About this book

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has done so much good. It has brought an awareness of the Sabbath to the world. Its health message, its medical missionary work, its educational system, and its humanitarian and missionary programs have blessed millions over the decades.

Yet there is one teaching that holds it back — the doctrine that the pre-Advent judgment began on October 22, 1844. We believe now is the time to help our Adventist brothers and sisters move forward, because the end-time prophecies that Yehovah gave to prepare His people for the time of trouble are being missed.

If you believed in 1844 that the Second Coming was about to happen, you would naturally look backward into history to see where Daniel’s prophecies had been fulfilled. But if the final prophecies are still ahead of us — and we believe they are — then continuing to read them as past events leaves us unprotected from the very warnings our Father wanted us to have.

Re-Examining 1844 is our attempt to test the doctrine point by point, with an open Bible and an open mind. Each chapter takes one piece of the 1844 timeline and asks: does this stand up to careful scrutiny? Where the evidence holds, we say so. Where it doesn’t, we show why — and offer a better understanding rooted in the words of Yeshua, the framework of the Biblical Feasts, and what Daniel actually said about the time of the end.

This book was written with Adventist readers in mind. But it speaks to anyone who wants to understand what Daniel and Revelation are really telling us about the days ahead.

What’s inside

The book moves through eight chapters, each examining one component of the 1844 doctrine and testing it against Scripture:

Foreword — Why this matters, and how we got here

Chapter 1: Re-Examining the “Day-Year Principle” Prophecy vs. judgments. Visions vs. interpretations. Symbolic vs. literal. Is Daniel 9 proof?

Chapter 2: Re-Examining the Toes of Daniel 2 Latter days. Counting to 10: comparing Daniel 2 to Daniel 7. Events out of order. Which countries does the Beast represent?

Chapter 3: Re-Examining “2300 Evenings and Mornings” Calendar timing or Sanctuary timing? Tamiyd. The Little Horn and his activities. The argument against 1150 days. Confirmation from other prophetic timing.

Chapter 4: Re-Examining the Daily and Abomination of Desolation The Abomination of Desolation. King Clovis and the Pope. The Adventist dispute over what “the Daily” means.

Chapter 5: Re-Examining the Start Date of Daniel 8:14 Does Daniel 9 begin Daniel 8:14? A close examination of the textual case.

Chapter 6: Re-Examining the Historical Interpretation The historical waypoints of the 1844 timeline — 457 B.C., 508 A.D., 538 A.D., the Lisbon earthquake, the Dark Day, 1798, the Leonid meteor shower, October 22, 1844 — and what the evidence actually shows.

Chapter 7: A Better Understanding The beginning of sorrows. Pentecost and the Latter Rain. Day 1140: the Feast of Trumpets. Day 1150: the Day of Atonement. Day 1260: the destruction of the Little Horn. Day 1290: the Abomination of Desolation. Day 1335: Firstfruits Resurrection Day. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Chapter 8: Re-Examining Church History Ellen White. The role of perfection. The problems begin. Raymond Cottrell, Desmond Ford, and the long pattern of cover-up. A better understanding.

Read the first chapter free

We’ve made the first chapter — Re-Examining the “Day-Year Principle” — available to read online before you commit to the book.

What readers are saying

“I was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist church and remained there until I was nearly 70 years old. I questioned the doctrine of 1844 for decades but never got an answer that made sense. I am so glad that I finally learned a better understanding of these prophecies that finally does make sense.”

— Ross Clark, Mansfield, Missouri

“I have been an Adventist for 37 years now, a teacher and elder in the church. Whenever this subject of the 2300-day prophecy came up, I always had questions about the connection of the 490- and 2300-day prophecies. I would always have to review the teaching because it is intuitively not obvious. I wholeheartedly agree with your conclusions.”

— Dan Tomlin, Sandy, Oregon

“It is obvious to me that Tom and Judy have done some deep digging and prayerful searching into the topics of this book. I was challenged and found some solid principles that I had never seen so clearly before. I encourage an open Bible and an open mind as you read!”

— Alicia Benoit, Westbridge, BC, Canada

“Five stars for this book. Shines the light on the importance of the major factors of understanding prophecy — author, audience, context, timing and tense, grammar, and punctuation. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone looking for greater understanding of biblical prophecy.”

— Sherri Swearingen, Ava, Missouri

“I am so grateful for teachers like Tom and Judy — those who are willing to examine again what they have believed and adjust those beliefs according to Scripture. As a long-time Adventist, I began to see some biblical truths that led me to many questions. I thought I was alone as an Adventist looking for answers. Then I discovered Tom Stapleton and the Feast and the Faithful video series. What an answer to prayer.”

— Marguerite Tomlin, Sandy, Oregon

About the authors

Tom Stapleton came to Yeshua through a Seventh-day Adventist Revelation seminar in 1983 at the age of 25. Because he learned so much through the Adventists that he could easily see were Bible truths, he accepted the 1844 doctrine on faith — trusting that everything else they taught him was correct, so this must be too. But the more he studied the prophecies, the more questions and inconsistencies he found. He has spent the decades since teaching prophecy from Scripture itself, through the words of Yeshua, the visions of Daniel and Revelation, and the prophetic framework of the Biblical Feasts.

Judy Stapleton started attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1996. When she first heard of 1844, just months after her baptism in a Sunday-keeping church, she could not believe that the God she was coming to know needed 150+ years to judge the world. The various explanations never made sense to her. She and Tom share a heart for their Adventist friends, and would love to help them discover the meaning of the prophecies as the prophets and God intended.

Available in two formats: 1) printed copy by mail, and 2) instant PDF download. Both formats include the same content. The soft cover ships from Canada — US and international readers, please allow extra time and shipping.

A note on suggested donations

All prices are suggested donations. We trust the Spirit to lead readers to give what they’re able. If the suggested amount is out of reach, give what you can — we’ll do our best to fill your order.

Bulk orders

Many readers want to share this book with Adventist friends, family, or study groups. Contact us about discounted suggested donations for larger quantities.