obituary of benjamin roden

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The obituary of Benjamin L. Roden, the president of the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists from 1955-1978.

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  • ~. .OBITUARY

    ..BENJAMIN L. RODEN

    (January 5, 1902 _.October 22, 1978)

  • Benjamin L Roden was bornJanuary 5, 1902, in Bearden, Okla-homa, one of 6 children born to JamesBuchanan and Nattie Roden. He diedon October 22, 1978, at 4:30 p.rn, atScott and White, Temple, Texas.

    He is survived by his widow, LoisI. Roden; two sisters, Mrs. GrettaHollaway of Springfield, Missouri, Mrs.Goldie Wampler and her daughter,Mrs. Jack Phillips, of Gladewater,Texas; four sons, George of Blythe,California, Benjamin" of Miami, Flor-ida, John of Dallas, Texas, and Sam-uel of Miami, Florida; two daughters,Jane Roden of Riverside, California,and Kathleen Roden of Reno, Nevada;and ten grandchildren, as well as co-workers and friends around the world.

    Elder Roden spent his childhoodon the farm, graduated from highschool, and attended OklahomaTeachers College. He spent a shorttime teaching in a country schooL

    For many years Elder Roden wasemployed in the oil fields in Oklahoma,and Odessa, Texas.

    On Februaty 12, 1937, BenjaminL Roden and Lois L. Roden werejoined in marriage, and the Lordblessed their home with six children.

    In 1937 Elder and Sister Rodenjoined the Christian Church, and wereactive and faithful members.

    Shortly after the birth of their firstson, George, Elder Roden learnedabout the seventh-day Sabbath from abook entitled "Bible Readings for theHome" which had been given to himand Sister Roden as a wedding pre-sent by Sister Roden's mother.

    As a person who took his standfortruth when it was presented to him,Elder,Rod~n, and his wife, sought outa neafj)y Seventh-day Ad- ventistchurcttl~n Kilgore, Texas, and werebaptized in 1940, by Elder Cree

    J

    Sandefer, now president of the South-ern Union of Seventh-day Adventists.

    As a layman, Elder Roden wasone who shared his faith with others ina quiet, yet definite way, and as a re-sult of his labors, a Seventh-day Ad-ventist church was raised up inOdessa, Texas, of which he was thehead elder for several years.

    In 1946, Elder Roden, along withhis wife and children, accepted theteachings of The Shepherd's Rodmessage, and together they laboredfaithfully to share this message withtheir friends and brethren in theSeventh-day Adventist church, whichthey love so dearly.

    For a short time in 1953 BrotherRoden and his family resided at OldMt. Carmel Center. He was in chargeof the Gardens and provided freshproduce for Brother Houteff, founder ofthe Center and of the DavidianSeventh-day Adventist Association,popularly know as The Shepherd'sRod.

    Although deeply moved by the un-expected death of Brother Houteff in1955, Elder Roden knew that truthmust progress and God's people wereto march onward. Shortly afterward inthe same year, Brother Roden was en-dowed with the Prophetic Gift, (Amos3:7) to understand God's plan for theDavidian and Seventh-day Adventistmovements. Thereafter he laborednight and day to share with his breth-ren what God had revealed to him.The Branch Davidian Seventh-day IVfventist Assoc;:iationwas organized~\~fulfillment of many prophecies in.i.,_..';.'Bible as well as in the writings0'"Ellen G. White, founder ot :theSeventh-day Adventist Chur~>.~Victor T. Houteff, founder Qf .'theDavidian Seventh-day ~tAssociation. ..

    fl.

    Under the inspired ministry ofElder Roden, the observance of theholy feasts, as observed by Jesus andcommanded by the Apostles, was rein-stituted and restored to the church,and many prophecies regarding therestoration of Israel, the long-prayedfor Kingdom on earth brought to viewin the Lord's Prayer, were brought tolight and shared with the Davidiansand Adventists, as well as those ofother faiths.

    Through personal contact withboth the leading brethren and laymenof the Seventh-day Adventist churchand the Davidian Seventh-day Advent-ist Association, Elder Roden laboredunceasingly to encourage the brethrenwith the glorious prophecies of the res-toration of Israel and the church's rolein God's great plan.

    Elder Roden wrote religious leaf-lets which were distributed by the mil-lions in over 50 countries around theworld in several languages, heraldingthe restoration of the Kingdom in theland of Israel and recorded by all theprophets in the Holy Bible.

    In 1958 Elder Roden, his sonGeorge and wife, Carmen, and his sonBenjamin II, went to Israel to preparethe Jf!ay for people to go to the HolyLand.i As a result of his mission, his-tory was made, and the religious newsservice carried the story of the historicmission around the world, while news-papers and magazines in Israel andAmerica proclaimed the event.

    The Ministry magazine, Septem-ber, 1960, carried the story: "For the

    time In the history of Zionist colo-!"'ni7li11~ion,an organized Christian group

    been granted official status in Is-as recognized immigrants andsettlers, with all the rights of rna-and ffiC)f'alaid involved. A year

    and a half ago, five families ofSeventh~ay Adventists from the

    t I

    United States and Canada immigratedto Israel to till the land and build newhomes... Prayers conducted by theAdventists have been the first officialChristian services to take placethroughout the Zionist settlements."

    Though Elder Roden was a quiet,unobtrusive, humble man, the resultsof his labors, for which he always gaveGod the credit, were nothing short ofhistoric, and in many respectsoutstanding!

    In 1965, while contemplating hisreturn to Israel, Elder Roden wasgiven a vision directing him to Waco,Texas. Here he obtained New Mt.Carmel Center, the story of whichmany of you are familiar, having readof it in Waco newspapers and seen iton television news.

    In 1976 when Moshe Dayan wasguest of Baylor University, Elder andSister Roden spoke to the Generalabout obtaining land in Israel and heinvited them to contact him again.

    'In the spring of 1977 Elder Rodenand his son, George, did return to Is-rael. The Lord had shown him theprophetic importance of the year,1977, and what steps should be takenat that time. Upon the Mt. of OlivesElder Roden built an altar of 12 stonesat the time of the Passover.

    At this of Passover, 1977, ElderRoden was instructed by the Lordwhere the temple of Ezekiel, chapters40-45 is to be built in Jerusalem. Heinstructed his son, George BuchananRoden, where the temple is to be builtand that it would not be on the oldtemple site because that site would betoo small since Ezekiel's temple wouldbe much larger. Elder Roden also re-vealed to George the exact measure-ment of the cubit referred to in Ezeki~#Jconcerning the temple, andfrom Ezekiel the measuremel1t ofcubit.

    ',j

  • In September of 1978, BrotherRoden, with George and Carmen hada personal audience with PresidentCarter, appealing to him to help buildthe temple, a house of prayer, for allpeople in Jerusalem.

    During the last year of his life,Elder Roden was greatly comforted bythe Lord as a most precious messageabout the Holy Spirit was given to hiswife, Lois Roden. Elder Roden notonly called upon the faithful Branch ,.believers to open their' minds to thetruth of the Holy Spirit, but also carriedhis appeal personally to the Davidians,and to the leading brethren of theSeventh-day Adventist church in ses-sion at the F!ill Council in Washington,D.C., a few_~aysprior to ~ls death.

    Elder and Sister Roden returnedfrom the Fall Council in Washington,D.C., on Wednesday, October 18, andon October 22, exactly 134 years tothe day from 1844, Elder Roden wentto his rest between the two Sabbaths,the seventh-day Sabbath and the sab-bath of the last day of the Feast ofTabernacles. Likewise, Jesus diedbetween the Passover Sabbath andthe seventh-day Sabbath.

    Those of us who are left behindtake joy in knowing that the Lord tookBrother Roden to fulfill His divine plan,as shown forth in Zechariah 13:7,"Awake, 0 sword... against the manthat is my fellow."

    Those of us who knew Elder Ro-den best, who assisted him in hisworld-wide corresP9ndence, who pub-lished his hundreds 'of manuscriptsinto millions, who worked \vith himino~c:e, orc,tlard, oat. field, ..horse aridcoW.barn,'Whcr~t~(ht his Side in the

    ups and downs of the great con-trn"""rsy.,between truth and error, who

    privileged to see him taken in vi-by the Lord, who saw him in vi-by the Lord, who saw him stand

    in the halls of Congress and in thecourts of justice in the interest of relig-ious liberty, who saw him minister topresidents and people alike, who trav-eled with him hundreds of thousandsof miles, to proclaim the coming King-dom, those of us who knew him bestas a kind, sympathetic husband, fa-ther, grandfather, friend, neighbor,farmer, .and, if yo~ please, prophet,priest, and king, aQd even as a foe,can even say with Elder R. F. Cottrell,famed Adventist theologian, "A Princein Israel, indeed!"

    We do not mourn as those whohave no hope, but are joyous andpressing on to the task at hand, that ofbuilding the literal temple in Jerusa-lem, an house of prayer for all peo-ples, for His servant Elder Roden has,like King David of old, made all thingsready, and, as his will and testament,committed to his four sons the taskfinishing his work. .,.

    To George Buchanan Roden hasbeen given the responsjbility of build-ing the temple like Sofomon who fol-lowed David, even the responsibility ofthe new King of The Branch. ToBenjamin Roden II has been givencharge to prepare the furnishing~l)fthe temple. To John Scott Rod",nifi",.,been given the work of craftingand silver metalwork. ToShane Roden has been givensition of constructiontemple. Yes, beloved Elderfinished his work and isthe Lord's arms till theday.

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