THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT

Some thoughts arising from the 22^nd October.  In 1964 the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to Jean Paul Sartre. At that time the relative value of the prize, in todays currency, would have been about £400,000. On the 22^nd October 1964 Jean Paul Sartre turned it down with the comment "A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honourable form.” He is only one of two people who turned down the prize.

In 1973, Lê Đức Thọ declined the Nobel Peace Prize. His reason was that he felt he did not deserve it because although he helped negotiate the Paris Peace Accords (a cease-fire in the Vietnam War), there had been no actual peace agreement. He co-prize winner was Henry Kissinger, who did not turn it down and presumably got Thọ’s share of the prize. But one would expect nothing less from Henry Kissinger. One can only think so far as Kissinger is concerned, that he embodies one item related to the 22^nd October, which is known is some circles as the Great Disappointment.  The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakerning. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel (Chapters 8 and 9, especially Dan. 8:14 "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed"), William Miller, a Baptist preacher, proposed that Jesus Christ would return to the earth during the year 1844. The more specific date of the 22^nd October 1844, was preached by Samuel Sheffield Snow. Thousands of followers, some of whom had given away all of their possessions, waited expectantly. When Jesus did not appear, the 22^nd October 1844 became known as the Great Disappointment.

William Miller

Henry Kissinger

An interesting view follows (in particular 40 mins in which relates to the above):