47. Doesn’t believing in a date-specific prophecy, in this case 1844, seem rather cult-like?

No.  It might seem cult-like to some but many Christians do believe in some date-specific prophecies.  For example, many Evangelicals support the related 70-week (year) prophecy of Daniel 9:

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_seventy_weeks

And: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Tribulation

Also: http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/qod/q27.htm

Also: http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/gendoct_17_endtime_events.cfm

For further information on the SDA Church approach to the 70-week prophecy, see:

http://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/documents/70weeks&457BC.pdf