Home

The Serpent's Root 1

Bible study by Vernon Howell

Scanned Using Text Bridge Pro

The Serpent's Root I, is a study compiled of the lessons given by the Seventh Angel's messenger from Passover 1983, to the General Conference Session 1985. These lessons came in a way much out of the common order of things. We are sure that, upon investigation of these wonderful lessons, you will see for yourself, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream." Ps. 126:1. "For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me." Jer. 31:25,26. "And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof." Zech. 4:1,2. "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." Isa. 28:11,12.

SUBJECT: A Summary of Ezekiel, chapters 19, 20 and 21.

This afternoon I would like for you to turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel, chapter 21, verse I. I am sure that everyone here is quite aware of what this chapter teaches. Brother Roden shows this chapter to teach the fall of S. D. A. and D. S. D. A. Are there any here who need to review what Brother Roden taught on this chapter? Fine 1 Then I am glad to see that we all have the oil in our vessels. I, as well as you, am quite concerned about the way things are happening here at Mt. Carmel. You are all aware of the fact that since this message has come, opposition has arisen. Some are acting as mad men. Even our dear Sister Roden appears to be acting in such a way as to make us shiver. We are definitely living in the time of the fulfillment of Micah 7:5. Every man for himself, so to speak. Why are Sister Roden and George acting as they are? Didn't Sister Roden tell us all to study this message? Why then all the opposition? How come George walks around here with a gun strapped to his side? These and many other questions are floating around in my head, and in yours too, I'm sure.

I came here to Mt. Carmel to study. I ended up washing dishes and fixing cars. I, as well as you, have spent my time working, working, working, working. So I will not try to exercise my great Bible knowledge to explain these things which I, nor any other man on earth, could answer. If I were to give you my opinion on the situation, I would say that we have some mean and greedy people around here, who think that I am going to take over and get all the goodies. I would gladly give all of this bowl of beans away and take the true treasure. Who knows, maybe they will give us their birthright, and we will give them this rundown Mt. Carmel? I know that many of you have worked many years here and have put all your life and money into the work. As it appears, you have received for your reward, leaky houses, broken pipes, high rent, and low bank account. Now here comes George with a gun, crying, Mt. Cannel is my birthright. I hear, when Sister Roden's message first came, George gave her a hard time. I also heard that she fought like a tiger against him. How come she is doing nothing now? Didn't she say that this was a true message of God? Why is she allowing George to herd us around like cattle? Maybe the Lord will be mercifiil to us and give us some answers. 0 Lord, please give us the answers we need to help us to walk in the light, as though we are in the light. We don't want to begrudge anybody, but some are not acting like they even know who You are. They are saying that I am deceiving everybody, and that I am of the devil. Please Lord, give us light, and deliver us from this Babylon that engrosses our minds. Amen.

Now I speak, yet not I, but the Lord, that we may know these things. Thus saith the Lord. Look at verse 12 of chapter 19 of Ezekiel. Will you please read this verse for us, Perry, verse 12? Yes.

But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them."

Okay, that's good. We know that Brother Roden applied this to the Shepherd's Rod. Brother Roden, with the Spirit of Truth, came and burned up all the Shepherd's Rods, who would not accept the truth. This is what caused the final fall of Davidia. Right? Verse 13, Clive.

"And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground."

Okay. We know that the Davidians, after rejecting Brother Roden, under Florence, moved to what is called New Mt. Carmel Center. They did not have inspiration to lead them, so therefore, they were in, as t were a dry and thirsty ground. Verse 14, Karen.

"And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule..."

Stop there, please. Now Branches, we know that God knows the beginning from the end. I am here to tell you, by the Spirit of God, that what happened to Florence, in her day, has again, in our time, been repeated. Do you remember how many people George said he had on his side? Read Brother Roden's tract on The Flying Scroll, and you will see that the same amount of people that were with Florence, against Brother Roden, are now, in antitype, against me. We are repeating old history. The lesson 's never learned, I guess. We can see that the only thing that makes people mad, about this message, is that you brethren are now paying your tithe to me. They feel that it is wrong for me to tell you to stop paying rent and water bills. If I remember right, I believe it was your hard- earned money that paid for that well, and Brother Friesen's, Clive's, and my labor that fixed it. Now, as far as the trash pickup fee, you lust let Clive, Raymond and I pick it up for you. We will not charge you a dime. And if we don't charge you, seeing that we have been picking it up all along, why, tell me, should anyone else charge you? They don't smell the stink. These practices are to come to a stop. If a person tells you to pay a certain amount each month, for house maintenance, then that is what it is to be used for. I just put a new roof on Sister Roger's house, and she paid out of her own pocket for it. What ever happened to second tithe benefits. I'm here to tell you that we here at Mt. Cannel have, by our hypocrisy, justified Florence and her robbery.

Yes, God has sent us a wonderful message, and all some worry about is losing Mt. Cannel, to me. As I said before, give me the true riches, and I'll gladly give them my bowl of beans. The supplement to The Leviticus, shows that God, and Their representative, owns all things in regards to the movement. They are not rejecting me, they are rejecting God. If I speak error, then why won't someone contend with me. We have looked for George to become the next messenger, but I'm afraid that his own actions have separated this from him. This message (fire), is come, so that now Sister Roden has n no strong rods to rule. This is definitely a lamentation. I see the looks on your faces, and I know what you are thinking. Here, let the Spirit help you to see. God knew that you would not accept this additional light, so let's lust say that this chapter only applies as Brother Roden taught it. Fine, now is that better? Let's say that I was all wrong in applying this terrible crime to Sister Roden and George. We do know though, that the whole problem we have here at Mt. Cannel, lies with who is going to be boss, and who is going to have charge of the tithes. Right? Let's just say that Florence Houteff was the only one ever tempted to lord over God's means, and at her discretion, God is allowed to use means only by her permission. If this is the case, then please tell me why verse 14 says:

"This is a lamentation (what Florence did in her day), AND SHALL BE FOR A LAMENTATION.

I rest my case, before man and God. You all know here, that what I teach, I teach according to Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy. That is why you are here in front of me, this day, and not some other. Has Sister Roden showed anyone of you the error of our teachings? Then, why isn't she helping us with the truth, instead of George, by letting him reap the benefits of our hard-earned means? I don't care if any of you ever pay another penny to this place. Don't be surprised if this place ends up, one day, being called Rodenville, or something. Remember Eli's kids? How about Aaron's? God honors those who honor Them. Now, who wants to go on with this study that God is giving us? If any do not feel that they can accept the straight testimony, then please remove from this place so that the Spirit may work. We don't want to be those who provoke the eyes of God's Glory.

Now let's take a look at the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel. This chapter is quite complex, so we will summarize it. Verse I says that in the seventh year the elders came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. Verses 2 and 3 tell us that God doesn't really have much to say to them. Verse 4 tells Ezekiel to judge these men by allowing them to know the abominations of their fathers. Verses 5-8 tell us that God was to deliver his people from Egypt, but they turned not from their idolatry. The Lord was going to punish them in Egypt. This is not really Biblical, is it? We know that the record of the exodus does not teach that God was going to destroy His people, while they were still in Egypt. On the contrary. This Israel must be found at a different time period than Moses' day. If we can stretch our minds, we would see that the same lesson, taught in the nineteenth chapter, is again brought to view in the twentieth. The lioness mother, represents the Adventist ~ (Millerite). The first of her whelps was the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The second whelp was the Davidian S.D.A. Church. We know that the S.D. A. Church was symbolized as Egypt. So verse 8 represents God's wrath against the Adventists, before the Shepherd's Rod message came. Verses 9-12 explain how that God led His people out of the S.D.A. Church (Egypt), by the Rod, or Victor Houteff(!~Moses). Verses 13 and 14 explain that God did not destroy the Davidians, either, but that They wrought for Their name's sake, and gave the Davidians another message. Verses 15-26 explain the problems that the Branch He and She have encountered. Study this chapter and see for yourself if this does not apply. Verses 27-36 tell us that we have, at the end of our long prophetic journey, become as the heathen, and that we are really worthless. But God is not going to give up on us. They are going to plead with us, as They did with our fathers in S. D. A. Could we not say that the final phase of the Third Angel's Message has fallen lower than the first phase? Let's hang our heads and think about it. Why did our Administration Building burn down? Remember how many of us used to sit and joke in there? It is not so funny now, is it?

What can we do now to get ourselves out of all this trouble? Well let us see. Verse 37 says: "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant." Verses 38-44 are self-explanatory. Now, when you read verses 45-49 you will see that this is a parable, and that it applies to the south, Judah, and to the north, Ephraim. As you read the Seven Letters to Florence Houteff, you will find that Brother Roden says, that D.SD.A. is Judah, and that S. D.A. is 10 tribes. To not know these things is definitely to be a dry tree. Now that we have gotten this far, my question to you now is, Are there any of you here that think we are stretching these Scriptures too far, to make them apply to the present situation here at Mt. Cannel? It definitely fits. What's that? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, Clive. Speak up. I said, It seems to me it definitely shows the situation we are in. Well, if you all would like to continue on, maybe the Lord will I give us some more light. Let us turn to Ezekiel 21, verse I.

"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cutoff from thee the righteous and the wicked....therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more."

Let's stop at verse 5, and now we will back-track to see what lessons we can get from this chapter. For Ezekiel to drop his word toward the holy places, would mean to speak to those places where the Holy Spirit dwells. This would have to be that place, or places, where the present truth is being taught. The land of Israel being the U.S.A., at the present time, or we should say, the land of the present 144,000, spiritual Israel. God is saying that they are against the righteous and the wicked. There is none to escape this sword of the Lord. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is in these prophecies. Both Judah and Israel are to have this sword, or as Brother Roden said, this message. Verse 5 tells us that all flesh may know that the Lord has drawn His sword, and it shall not return any more into its sheath. This truth is so cutting and severe, that it must be of the True Witness. I am sure we as Branches could say that this chapter is another way of teaching, Ezekiel 9. So we had better be as Ezekiel, and listen to God, as God says: -

"Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God." Verses 6,7. Yes, the Lord wants us to know all about His sword. God is going to do a clean work upon those who will not see this warning.

"Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that It may glitter: should we then make mirth? it con tenet the rod of my son, as every tree." Verses 8-10. Now let's see. The prophet has a stuttering problem. He says "sword" twice. I'm going to tell you what this means in the near future. The sword is to be made bright so that all may see it come, and prepare for it. This sword is to contemn the rod of God's son. Remember what Brother Houteff and Brother Roden taught about the Rod of my son? That's right, it refers to the church on earth. This being the case, we can see that the sword (a bright message) comes to God's church and contemns it with present truth.

"And he bath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod (Shepherd's Rod)? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God." Verses 11-13. Well Branches, Isn't this a true report? Didn't Brother Roden come in 1955, with a message to the D. S. D.A.?? Where are they now? Can't you see that the Rod is no more? Didn't the Fifth Angel have a sickle? Wasn't that sickle a message of truth?

"Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers." Verse 14. Now let's be reasonable and think like men and women It was Brother Roden who told us the first part of this prophecy. We know that the D. S. D.A. fell because they rejected the truth. Why does this passage tell us that the sword is going to be doubled the third time? Because the first time, the sickle came to the Davidians. The second time, there was no sword. That's right. Revelation 14:18, the Sixth Angel, has no sword. It is the Seventh Angel who has the sword to contemn the Third Angel's Message, with a double slaughter. First the church, and then the world. So we see that those who reject the Seventh Angel's Message are in for double trouble. Read Isaiah 28.

(end of transcript)