20 okt Volume 2021 The Symbolic Code Nos. 7-8-9
In the Interest of the SDA Denomination
“The Twelve Tribes Which are Scattered Abroad”
This little paper is dedicated for the conveyance of news items and reformatory activities to Present Truth believers; to answer questions in connection with the sealing message of the 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-8) and the great multitude (Rev. 7:9); on the prophecies of Isaiah, Zechariah, Zephaniah, Micah, Hosea, Joel, Daniel, the Revelation, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc., but more fully on the first eight books above mentioned; on Christ’s parables, on types and symbols, and also on the writings of Mrs. E.G. White.
However, this quarterly visitor promises to answer questions on such passages of the Scriptures only as have been divinely revealed and authoritatively proclaimed — bearing the positive mark of truth. Therefore, it will either give a correct answer to questions or else confess its ignorance by saying “I do not know.”
Its main object is to reveal the fact that the time has come for the Lord to manifest His power and unify, and purify the church of God — calling her to rise up from her dusty bed and put on her strength and her gift of beautiful garments, because “from henceforth” the unclean shall not come unto her. (Isa. 52:1.) Therefore, it positively demands that the messengers of “the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” under its supervision, must strictly comply with all its requirements, instructions and advice which it bears to them from time to time. It will not countenance those who ignore its divine authority — the church is to be a light to the whole world — fair as the moon, — clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. Isa. 62:1-7; Prophets and Kings, p. 725.
The symbols on the title page are a reproduction of the Revelation, chapters Twelve and Nine, and Isaiah 7:21, which symbols are explained in our available literature.
This quarterly comforter gladly calls on all S.D.A.’s who open their emails or their doors andwelcome its visit. It freely gives its time to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation andneither collects fees nor makes charges for its unselfish service. It lives on voluntary gifts and free willofferings — it burdens no one and comforts all. Its constant prayer is that all its clients should prosperand be in health even as their souls prospereth. (III John 2.)
Make your questions plain and distinct, giving the references, and they shall be taken care of assoon as their turn on the waiting line permits.
If you like to have this printed friend come to your home regularly, also other free literature, sendyour name and address to info@gadsda.com or P.O. Box 23738, Waco, TX 76702.
David Elijah Jezreel
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ofTIMELINE OF THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD
Get Ready!!!
The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church Will Soon Be Triumphant:
TN2: 18.2 – 19.4 [155]: When will the church really become God’s Dwelling Place? By human effort it is as impossible to bring about such a change as it is to dry up the ocean. Only God can do it. But when He does, He will certainly make a clean work of it:
‘And I will,’ He says, ‘fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.’ Jer. 15:7.
‘His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ Matt. 3:12.
‘I saw that the Lord was whetting his sword in Heaven to cut them down. Oh, that every lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among His professed people.’ — Testimonies, Vol. 1, page 190.
‘The Lord will work to purify His church. I tell you in truth, the Lord is about to turn and overturn in the institutions called by His name. Just how soon this refining process will begin, I can not say, but it will not be long deferred. He whose fan is in His hand will cleanse His temple of its moral defilement. He will thoroughly purge His floor.’ — Testimonies to Ministers, page 373.
‘The time has come for earnest and powerful efforts to rid the church of the slime and filth which is tarnishing her purity.’ — Id., p. 450.
“Do not, my Brethren, say: ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.’ For ‘the days are at hand, and the
effect of every vision.’ Ezek. 12:27, 23. ‘For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace,” says the Lord, “and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.’ Isa. 62:1.”
“But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel…. Those who have trusted to intellect, genius or talent, will not…stand at the head of rank and file” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80).”
With the Kingdom in Sight, Why is the Davidian Movement not Making Better Progress?
ABN2: 55.2 – 56.1 [293-294]: “In the year 1930, God again spoke to His people, as He spoke to Israel in the days of Joshua, but now, as then, there are among us the ten spies, the Korahs, Dathans, and Abirams, and the Achans–all such as love to make discouraging reports, who seek position, who covet the Babylonish garment, the silver, and the wedge of gold. And as a result, we also are held back, and will continue to be until the Lord manifests His power and takes from among us the pretending ones, makes us free from sin and sinners, as in the time of Korah and as in the time of Achan”, and says to us as He said to Joshua ‘Go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.’ Josh. 1:2.
“Though at times we are greatly disappointed as we see among us the unfaithful, doubting, fault-finding, self-
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ofexalting multitude, including those who have forsaken the Lord; and those who when put on trial for their faith even curse and swear that they are not followers of the message of The Shepherd’s Rod; along with those who apparently believe and who declare that they stand strongly for the message, but who are throwing rocks at us and at our work;–though we certainly are not grateful for this element, yet we are not at all discouraged but rather made glad to stand alone for truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us.
“We cannot but humbly exclaim, O Lord, help us to stand true unto Thee though the whole world forsake Thee, or even though we must die like the apostles if need be. May we be as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego–standing true at the peril of our lives so that Thou canst have the opportunity of delivering us from a lion’s den, or from a fiery furnace, if need be, thus making Thyself known to all the world through our faithfulness. May we be fired with the zeal of Noah as we engage in the building of the ark for today, while many professed brethren in the message question and criticize our work and position (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 690) and retard the progress of the work, and while others accuse us of taking too much upon ourselves.
“May we never say, ‘The Lord delayeth His coming’; or, ‘We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we’; or ‘The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons Or Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.’ Num. 13:31-33. May we never become so foolish and forlorn as
this.”
Three-and-one-half Years Before the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord.
The Harvest Matthew 13 chart is primarily for the living. This prophetic artwork depicts the three-and-one-half years of Christ’s ministry. On the day His ministry ended, the 16th day of the first month, probation closed for two thieves: half was saved, and the other half lost. As the prophet Amos said, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. The above quotations reveal that the Lord will manifest His power and remove the pretending ones. The question that comes to mind is: when will this happen? Obviously, it must take place during the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Since God does nothing without revealing it to His servants, the prophets, we must look to the SROD for our answer. In interpreting the parable of “a certain nobleman” who “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return,” THE SROD says:
TN8: 70.3 [171]: “The ‘certain nobleman’ in this parable is Christ, Himself, Who, soon after His resurrection, departed to the heaven of heavens, ‘the far country,’ to be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. His ten servants, who are to occupy till His coming, represent, manifestly, the ministry at the closing of the gospel dispensation. And His citizens, accordingly, represent the laity — the subjects of His kingdom. Together, then, His servants and His citizens make up His entire kingdom — church.”
TN8: 71.1 [171]: “As they ‘sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us,’ the only conclusion admissible is that shortly before His return, Christ shall inform His ‘citizens’ that He is taking ‘the reins in His own hands’ to set up His kingdom, and that they, upon hearing the announcement, shall refuse to submit themselves to the one through whom He is to rule.”
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ofTN8: 71.2 [171]: “Observe that in the message which they ‘sent after Him,’ his servants did not say, ‘We will not have You to reign over us,’ but rather, ‘we will not have this man to reign over us.’ What they objected to was Christ’s reigning over them through someone else. Clearly, then, before He is coronated, and prior to His return to reckon with His servants, He appoints a ‘man’ to reign over them in His stead. Whereupon they say to Him, by their attitude and stand toward His message, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us,’ although ‘this man,’ as we now see, is the antitypical David (the ‘simple means’), the visible king.”
TN8: 72.1 [171]: “Thus when Christ returns and reckons with His servants, He rewards the faithful ones in proportion as they have increased the principal with which they started, but condemns those who have had no burden to work for souls and to advance His kingdom, and who have been content to let Him do without their services. For this unfaithfulness, He takes from them the ‘pound,’ (light of truth), with which He had entrusted them, showing thereby that all are to be held responsible ‘for every ray of light,’ for every lost moment, for every neglected opportunity. And those who will not have Him thus reign over them, shall, at His return, be slain before Him as were those who rebelled against God’s government in olden times.
The SROD reveals that there will be a man before the Lord returns to reckon with His servants; those who would not have the man reign over them are slain before the Lord. Davidia is pouring out of the deadly poisonous cup the false doctrine that the man, antitypical David, who is to reign in Christ’s stead before He comes to reckon with His servants, is Brother Houteff. Before we continue with the man, let us insert a few statements and comments parenthetically to expose this false doctrine; open parentheses:
(
TN9: 43.1 [190]: “Pronouncing the
doom of ancient Israel, the prophet Hosea inscribed the solemn writ: ‘…the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.’ Hos. 3:4. At the same time, however, a promise was made that ‘afterward [after the many days] shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.’ Hos. 3:5.”
TN9: 43.2 [190]: “As ancient David is in his grave, the king here promised must be an antitypical David, just as the Elijah of Malachi 4:5 must be an antitypical Elijah. Otherwise, in order to fulfill the prophecies, ancient David must necessarily rise from his grave, and ancient Elijah descend from Heaven.”
2TG2: 17.2 [661]: “In the days of this antitypical David God gathers His flock from all the countries where they have been scattered, and brings them into their own land. God will no longer leave them in the mountains and the hills of the Gentiles. ‘Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.’ Hos. 1:11; 3:5.”
Have you heard the SROD? Antitypical David cannot be a resurrected man. If God has to go to the grave to find a man to be king over “men wondered at,” then are they really “men wondered at”? Would the Lord leave the man David in the grave, who was a prophet, a king, and a man after God’s own heart, and resurrect another man to be David? We must also remember that God gathers His people into their own land in the days of this antitypical David. According to Genesis Chapter 5, the days of a man are from birth to death or translation,
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ofas with Enoch. Could Davidia say that God gathered His people to their own land in the days of Brother Houteff? Since He did not, the antitypical David was yet to come since 1954. Should those who will be translated be looking to the grave for their leader, or will he be amongst the translated? Erroneous doctrines survive only because the hearers do not question the promulgators of these errors. As Brother Houteff in his days as one man fulfilled the preparatory work of several typical prophets such as Ezekiel, Elijah, Jezreel, Zerubbabel, etc., so will it be in the antitype:
4SC10-12: 6.1.3 [404]: “In prophecy, God revealed to Ezekiel the injustice which, in the latter days, our time, would be done to God’s people by their shepherds, and said: ‘I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.’ (Ezek. 34:23, 24.) Thus Ezekiel was also told that the present system, an organization of many shepherds, will be replaced by a new one and be conducted by one shepherd instead of by many.”
5SC1-5: 3.1.2 [413]: “Moreover, we are told by the prophet Ezekiel in language unmistakable that at the establishing of the kingdom, which is to break all the kingdoms, God will have one man to teach His people: ‘And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.’ (Ezek. 34:23-26.)”
TN8: 47.3 [168]: “Thus His church, or kingdom, is again reflected without ‘spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing’ (Eph. 5:27), a theocracy of peace, safety, and invincibility, under the rule of one shepherd and a king — David, His servant.”
)
We have closed the parentheses; so let us get back to the three and one-half years of antitypical David’s special message to the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church:
1SC7: 7.4[50]: “However, under the dispensation of a special message to the church, such as Christ bore to the Jewish church for three and a half years and such as it is our lot to bear to the S.D.A. church today, we are not to understand that it is the work of those, who bear such a message, to carry on at the same time the Gospel program for the world at large.”
The SROD message has been sounding in the church for over 90 years, and this statement was published in 1935. Thus, we may conclude that this statement’s three and a half years are symbolic and not literal. Before we set our irremovable stakes, we must admit that when the literal harvest comes, the activities are literal, and the times of the activities are also literal. The chart entitled “The Harvest Matthew 13” is for the living, for the fulfillment of Ezekiel Chapter 9 is shown therein. Thus, confirming that the times leading up to Ezekiel 9 must also be literal.
In conclusion, the three and a half years are symbolic only to the SROD message going to the Denomination but literal to the special message to the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church (the name the majority reject and prefer to call themselves Davidia). Before the Lord comes to reckon with His servants, a special message of warning must be delivered to them. Those servants are found in the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church, the church with the light of the judgment of the living message. While refraining yourself from saying: “I know what is truth. I am satisfied with my position. I have set my stakes, and I will not be moved away from my position, whatever may come”, you may ask:
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ofWhen Will The Special Message Begin To Sound?
We will begin by quote the Spirit of Prophecy:
10MR 270.1: “The world placed all time-proclamation on the same level and called it a delusion, fanaticism and heresy. Ever since 1844 I have borne my testimony that we were now in a period of time in which we are to take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares. Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time-proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of our Lord’s coming. We do not know the day nor the hour, or when the definite time is, and yet the prophetic reckoning shows us that Christ is at the door.”
If we knew when the three and a half years begin, we would be proclaiming time; and since there is to be no time-proclamation between 1844 and the second coming of Christ, the date of the beginning of the three and one-half years is not revealed. However, we do know that Christ will come on the 10th day of the first month (see Symbolic Code, Volume 2021, Nos. 4-5-6, pages 6 to 8) to execute the judgment of the living. We know the month and the day, but the year is not revealed; therefore, we know not the day of the Lord’s coming. According to:
TN3: 57.1 [220]: “The fact having been established (see illustration on p. 55) that the three and one half years of Christ’s ministry terminated on the 16th day of the first month then counting three and one half years (follow the illustration on page 55), we find that His baptism took place on the 16th day of the seventh month which was in the Week of Tabernacles, and the celebration of which was the end of the agricultural year, the close of the harvest (Lev. 23:39).”
We are told how the SROD determined the day of the Lord’s baptism. Since we know that Christ is
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ofcoming on the 10th day of the first month to execute the judgment of the living, said day will also be the end of the proclamation of the special message. We thus count back three and one-half years, which will bring us to the 10th day of the seventh month, the beginning of preaching the special message to the D. S. D. A. Church. According to The Harvest Matthew 13 chart, the harvest of the living also ends on the 10th day of the seventh month, which will not be the same year as the end of the special message. We are sure that the end of the preaching of the special message is on the 10th day of the first month because the parable of the ten virgins states that the wise virgins refused to give the foolish virgins any of their oil. Instead, they instructed them to go and buy from those that sell—signifying that the wise virgins’ preaching of the special message to the D.S.D.A. Church ended when the Bridegroom came. Even though we do not know the year of the 10th day of the first month now, it will not always be so, for the parable of the Ten Virgins prophesies that a cry will be made for the virgins to go out and meet the Bridegroom. The one to make that cry is the man (antitypical Elijah, Jezreel, David, etc.). We will then know the year, maybe as much time as Moses knew of the typical Passover before it happened.
In conclusion, the special message to the D. S. D. A. Church will begin to sound on the 10th day of the seventh month and end on the 10th day of the first month when the Bridegroom comes. We will now answer the question that is on almost every present truth believer’s mind:
When will the great and dreadful day of the Lord begin?
SR2: 217.4 [118]: “…….The purification of the church makes it necessary for Christ to leave the place of judgment and descend to deliver His redeemed (the 144,000), and this is what causes the judgment to cease, and the voices to be silenced for about half an hour — seven days. …..”
TN3: 46.2 [218]: “The angels who are round about the throne in the heavenly sanctuary during the judgment of Daniel
7:9, 10 and of Revelation 5:11 shall, as the parables explain, descend with ‘the Son of man’ when He comes ‘to His temple’ (His church) to separate by judgment ‘the wicked from among the just,’ and to purge as gold and silver those ‘who may abide the day of His coming…that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Mal. 3:2, 3.”
TN3: 46.3 [218]: “In graphic demonstration that He will come to earth with all His angels to execute judgment upon the living, the Lord revealed Himself prophetically to Ezekiel as being brought enthroned to earth by four living creatures just before the slaughter of the hypocrites in the church takes place. And as each of the living creatures has the face of a lion, the face of a calf, the face of a man, and the face of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10), — the same judicial insignia as have the beasts who are before the throne in the heavenly sanctuary (Rev. 4:7) in the time of the judgment of the dead, — and as they descend to earth, they thereby symbolically show that the work of the mediatorial-judicial throne which convenes and presides over the judgment of the dead is extended to earth.”
TN3: 47.1 [218]: “This extension, so far as we are able to know now, must take place at the opening of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1), for at that time the celestial voices, which opened the judgment of the dead, cease in the heavenly sanctuary and begin, after the half hour’s silence, to sound on earth. In other words, just as in heaven at the opening of the judgment of the dead, there were ‘lightnings and thunderings and voices’ (Rev. 4:5), likewise on earth at the opening of the ‘judgment of the living,’ there are ‘voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.’ Rev. 8:5.”
In the four preceding statements, the SROD instructs us that the silence in heaven is caused by Christ’s leaving the heavenly sanctuary to descend to the earth to execute the judgment of the living. This departure takes place at the opening of the seventh seal, and the work of
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ofthe mediatorial-judicial throng is extended to earth. The investigative work of the judgment now taking place in heaven for the dead will be done on earth for the living during the half-hour silence in heaven. However, the purification of the Church does not begin on the 10th day of the first month, for on that day, the foolish virgins saw judgments of God, then they went to buy oil for their lamps. We know this to be so from the following statement:
SR2: 185.3 [110]: “……Thus when the wise ones started out to meet the Bridegroom the lamps of the foolish went out, for, the judgment of the dead had passed. Therefore, it was present truth no more, and thus they were left in darkness. At the beginning of the judgments of God they saw their mistake and rushed for the ark of safety, but it was beyond their reach for they knew nothing of the message, and by the time they acquired it (filled their lamps with oil), there had been a delay, the angel had passed ‘through the city, through Jerusalem,’ the church — the sealing was finished, and probation for the church had closed — the door was shut. Thus they were left out. Then they came with these words: ‘Lord, Lord, open unto us, But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.’ ‘Appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ What a disappointment that will be!”
In this statement, the foolish virgins became alarmed and rushed to the ark, which means that they began to ask the wise virgins for the oil of truth, for they knew nothing of the special message preached for three and a half years. What judgments did they see? They saw the judgment of the Jews now occupying a portion of the promised land:
Zeph. 2:1, 2: — “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.”
1TG22: 24.3 [566]: “When this Judgment-bound nation begins to gather together then it is, if never before, that the meek of the earth need to seek meekness.”
1TG22: 24.4 [566]: “The meek of the earth are those who have wrought the Lord’s judgments, who have proclaimed the message of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. They are His people, His church. The nation that is not desired, therefore, is one people, and the meek of the earth, the church, those who are hid in the day of the Lord’s anger are another people. The one is gathering together, the other is seeking meekness. Definitely, then, the “nation” of verses 1 and 2 is not His church, but the people of verse three are His people, His church.”
1TG22: 25.3 [567]: “In view of the fact that this scripture is now being unfolded, and also the fact that there is but one people, one nation (the descendants of the ancient scribes, priests, and Pharisees who rejected the Lord and who have not even to this day accepted Him, that are hardly desired anywhere in the world) that is now doing all she can to gather together in Palestine — in view of all this, the present-day Jews are that undesired nation. Upon her, therefore, the Lord’s anger is to fall if she continues to deny Christ. Yes, the universally hated Jew is the only nation that has been scattered throughout the Gentile world, and is the only one that is now gathering together in Palestine.”
In these statements, the present-day Jews are the judgment-bound nation gathered for the fierce anger of the Lord to come upon them. It is God’s Judgments upon the Jews that the foolish virgins saw, for the Lord said:
Zech. 14:1 — “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.”
1TG19: 3.2 [559]: “As you know, the subject matter contained in this chapter actually begins in chapter twelve and runs
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ofthrough chapter fourteen. To ascertain who is referred to by the pronoun ‘thee’ in this verse, we must go back to chapter thirteen. There we find that ‘thee’ refers to Jerusalem. It is the spoil of Jerusalem, then, that shall be divided in the midst of her.”
Zech. 14:2 – “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
1TG19: 3.3 [559]: “In view of the fact that Jerusalem is to be protected by a wall of fire (Zech. 2:5) while the house of Judah reigns there, it is definite that the battle here described must be fought before the house of Judah is established. In that battle the nations will defeat the rulers of the Promised Land. Then it is that the house of Judah commences to be set up.”
1TG19: 4.1 [559]: “As the warring nations besiege the city, and rifle the houses, also ravish the women, they are by no means righteous nations, but since not all the inhabitants go into captivity, and since all are not cut off from the city, it must be that the wicked are taken away and the righteous left in to join the house of Judah.”
2TG41: 18.1 [461]: “Just how this is to come about, I do not know; but I do know that the greatest of all wars is to be fought about the holy land; ‘Behold,’ says the Lord, ‘the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.’ Zechariah 14:1, 2.”
The prophet Isaiah also wrote of this war in:
Isa. 3:25 — “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.”
The SROD says:
1TG6: 31.2 [524]: “If the daughters of Zion fail to reform, then their men shall fall by the sword. Do you want me to tell you why their men will fall by the sword? — Because no sincere Christian boy in his right senses, will ever as much as consider marrying a girl that dresses as a hypocrite dresses. And so if such a worldly-minded girl is ever to get married, what kind of man will she get? — Not an informed Christian in present Truth, I am sure. She will get the kind of man that does not have God’s protection over him, the kind that is to fall in the war, the war that is fought while God’s people are being delivered. (Re-read Tract No. 14.) If you want to save your men, then quit fooling with the Devil. Get to be God’s true representatives.”
Observe that the first verse of Zechariah Chapter 14 tells us that the day of the Lord cometh, which is none other than the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He is on earth to execute the judgment of that day; then the next verse says He will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. So, when the Lord first comes for the judgment of the living, He is at Jerusalem gathering the nations for the battle over Jerusalem, which is His first act of getting the occupiers out of the promised land. It will be indeed great for those who had preached the coming of said day and those who will not be cut off from Jerusalem, but dreadful for those who shall go into captivity, but it is only the beginning of the great and terrible day of the Lord.
The Lord later turns on those who fought against Jerusalem. Follow the Timeline of the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord.
My dear fellow SROD believers, do not wait until you see the judgments of God in the promised land to realize that Davidia is an illusion. The Eleventh-hour Church is a reality. Make it your home Church while probation still lingers and the Bridegroom still tarries.
In the upcoming issues of the Symbolic Code, until we have completed all the activities of
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ofthe great and dreadful day of the Lord, each section of the timeline below will be addressed. Please remember to send in your questions, and your answers will be published in a subsequent Symbolic Code. Your name will not be published if that’s your preference. While you wait for the next issue, be a Berean and investigate:
TIMELINE OF THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD
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ofCOME OUT OF DAVIDIA – THE DEAD TOP OFFSHOOT
Is Davidia composed of dead tops offshoots, or is it an up-shoot offshoot? Let us hear the ROD:
“All people down through the ages that have ever embraced a fresh message from God, were branded as ‘offshoots’ and considered dangerous — something from which one must beware lest he be shot at, as it were, stabbed, trapped, or something as bad, or hard to tell what.” {2TG43: 3.1} [473]
“As you know, we, too, are branded as such and are accused of leaving the Denomination even as much as were the apostles accused of leaving Judaism and taking up Christianity. Actually, the apostles had left nothing, for they not only took along with them every truth Judaism had, but they went on with the fresh Truth of God also, whereas Judaism fell back. The apostles, moreover, would have remained in the synagogue if the Jews had not driven them out. For this the apostles were called ‘offshoots,’ or the like.” {2TG43: 3.2} [473]
“We likewise have not pulled away from the Denomination, but have been cast out of our respective churches and forced to go by another name, Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, — and all this for no other reason than for embracing the additional Heaven-born Truth which gives power and force to the Advent message (Early Writings, pg. 277), and which makes us better Seventh-day Adventists than we have been or could otherwise be.” {2TG43: 3.3} [473]
“Now, if we be ‘offshoots’ for walking in the light which heaven sends from time to time to lead God’s people in the way of Truth and Righteousness, then I should like to know what our brethren think they themselves are, for by the same token of logic the
Mother Denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist, is itself an offshoot from another denomination. Moreover, this is also true of all the Protestant denominations, for they are the offshoots of the Catholic; and the Apostolic is an offshoot of the Jewish. Who, then, outside of the Jews is not an offshoot? In fact, if we go as far back as Abraham’s time, we will find that even the Jews were an offshoot of something before their time. If offshoots are therefore to be shunned, hated, and abhorred, then why are there any Christians at all? And if this is an eye-opener to those who think themselves something other than an offshoot, they should now without delay apply for admission to the Synagogue, or else begin to behave like God’s men.” {2TG43: 4.1} [473]
“Do you, Brother, Sister, see that if it had not been for the ‘offshoots,’ for those who had backbone of their own to stand up for present Truth, for ‘meat in due season’ (Matt. 24:45), none of us would ever have had a chance to become Christians — Protestants, Adventists, or Davidians. We
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ofall would have been members of the God-forsaken Synagogue, if of anything. In fact, we would have had no Bible religion at all, for the Jews themselves have departed even from what little they had retained of it 2000 years ago. Should we, then, not be thankful for the faithfulness of the offshoots who have gone before us (if such they be) and of whom Christ is the first? I, for one am proud to be called an offshoot with my Lord. I, therefore, like to be an offshoot, but would dislike to be a dead top. {2TG43: 4.2} [473]”
“Our hostile brethren, though, are mistakenly calling us ‘offshoots.’ Rightly we should be called “upshoots,” for that is what additional Truth does to the Church and to anyone who accepts it. A tree that does not put forth an upshoot in the season it should, is either dying or is already dead. Plainly, then, without us ‘upshoots,’ the brethren would have no chance to survive the Laodicean malady, and no chance to reach the Kingdom of glory. They will, while dying, forever be dreaming of being rich and increased with goods, though in fact the Lord Himself points out that they are ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’ (Rev. 3:17), and know it not. How thankful they ought to be to us who have withstood their fiery darts for the sake of Truth!” {2TG43: 5.1} [473]
“The truth of the matter, however, is that the so-called offshoots are but upshoots. And let us ever remember that as a tree dies when it fails to make an upshoot each season, so does a church when she fails to keep up with Heaven’s advancing Truth. Even the world knows that the upshoots have ever kept the church alive and free, and that upshoots ever will. We therefore feel greatly honored to be upshoots rather than dormant buds.” {2TG10: 19.1} [390]
“Yes, it is a great honor to be persecuted, scoffed at, and abused for Christ’s sake and His Truth. So Jesus declares: ‘Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and
shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” Luke 6:22, 23. {2TG10: 19.2} [390]
“For this obvious reason the church cannot get along without us ‘offshoots,’ or rather ‘upshoots,’ and yet be saved for eternity. Let me now read God’s promise and encouragement for us all.” {2TG43: 15.1} [475]
“I am sure that you now plainly see why the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are not ‘offshoots’ but rather ‘upshoots,’ and what it means to hear the Rod and Him Who has appointed It, as well as what it means to turn your back against It.” {2TG43: 26.2} [477]
The ROD of God says that Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are not offshoots, but rather upshoots, because they have kept up with Heaven’s advancing Truth. Davidians at this time must not be looking for the Truth to advance beyond the pages of the ROD, but we must expect to advance in our knowledge of the abundance of Truth found on the sacred pages of the Judgment of the Living message, The Shepherd’s Rod. Since the name Davidia is not one of the 1,521,051 words found in the 17,861 paragraphs, on the 4,852 pages of The Shepherd’s Rod Message, Davidia must be a dead top off-shoot, comprised of a multitude of dead tops and crooked sticks. A dead top or crooked
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ofstick always adds to or takes from the Message, especially on essential and foundational truths. Let us consider the subject of antitypical Elijah. This subject is the first suggested study to be given by the hunters, pursuant to the general outline of studies itemized on page ten of the 1953 Hunter’s Manual, used during the all-out effort from 1953 to 1955 to reclaim the church from the Laodicean Sanhedrin. Davidia teaches that antitypical Elijah is Brother Houteff. Let us hear Brother Houteff’s instructions to the hunters, quoting page thirty-three of the said manual:
INFORMATION SEEKERS, HOW TO HANDLE
Do not give out any information to those who are only seeking a stick with which to beat you. The following topics are the ones they will most generally quiz you about:
Jezreel: You will doubtless meet the questions as to who are Jezreel, antitypical King David, Ezekiel, etc. When such questions are put to you, simply tell your inquiries that you never heard Brother Houteff claiming to be any of these, and that if they want to know more they should write the Office. (The attached card is self-explanatory.) Hunter’s Manual, page 33.
Here we read Brother Houteff never claiming to be any of the antitypical prophets. Davidia teaches that Brother Houteff is antitypical Elijah, and to support said teaching, Davidia interviewed old Davidians who lived on Mt. Carmel during Brother Houteff’s life, and who claimed that they all believed that Brother Houteff was antitypical Elijah and he never stopped them from believing the same. Thus, Davidia builds her faith on hearsay rather than on “it is written”. We know that the SROD Message is the Elijah message, and it stands to reason that its author must be Elijah. Christ said that John the Baptist was Elijah, but it certainly did not make him antitypical Elijah, for Christ, prior to identifying John as Elijah, said “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things” Matt. 17:11, adding the restoration of all things
to the prophecy of antitypical Elijah, which was not in the original prophecy of Malachi.
Brother Houteff instructed the hunters to tell the questioners to write the office if they wanted to know more. Since we have no letter published in the ROD that answers the questions of the information seekers, we had better follow the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ, the true Author of the ROD, and teach only that which is written and published by him that “bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace”. We as true Davidians should go to the ROD to get our answers for the present-day questioners, seeing that the prophetic office of the appointed human author is closed and has been closed since February 5, 1955. Let us begin at the beginning of that which was published by the late Brother V. T. Houteff. We turn to The Shepherd’s Rod, Volume One:
SR1: 47.1 [13]: “It is at this time the 144,000 are marked, or sealed. Ezekiel 9 fits Elijah’s experience for this reason: The prophet, or the message is called, Elijah, ‘with the spirit and the power of Elijah.’ The prophet Elijah thought all Israel had apostatized, and that he alone was left, but the Lord said He had 7,000 men that had not bowed a knee to Baal. ‘Seven’ signifies a complete or perfect number, which stands as a symbol, in this instance meaning a complete number of thousands. The complete number of the very elect is 144,000. So we, too, like Elijah, think the whole church is drifted into the world (bowed a knee to Baal). Thus Elijah stands as a type of the 144,000 living, translated saints.”
Let us note carefully that the prophet and the message have the same name, which doesn’t mean that we can substitute Elijah the prophet for Elijah the message, for they are not one and the same; the prophet being the man and the message being the writings or teachings of the man. It is the same reason that a father and son are not one and the same person because they have the same name. In Christ’s parable Abraham said “They have Moses and the
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ofprophets; let them hear them”, does it mean that we can now go through the Holy Bible and wherever we see Moses, we can now replace it with Genesis or Exodus or any of his other three books? Let us also note that the statement just read appoints Elijah with the translated and not with the dead, for the type never tasted death. What an absurdity to teach that antitypical Elijah is a resurrected person!
Let us follow the light of the advancing truth to ascertain whether antitypical Elijah is a person to be translated or a person to be resurrected. We read in the following statement that the type demands translation, which should suffice, but we will not stop there:
1SC9: 9.3 [74]: “Moreover, as the SRod is the Elijah message (T.M. 475), it is impossible for anyone who accepts it and lives it to die, for the type demands translation. Thus it is that Elijah stands as a type of the 144,000. (D.A. 421.)”
Please note carefully that the message of T.M. 475 is the SRod message and the type demands translation. When this statement is presented to some of the dead tops, with the crooked sticks in their mouths they cry out that Brother Houteff and those who died after accepting the message did not live the message. What an accusation against God’s former mouthpiece! these dead tops would rather condemn a prophet than to accept that they have misunderstood the subject under discussion. It is obvious that this statement is referring to the time of the antitypical Elijah and not to the time of any person in the preparatory phase of the mission of Elijah, as seen in the following statement in which death is a disqualifier for the role of antitypical Elijah:
GCS: 39.1 [471]: “The Judgment for the Dead, furthermore, is not the message of ‘the great and dreadful day.’ It does not even touch on the prophecies of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And since the one by whom the message on the Judgment for the Dead was unfolded has already been dead these many years, and since nothing, not to mention ‘all things,’ has
as yet been restored, and, too, since that one never claimed to be the Elijah, nor to unfold the prophecies of the Judgment for the Living, no one, therefore, can honestly and innocently say Elijah has already come and gone. In view of these facts, it would be stupidity of the lowest form, if not blasphemy, for any one to lay such charges to her, or to imagine that her prophetic office fulfilled anything more than a preparatory part of the mission of Elijah.”
Please observe that in this statement the ROD is dealing with the false teaching of the General Conference that Sister White was antitypical Elijah, this teaching is broadcast in an APPENDIX to the only statement the ROD uses to show that the Spirit of Prophecy predicted the coming of Elijah, without specificity to the preparatory or antitypical mission of Elijah, thus a double application. In 1954 when the ROD republished this statement, Sister White, the one to whom the judgement of the dead message was unfolded, was only dead for thirty-nine years. Now in 2021, Davidia is saying that Brother Houteff is antitypical Elijah, and he has been dead for sixty-six years, is this not proof that Davidia has gone beyond the lowest form of stupidity and are now blaspheming? If these statements are not awakening you to the heresies in Davidia, then nothing will; so sleep on, take your nap, a little slumber, for soon the call will be made for all the virgins to go out to behold the coming of the Bridegroom and you will definitely awake then – – but it will be too late, for it is written that they acquired the oil, but when they returned, the door was shut and they were left out: eternally too late!
Note, that the ROD says that nothing had been restored as of 1954. The preparatory Elijah-mission of Brother Victor T. Houteff ended in 1955; did he restore all things before he died on February 5, 1955? Our Maker and King said that “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things”, so if antitypical Elijah does nothing else when he comes, he must fulfill the words of Christ and restore all things. The ROD debunked the false doctrine of the General Conference’s ministers by pointing to Sister White’s death
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ofand her not restoring all things. Pray tell me, how can Brother Houteff be antitypical Elijah? he shared the same two experiences as Sister White, he died and he did not restore all things.
Usually, after hearing what has been said thus far, the listener then asks: Who then is antitypical Elijah? If you have read this far, there is hope and it shows that you have heeded the ROD’S advice that one should not be afraid of encountering error, but rather be afraid of rejecting truth. If you have seen evidence of truth or the Spirit has convicted you to keep reading, then read on, and still yet, if you are not sure of the conviction, then continue reading, for there is a bright light at the end of this experience.
We will now deal with the most misunderstood statement in the 1950 General Conference Special:
“What is more, should God send another than Elijah, that is, someone with a message other than of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, he will not claim to be the Elijah, he will not lie. Hence, for anyone to make the claim that he is the Elijah, but bear another message than that of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, is in itself positive proof that he is not a prophet of God at all, but a rank imposter. And if any should tell you that a former prophet has fulfilled the promise, although the prophet himself has not said so, then not to know for a certainty that such are not working for the God of Elijah, but for the devil, is Laodiceanism of the worst kind.”
According to the Hunter’s Manual, no one has ever heard Brother Houteff claiming to be Elijah; neither is such a claim published in the SROD Message. Therefore, according to the statement just read, the teacher of the false doctrine that Brother Houteff is antitypical Elijah, is a Laodicean of the worst kind. Sadly, this is the fate of most Davidians – – what a startling revelation!
Let us return to the most recent light on
antitypical Elijah found in the 1954 edition of the 1950 General Conference Special. In it we read from pages twelve to nineteen the ROD quoting Joel’s chapters two and three without any interpretations after the verses, but after all the verses were quoted we read the following statement:
GCS: 19.2 [469]: “This surely confirms the conclusion that since Elijah is to herald the great day, he can therefore be the only one who will rightly interpret the prophecies of the day, which are still mysteries to Christendom, and even to our own Denomination! Indeed, to reiterate, it is for this very reason that the prophet is sent. He is to unroll the scroll, to explain what the day of the Lord is like, what the Lord will do then, and how we may survive His judgments. To re-emphasize the fact, let it be said again that being the last of the prophets Elijah is, therefore, the only one who can open to our understanding all the prophecies of the Scriptures pertaining to the great and dreadful day of the Lord — prophecies which heretofore have been only mysteries to all. Thus he is, as the Scriptures say, to blow the trumpet in Zion, and to sound an alarm in God’s holy mountain, in the church.”
In his attempt to twist this statement the dead top says: “there are only two mediums employed by the Lord to interpret the Scriptures since 1844; therefore, Elijah must be one of those mediums”. It appears to be a good argument, which for the most part seals the fate of the surface reader; but please allow me to ignite your reasoning abilities. The two mediums in the persons of Sister White and Brother Houteff were employed to interpret any part of the Scriptures without limitations; however, the ROD says that this Elijah will rightly interpret the prophecies of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, no other prophecies. In addition, he is to herald the great day, which means that he is to be in the day, why? Because the following statements say:
JL9: 1.2 [689]: “Behold, I will send My
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ofmessenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 3:1.
JL9: 1.3 [689]: “The promise here is that the Lord will send a messenger, and as the fourth chapter of Malachi is but a continuation of the story in the third, we are there told that the messenger is antitypical Elijah (Mal. 4:5), the one who is ‘to restore all things’ (Matt. 17:11) and Inspiration of a later addition, and in a special message to the Seventh-day Adventist ministry warns:”
JL9: 1.4 [689]: “Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: ‘You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.’” — “Testimonies to Ministers,” pp. 475, 476.
JL9: 1.5 [689]: “There are two main points to note in these quotations: (1) that the message and messenger here mentioned are the very last; (2) that they are to restore all things, (3) that there is danger for some to make fools of themselves by daring to tell him how to teach his message — assuming to take God’s place!”
2TG31: 4.1 [423]: “Here the Scriptures point out that someone in the spirit and power of Elijah the prophet is first to appear, and will not only prepare the way, but will also restore all things. Plainly, the message of Elijah shall restore all things in the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the day of restitution, the day the Lord comes to His temple, the Church. The spirit of Elijah was a spirit against idolatry, and his power was a power to destroy those who led in idolatry, and to bring about purity.”
2TG30: 12.1 [644]: “This messenger of the covenant (of the promise), antitypical Elijah the prophet shall prepare the way; he shall restore all things. As he prepares the way, the Lord will suddenly come to His temple, to His church. And what is His work to be? To purify or cleanse His people by weeding the unrepented sinners from among them. The question: “But who may abide the day of His coming?” solemnly declares that we had better now get busy and do what it takes to make us stand before the cleansing begins.”
What have you learnt from the quotations just read? Here is what you should have learnt: 1) Antitypical Elijah will restore all things. 2) The Message and the messenger are to restore all things. 3) As antitypical Elijah prepares the way for the Lord’s coming for the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the Lord will suddenly come to His temple to cleanse it. 4) Not one of these statements suggest that antitypical Elijah is Brother Houteff or any other person to be resurrected. 5) How blind you were when you had last studied this subject and concluded that Brother Houteff was antitypical Elijah, probably only because you were told so by Davidia’s teachers, who placed the blinders on your eyes. Thank God for the eye salve of the statements of this timely cry you just read!
In conclusion:
GCS: 7.1 [467]: “It is therefore only to be expected that the predicted Elijah will be denounced as a false prophet, perhaps even as the anti-Christ, offshoot, or what not.”
GCS: 7.2 [467]: “Moreover, the old Devil has already put all his forces to work, piping pleasing tunes to lure Truth seekers to climb aboard his golden bandwagon. Its glittering tinsel of truth is already beguiling many with his wares while his captains and generals are to the top of their voices shouting their ‘Hallelujahs,’ ‘Holy Ghost,’ ‘gift of healing,’ ‘gift of tongues,’ ‘gift of miracles,’ and all the rest, although the entire fanfare is devoid even of a spark of life. Every wind of doctrine will be
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ofblowing, false revivals and reformations will be at their peak. Everything that can be done will be done to distort the Truth and thus distract and dishearten believers and draw their attention to something other than the message of Elijah.”
GCS: 7.3 [467]: “Thus will be the Devil’s deal while the day of God is approaching, and while Elijah is making the announcement of it as the scroll unrolls and while the prophecies concerning the day of God are being unsealed. His work and his interpretation of the prophecies for the great day will identify him as the promised Elijah the prophet (“Testimonies to Ministers,” p. 475), and this will enrage the Devil as never before. Nevertheless, one’s only safety will be in the teaching of Elijah, for there will be no other voice of timely Truth and authority to whom one may turn. Any others will lead their victims blind-folded into perdition.”
GCS: 8.1 [467]: “Do not henceforth leave in the hands of others your investigation of the subject. After hearing the evidences, you alone in the closet of prayer and with the aid of the Spirit can determine whether the Elijah has come, or whether he is yet to come.”
GCS: 8.2 [467]: “Do not, though, forget that the message which he proclaims will in itself bear the Divine credentials of Truth, and that no priest or prelate can decide for you who the Elijah may or may not be. No, not even the appearance of what his message is doing or not doing, or whether it is prospering or disintegrating, can be taken as evidence that God is in it. Neither can numbers of adherents, for such have never signified a right cause at any time, not even in the day Christ Himself preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. The message he brings is the only thing to go by.”
Come out of Davidia, O rescued soul, and “cease ye from man, whose breath is in their nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” and without delay get away from the additions to the ROD, especially the New Codes’ deadly poisons.
TESTIMONIES
Greetings,
I thank the Lord for His good news and the gift of life. I also thank Him because He has been with me, and for giving me this opportunity to be at Vanguard School. It is the school of the prophets in our time. I always compare it with those schools which the prophet Samuel established in Israel.
I have been here since 2018 and I can testify that I have learned a lot from my teachers in my Christian walk. I have also learned to be fluent in English, and I am so glad that we are being prepared for the soon-coming Kingdom.
Amen and abundant blessings to all brethren in the Eleventh-hour church.
Yours faithfully,
Caleb Makau,
Grade Seven
Vanguard School is the best school in the world. It is far in the countryside and not in the city. It has taught me The Shepherd Rod message and very many good things. This is the reason I love Vanguard School. It is the school of God. God bless you. Amen.
Yours faithfully,
Jimpreston Bundi Maina,
Grade Seven
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ofGreetings,
I am Peace Nzisa, a pupil in grade four. I love Vanguard Academy, surrounded by hills and sugarcane plantations. There are carpets of green grasses also. Here in this school, we have beauty and skill in all we do. Many come to visit and have a glimpse of our wonderful school. We have agriculture lessons on the farm where we water the seedlings till they become plants. We also take computer lessons that renders us informed on technology. My joy is inexpressible. Vanguard Training Center is the place to be.
I love my teachers very much. They are doing a good job in training us to be in God’s Kingdom. The other pupils love the teachers too. We have learned obedience through the teachers. We have also learned to study the Word of God, in addition to many sacred songs and poetry.
I am truly thankful that my teachers have taught me to be loving and to live in peace with everyone.
Your Loving Sister,
Peace Nzisa Benjamin,
Grade Four
HOW TRUE THESE WORDS HAVE PROVED!
“Because time and the gospel are at their climatic hour, and the work is consequently of transcendent scope, expansion, and importance, yet of exceeding short duration, God has inspired man to invent and build time and labor-saving, wonder-working, earth-mastering, tools and machinery of all kinds.” {WHR: 36.2}.
How true these words have proved even in the use of the internet! Sometime ago I was added to a WhatsApp group without being consulted. It was a Laodicean group administrated by some brethren who believed and taught that 2520 years are the longest time-prophecy and not the 2300 years. The purpose of the addition, as I came to learn later, was to have me indoctrinated with their dogmas and later be incorporated into their membership. God, however, Whose purposes know no fail, had different plans. This I came to realize later after His mission had been accomplished in that group.
I have been a Seventh-day Adventist since I was 21 years old. I had a problem with the explanation given by the church on some of the prophecies – especially the one of Daniel 2:31-35; I could not find the logical end! Thankfully, the Lord allowed this prophecy to be studied about 15 years later when I first studied it among Davidian brothers and sisters, and everything finally became clear in my mind.
From that day on, my life changed. I am hungry for knowledge; hungry for that “butter and honey” (Isaiah 7:21, 22) which is freely dispensed every Sabbath afternoon. Today I am happy to be able to study in-depth the Word of God that enlightens my path, and I am grateful to Him for It. By God’s grace I aspire, with all my heart, to continue my journey to the end, taking my family with me.
May the Lord strengthen and lead all the brothers and sisters who are at the head of this gigantic and formidable work. Thank you for praying for my family.
Sister Céline CIDÉRON
Guadeloupe
West Indies
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ofIn a nutshell, a brother who had just joined the group was anxious, through a public chat in said group, to know where this prophecy group physically met. This inquiry awakened me to my God-given responsibility of coming to His help in the advancement of His cause. I therefore engaged him privately and directed him to another group where he could learn the Present Truth; a group which he immediately joined. Sometime afterwards I decided to give him a phone call, and it was so timely. Through it, I connected him to a Davidian brother who happened to come from the neighboring village and now as we speak this beloved brother is a regular Eleventh-hour church member.
After this, our good Lord was still not yet done with this 2520 WhatsApp group. I used to be active in sharing Sis. White or Shepherd’s Rod messages and there was this sister who used to give hearty “amens” to the quotes. I decided to get in touch with her privately. She at times seemed busy but I remained persistent in supplying the prescribed cure for Laodiceanism, the Shepherd’s Rod message, which the Spirit impressed upon her heart and now she is an Eleventh-hour church member!
My stay in that 2520 WhatsApp group came to an end after I was expelled for sharing SRod quotes that dismantled some of their uninspired beliefs. I now know better—it was not of their own volition to expel me, but it was God’s business that had come to a close in that particular group: bless His holy Name!
That is not all, though. Sometime later I was yet again added to another WhatsApp group; a Davidian one this time round. In here, a sister publicly stated her purpose of being therein as only wishing to learn that which is Truth. I capitalized on her declaration and started sharing the pure Rod with her privately. She received the cure and is now an Eleventh-hour church member. What is also of interest is the fact that she had never ever before participated in the group chat when she sent that message which initiated our conversation! Before that time, some of the teachings she received were from the new codes and she didn’t even know that they were after Bro. Houteff’s death. It was an eye-opener after she finally understood this, as she later came to testify.
We thank the Captain of our salvation for taking the reins in His own hands and “Thus speedily releasing His people, and quickly ‘finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.’” (Rom. 9:28.) {SR2: 94.2}
Bro. Weslay Ochengo
Kisii, Kenya
A LONG WAY TO GO, BUT IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND AT THE RIGHT TIME!
I am happy to testify to the LORD today. I do not cease each day to express my gratitude to Him for having led my steps to the Eleventh-hour church located in Vert Pré at the time. I went there one Sabbath afternoon at the end of November 2016 following an invitation from Sis. Christine. I only attended out of simple curiosity: to find out more about the teachings that were given there, and to get answers to my questions—especially concerning the 24,000 spirit-filled ministers, the eighth church, which I had heard of from those who opposed the existence of the Eleventh-hour church.
I wanted to do my own investigations and not stick to the negative external statements while saying to myself: “What if it is the Truth?” I became a member of the Eleventh-hour church in 2017, and I am proud and happy to declare it. I am still there to this day, and I count on the grace and strength of GOD to remain therein until the sealing – if it is GOD’s will that I remain alive until then. I got my Certificate of Fellowship card in 2020 after reading the whole of the Shepherd’s Rod Series; what a great adventure that was!
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ofIn the Eleventh-hour church, the pure Shepherd’s Rod message is taught without human additions. I approached it with an open mind, realizing that the Truth is progressive, and I learned how to study the Shepherd’s Rod in its entirety – it is the safest principle in order not to drift away from the Truth “to sea, without chart or compass.”
I had a lot to unlearn and a lot to learn as the handmaid of the LORD tells us, and all this was for my spiritual edification and to my greatest happiness! I still have a lot to learn, and I am moving forward step by step with the help of the LORD by His Holy Spirit. The Eleventh-hour church is for me a blessed Place of Education and Christian Development on this earth, which prepares me for the swift-coming Kingdom of Peace.
My prayer is that many will respond to the Divine Call by joining the Eleventh-hour church—which is the last church of GOD on this earth. Amen!
Sis. N. Charlery
Martinique
A SURVIVOR OF THE WAR AGAINST HEAVEN-SENT TRUTH
I thank the Lord because He is too merciful to us, and for the fact that He knew us even when we were yet in our mothers’ wombs! The Rod message came to our church in 2003, before I reached my teens. I joined the Davidian movement in 2013 after many years of battle between Truth and error within the church. Members and leaders were very arrogant, and as a young man I was able to notice everything that was taking place. Later onwards, the church split into two companies.
I joined those who followed the Rod message right from a persecuting family since my dad was one of the leading persecutors in our local church. Amidst all the brutal demeanors with total intents of violence from church leaders and some members, I investigated and accepted the Truth!
One year after I joined the Davidian movement, the Lord in His mercy progressed the Truth with the “Day of Reckoning” message ‘of the hour’—which truly found me in a very confused state with several questions as to which group to follow! But He who leads His Own into all Truth did it for me, and I thank Him.
My dear brothers and sisters, let the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ be in your minds continually and let them crowd out worldly thoughts and cares. When you lie down and when you rise up, let them be your meditation. Live and act wholly in reference to the coming of the Son of Man. The sealing time is very short, and will soon be over. Now is the time, while the four angels are still holding the four winds, to make our calling and election sure. EW 58.2
Bro. Samuel Kiyingi
Busunju, Uganda
SINCE I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER OF THE 11TH-HOUR CHURCH
I was an active and zealous member of the Lord’s cause in Laodicea to the very day that I met the Present Truth – the Truth of the Shepherd’s Rod! I had questions on certain passages and was looking for answers. I read and reread my own way, but the only helpful method for me, which I adopted by the grace of God, was the one of chronological reading as advised by the servant of God, Bro. Sam. I study for myself first and note down all the references related to the subjects concerned.
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ofI now have this assurance that God has a wonderful plan for me. Despite my weaknesses, I strive to practice all the reforms in dress, health, and other aspects of my life that still need reform. While I was in the Ninth-hour church, I was careless about reforming my life and habits. May the Name of the Lord be blessed for this victory! Now that I am in the Eleventh-hour church, I continue in the race towards the ultimate goal of glorifying God by being perfect in all things.
I thank the Lord for the privilege of moving forward in this message with the additional knowledge of updates that make the understanding of many of the passages in the Shepherd’s Rod clearer to me. I am fully convicted that our heavenly Father led me into the Eleventh-hour church so that I can be an instrument in His hands for the salvation of my fellow men. My motto is perseverance in action and to be a worthy representative for His glory.
Sister Nisette Ferrand
Martinique
I KNOW WHAT I BELIEVE AND I BELIEVE WHAT I KNOW—ABOVE ALL, THAT GOD IS LEADING, NOT MAN
I was born into a family where both parents were Catholics. At the age of 16, I came to know about Christ and the Bible became the Book of my youth. I read It day and night. Naturally, because of this interest, I wanted to know more of how to become a Christian; but I did not know which church was God’s church! I thus consulted different people from various churches, but each person I asked told me the that his church was the right one! This puzzled me so much such that I started visiting different churches in search of the right one.
One night as I slept, I had a dream. I heard a unique Voice call my name: “Advent,” and I answered: “Yes Master.” The Voice said, “Be faithful to Me.” I did not know what this meant from then, until now when the message is crystal clear—that Voice was not man but God speaking to me.
My interest grew stronger and one afternoon I decided to visit the SDA church. While there, I was convinced that it was God’s church because I felt a peace that I had never experienced at any of the other nominal churches I had visited before; and there was order in the church, too. I was baptized in April 2006.
Then came 2010. A certain brother requested me and another person to come early before the church Bible study starts. We did so, and he introduced us to the Present Truth. The study he gave was on “The 144,000.” It was such a nice study and I really enjoyed it so much such that when we knocked off from church, I had to share it with my queen. A few days later I moved to another place about 17 kilometers away and, because we could no longer meet, requested for some books to read. He gave me some Timely Greetings.
My queen also began reading them, though with mixed feelings because of the title they had (Davidian Minister). Later, she accepted the message. The brother who introduced the message was under Waco 2500. There was a study group at the place we went to stay but because I could not attend all the meetings, I asked one of the teachers to be teaching us as a couple – and he accepted. We went to his house on such days as we agreed upon.
But though everything I learnt seemed okay; I was not convinced that we were not a church. One day I asked my teacher whether we are a church and he told me that we were just an association and not a church. In 2013, Bro. Hatyoka came to Monze and gave me some DVD presentations by Bro. Sam. The first presentation I played was enough for me to believe that this was the very Truth which
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ofI was missing all along, because it answered the very question that I had asked my teacher. The title of the presentation was “The Poisons.”
In 2014, Bro. Sam came to Monze and I made an effort to attend his meetings. I thank the Lord because I learned a lot from the Rod through him. Now I am enjoying the message in the Eleventh-hour church.
The Lord is good all the time because He knows His Own even before they are born. I thank God for leading me this far in the Rod message. May His Name be praised!
Bro. Advent Maambo
Monze, Zambia
Greetings, my beloved brothers, and sisters. May the peace, love, grace, and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. I would like to share with you how the Shepherd’s Rod revealed to me this spiritual battle of ten years.
I was born into a family of pure Roman Catholic members. I am now 49 years old. At age 23, l was admitted to Mwami Adventist School of Nursing as a student nurse for two years: from 1994 to 1996. During this period, we used to have compulsory Bible studies every Tuesday, and through this l learnt and clearly understood that the Sabbath was the true day of worship.
One day in 1996 l had a terrible dream wherein I saw the very Mwami Main Adventist Church engulfed in flames. It was burning terribly. I saw so many people around the church running away from it to different directions. It was a mystery to me that I found myself and very few from different directions flying, flying, and still flying towards the burning church! The fire was so terrible—but we were freely flying towards this burning church.
I woke up suddenly in a terrified mood, and the desire to be baptized came immediately. I had a strong desire to meet the pastor and request for baptism but could not meet him from morning till just before sunset. My first words to him were: “Pastor, l want to be baptized.” He too agreed immediately, and a few days later I was baptized.
Yet I never shared this mystery with anyone. The SDA church being the last church: Why on fire? Why me flying towards destruction instead of running away? Am l the worst sinner? Am I heading for destruction? Why? All this battle was in my heart, but I still kept quiet.
In 2003, l got married and moved to Kafue. I was still troubled but quiet. One Sabbath we sat next to Bro. Cheelo in church. He introduced us to the Shepherd’s Rod message after paying us a visit and we accepted to study the message. l now started relating to my dream after studying Ezekiel 9. One Sabbath afternoon I had the courage to explain this dream to my husband and Sis. Rosemary Kasoka and they confirmed to me that what l saw was Ezekiel 9.
Finally, between August and October 2013, we received the good news of Wavesheaf Ministries, the Lord’s Chosen church “Mathews 20:6”—and ultimately, in 2020, with a better understanding of His Word, l had a full oral explanation with the complete understanding from His chosen minister that the church to which I was flying towards was the Eleventh-hour church. Praise God for the Shepherd’s Rod—I am now free from this mystery!
Sis. Betty Lungu
Kafue Area, Zambia
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ofDEVOTIONAL
In Heavenly Places (Ellen G. White)
CHAP. 186 – CARING FOR THE BODY TEMPLE
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Ps. 139:14.
Said the psalmist, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” God has given us faculties and powers of mind and body, which it is the duty of all to preserve in the best condition. If any weaken their powers through the indulgence of appetite, they decrease their power of influence, making themselves imperfect. Only by the expensive offering made upon the cross of Calvary can we understand the value of the human soul. We are placed on vantage ground by the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, to obtain freedom from the bondage of sin which was wrought by the fall of Adam. {HP 192.2}
We are to make the most of the capabilities and talents lent us by God. All who are weakening and destroying the physical, mental, and moral powers by sinful eating, sinful dressing, and violation of the laws of health in any respect, will have to render an account to God for all the good they might have done had they observed the laws of health, rather than being self-indulgent, careless, and reckless of the house they live in. . . . God says, “Ye are not your own.” You are God’s property. Your ransom cost the life of the Son of God. . . . All are to consider the greatness of the sacrifice made. The Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, designs that men and women shall give to Him their wholehearted service. {HP 192.3}
In the words of the apostle Paul there is a depth of meaning: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1, 2). No one can bring honor to God if he pursues a course of action that will bring blemish upon the body or the soul. Our sacrifice is to be holy and without blame. This is the reasonable service of everyone. We are God’s workmanship, God’s building. . . . {HP 192.4}
God wants us to honor Him with all there is of us. {HP 192.5}
Sis. Gloria Nalls,
USA.
Q & A
WHEN TO CONTEMPLATE MARRIAGE?
Question No. 6
At what age should one plan to get into a relationship?
Answer:
Only after attaining the mental, moral and professional equipment for marriage should one start contemplating marriage.
ABN3: 85.2 [SRS: 309]: Finally, both will reckon well with the fact that seldom is any young
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ofman’s mental, moral, and professional equipment adequate to the responsibilities of marriage before he has arrived at the age of twenty-four–the day of man’s full growth and development, and that a young woman is seldom thus prepared before she has reached the age of twenty–the day of woman’s full growth and development.
According to the Rod, before a man marries, he should follow the example of Christ: Before Christ instituted marriage, He made sure that the man and woman had everything they needed. He should have a home to put his wife in (whether he owns it or rents it), have a trade or profession to take care of her, and be able to do the duties of the home should his queen take sick. Seldom is a young man ready for marriage before the age of twenty-four. But if you are fortunate enough to be prepared before you are twenty-four as a man and twenty as a woman, to God be the glory! There is always an exception to the norm.
It is not just about getting to the age of marriage—you should be prepared for marriage:
10SC2: 6.1 [SRS: 562]: “Even the Civil authorities recognize that premature marriages are inadvisable, and for that very reason the state governments will not in such cases issue marriage licenses without the parents themselves assuming the responsibility. And since the Bible plainly teaches that governments are of God (Rom. 13:1-3), who then dare not seriously take this to heart? It is therefore the minister’s duty, when he is requested to perform a marriage ceremony, first to investigate the marriage eligibility of individuals involved. No Davidian minister is authorized to perform any marriage except both parties to the part be Davidians, and after the woman has reached her eighteenth year of life, and the man his twenty-first year of life – government approved ages of maturity – and only after proper preparation for married life has been made by both parties, as outlined in the Answerer, Book No. 3, pp. 79-86, and The Answerer No. 4, pp. 69-78.”
We are not to engage in various relationships to learn how to have a relationship — relationships should always be geared towards marriage. And if you are not going to be ready for marriage until you are 24, what are you going to do with a relationship at ages 20, 21, 22, and 23? If you are in school, you are most definitely not ready to be married. High school and college students who are after the things of heaven have no business dating for any reason whatsoever. You should be busy equipping yourself first for the Kingdom of God.
BY THEIR FRUITS, YE SHALL KNOW THEM
Question No. 7
We are admonished to marry a converted believer in Answerer Book No. 3 under the question “Marriage or Celibacy?” How can one know that the person they intend to marry is converted?
Answer:
When contemplating marriage, if we pray twice a day, we need to start praying six times a day. It is a serious lifelong commitment, a school where you never graduate, and a sacred institution.
Matt 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit…
Matt 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
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ofbut he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven…
You must observe and investigate your prospective spouse to make sure that they are converted. By their fruits ye shall know them: Are they following the dress, health, and other reforms? Are they striving? Once they are striving, they are in the race. The Adventist Home, Chapter 6 —The Great Decision, gives some great instructions; meditate on this chapter. If you are observing a future husband, pay close attention to his relationship with his mother, for that is the relationship you will most likely to have with him. He will treat you the same as he treats his mother, for the most part. A converted man would treat his mother as Christ treated His mother while on earth. Remember, sisters, you should not start observing or investigating a brother, until he tells you of his intention of seeking your hand in marriage. If you do before you are informed of his intent, it is evidence that you are not converted. Brothers, the relationship between your future queen and her father should be closely observed, for it is a glimpse of your relationship with her.
Make sure that you are in the same area or can get to their place to investigate your future queen. If you cannot get to her location, you need not contemplate that marriage. Trust no one with the complete investigation of a future spouse. Brothers, be sure to discreetly gather intel from the leaders and trustworthy members in the church of your prospective queen before informing her parents of your plans. Pay close attention to their commitment to the Lord; if they are very active in the church, be sure you are willing to be very active as well; if you are not, find someone else.
While observing the outward appearance, you may see a particular flaw; make sure to discuss it when the courtship begins; if you should get that far. Ask all the questions that come to your mind during courtship; you will know their fruits by their answers. Remember, you will not find a perfect spouse, so let go and let God choose someone for you and you will get someone who is striving for perfection and a place in His Kingdom. Sanctification is a lifelong process. You cannot wait until you are totally sanctified to marry, but you must marry someone who is consecrated and striving, recognizing that we are all sinners saved by grace.
SHALL PARENTS CHOOSE OUR SPOUSES?
Question No. 8:
Are parents allowed to choose marriage partners for their sons and daughters?
Answer:
Parents should be consulted. For a Christian courtship to begin, parents should be informed, even if they are not believers.
AH 57.3: “Deceptive Practices in Courtship.–A young man who enjoys the society and wins the friendship of a young lady unbeknown to her parents does not act a noble Christian part toward her or toward her parents. Through secret communications and meetings he may gain an influence over her mind, but in so doing he fails to manifest that nobility and integrity of soul which every child of God will possess. In order to accomplish their ends, they act a part that is not frank and open and according to the Bible standard, and prove themselves untrue to those who love them and try to be faithful guardians over them. Marriages contracted under such influences are not according to the word of God. He who would lead a daughter away from duty, who would confuse her ideas of God’s plain and positive commands to obey and honor her parents, is not one who would be true to the marriage obligations. . . .”
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ofA brother must make sure that he respects the sister’s parents by letting them know his plans before starting any courtship. What if the parents refuse to allow such a marriage because they are not Eleventh-hour church members or don’t want their child to be married to a Davidian? You must still inform them of your intention, then go ahead with your plans. If the parents are Davidians and you are not giving any approval, then meet with the parents and the Eleventh-hour church leadership and follow their advice.
AH 58.1: “Thou shalt not steal” was written by the finger of God upon the tables of stone, yet how much underhand stealing of affections is practiced and excused! A deceptive courtship is maintained, private communications are kept up, until the affections of one who is inexperienced, and knows not whereunto these things may grow, are in a measure withdrawn from her parents and placed upon him who shows by the very course he pursues that he is unworthy of her love. The Bible condemns every species of dishonesty. . . .”
A secret relationship is a deceptive courtship – it is thievery: stealing of affections.
MYP 439.2: “Before giving her hand in marriage, every woman should inquire whether he with whom she is about to unite her destiny is worthy. What has been his past record? Is his life pure? Is the love which he expresses of a noble, elevated character, or is it a mere emotional fondness? Has he the traits of character that will make her happy? Can she find true peace and joy in his affection? Will she be allowed to preserve her individuality, or must her judgment and conscience be surrendered to the control of her husband? As a disciple of Christ, she is not her own; she has been bought with a price. Can she honor the Saviour’s claims as supreme? Will body and soul, thoughts and purposes, be preserved pure and holy? These questions have a vital bearing upon the well-being of every woman who enters the marriage relation.”
As a woman contemplating marriage, you should be ready to do this investigation without relying on anyone. Do not allow anyone to push you into a relationship with a man whose past record you do not know.
You may say Abraham chose Isaac’s queen; why can’t my father do the same for me. If your household is like Isaac’s, then let it be – but it is still your responsibility to make sure that your parents are making the right choice for you; your investigation would then be very short and only to affirm. Also, it was actually God who chose Rebekah. Let us read:
AH 70.1: “Get Counsel From the Bible.–Instituted by God, marriage is a sacred ordinance and should never be entered upon in a spirit of selfishness. Those who contemplate this step should solemnly and prayerfully consider its importance and seek divine counsel that they may know whether they are pursuing a course in harmony with the will of God. The instruction given in God’s word on this point should be carefully considered. Heaven looks with pleasure upon a marriage formed with an earnest desire to conform to the directions given in the Scripture.”
AH 70.2: “If there is any subject that should be considered with calm reason and unimpassioned judgment, it is the subject of marriage. If ever the Bible is needed as a counselor, it is before taking a step that binds persons together for life. But the prevailing sentiment is that in this matter the feelings are to be the guide, and in too many cases lovesick sentimentalism takes the helm and guides to certain ruin. It is here that the youth show less intelligence than on any other subject; it is here that they refuse to be reasoned with. The question of marriage seems to have a bewitching power over them. They do not submit themselves to God. Their senses are enchained, and they move forward in secretiveness, as if fearful that their plans would be interfered with by someone.”
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ofAH 70.3: “Many are sailing in a dangerous harbor. They need a pilot; but they scorn to accept the much-needed help, feeling that they are competent to guide their own bark, and not realizing that it is about to strike a hidden rock that may cause them to make shipwreck of faith and happiness. . . . Unless they are diligent students of that word [the Bible], they will make grave mistakes which will mar their happiness and that of others, both for the present and the future life.”
Gen. 24:37-52: “And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house: Then shalt thou be clear from [this] my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee [one], thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the well, and said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go: Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw [water], and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: [let] the same [be] the woman whom the LORD hath appointed out for my master’s son. And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew [water]: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her [shoulder], and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter [art] thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son. And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah [is] before thee, take [her], and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath spoken. And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, [bowing himself] to the earth.”
To reiterate, if both parents are members of the Eleventh-hour church and you are confident of their judgment, then, by all means, let them do the investigation, and you make the final decision.
LENGTH OF COURTSHIP
Question No. 9
How long should courtship last?
Answer:
There is no statement that says exactly how long a courtship should last, but the following statement mentions days:
CCh 117.5: …… It would be more appropriate to let some of the hours of courtship before marriage run through the married life. But as a general thing, marriage ends all the devotion manifested during the days of courtship.
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ofDoes it say, “during the years of courtship?” No, but rather: “during the days of courtship.” I am not saying that we should only court for days, but courtship should not be going on for years.
Long courtships are most likely because the couple started courting before they were ready for marriage. You should focus on getting ready first and when you are very close to being ready, you may start looking and investigating your future queen. Do not begin courting or allow to be courted while you are getting ready for being eligible for marriage.
Another situation is where one of the parties does not know how to say no this is not working, and when they finally get the courage to say no, years have elapsed.
Let the courtship be short, but let the investigation be as long as it takes to find out everything you need to know before you commit to a sacred marriage. It does not mean that you have to become a detective or a cop, but you must do a thorough due diligence.
Towards the close of your courtship, you will be scheduled for a final marriage counseling session with the minister just before you get married. This session will not be scheduled unless the courting parties have completed all the following required reading, which should have been read during the marriage eligibility period, at the latest during the courting period: (1) The Adventist Home; (2) Child Guidance (3) Messages to Young People; (4) Mind, Character and Personality, Vol. 1; (5) Mind, Character and Personality, Vol. 2; (6) All articles or statements in the Answerers and Symbolic Codes on the subject of marriage and child-rearing.
DAVIDIAN WEDDING PROTOCOL
Question No. 10
How should Davidian weddings be conducted?
Answer:
Davidian weddings should be solemn and simple.
10MR 196: “Mrs. White participated in a wedding at her own home.–About 11:00 a.m. Tuesday our large dining room was prepared for the wedding ceremony. Brother Starr officiated in the service, and it passed off nicely. The request was made by Brother Hickox that Sister White should offer prayer after the marriage ceremony. The Lord gave me special freedom. My heart was softened and subdued by the Spirit of God. On this occasion there were no light jests or foolish sayings. Everything was solemn and sacred in connection with this marriage. Everything was of an elevating character and deeply impressive.
We must recognize that marriage is a sacred institution and that there should be no light jesting and foolish nonsense going on during the ceremony.
PaM 202.2: The wedding ceremony is a sacred service, not a time for hilarity.–It has always seemed so very inappropriate to me to see the marriage ordinance associated with hilarity and glee and a pretense of something. No. It is an ordinance ordained of God, to be looked upon with the greatest solemnity. As the family relation is formed here below, it is to give a demonstration of what they shall be, the family in heaven above. The glory of God is ever to be made first.–AH 101.
This institution was given in the Garden of Eden in creation week. It was done on Friday, and the
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ofTITHE AFTER DEDUCTING RENT AND UTILITIES?
Question No. 11
Are employees supposed to deduct rentals and utility bills prior to tithing?
Answer:
No. You are supposed to tithe on your “increase.” As an employee, your increase is whatever you receive in your paycheck after taxes and other deductions. If you receive other income not included in your paycheck, you must add said increase to your paycheck amount; then, you will have your total increase. It would be wrong for you to pay your rent and utilities and then tithe on “what’s left,” as that is your “decrease” and not your “increase.”
On the other hand, if you have a business, you must tithe on the profits, which remains after deducting all operating costs pertaining to your business, such as product cost, rent space, or utilities.
Rod says that we should solemnize our marriages on Fridays:
3SC2: 8.1.8: Moreover, as there is no truth where there is no type, the working out of divine design, in ordaining and establishing, on Friday, the sixth day of creation, the marriage institution, and on the seventh day, the Sabbath, thus gave type both to the reestablishing of these institutions, and to the restoring of them to the sanctity and beauty of their first estate. And as we must observe the Sabbath on the seventh day, likewise we ought to solemnize marriage on Friday, the sixth day of the week.
The wedding must be conducted by the minister, or the person authorized by the Executive Council to officiate. The wedding should be a time of joy and happiness for everyone, and especially the married couple. Marriage is good; it is sacred, and it was meant to be forever.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
OUR HEALTH CORNER
CHILDBEARING – PART 2
(Continued from Symbolic Code, Vol. 2021, Nos. 1-3, p. 20)
In the first issue of the Code, the Family Life Department looked at the topic of “Childbearing.” We listed some common causes of the steadily increasing female infertility rate as revealed by medical research. Ageing and endocrine disorders can also be added to that list.
In this issue we will discuss the lifestyle and environmental factors that can affect our reproductive system. Research consistently shows that lifestyle factors—what you eat, how well you sleep, where you live, and other behaviors—have a profound impact on health and disease. Fertility is no exception.
Lifestyle and Environmental Effects on Infertility for Women and Men
These include, but are not limited to nutrition, weight, and exercise; physical and psychological stress; environmental and occupational exposures; substance and drug use and abuse; and
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ofmedications.
For example, research shows that:
- Obesity is linked to lower sperm count and quality in men. Among obese women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), losing 5% of body weight greatly improves the likelihood of ovulation and pregnancy.
- Being underweight is linked to ovarian dysfunction and infertility in women.
- Strenuous physical labor and taking multiple medications are known to reduce sperm count in men.
- Excessive exercise is known to affect ovulation and fertility in women.
- Body-building medications or androgens can affect sperm formation.
- Substance use, including smoking tobacco, using other tobacco products, marijuana, heavy drinking, and using illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine reduce fertility in both men and women.
- High blood pressure changes the shape of sperm, thereby reducing fertility.
- The type of underwear a man chooses is not related to his infertility.
- Radiation therapy and chemotherapy can cause infertility in females and males. Those who have to undergo these types of treatments may want to consider fertility preservation.
We will now look at what our loving and caring PHYSICIAN, FATHER, and GOD tells us on this topic through the pen of Inspiration. Because He created us in His image and likeness, He warned us through His servant more than one hundred years ago about the effects of our lifestyles on childbearing.
“8. The Creator of man has arranged the living machinery of our bodies. Every function is wonderfully and wisely made. And God pledged Himself to keep this human machinery in healthful action if the human agent will obey His laws and cooperate with God. Every law governing the human machinery is to be considered just as truly divine in origin, in character, and in importance as the word of God. Every careless, inattentive action, any abuse put upon the Lord’s wonderful mechanism, by disregarding His specified laws in the human habitation, is a violation of God’s law. We may behold and admire the work of God in the natural world, but the human habitation is the most wonderful.”
SIN OF TAKING A COURSE WHICH NEEDLESSLY EXPENDS VITALITY OR BECLOUDS THE BRAIN
“9. It is as truly a sin to violate the laws of our being as it is to break the ten commandments. To do either is to break God’s laws. Those who transgress the law of God in their physical organism, will be inclined to violate the law of God spoken from Sinai.” {CD 17.3}
“Our Saviour warned His disciples that just prior to His second coming a state of things would exist very similar to that which preceded the flood. Eating and drinking would be carried to excess, and the world would be given up to pleasure. This state of things does exist at the present time. The world is largely given up to the indulgence of appetite; and the disposition to follow worldly customs will bring us into bondage to perverted habits, –habits that will make us more and more like the doomed inhabitants of Sodom. I have wondered that the inhabitants of the earth were not destroyed, like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. I see reason enough for the present state of degeneracy and mortality in the world. Blind passion controls reason, and every high consideration is, with many, sacrificed to lust.” {CD 17.4}
“To keep the body in a healthy condition, in order that all parts of the living machinery may act
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ofharmoniously, should be a study of our life. The children of God cannot glorify Him with sickly bodies or dwarfed minds. Those who indulge in any species of intemperance, either in eating or drinking, waste their physical energies and weaken moral power.” {CD 18.1}
“A Lesson from Israel’s Failure
30. The Lord gave His word to ancient Israel, that if they would cleave strictly to Him, and do all His requirements, He would keep them from all the diseases such as He had brought upon the Egyptians; but this promise was given on the condition of obedience. Had the Israelites obeyed the instruction they received, and profited by their advantages, they would have been the world’s object lesson of health and prosperity. The Israelites failed of fulfilling God’s purpose, and thus failed of receiving the blessings that might have been theirs. But in Joseph and Daniel, in Moses and Elijah, and many others, we have noble examples of the results of the true plan of living. Like faithfulness today will produce like results. To us it is written, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. {CD 26.3}
“31. Had the Israelites obeyed the instruction they received, and profited by their advantages, they would have been the world’s object lesson of health and prosperity. If as a people they had lived according to God’s plan, they would have been preserved from the diseases that afflicted other nations. Above any other people they would have possessed physical strength and vigor of intellect.” {CD 27.1}
INFERTILITY
“Those professing to be Christians . . . should duly consider the result of every privilege of the marriage relation, and sanctified principle should be the basis of every action. {TSB 115.2}
The Abuse of Sexual Privileges in Marriage
“The animal passions, cherished and indulged, become very strong in this age, and untold evils in the marriage life are the sure results. In the place of the mind being developed and having the controlling power, the animal propensities rule over the higher and nobler powers until they are brought into subjection to the animal propensities. What is the result? Women’s delicate organs are worn out and become diseased; childbearing is no more safe; sexual privileges are abused. Men are corrupting their own bodies, and the wife has become a bed servant to their inordinate, base lusts, until there is no fear of God before their eyes. To indulge impulse that degrades both body and soul is the order of the marriage life, and what is the sure result? The most terrible, painful diseases are brought upon women, and the curse of God rests upon men and women in loathsome diseases that need not be at all, if a righteous course were pursued in eating and drinking.” {4MR 378.2}
MISCARRIAGES
“644… Care should be taken to protect the body from a sense of chilliness. She should not call vitality unnecessarily to the surface to supply the want of sufficient clothing. . .. The prosperity of mother and child depends much upon good, warm clothing, and a supply of nourishing food. –T., V. II, p. 382.” {HL 155.2}
“645. Very many children are born with their blood tainted with scrofula, through the wrong habits of the mother in her eating and dressing. The very many miscarriages that now occur may generally be traced to fashionable dress. Lacing causes displacements, and this character
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ofof disease is increasing with each successive generation. Many suffer years without making their condition known. They remain in ignorance of the causes of their difficulties, and endure sufferings, which it is impossible for language to express. Not a few women have strength sufficient to carry them through the period of child-bearing. Either her own life or that of her offspring is frequently sacrificed. If both live, she has not been able to give her offspring physical vitality sufficient to withstand accidents and prevailing epidemics. Any trifling cause may put out the feeble flame of existence. And the Christian mother tries to be resigned to her bereavement, which she believes to be in God’s special providence. But could she look back, and trace in her life the true cause, and be convinced that her living and dressing fashionably had put out the life of her child, she might be wise, and repent of her murderous work.” {HR, November 1, 1871 par. 24}
The Holy Bible also states:
“For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.” Luke 23:29
“As we near the close of time, we must rise higher and still higher upon the question of health reform and Christian temperance, … Precept and practice combined have a telling influence.” – “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. 6, p. 112. {2SC3,4: 16.2.1}
May we all determine to make sure that we receive the seal and escape the ruin.
ANSWERS TO ANATOMY QUIZZES FROM THE LAST ISSUE
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ofMORE QUIZZES
HEALTH QUIZ NO. 2:
WHERE DOES THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM BEGIN AND WHERE DOES IT END?
A. In the stomach and ends in the large intestines
B. In the stomach and ends in the small intestines
C. In the mouth and ends in the anus
D. In the mouth and ends in the rectum
HEALTH QUIZ NO. 3:
WHERE DOES HUMAN DIGESTION START AND WHERE DOES IT END?
A. In the mouth and ends in the small intestines
B. In the mouth and ends in the liver
C. In the esophagus and ends in the small intestines
D. In the stomach and ends in the large intestines
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
DAVIDIAN HISTORY IN KENYA, 2013-2021
The Shepherd’s Rod message came to Kenya in the late 1970s. By 2012, there were a number of adherents, mainly of the Association headquartered in 2500 Mt. Carmel Dr., Waco, TX, and some from Mountain Dale, NY. Bro. Maxwell Murunga, then a university student, had accepted the Shepherd’s Rod message through his elder brother, Bro. Michael Chivolo, under the Mountain Dale Association. While in campus, he spent time studying the Rod, and, not having the books, would do most of his studies online. In his thirst for knowledge and Truth, he came across “The Day of Reckoning” videos and other presentations by Bro. Lennox Sam on Vimeo, and upon watching them, was convinced of the Truth. He went ahead and shared the presentations with as many Davidians as he could get in touch with, not forgetting to return the favor to his brother. Bro. Chivolo also accepted the Truth with time and was instrumental in planting the seed in and around the region, especially amongst Mountain Dale brethren.
Among those that Bro. Maxwell shared the presentations with was Bro. David Owitti, then the leader and a very influential figure among the members of 2500 Mt. Carmel Dr. Waco Association in Kenya. He just placed the videos in his laptop – that was all he did. Upon finding the videos in his computer, Bro. Owitti watched and re-watched; and was finally convinced that it was the Truth. He knew he had to take action, and he did, by endeavoring to share the Truth with those he could. Through his endeavors, more and more brethren continued embracing the Truth, among them, Bro. Dennis Mutiso and Sis. Esther Njagi.
With the efforts of these brethren, many more came to learn of and accept the Truth, and the zeal for it moved Bro. Dennis and Sis. Esther to get in touch with the presenter via call. This was the second call made to Bro. Sam, first having talked to Bro. Maxwell.
About December of that same year, Waco 2500 organized a seminar in Webuye, Western Kenya, which the brethren who had already accepted the Truth attended. Through it, many more got to
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ofknow of and decide for the Truth. The Truth was going forward, and nothing could stop it.
By early 2013, many of the members were enquiring on what to do with the tithe as it was very clear that remitting to Waco 2500 would not be returning to the Lord’s Storehouse. Upon enquiring from Bro. Sam, he advised that the group be organized. Arrangements were made and a meeting was held in Beacon of Hope Centre, Ongata Rongai. The following were chosen as the leaders of the newly organized group: Bro. David Owitti, Chairperson; Sis. Esther Njagi, Secretary; Bro. Felix Ombasa, Treasurer; Bros. Maxwell Murunga, Patrick Omogi, Weslay Mochama and Dennis Mutiso, Board Members. Later to the list were added Bros. Jeremiah Mutinda and Clement Aboge.
Plans for Bro. Sam’s visit to Kenya then kicked off, and in July 2013, in his first missionary trip, he visited Kenya for the famous “Ten Days Seminar” at Beacon of Hope Centre, Ongata Rongai. This was the kindling of the fire of Truth in Kenya and indeed, the world. It can truly be said that
“Even now, after the lapse of nearly [a decade], all who shared in that movement and who have stood firm upon the platform of truth, still feel the holy influence of that blessed work, and bear witness that it was of God.” – The Great Controversy, p. 401
Majina, yaitwapo, Lo! Majina, yaitwapo, Lo!
Majina, yaitwapo, Lo! Majina, yaitwapo, Lo! Niwepo.
When the roll is called up yonder! When the roll is called up yonder!
When the roll is called up yonder! When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!
After this first seminar, many more Waco 2500 members believed the Truth with the result that the Association was almost wholly deserted. From Mountain Dale as well, not a few did jump ship. A house was rented in the famous Umoja Road, first to house the brethren during the seminar, then to act as the center of operations for Present Truth activities in Kenya, and beyond. This also housed
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ofthe Vanguard Academy, which started after the seminar. It was also the place where we celebrated our first Day of Days in Kenya on October 25, 2013.
Meanwhile, with the sighing and crying, also with the brethren taking hold of the reforms which were almost entirely forgotten and/or neglected, heat started to develop in the mother church. Disfellowshipping, almost unheard of before, became very rampant, with threats of police arrests and the like. Letters were distributed across conferences and churches warning them of the “Davidian off-shoot.” It was not uncouth and ill-mannered interruptions or disruptions that caused rage in the churches—it was the silent testimony of a life of reformation.
Toward the end of the year, since the Lord had so graciously visited us, and the numbers had increased a great deal, the small house that we had rented as the headquarters for the work in Kenya had become too small to accommodate the activities and a bigger place was sought. Our new location was a five-bedroom one-story building, which was to serve us for two years before we finally would relocate to our new home—with yet another gracious visitation from the Lord in giving us a sixteen-and-a-half-acre parcel of land.
Meanwhile, Davidian churches had been established in various localities around Nairobi, to wit: Kayole, Kinoo, Shauri Moyo, and Rongai. These together comprised the Nairobi Area. There was also another region that was coming up – Eastern Area – with groups in Kivingoni and Mwea Mbeere (now Areas). Other Areas at this time included Kisumu, Esirulo and Western. The work was advancing fast.
The following year, another seminar was organized, this time running for twenty-one days. This took place during the month of April, in Magnet High School, Ongata Rongai. Oh, what blessed moments those were! This was a time of many firsts: The first Davidian wedding officiated by the minister—in fact, not one, but three! — Bro. Joshua and Sis. Deborah Cheruiyot, Bro. Elvas and Sis. Joan Maritim, and Bro. Joses and Sis. Agnes Mung’athia, were united in holy matrimony. Oh, a solemn event that was!
The Sunday following, twenty-one souls were born again. The old persons were buried in the watery grave in Multimedia university swimming pool, and out came newborns; not they living, but
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ofChrist living in them.
Kombolewa, Nakombolewa kwa damu,
Kombo-o-lewa, aa, mimi mwana Wake kweli!
Redeemed! Redeemed! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,
Redeemed! Redeemed! His child and forever I am!
During this time, the leaders that were to carry forward the work from thence were chosen and prayed for by the minister. The composition was largely undisturbed as they had done a commendable job to that point. Members left the seminar with renewed energy.
At our new location, meetings were happening at least three times a week with members from the larger Nairobi region congregating every single Sabbath for the blessing none would dare miss. Oh, the times! The Sabbath programs! No one that had a taste of the experience can look back and his countenance not lighten.
We celebrated our second Day of Days on October 25, 2014, at which time the dedication and commissioning of new office bearers for the year did take place. The following were then to steer the Division for the year 2014/2015: Bro. Sylus Onyango – Chairman; Bro. Ezekiel Nyachae – Secretary; Bro. Isaac Misiani – Treasurer; Board Members: Bro. Nicholas Ambani – Nairobi; Bro. Jeremiah Mutinda – Eastern; Sis. Daicy Chivolo – Western. At this time, several groups would compose an Area, and so we had three Areas. We also saw the mushrooming of more groups around this time, among them Kabaa and Ngangani (now Uvaini). Membership continued increasing by the day.
Another remarkable undertaking that took place during this time was the printing of 2,000 copies of complete Shepherd’s Rod literature in two compilations: The Shepherd’s Rod Series of Volumes and Tracts, and The Shepherd’s Rod Series of Symbolic Codes. By Day of Days, members had their own personal copies in their hands – without cost or obligation – to read the message for themselves and not depend on what the teacher tells them. Oh, what a blessing!
As 2015 was closing its curtains, it was evident that our endeared location could not remain our home much longer. It was time for the Lord to give us something better: not a bigger leased premise with more favorable terms, but our own land. An extensive search for a piece of land for our new home as a Division began. After a period of searches and explorations, we were led to Ochoria Village, Muhoroni Subcounty, Kisumu County, to a piece of land which the Lord had prepared for us. With the concerted effort of the whole Church, we acquired the land and preparations for relocation immediately kicked off. Among the urgent undertakings were classrooms for the pupils and residences for the staff of Vanguard Academy, whose population at the time was well above forty.
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ofBy the time of school opening in 2016, after a spirited effort by seven brethren: Geoffrey Kamwara, Charles Matheka, Samuel Okeyo, Isaac Misiani, Michael Lochipo, Donald Memba and Eusebio Mwiti (being pioneer residents and having volunteered to make the new place ready), some temporary iron sheet structures were up to receive the school. The structures were only intended as temporary to take care of the emergency, and we are looking forward to having permanent structures. This has been delayed especially for lack of means.
Even so, we have been able to have two permanent latrines, for which we are immensely thankful to the Lord. We have learnt not to despise small beginnings. We also at present do not have a power supply line connection and have so far been relying on generator to power up the camp, which is quite expensive and inconvenient. Even so, brothers and sisters, let us pray to the end that the Lord may supply our lack and fulfil the desire of the Division, and indeed the whole Church, to have permanent structures in place of the current temporary ones, and a power connection at the Vanguard Training Centre.
More Baptisms, Weddings, and a Seminar
After the 2014 seminar, we stayed for many years without holding one as a Division. Finally, after a five-year wait, the Lord made it possible in August 2019. We successfully held a seminar for ten days between the 13th and 22nd in Ongata Rongai. The average attendance was about three hundred, besides children; Oh, what a blessing it was to all! What an experience and reunion!
We have also had three additional baptismal ceremonies: two in 2019 and one in 2021. In June 2019, eleven souls were baptized at Kimathi Primary School, Nairobi; and as a crowning event for the seminar, nineteen more were buried in a watery grave at Siron Sports Club, Ongata Rongai.
On the 18th of March this year, twelve souls signified their choice to die to the world and begin a new life in Christ at Makutano, Machakos County.
We have also had several weddings since the triple opener. The others that have taken place include: Bro. Gabriel and Sis. Jacinta Maina, Bro. James and Sis. Nancy Magara, Bro. Collins and Sis. Deborah Nasongo, Bro. Michael and Sis. Daicy Chivolo, Bro. Nelson and Sis. Agnes Getanda, Bro. James and Sis. Lydia Ogero, and Bro. Joseph and Sis. Faith Getanda.
So many blessings — all we can say is: Praise the Lord!
The present membership tally stands at over five hundred
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ofmembers and prospective members, besides children, and steadily the message is making headway both in “Davidia” and Laodicea with missionary activities heightened up as never before.
Compiled by Bro. Ezekiel Nyachae,
Kenya Division Secretary.
BRIEF DAVIDIAN HISTORY OF UGANDA DIVISION
The message of The Shepherd’s Rod came into our country way back in 1984 when a brother called Dr. Wasswa, now a leader of the Gilead group in Uganda, discovered some Shepherd’s Rod books in the library of the church at the SDA Field Headquarters in Kireka Hill, Kampala.
Brothers and Sisters started to gather in one of the buildings of the church to read the literature they had received. Among them were doctors, teachers, nurses, midwives, accountants, and church elders. These meetings were sometimes joined by SDA pastors. Some of the members decided to stand for the Truth, but others recanted for fear of the severe persecution from church leadership in order to secure their jobs.
On a sad note, some of these pioneers who had decided to stand for the Truth come what may were captivated by the Gilead doctrine and as a result, a split occurred. The majority, led by Dr. Wasswa, offshooted to Gilead. The remaining faithful few were led by Bro. Isaac Muwonge, a headteacher at Kireka Hill SDA primary school. These later on became acquainted with the Yucaipa brethren in California and joined Mountain Dale in 1988.
MOUNTAINDALE
Most of us here were part of Mountain Dale association when the Present Truth of today, The Day of Reckoning, came to Uganda. We were led to believe that the mighty river of Ezekiel 47 teaches that the headquarters must go eastward; that Mountain Dale had moved towards the east direction; and that the 2500 Waco association refused to move. This surprised us very much as we later discovered that it was a deliberate lie.
SPLIT FROM MOUNTAIN DALE IN 2007
By the year 2004, an office-seeking spirit arose from the very headquarters. Two parties started fighting each other which finally created divisions among members in all territories. Many un-Christlike acts resulted from this struggle, as is the norm with all fleshly battles. In several countries, some decided to associate with the usurpers (Bro. Stanford and his colleagues) who had claimed the leadership. Almost all leaders we had looked at as spiritual parents failed to make a noble decision to call sin by its right name.
We thank God because even though we were just babes in the message, He enabled us to stand bravely and refuse to go ahead with such leaders who did not even respect the constitution of the Lord. We decided to immediately stop our relations with Mountain Dale headquarters and had meetings on Wednesdays for prayer and fasting – especially to know where God’s headquarters was. At first, we assumed it to be with the brethren of Tennessee, with whom we tried several times to communicate through letters. At that time Uganda had three Davidian groups: Mountain Dale, Gilead, and “One Without Headquarters.”
YEARS WITHOUT HEADQUARTERS
From 2007 to 2014, we decided never to continue working with Mountain Dale leadership unless
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ofthey repented and stepped down from the leadership positions they had usurped. We tried to search for the other party in the struggle, the elected leadership led by Bro. Dwight McCoy, hoping to meet the brethren who joined the Tennessee group, but all these efforts failed. But in 2014, after receiving light on “The Day of Reckoning,” we realized that this was God’s powerful hand to save us from satanic delusions.
HOW WE WERE EXPOSED TO THE DAY OF RECKONING MESSAGE
We thank God for working through Bro. Fidelis Mutale who used to chat with Bro. Samuel Kayitale on Facebook on matters of Present Truth. This brother finally sent us DVDs and his personal Shepherd’s Rod and Symbolic Code Series at his expense! We thank God for what took place at that time because we lacked literature by then. After receiving the DVDs, Bro. Kayitale informed Bro. Ibrahim Sekabira and Bro. Steven Nsobya about them.
We (Bro. Kayitale, Bro. Sekabira, Bro. Nsobya, Bro. Wilberforce Mutebi and Sis. Oliver Nakkazi) all agreed to meet for one week in Bulenga, Kampala, at the home of our elder, Bro. Muwonge, for investigations and prayers to know more about the Truth. During our first hearing of the DVDs, we were a bit scared upon hearing the name “Bro. Lennox Sam” because we had been warned of his “teaching errors.” Nevertheless, God’s grace was sufficient, and we all decided to continue listening. To our surprise, the more we watched, the more we were convinced of the Truth being taught, which could not be gainsaid. Finally, after a full week of investigation, a board meeting was held to discuss and give comments and observations on the message we had just heard.
Five members admitted that the message was the Truth, but the two elders present (Mr. and Mrs. Muwonge) still had some doubts. We ended the meeting and decided to take the message to the laity at Busunju Area, the parent area of Uganda, for them to also do their own investigations. Most of the members had gathered at the headquarters anxiously waiting to get some good news of what we had discovered in answer to our prayers. After revealing the errors and lies unmasked in the DVDs, we all by one mind decided to organize a two-week seminar and invite Bro. Maxwell Murunga and Bro. Fidelis Mutale to come and share more fully about the message.
The seminar was conducted from October 15 to October 30, 2014. Much was studied and the seminar was so fruitful in that none of us present rejected/doubted The Day of Reckoning message, and it was joyfully welcomed by all.
The Lord miraculously used the brethren in revealing to us all the falsehoods which were taught by Mountain Dale brethren. We never knew about the true Davidian history since the Rod message came in 1929, to 1955 when the prophet of God rested. We were so surprised to know that none of the elderly brethren who taught us the Rod message could tell the true Davidian history from 1955 to 1991.
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ofWe went through many studies: 1) Location Truth, 2) God’s True Headquarters, 3) Davidian History, 4) Purification in the Eleventh-hour Church, 5) Church within a Church, 6) God’s Storehouse Today, 7) Falsehood of the New Davidian Codes, and 8) Many Reforms in the Codes, etc.
For the first time, we celebrated the restoration of the Day of Days and learned about God’s true Headquarters being at the original location, Waco, Texas, the permanent home location of the sealing message to the Laodiceans. On the tenth day of the seminar, a group of 34 adult members was organized as a Davidian church in Uganda. Three leaders were chosen: Bro. Ibrahim Sekabira – Chairman, Bro. Steven Nsobya – Treasurer, and Bro Samuel Kayitale – Secretary.
During this seminar, the enemy was so furious because he saw the walls being pulled down by the Lord. The police came and wanted to form some charges against the visitors (Bros. Maxwell and Mutale). They said we had broken the law by allowing school-going children or youth to attend the meeting. The parents of these youth (Bro. Kabugo Brian, Bro. Mukasa Rogers, Bro. Edrick Sekabuuza and Bro. Henry Kisekka) together with the policemen came to the camp, arrested, and put the youth in jail.
Bro. Nsobya, Bro. Maxwell, Bro. Mutale and Bro. Kayitale were instructed to report to the police without fail to make statements. After arriving at Busunju police station, they were arrested and their case referred to Mityana district regional police station, 20 kilometers away, for “further investigations.” On reaching there, the regional Criminal Investigation Department police officer read to them all the charges, to wit: depriving youth of their rights to schooling, depriving them of food, and illegally conducting seminars without permission from regional police authorities (even though we had requested permission from lower authorities). They were apt to be arrested and taken to court. We thank God that this officer granted us time to explain more about who we are and received a different picture contrary to that which had been passed to him before, which compelled him to change his mind.
We saw God’s mercy before this officer, and we thank God that though the enemy tried every way possible to put this work to an end, God at last prevailed and the brethren were not put in jail. The officer advised us to work on church registration as soon as possible because this might cause us problems from time to time. We realized that the SDA church leadership was behind this mission, but the enemy never triumphed. Finally, we were released and went back home. The four students were also finally released from prison. We praise God for His merciful hand.
MILESTONES
God has been leading us in spiritual matters as well as in material things. In 2014, we received one laptop and a generator to do the work. Back then, members had no smartphones and we used to travel to distant places to fellowship with other brethren in prayer meetings and other church meetings, but God is good indeed because today many have acquired their own devices and can attend church meetings in their homes. Spiritually, much has been achieved from the wonderful
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ofprograms of the church and many reforms have been put into practice. Members are so happy with the message of the hour.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
As stated earlier, the membership in Uganda division was 34 adults in 2014. This number has since grown to 95 adults/youth and 54 children.
- Busunju Area: 36 adults/youth & 25 children.
- Mubende Area: 15 adults/youth & 13 children.
- Kampala Area: 44 adults/youth & 16 children.
Here are some of the members in Mubende Area together with Bro. Jacob Kimunga, the Division chairman, and Bro. Livingstone Galiwango, the Kampala Area leader:
The Brother with a stick is Bro. Steven Bikirize. He is over 70 years old and is doing a very wonderful work of reading and translating Shepherd’s Rod literature into the local language.
Here are some Kampala Area members, full of joy and with smiles on their faces:
We also have prospective members who have shown great zeal and a desire to know the Truth in other parts of the country; we are soon to establish more areas thence.
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ofPHOTOGRAPHS
STRUCTURE NO. 1
This was the first building in 2014 where the seminar led by Bro. Maxwell and Bro. Mutale was conducted. It was also our worship place for Sabbath gatherings, a place for church activities, and a school building during weekdays. This temporary structure was in very poor condition.
STRUCTURE NO. 2
This was the second pole building in 2016, wherein all church and school activities took place.
STRUCTURE NO. 3
This is the newly constructed building, funded by the Executive Council. It acts as school classrooms during weekdays, as a church gathering place on Sabbaths, and is also used for other church activities.
Marvelous things He has done for us and indeed, we have seen the working hand of the Spirit of God. Glory and honor be unto our heavenly Father.
Compiled by Bro. Steven Nsobya,
Uganda Division Secretary.
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ofZAMBIA DIVISION HISTORY
JULY 14, 2013 – FEBRUARY 28, 2021
The coming of Wavesheaf Ministries (now called The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association) to Zambia through God’s appointed shepherd, Bro. Lennox Sam, brought a new dawn not only to Kitwe, where Wavesheaf Ministries was born, but to Zambia as a whole. It started very small like a mustard seed in 2012 when Bro. Fidelis Mutale went to Lusaka and returned to Kitwe with DVDs on The Day of Reckoning. A study group was formed in the Copperbelt Province which started going through the DVDs. The spearheaders were Bro. Fidelis Mutale, the late Bro. Amos Chitalu, and Bro. Moses Chalwe. These brothers were members of the Waco 2500 Association by then. Other brethren, including leaders and two Bible workers from Waco 2500, were invited to come and listen to the presentations; but it was sad that they could not see the light. They rejected the Truth probably because it came through a channel which they did not desire.
Upon being convinced that the message was from the Lord, it was decided that Bro. Sam be contacted for more presentations. Bro. Chitalu contacted Bro. Sam and they had a lengthy discussion. Unfortunately, Bro. Chitalu died after establishing contact with Bro. Sam. Bro. Mutale also had a discussion with Bro Sam, whereupon it was discovered that he was preparing for a trip to Kenya. This was an opportunity, and the brethren could not let it slip. It was decided that he be requested to come to Zambia after meeting our brothers and sisters in Kenya. He accepted the request and preparations for the first seminar in Kitwe started. The Lord indeed guided and everything which could be done was done in preparation for the seminar. Finally, Bro. Sam came, and he was welcomed by Bros. Mutale and Chalwe at Ndola International Airport.
July 14, 2013, stands as a memorable day to Zambia Division as a whole. The Lord in His Own love and mercy visited Zambia through His manservant and conducted a seven-day seminar, starting on July 15, which led to the formation of Zambia Division. Brethren from Lusaka who attended the seminar were: Bros. Kelvin Lundah, Mweemba Hatyoka and James Chola. From Kitwe: Bros. Baron Chiwewu, Shabany Angolwishe, Moses Chalwe, Davies Mulubwa, Patrick Chisala, Emmanuel Bwanga, Charles Mubanga, Reagan Chilufya, Beffrey Kaoma, Martin Angolwishe, Fidelis Mutale; Sisters Majory Nkhoma, Lister Mutale, Harriet Mpundu; and many other brethren who did not camp but commuted from their homes. Sis. Mutale became the first sister to accept the message in Zambia, followed by Sis. Nkhoma.
The seminar was very successful and at its end it was decided to form a Division Board, to wit: Bro. Lundah, Chairman; Bro. Chalwe, Secretary; Bro. Mutale, Treasurer; Bro. Hatyoka, Assistant Treasurer; Board Members: Bros. Mulubwa, Chiwewu and Chola. This marked the establishment of the Zambia
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ofDivision church.
After the seminar, the message spread to Lusaka through the three Lusaka brethren. Bros. Hatyoka and Lundah were by then still members of 2500. Bro. Lundah was the Lusaka Branch Secretary while Bro. Hatyoka the Matero Section Secretary. Upon returning from Kitwe, they were summoned and questioned by the 2500 leadership. Their response was that they had “found no errors in Wavesheaf teachings.” This enraged them and the two were disfellowshipped with immediate effect.
A few months after being organized, the Board came up with plans to start looking for land where to build headquarters. We also started the process of registering the church in Zambia, and in May 2014 an application was filed with the Registrar of Societies in Lusaka. We also started publishing the Shepherd’s Rod literature covered with thick black covers for church members, and these were given free of charge.
KITWE AREA
On December 25, 2013, a meeting was held at Garnaton at Bro. Chiwewu’s house where Bro. Chalwe was chosen as the first Kitwe Area Chairman, Bro. Davies Mulubwa the first Secretary, Sis. Majory Nkhoma the first Treasurer, and Bro. Chiwewu the first Benevolent leader.
LUSAKA AREA
Lusaka Area was organized between September and October 2013, and the brethren started meeting for Sabbath worship at Bro. Hatyoka’s residence in Sekelela, Lusaka West. A number of brethren from Salem, Mountain Dale and Waco 2500 associations used to come and investigate the message. Bro. Jones Chanda eventually accepted the message, followed by Bro. Israel Musama, Sis. Namalambo Mwenda, Bro. Denis Mwaba, Sis. Natasha Sakala, and Bro. Katandula Chansa. Later, Bro. Charles Mubanga from Kitwe joined Lusaka Area. Bro. James Chola was the first Area Chairman and Sis. Namalambo Mwenda the first Secretary.
Around the same time, Bros. Hatyoka and Lundah visited the 2500 brethren in Kafue. The first study took place in Kafue town at Sis. Mwila’s residence. Brethren who attended this gathering were: Sis. Mwila and her family, Sis. Rosemary Kasoka and Sis. Betty Lungu. The first converts were Sisters Kasoka and Betty Lungu.
That same year, Bros. Mweemba and Lundah gave a second study in Kafue and Bro. Cornelious Lungu and Sis. Catherine Kayombo accepted the message. Later onwards, Bro. Dominic Kaoma who had rejected the truth accepted it, and then his wife, Sis. Pacheria, came from Choma and joined him in Kafue and she became a member. At this point the brethren in Kafue were operating as a group under Lusaka Area.
In December 2013, we witnessed the wedding ceremony of Bro. Mweemba Hatyoka and Sis. Namalambo Mwenda. Our Lord has been guiding Lusaka Area as they have been moving from place to place seeking a “city whose Foundation and Maker is God.” In the year 2020, Lusaka Area gave birth to a new church called Ngwerere group, and these new Eleventh-hour church members are rejoicing in the Truth.
MONZE AREA
Before 2013, Monze was a Waco 2500 stronghold with no hope of disagreement on any point of
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ofdoctrine. It was headed by a one vibrant Brother Joshua Hamaimbo. In August 2013, Monze group received a strange message through Bro. Joel Mwenda, whose sister was engaged to be married to Bro. Mweemba Hatyoka. Apart from having discussions over the phone, Bro. Mwenda’s family also received DVDs whose message could not be restricted in an individual’s heart, family, village, town or city; but exploded without human hand. The message in the DVDs sounded so sweet that Bro. Joel Mwenda had to take them to Bro. Susiku Muyambango’s house so that he could also listen to them.
Within no time, the entire Monze group was shaken by this new message. Sis. Virginia Muyambango, Bro. Papros Haatembo and Bro. Zawadi Banda were in the forefront, studying at Bro. Muyambango’s house. The head of Monze group was quick to make a good decision that the DVDs be listened to, and wise decisions be made before the group is entirely lost. Individuals responded differently to this decision. However, whilst members were ready to make decisions for the Truth just from the little they had heard, he later demanded for more evidence so as to make a decision.
To add more knowledge to the little Truth received, God sent two messengers from Lusaka: Bros. Mweemba Hatyoka and Jones Chanda. By this time, the coming of the Truth had already divided Monze into two segments. The once united group was now torn into two pieces: one for Wavesheaf Ministries and the other for Waco 2500. The group under Wavesheaf seemed to outgrow the 2500 group. Bro. Lundah, Bro. Hatyoka, Sis. Hatyoka and Bro. Chanda from Lusaka continued visiting Monze. As more studies were conducted, the Wavesheaf group started swallowing up the 2500 group at a faster rate as more brethren abandoned 2500 to join Wavesheaf.
After the brethren in Monze finally settled in the Truth, Bros. Hatyoka and Lundah organized Monze into an Area under the Eleventh-hour church. The first Board members for Monze Area were: Bro. Susiku Muyambango, Chairman; Bro. Adam Sibeene, Secretary; and Bro. Zawadi Banda, Treasurer. Bro. Papros Haatembo was the Area Ministerial leader. Later, after Bro. Haatembo requested to be relieved, Bro. Sibeene replaced him and Sis. Linda Mwenda was appointed Monze Area Secretary.
A VISIT BY 2500 BIBLE WORKERS
Shocking news reached Waco’s 2500 Section, Branch, and Division leadership that the entire Monze group, which was almost becoming a Section under 2500, had gone to Wavesheaf. Bro. Denzil Simutelo, then a Wavesheaf opposer, requested the 2500 Southern Branch and Division leadership to visit Monze and reclaim the brethren from Wavesheaf. Two Bible workers were sent to Monze.
It was during this meeting that a mini-showdown between Truth and error erupted. The Bible workers (who were accompanied by the Southern Branch, Choma Section and Division Leaders of 2500 and their members) failed to silence the doctrines of Wavesheaf Ministries after failing to answer doctrinal questions from Monze brethren. These Bible workers became emotional, angry, and rough in their responses. The meeting, which was supposed to go on for two days, was prematurely ended the same day it convened at evening. The two Bible workers refused to continue with the meeting saying that they were just wasting their time with people who have rebelled.
Sister Lungowe Mwiya Likolo, who was then the Chairperson for Choma Section under 2500, was present during these hot discussions and she was also shaken. After the meeting, she requested for Bro. Lennox Sam’s DVDs from Bro. Sibeene. Sis. Likolo narrates that she cried at home upon watching the DVDs, seeing how she was deceived by wrong doctrines from 2500. Sis. Likolo later accepted the message and joined Monze group under Wavesheaf Ministries.
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ofA SECOND BUT FUTILE ATTEMPT
In January 2014, a second attempt to retrieve Monze brethren back to the 2500 was made by the founder of Monze group under the 2500 association. He requested to have a meeting with all the members of Monze Area. His aim was to dismantle the doctrines of the Eleventh-hour church. The brethren in Monze agreed to have a meeting with him at Bro. Muyambango’s house.
The brother, who was accompanied by Bro. Denzil Simutelo for support, presented on the Ceremonial Harvest. His teachings failed to dismantle the doctrines of the Eleventh-hour church. They even contradicted those of his association, and he became upset after failing to silence the Truth. Bro. Simutelo only spoke twice and remained quiet until the meeting ended. He recounts that it was during this hot meeting that he started seeing sense in the doctrines of the Eleventh-hour church.
A MISSIONARY TRIP TO JEMBO
In February 2014, a missionary trip to Jembo was organized after Sis. Likolo invited the Monze brethren to visit her. Bro. Simutelo, who was then a board member for Southern Branch in 2500, was invited so that he can also investigate the Truth for himself. The presenter was Bro. Mweemba Hatyoka. During the presentation, Sis. Likolo was overjoyed with the Truth. Bro. Simutelo also accepted the Truth.
MONZE AREA BOARD NEW APPOINTEES
The Eleventh-hour church in Monze continued to grow as more people joined. Monze became the biggest Area in Zambia when the membership reached 28 within five months of being established. Monze area board appointed Bro. Simutelo as the Assistant Area Secretary and Sis. Likolo as the Health Leader, a position she served diligently in by conducting cookery and natural remedy trainings. During a Zambia Division general meeting held in April 2014, Bro. Simutelo was chosen as the first representative for Monze Area on the Zambia Board.
MONZE AREA GROWTH AND EXPANSION
Monze Area is also growing in terms of families. In 2017, we witnessed the wedding ceremony of Bro. Mweemba Todd of Monze and Sis. Natasha Sakala of Lusaka. In the same year, Monze Area took the message to Chikanta in Kalomo District of Zambia where we have prospective members. In December 2019, Monze Area took the message to Chipepo in Gwembe District of Zambia where we also have a group of prospective members. As of February 2021, Monze was the biggest Area in Zambia with a total membership of 81, including youth, young adults and children.
BRO. LENNOX SAM’S SECOND VISIT TO ZAMBIA DIVISION
In May 2014, Bro. Sam visited Zambia Division for the second time. He was accompanied by Sis. Desiree Ford and Bro. Maxwell Murunga. During this visit, he conducted three seminars in Kitwe, Lusaka and Monze.
The seminar in Kitwe was conducted for seven days, from the 1st to the 7th of May. During this seminar, some brothers from Waco 2500 came and were firmly handled, though they could not accept the Truth despite being supplied with quotations from the Golden Bowl. The Lord indeed did wonders during this seminar despite the minister not being in good health; the Lord used him and all
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ofwho attended were really blessed.
The seminar in Lusaka was conducted for ten days, from the 9th to the 18th of May. This seminar was largely attended and stirred wide opposition from other Davidian associations. It was hosted at Bro. Israel Musama’s residence in Shalom Garden House. Bro. Brighton Chakwila from Salem association accepted the Truth at this time.
Monze seminar was conducted for 11 days, from the 20th of May to the 31st of May. Members in Monze were fed with the Truth from morning to sunset. It was a wonderful moment to see the unrolling of the scroll firsthand. New converts from Waco 2500 (Bros. Kebby Mweene, Roy Sichoongo and Ray Phiri) from Mazabuka also attended after they were invited by Bro. Kelvin Lundah. Brothers and Sisters from Kasiya were also in attendance.
On Thursday, May 30, 2014, Bro. Sam baptized Bro. Papros Haatembo at Hachaanga Dam. This was the first baptismal ceremony in Zambia Division. At the end of the seminar, Bro. Sam also donated his projector to Monze Area, which is still in use.
ZAMBIA DIVISION COMMEMORATES DAY OF DAYS FOR THE FIRST TIME
On October 25, 2014, Zambia Division joined the members of the Eleventh-hour church from other parts of the world to commemorate the Day of Days. This was the first time for Zambia Division to participate in the Day of Days. It was a wonderful and memorable experience.
ANOTHER WACO 2500 GROUP SWALLOWED BY THE ELEVENTH-HOUR CHURCH
Due to missionary efforts made by Sis. Likolo and the Eleventh-hour church members in Monze around November 2014, the entire Waco 2500 group in Kasiya accepted the Truth and was swallowed by the Eleventh-hour Church under Monze. Sis. Mercy Kapianga was the first convert, followed by her husband, Bro. Kelly Kapianga, and then other brethren.
ZAMBIA DIVISION HOLDS ITS FIRST CAMP MEETING
In April 2015, Zambia Division organized its first Division camp meeting. It was held at Monze East Primary School. This was the first time church members in Zambia from different parts of the country were coming together. The speakers were Bro. Mweemba Hatyoka and Bro. Kelvin Lundah.
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ofBro. Lennox Sam sent a message requesting the brethren in the camp to pray for themselves, their families, and the entire Eleventh-hour church.
FORMATION OF MAZABUKA GROUP UNDER MONZE
The number of converts embracing the message in Mazabuka grew and in 2015, Mazabuka was organized into a study group under Monze. Bro. Kebby Mweene became the first group leader.
ZAMBIA DIVISION RECEIVES THE SHEPHERD’S ROD LITERATURE
In the year 2015, the Lord blessed Zambia Division with 250 Shepherd’s Rod Series of Volumes and Tracts and 250 Shepherd’s Rod Series of Symbolic Codes with the colour of the ripe grain of wheat. A total of 500 books were sent to Zambia Division by the Publishing Department. They replaced the old Shepherd’s Rod books with black covers which were earlier being published and used by church members in Zambia, and they were given a full set of the new Shepherd’s Rod literature for free.
A NEWLY FORMED WACO 2500 GROUP SWALLOWED BY THE TRUTH IN MONZE
After the first Waco 2500 group in Monze shifted to the Eleventh-hour church in 2013, another group was organized by 2500 in Monze. Members of the new group, who were mainly from Laodicea, were warned about and told not to come into contact with members of Wavesheaf. Despite such warnings, the Truth found its way to the new 2500 brethren through Bro. Papros Haatembo. Around July and August 2015, the entire newly formed 2500 group, being about nineteen brethren, accepted the Truth and joined the Eleventh-hour church, though after some time twelve went back to 2500.
FIRST CHURCH WEDDING IN ZAMBIA DIVISION
Zambia Division grew not only in numbers but also in families. On Friday, September 18, 2015, the Eleventh-hour church in Zambia witnessed the marriage union of Bro. Zawadi Banda and Sis. Sphiwe Nc’ube who were both members of Monze. This was the first Davidian wedding to be conducted by the Davidian church in Zambia Division, and it was officiated by the Africa Field Secretary, Bro. David Owitti.
REGISTRATION OF ZAMBIA DIVISION
After a long two-year struggle to have the church in Zambia registered, The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association was finally registered by the Registrar of Societies on the 17th of June, 2016.
This same year, Zambia Division held its second nation-wide camp meeting at Monze East Primary School. Bro. Lennox Sam officially opened this camp meeting via Webex. The presenter was the
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ofAfrica Field Ministerial Director, Bro. Dennis Mutiso from Kenya. The camp meeting was held for seven days from the 21st to the 28th of August. The theme for the camp meeting was “Get Ready! Get Ready! Get Ready!”
MESSAGE SPREADS TO CHAMATETE IN MPONGWE DISTRICT ON THE COPPERBELT PROVINCE
Sis. Chipo Muyuwa from Monze visited her parents in Chamatete and introduced the message to them in 2016. Her father, Bro. Alex Muyuwa, was a Laodicean church elder and her mother, Sis. Phales Muyuwa, opposed the message. After much opposition from her parents, she informed Bro. Pathias Munyumbwe who had introduced her to the message. Bro. Pathias visited and had studies with them, and they later accepted the Truth. He organized these brethren and Bros. Baron Chiwewu and Moses Chalwe were invited to conduct studies for five days. The Chamatete brethren were very glad and desired that the meeting be extended. A study group was officially organized under Kitwe Area. All the SDA brethren who accepted the Truth were disfellowshipped by the mother church, including Bro. Alex Muyuwa who was the administrative church elder. Right now, Chamatete has 5 elderly members, 3 young adults, 3 youths and 9 children.
THIRD ZAMBIA DIVISION CAMP MEETING HELD IN CHIBOMBO, ZAMBIA
In August 2017, Zambia Division held its third Camp Meeting in Chibombo District in the Central Province of Zambia. The presenter was the Africa Field Ministerial Director, Bro. Dennis Mutiso.
A THIRD BUT FUTILE ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE MONZE BRETHREN BACK TO 2500
A third attempt which proved futile was made by 2500 to retrieve Monze Area back in September 2017. Bro. Norman Archer, who was then Vice President, visited Zambia as a guest presenter at a youth Camp organized by the 2500 Association in Kabwe, Zambia. After this camp he requested to meet all the brethren who had left 2500. The leadership sent him to Monze. He was accompanied by a Bible worker and two card holders. During this meeting, he and his team tried to refute the Truth as presented in the Timeline to the Kingdom, and they started talking about Bro. Sam. He admitted that he doesn’t understand how Bro. Sam came up with the Timeline to the Kingdom but went on denouncing the Truth. Monze brethren defended the Truth and not even one member was retrieved. Having realized that their efforts were fruitless, Bro. Archer told them to go ahead with their beliefs.
TWO NEW AREAS CREATED AT THE SAME TIME
In October 2017, we created two new Areas. Kafue group, which was operating under Lusaka Area since 2013, was organized into an Area. Mazabuka group, which was also operating under Monze Area since its inception, was organized into an Area. Bro. Cornelious Lungu was the first Kafue Area Leader, and Bro. Roy Sichoongo the first Mazabuka Leader.
In 2017, Kafue Area was blessed with Bro. Walubita and Sis. Martha Sakwiba, who joined the church with their children as a family. Bro. Joseph Mwiinga who once studied with Bashanites and Reformers and Bro. Kelvin Mulenga from the Roman Catholic church also accepted the message. Since then, the message has been spreading though slowly and with difficulties. Bro. and Sis. Beckam Mweemba’s family also later joined Kafue after relocating from Monze.
In early 2017, Bro. Sichoongo introduced the message to Bro. Brian Siamaila and invited Bro. Kebby Mweene to meet him in Shimungalu, which resulted in he and his family accepting the Truth. Bro.
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ofSiamaila shared the Truth with other Laodiceans who also accepted the message. As of 2021, Bro. Kebby is the Area Leader for Mazabuka while Bro. Leon Chongwe is the Area Secretary.
FIRST FELLOWSHIP CERTIFICATES RECEIVED
We received 19 Certificate of Fellowship cards in March 2019. This was the first time members of the Eleventh-hour church were receiving fellowship cards in Zambia.
SECOND BAPTISM
In September 2019, a second baptismal ceremony was conducted. Sis. Chipo Muyuwa and Sis. Britah Mvula, both of Monze, got baptized at Hachaanga Dam by Bro. Adam Sibeene.
SECOND CHURCH WEDDING
We thank the Lord that the number of families has continued to increase in Zambia. On the 23rd of October 2020, the church celebrated the wedding ceremony of Bro. Sanford Himubali and Sis. Brendah Dobola, both of Monze. The wedding, performed by the Division Chairman, Bro. Adam Sibeene, was very simple, brief, but memorable.
FIRST YOUTH BAPTISMAL CEREMONY
On February 14, 2021, six youths were baptized in Kafue Area: Bro. Kelvin Mulenga, Bro. Tumelo Lungu, Bro. Daniel Lungu, Bro. Emmanuel Lungu, Bro. Caleb Sakwiba, and Sis. Ellen Sakwiba, who was the youngest youth to ever be baptized, at age 12. On the 28th of the same month, another youth, Sis. Nachimuka Mwenda, was baptized in Monze.
CURRENT MEMBERSHIP
The number of church members in Zambia Division has continued to grow since the establishment of the DSDA church in Zambia. As of February 2021, membership was as follows:
Adults and Young Adults: 115
Youth: 27
Children: 87
Grand Total: 229
We thank the Lord for the work he has done for Zambia Division and for the entire Eleventh-hour Church. To God be the glory.
Compiled by Bro. Denzil Simutelo,
Zambia Division Secretary.
FRENCH FIELD TESTIMONY
I thank our great God for allowing me to be in this movement, the Eleventh-hour church, today. Just as Christ called one disciple after another to pursue the greatest career of all time, so it was with my call. In March 2013, I received a phone call from St. Lucia in which Bro. J. C. gave me an understanding of the message of Wavesheaf Ministries which he had discovered and analyzed.
After having explained to me that a purified wavesheaf would go to seek for God’s people in the
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ofLaodicean church, I began to take him back by telling him: “No, that is not what I was taught.” After a lively exchange, he told me: “Sister, listen!” These words resounded so strongly in my mind that I decided to listen to him, and that’s when my heart opened, and I discovered God’s love in wanting to save His church by using a pure sheaf. I confessed from that moment that it was the Lord Who was speaking to me through Bro. J. C.
He later sent me a series of studies from one “Bro. Sam” whom I did not know but had heard of from previous emails received from Waco 2500, warning me that he and another Bro. P. G. were spreading heresy and dispensing false doctrines. I received the different videos—and what a surprise when I found out that what I was hearing was the complete opposite of what I had been preaching! But then I thought, “Wow! But how is this possible?”
So, I decided to have a discussion with him after having watched the series of videos. Something about me that you should know is that I don’t just accept truths like that from people I don’t know. With the personal experience of having been deceived by an elder from Laodicea, I had decided that no one would ever play with my salvation again.
We had the meeting with Bro. Sam, and I asked him my questions. After this interview I began fasting three times over three weeks to ask the Lord whether this message was from Him. The feedback from the Lord was overwhelming. As I was watching and analyzing the videos, I saw how, for all those years I had been in the message (since 2003), I finally had the answers to my questions, and I now could understand the situation in the Davidian movement.
I finally let go, bowed down and submitted to the Spirit of God Who had placed the conviction in me that this message was from God. Since that day in 2013 (it didn’t take years) I accepted the message in my heart. Later, in August, I was invited to St. Lucia for one week where Bro. J. C. had invited Bro. Sam to conduct a seminar. There, I heard beautiful and wonderful Truths
that I had never heard before. I saw Bro. J. C.’s face light up as he, too, heard the Word of Truth preached, and I felt a joy that I had never had before. I give thanks to the Lord because this joy is still alive in 2021.
On my return from St. Lucia, I began to earnestly spread the message and that is how the French-speaking Field began. We thank our island sister, St. Lucia, which was once again called by the Lord to bring the Present Truth to the French-speaking islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique! Some 25 years earlier, the Truth had been brought by Bro. J. S. from St. Lucia to two Brothers: F. S. in Guadeloupe and F. L. in Martinique.
2013 also saw the introduction of the message of the purification of the Davidian church in Chile, Haiti, both the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and then later on France. Recently Santo Domingo also came on board. Today the French-speaking Field is well established and stronger than before. We are not going to say that everything is perfect, because absolute perfection will exist only in the Kingdom—and we also know that we must have the tares in our midst; but we do not pay them any attention because this message is from God, and it will triumph: very soon we will be home!
Glory to God for this message and thank you Lord Jesus for coming to the rescue of all those who were in questioning, misunderstanding and confusion. Indeed, this is the very situation in which the Davidian movement finds itself! There is, finally, a light shining amidst the darkness of the Davidian movement. Just as the Adventist church is a beacon planted amidst the confusion of the evangelical Protestant churches, so too is the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist church a beacon for all Davidians seeking answers to their questions. Yes, the Lord has a church amidst the Davidian movement to direct her steps on the royal road to the Kingdom. Glory be to God! Thank you, Lord! Amen!
Sister Patricia Verpret
Head of the French Field
Martinique
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