Dig Deeper: SDA Issues - WACO: How to Respond

Saturday, February 17, 2018

SDA Issues - WACO: How to Respond

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise,...

... to seduce, if it were possible,

even the elect.

Mark 13:22

Q: How does an SDA respond to those who try to smear the Church by linking it to David Koresh & the Branch Davidians of Waco Infamy?

Well,....

* The Shepherd's Rod began with Victor Houteff...a Bulgarian immigrant...he joined the church in Los Angeles in 1919....as a Sabbath school teacher he began his own interpretations of Isaiah 55-66....He was disfellowshiped (1930)...his followers followed him out...Houteff founded the Shepherd's Rod named after his publication...he was given a hearing by church leaders

(1934...including H.M.S. Richards)....The Shepherd's Rod was declared to be heresy (1936)...Houteff took his people to Texas and built the Mt. Carmel center near Waco....Houteff died in 1955 from heart failure...the peak of the Shepherd's Rod was the mid-50's reaching more than 100,000 subscribers worldwide...

* Houteff's wife Florence seized power upon her husbands death. She made a prediction that the 42 months of Revelation were literal months (which any good Adventist knows isn't true) and would begin November 1955 & end 4/22/1959... Benjamin Rodin vied for leadership....he opposed the prediction of Florence and split off to form the Branch Davidians...Florence was discredited after April 1959....Q: So how did they have appeal to a wide swath of Adventists at the time if their teachings strayed from the Church doctrine? A: The simplified version (in my opinion) is by their decrying the lax standards in lifestyle beginning to gain momentum in the Church at the time..one can see how with this timeframe correlating with the rise of modern entertainment such as music, movies & TV could be the perfect storm to produce the Davidians...

* MAIN POINT: The 144,000-The Shepherd's Rod movement basically broke with the Church over the idea that the 144,000 to be literal number of those Adventists (of Jewish descent only) who pass the Judgment of the living (ALL other Adventists would be slaughtered by the angel of Ezekiel 9) ...AND that Christ's Kingdom would be established in literal Israel with a sort of post-millennial (a time of peace & love on earth before Christ's return) worldview & seemed to borrow heavily from the dispensational pre-millennialism which was sweeping other denominations at the time, that being their focus on literal Israel rather than Israel in prophecy as a symbol...SO THEY WERE TWISTING A LITTLE ADVENTISM WITH NON ADVENTIST POST MILLENIALLISM & DISPENSATIONAL PRE-MILLENNIALISM from other churches....quite the mix....(btw, dispensational pre-millennialism is the view known by the mass public as the "secret rapture" which stresses literal Israel as a focus of prophecy---post-millennialism stresses the 1,000 year millennium before Christ's return to earth---NEITHER view is held by Adventists)...

* RODEN(s) RIDE IN-Benjamin Roden led the Davidians to believe the judgment of the living began in 1955...Roden died in 1978...followed by his wife Lois assuming command...She taught the Holy Spirit is female (possibly influenced by the militant feminism rising in the 60's & 70's) and that the Holy Ghost is a separate being from the Holy Spirit as the daughter of God (the Mormons also

George Roden

separate the Holy Spirit & Holy Ghost as different -is that where she got the idea?)....her son George vied for leadership and opposed his mother...

* Vernon shows up- Vernon Howell (changed his name later to David Koresh, David of the lineage of King David as in the lineage of the Messiah, and "Koresh", the Hebrew for Cyrus, the Persian predicted by Isaiah to conquer Babylon)...young Vernon had an affair with Lois Roden in her 60's...George Roden saw Vernon a rising threat to his power....the mother sided with her young lover Victor....George expelled Vernonand his followers...Vernon had the majority follow him...

* Grisly ending for Roden- George Roden dug up a casket of a recently dead Davidian on the compound grounds & challenged Vernon to a showdown of raising the dead...whichever one raised the dead body back to life would be leader...Vernon went and snitched to authorities instead...later Vernon and 7 followers went to the compound armed and a shootout ensued with Roden who was injured...at trial the 7 were aquitted and Vernon had a hung jury...later Roden murdered his roommate with an axe and was sent to a mental institution where he escaped twice...the second time his body was found dead...he had apparently dropped dead from a heart attack (1998)...

* The SINFUL MESSIAH- David Koresh was in full control of Mt. Carmel after paying the back property taxes on it.....David Koresh (formerly Victor Howell) went to Israel where the Davidians

believed they would have to be at Christ's return...Koresh was squealed on by a member to the Israeli authorities as to what he was planning (the reason why they had so many weapons was due to the belief that when they move to Israel that they might have to fight the Israeli military if they wouldn't want them there)....Koresh and his followers were banned from going back to Israel...It appears that Koresh, now that he messed up the Israel thing, saved face by claiming God was giving him visions and that Mt. Carmel in essence was to be their Israel...and that he had a "New Light" on the 7 seals of revelation and since only the Lamb could open them he must be that "Lamb"....he claimed Christ was the good Messiah and he (Koresh) the SINFUL MESSIAH (since people knew of his adultery and fornicating)....in other words he was a 2nd Messiah, Christ part 2--Christ being the 1st to found Christendom and obviously Koresh at the ending...he also had a 14 year old wife but took 7 others and fathered many children claiming he needed 24 (not sure if he had in mind his 24 offspring to be the 24 Elders of Revelation)......and YES, Koresh did openly claim to be the Son of God...

* 1993 Ending---well documented all over the media and internet so no need to go into the WACO tragedy itself....but as a bit of not well known info there were more non-Americans than Americans at the compound that fateful April of 1993...many from Britain, Australia and Canada...he even had converts in New Zealand...

ALL THIS stemming from a man in the 1920's redefining the meaning of the 144,000 in his own head...this is why PETER WARNS US...First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,..2 Peter 1:20 RSV

The self proclaimed
"SINFUL" MESSIAH

What We BELIEVE

* And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE. 1 Corinthians 13:13

* Genesis 1-11 is actual HISTORY

* The 10 Commandments WAS - IS - & WILL BE the LAW of GOD

* REVELATION is written in symbols for actual end time events

* The SANCTUARY lays out the Plan of Salvation (Justification / Outer Court + Sanctification / Inner Court = preparation for your Judgment / Most Holy Place)

* The solemnity of the 7th day SABBATH (Saturday) was NEVER transferred to the 1st day of the week (Sunday) by God

* The modern charismatic movement is a counterfeit Latter Rain

* The Mark-of-the-beast will involve some sort of counterfeit Sabbath

* "Soul Sleep" for the State of the Dead (dead until the resurrection)

* The Godhead (Trinity) are 3 separate beings who work together in unity

* The GODHEAD's Existence is ETERNAL (in other words-The arrow of time stretching for Infinity in both directions)

* The GREEN RELIGION (modern environmental movement) is a cleverly cloaked spiritualism for the "sophisticated" modern world

* The Little Horn of Daniel & the Beast of Revelation (a.k.a. the anti-christ to some) is one & the same institution - the same institution the Reformers declared it to be during the Reformation

* Marriage is between ONE man & ONE woman

* The Emerging Church movement -- & spiritual formation are modern day GNOSTICISM & have NO place within Christendom

* Women Ordination is an ASSAULT on the foundation of the Godhead (as God is the head of Christ in an ecclesiastical setting - so too was the man placed as the head of the woman in an ecclesiastical setting -- outside this setting they are equal as Christ is with the Father)

* Baptism is by Immersion at an age of consent

* Justification + Sanctification = TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH....(Justification) Neither do I condemn thee: (Sanctification) go, and sin no more. John 8:11

* God is NOT homophobic -- rather He is sexual immorality phobic (HE places adultery, fornication, rape, bestiality, cross dressing AND homosexuality ALL in the same category)

* "HELL" is NOT an eternally burning place -- rather it is the Lake of Fire where the wicked will be destroyed together once & for all when this Great Controversy between God & His opponent comes to an end....God does NOT torment people for eternity

* The "Great Controversy" theme is the prism to make sense of this universal conflict between God & His opponent, of which we play a part on this space fabric of time as a "spectacle" (as Paul calls it) before all watching

* Biblical "speaking in tongues" was a GIFT of known foreign languages for Evangelization (not the gibberish "tongues" uttered in churches today)

* Historicism is the way to interpret eschatology from the view of the prophetic porch (NOT preterism, futurism or idealisim)

* The 3 Angel's Message (of Rev.14) is the central Mission of the SDA Church & the Sanctuary Doctrine (& it's sub-doctrine of the Investigative Judgment) is the Cornerstone Doctrine of the Denomination

* The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a SYMBOLIC Remembrance

* The 2nd Advent of Christ will be a literal, visible, physical return where EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM & that is when the dead will rise & the living be caught up-- Not at some sort of a "secret rapture" before His return...

* On the Nature of Christ - He was born with our sinful fallen nature / propensities--yet did NOT sin - hence His ability to be the spotless Lamb of God - the Lamb without blemish to cover ours

* 7th Day Adventism did not rise up at the end of the time-frame of Daniel 8:14 to be just another denomination to hang upon the wall of Christendom...

* The Dispensations around the Cross are 1) Before the Cross the Plan of Redemption laid out in the earthly Sanctuary in Types & Symbols patterned after the Heavenly Sanctuary {from the Altar of Sacrifice to the Mercy Seat} 2) After the Cross shifts to the REALITY of the Heavenly Sanctuary {from the Cross to the Judgment Seat}. ---- We REJECT the Dispensationalism that says "before the cross we were saved by the Law & after the Cross by Grace" ---- (the reason is because on BOTH SIDES OF THE CROSS we were never saved by the Law and always saved by Grace)

* We REJECT the DISGUSTING "Prosperity Gospel" as many see TV (so-called) Evangelists preach today

* Justification & Sanctification Simplified - God draws the BOUNDARIES with His LAW. When we step outside of them it's called SIN. (He offers JUSTIFICATION to remedy it). But afterwards He expects us to step back within those Boundaries (called SANCTIFICATION ).

* EndTime "BABYLON" - Confederacy of the Counterfeit Trinity of the "Dragon", "Beast" & "False Prophet" of Rev.16:13. (Also a term of Reference for the Fallen Condition of Christendom)

*The OLD TESTAMENT is simply the NEW TESTAMENT in Types & Symbols- therefore both are valid for Study & Doctrine.

* "A Minister's words are only of Value as long as his word's are an Echo of the Word's of God." {Dwayne Lemon}

* We REJECT the Church being involved with the ECUMENICAL movement....where do you see in Scripture God's people ever being told to be Ecumenical with neighboring religions?.. Nowhere....

*We believe in "Replacement Theology", that "Israel" in prophetic terms and spiritually is God's people...NOT Literal, Modern Day Israel in the Middle East.

* Tithing is Biblical: MONEY (1/10 to God) TIME (1/7 to God- the 7th day of the week, called the SABBATH)

* Soteriology: We believe in total FREE WILL as a component. - Therefore we Reject Sacramentalism, Predestination, Once-Saved-Always-Saved, Universalism & Pluralism.

* The HEALTH MESSAGE-Live it as best you can. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest....be in health... 3 John 1:2

* And always remember - "If you feel yourself to be the greatest sinner, Christ is just what you need, the greatest Savior. Lift up your head and look away from yourself, away from your sin, to the uplifted Savior; away from the poisonous, venomous bite of the serpent to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." Ellen White {JUSTIFICATION}

* "God has given us His commandments, not only to be believed in, but to be obeyed." Ellen White {SANCTIFICATION}

* SUMMARY: "Every chapter and every verse of the Bible is a communication from God to men." Ellen White

* WARNING: "...by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence." Ellen White

Are Ashes Upon Your Lips?

The love of God still yearns over the one who has chosen to separate from Him, and He sets in operation influences to bring him back to the Father's house.
--Have you, reader, chosen your own way?
--Have you wandered far from God?
--Have you sought to feast upon the fruits of transgression, only to find them turn to ashes upon your lips?
Now that voice which has long been speaking to your heart but to which you would not listen comes to you distinct and clear, Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest; because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. Micah 2:10. Return to your Father's house. He invites you, saying, Return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee. Isa. 44:22.
E.G.W.