointment of 2021, so much the better.

Previous Post

January 31, 2021

A Ritual of Oathtaking

Next Post

February 4, 2021 Dealing With Troublesome Leaders

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Jewish festival celebrates deliverance from Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Passover Purim Tabernacles Pentecost