Benjamin Roden

Benjamin Lloyd Roden (January 5, 1902–October 22, 1978) was an American religious leader and the prime organizer of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association.

Born in Bearden, Oklahoma, Roden spent his childhood on a farm, graduated from high school, and attended Oklahoma Teachers College. He spent a short time teaching in a country school. For many years he was employed in the oil fields in Oklahoma and in Odessa, Texas. On February 12, 1937, Roden married Lois Irene Scott. They had six children.

Religious adherence

In 1937, Ben and Lois joined the Christian Church, and were active and faithful members. Not long after they learned about the seventh-day Sabbath. In response to his newly found understanding on the Sabbath, Roden and his wife sought out a nearby Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kilgore, Texas, and were baptized in 1940. As one of the laity, Ben was one who shared his faith with others, and as a result of his labors, a Seventh-day Adventist church was raised up in Odessa, Texas, of which he was the head elder for several years.

In 1946, the family accepted the teachings of "The Shepherd's Rod" reform message, and together they labored to share this message with their friends and brethren in the Seventh-day Adventist church. For a short time in 1953, Roden and his family resided at Mt. Carmel Center, west of Waco, Texas, which was under the leadership of Victor T. Houteff, founder of the Center and of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association, popularly known as "The Shepherd's Rod" (or The Rod). Ben was in charge of the gardens there.

The Branch

Although moved by the unexpected death of Victor Houteff in 1955, Roden firmly believed "The Rod" teaching that truth must be continually progressive and God's people were to march onward with it. Later that year, he said that he was impressed to bear a message to Florence Houteff and the Executive Council of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist, but was hesitant to do so. Roden stated that, because of his reluctance, one night while he was in bed, the Lord picked him up by the pajama tops and told him to write a letter as he had been impressed to do. He said that after he had written the letter, he told the Lord, "These are not my words, I cannot sign this." He said that the Lord then told him to sign it "The Branch." Roden stated that he was later shown from the Bible and Church writings that this name was Jesus’ new name. Roden taught that the change of Christ’s name was reflective of the change of His work as represented in the prophecies which reveal His new name. Thereafter he labored night and day to share with his brethren what he believed God had revealed to him.

Roden also taught that name "The Branch" was to be the new name of Christ's Church. Thus the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association was organized. He taught that eventually the names "Davidian" and "Seventh day Adventists" would be dropped, leaving the name of the Church, "The Branch."

Doctrines

One of the unique doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists is that on October 22, 1844, God, the Father, and Jesus moved from the throne from which they ruled the universe to the judgment throne in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly Sanctuary in order to fulfill the antitypical Day of Atonement wherein they were to go through the books of records in order to judge the people's deeds to determine their rewards or punishments. They teach that this investigative work was to begin with those who were already dead in order to decide who was to come up in the resurrection of the saints, and those who were to later come up in the resurrection of the wicked. They also teach that eventually the judgment would pass on to those who were living in order to determine who would be translated without seeing death at Christ's second coming, and those would be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. Roden told the Adventist and Davidian churches that the judgment has passed from the dead to the living on 20 October, 1955.

Under Roden's ministry, the observance of the Bible holy feast days, as he understood them to be applicable under the New Covenant, was reinstituted and restored to the Branch church, and many prophecies regarding the restoration of Israel, the long-prayed for Kingdom on earth brought to view in the Lord's Prayer, were brought to light and shared with the Davidians and Adventists, as well as those of other faiths.

In 1976, Roden called upon the Adventist leadership to begin keeping the Lord's Supper daily at the third and ninth hours of the day, which he said were the times of worship in ancient Israel. In 1981, after Ben's death, Lois Roden reinstituted the Lord's Supper daily at those times of worship for all Branch believers, as she understood that to be the practice of the early Church.

During the last year of his life, Roden said he found great comfort in a message about the femininity of the Holy Spirit which was given to his wife Lois Roden. He not only called upon the Branch believers to open their minds to the truth of the gender of the Holy Spirit, but also carried his appeal personally to the Davidians, and to the leading brethren of the Seventh-day Adventist church in session at the Fall Council in Washington, D.C., a few days prior to his death.

Benjamin Roden assumed control of the group, and renamed it the General Association of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists. He proclaimed himself to be King David's successor. After his death in 1978, his wife, Lois Roden took control. She had been receiving visions that God is both male and female, that the third person of the trinity (the Holy Spirit) was female, and that Christ would take the form of a woman at his/her second coming. A power struggle developed between Lois and her son George.

The Branch Davidians were an apocalyptic sect founded by Ben and Lois Roden in the 1930s. Vernon Howell joined the Branch Davidians in 1981 and was quickly in good graces with Lois, the head of the church. She died in 1986 and Howell was left in control. By 1990 he had changed his name to David Koresh and had settled with more than a hundred followers in a compound called Mount Carmel, ten miles outside of Waco, Texas. Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tried to execute a warrant for Koresh on February 28, 1993, part of an investigation into allegations of illegal weapons and child abuse. A shoot-out ensued that left ten dead: four BATF agents and six Branch Davidians. Koresh and his followers holed up in their compound and a confused state of negotiations went on for 51 days, ending on April 19, 1993 when the compound burned to the ground, killing Koresh and 74 followers, including 21 children.

Ministry

Roden wrote religious leaflets which were distributed by the millions in over 50 countries around the world in several languages, heralding the restoration of the Kingdom in the land of Israel and other kindred truths. Among those truths was an in depth portrayal of the United States' place in prophecy, and the effect of the judgment in the Church.

In 1958, he and two of his sons and one of their wives went to Israel to prepare the way for Christians to go to the Holy Land. Later, after Roden returned to the US, his wife Lois Roden took his place in Israel to lead the work there. As a result of his mission the religious news services carried the story of the historic mission around the world, while newspapers and magazines in Israel and America proclaimed the event. In September 1960, "The Ministry" magazine reported: :"For the first time in the history of Zionist colonization, an organized Christian group has been granted official status in Israel as recognized immigrants and land settlers, with all the rights of material and moral aid involved. A year and a half ago, five families of Seventh-day Adventists from the United States and Canada immigrated to Israel to till the land and build new homes... Prayers conducted by the Adventists have been the first official Christian services to take place throughout the Zionist settlements."

In 1965, while contemplating his return to Israel, Roden said he received a vision directing him to Waco, Texas. There, after a process he described as a "headache," he obtained New Mt. Carmel Center, on the west of Waco, after the leadership of the Davidians had forsaken the Church's teachings and were attempting to dispose of the Church's property.

In September 1978, Roden had a personal audience with President Carter, appealing to him to help build the temple in Israel, a house of prayer for all people.

During his life Roden had stood in the halls of Congress and in the courts of justice in the interest of religious liberty, ministered to presidents and people alike, and traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to proclaim the coming Kingdom on earth before Christ comes in the clouds of heaven.

External links

* [http://www.the-branch.org/Studies_by_Benjamin_L_Roden Benjamin Roden's literature and studies]