Seven Letters to Florence Houteff

THE BRANCH

1st Printing – Sept. 1955 – Mar. 1956 Reprint Edition – 1978

Copyright, 1978

THE UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING ASSN. New Mt. Carmel Center
Rt. 7, Box 471-B
Waco, Texas 76705

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SEVEN LETTERS

TO FLORENCE HOUTEFF

AND
THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF
THE DAVIDIAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST ASSOCIATION

by

THE BRANCH

“Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and knoweth what he doeth?” – John 7:51.

The seven letters reproduced herein have been copied from the original. Some references only alluded to in the original have been quoted in full in this edition. Several explanations have been added to the original text for the purpose of clarifying some of the subject matter.

Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

Dear Brethren:

September 23, 1955

God has placed a great responsibility upon you. The greatest responsibility any group of people could have in the world at this time. Even more important, shall we say, than President Eisenhower and the lawmaking bodies of the United States. Although as grave and important as their position may be, it cannot compare in seriousness and importance to the position you hold.

We make the foregoing statement in view of the fact that their position is important to the extent of things temporal, such as seeing to it that the nation is governed, clothed, and fed. Not only that, but at this time it seems that the grave responsibility of negotiating peace for ourselves and other nations is added.

The prophecies of the Bible teach us that this negotiation for peace will fail in its purpose. There will be opportunity for this people, through the power of the Lord, to care for the temporal needs of the nations and to bring in peace and everlasting righteousness.

With this high calling set before us, we are enabled to see the true responsibility that rests upon the Executive Council, in particular, and the field workers and our people in general.

As the existing governmental problems and perplexities of the nations are multitudinous, we can anticipate proportionate problems to arise in our work.

In view of the fact that God has placed us in this position, it is imperative that we work in unity – as a harmonious whole – looking to Christ as the “Author and Finisher of our faith.”

You, brethren of the Executive Council, at this very moment, are having your perplexing problems and they will increase and mount higher and higher as time goes on, you can be assured. We, as workers of good

gninraW laniF

“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea.” Rev. 7:2.

You can be sure our faces have begun to turn red by now. But they are very generous and let us down easy. They concluded that since Rrother Houteff was writing under Inspiration the Lord permitted him

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to make this mistake, if it were a mistake, for some purpose. Of course, this little discussion cut our stay shorter than we had expected and the visit was not as profitable as it might have been. So, we prepared to take our leave; but they, being like Abraham of old, were very hospitable folk. It was about suppertime and they prevailed upon us to stay and eat with them.

By the time we were seated, they began to shower us with more questions we could not answer. They read Isaiah 11:1 to us, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” They asked us where God’s true people of today are depicted in this symbolism. Of course, we had a vast amount of references to show that the Rod represents the Shepherd’s Rod people. They were honest folk and believed from the evidence presented that the Davidians were put out of the Adventist church and that we might be right. This made us feel better and we began to enjoy the meal.

They didn’t stop asking us questions. The next thing they wanted to know was, “Did we think that since the Rods (Davidians) were put out of Jesse, that Jesse might represent the Laodiceans?” Since we had no proof to the contrary from the message, we smiled and conceded they might be right. By this time the meal had progressed and we were about filled except for dessert. They began serving another course although we were ready to finish right there. After all, they were nice people and very hospitable, besides they were big eaters and seemed to be very hungry.

Although we were anxious to finish, the next dish was brought. Because it was a dish we so disliked, the food we were eating began to choke us and we began to see we would have indigestion. Though we felt like leaving, our training persuaded us to remain.

Their next point of reasoning was: “If the Rods were the ones put out of Jesse; then, the Branch must logically be those put out of the Rod.” We agreed that it could be possible, or perhaps, the results of the Rod’s efforts.

We were very much pleased when they had finished their feasting and suggested we return to the parlor. Again we wanted to take our departure but for fear of offense, as we had no legitimate reason for leaving so soon after the meal, we remained.

They were very zealous folk and very tactful in the manner in which they asked their questions; one couldn’t get offended.

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Before we finally got away, they asked us many more questions that were hard for us but easy for them. Their explanations seemed to be logical with sound reasoning and their answers quite simple.

After some time our pains subsided and we began to enjoy discussing the various Scriptures we had, heretofore, not understood. Our discussions went on far into the night.

After leaving Isaiah 11:1 our attention was called to the chart of God’s Traveling Throne that Ezekiel saw in vision (read Ezekiel 1). They pointed out that the living creatures were not fully clothed, as they did not have on shoes and their heads are uncovered.

Whereas, they explained, Isaiah saw the same chariot and creatures fully clothed with the feet and face covered. Not this, only, but the Creatures have been changed to Seraphims.

The “living creatures” of Ezekiel 1 represent the 144,000 living saints and as the living creatures have only four wings, two wings are to fly, or as John saw, three angels flying in the midst of heaven (Revelation 14:6-10). The two flying

wings are, therefore, comparable to the Sabbath and Sanctuary truth. In other words, Righteousness by Grace supplied during infancy, the first stage of Christian growth – the message of 1844, a two-fold message.

When the “living creatures” arrived in 1929, they had added two more wings covering the body. The infant of 1844 had grown into a youth, eating strong meat – meat in due season – the message of the purification of the church and setting up of the Kingdom, a two-fold message, Righteousness by Faith imputed.

The next time the chariot arrives the “living creatures” are changed to Seraphims and have added two wings, Righteousness of Christ imparted, a full grown Christian – a two-fold message. The day the chariot arrives, a nation is born. No more names of sinners will be placed on the books of Judah. “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15. Furthermore, the names of sinners that are on the books will be removed – a pure church from then and throughout eternity. This was the manner in which we studied and understood the chariots.

Next, we read Ezekiel, chapter 9. In this chapter, they told us, is

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found the same story told in Revelation 7. Read Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 444,445. Revelation 7tells of the progress of the work in the church and the world; whereas, Ezekiel 9 deals with the church alone. In order to unlock the mystery of Ezekiel 9, however, one must have the key that unlocks both mysteries which is found in Revelation 7.

The key which is found in Revelation 7:2 (the angel with the seal) represents a message. In other words, we take the known quantity and work back and forth, as one would do in solving a mathematical equation. These two chapters are no longer mysteries. They have become plain and simple revelations.

The angel that comes from the East, we understand, started in 1844 but he didn’t arrive until 1929. When he arrived he simply said to all Divinely-revealed Truth (which is contained in the four great prophetic movements of Moses, Christ, William Miller, and Mrs. E. G. White), “do not destroy the inhabitants of the earth but let me have all your truth and I will seal 144,000 Israelites first.” “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. 7:1-4. “When I seal them, I will seal a great multitude of others, that no man can number.” “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” Rev. 7:9.

No greater message has ever come to this earth than came in 1929. At that time God sent Victor T. Houteff, a Seventh-day Adventist layman, with the message to save 144,000 Israelites first.

Take courage, honest hearts, in the world everywhere; Michael has stood up or is in the act of standing up to deliver you! “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time the people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in th book.” Dan. 12:1. As soon as He separates the wicked from among

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the 144,000 in the books, He will then separate the wicked from you.

Now since the sealing angel of Revelation 7:2 is a message without a sword in his hand, only a seal, we conclude that he has not come to judge, but to seal us.

With this part of the equation solved, we then move to the ninth chapter of Ezekiel.

First, let us have one more look at Revelation 7. In solving this part of the equation we started from the outside, with the known quantity; then, worked our way into the heart of this symbolism.

In solving the symbolism of Isaiah 11:1, the Davidian ministers at the supper were like the dogs and cats – they started right in the center of the pie and began eating outward.

The pie was so good and they ate so fast that they filled themselves on the very choice part of the pie and were ready to take their leave. But their hospitable hosts said, “No, you are not going to eat the choice bit of the pie and leave that which you have trampled for us to eat. Stay right there and help us eat the other two-thirds of the pie.” You know the story from here (Eze. 34:17-19). A very crude and simple narrative, indeed; nevertheless, there is no possible chance to miss the lesson, brethren.

Now, back to our mathematical equation. Since we have worked our way into the center of the problem, we do not continue on through the center, but we pull out and go around on the other side and start working our way in toward the center.

In Revelation 7, the known quantity was the sealing angel. In Ezekiel 9, the unknown quantity is the marking Man, the Man in linen (Ezekiel 9:2). How do we know this? Because in Revelation 7 the sealing angel is the fifth angel or message but in Ezekiel 9, the marking Man is not the fifth but the sixth.

You see, brethren, what we know to be truth in Revelation 7 we do not have light on in Ezekiel 9. Therefore, we conclude these two, angel and Man, are not the same. They are two different entities. If one should say, they know who the Man in linen is they are telling us that they know something they do not. This would be hypocrisy of the worst kind. No one, deep down, wants to be a hypocrite.

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Now that we are settled on the part of the symbolism of Ezekiel 9, that we do not know, let us go to the other end of the problem and begin with the part that we do know.

When we start to solve the symbol of Ezekiel 9, we find that if the truth hidden in Revelation 7 becomes the truth that is revealed in Ezekiel 9. For instance, the four angels in Revelation 7 have a hurting weapon in their hands, ready to hurt. We, then, come to the conclusion that if we find an angel elsewhere in the Bible, regardless where, with the same characteristics and the same numerical value, he must assuredly be the same.

On the other hand, take an angel in one part of the Bible that has a seal and a numerical value of five; then, in some other place in the Bible you should find where it tells of a man doing the same kind of work, but his numerical value is six, the logical conclusion is that they are not one and the same because their numerical value is different.

In Revelation 7, there are four angels getting ready to hurt. The Lord’s servant reasoned that if they were going to hurt, they logically must have something with which to hurt. Now, truth, “if it cannot save them it will eventually destroy them.” – Timely Greetings,Vol. 1, No. 20, p. 14.

Since the Bible is the Sword of the Spirit, the angels, therefore, must have it in their hands, the truth, a prophetic message.

Coming back to Ezekiel 9, we have five men with slaughter weapons or something with which to kill. We agree a slaughter weapon is a sword. You say, how does this fit in with Revelation 7:2 when there are only four angels with hurting weapons, or instruments; whereas, in Ezekiel 9there are six men with destroying instruments?

Here the mark of division narrows to a very fine line. Without Inspiration, one is likely to run into deep water. Not only that, but it is possible he could get into a whirlpool and be taken under. So the safe thing to do is put this, as all other writings, to the test of the Law and the Testimony.

Let us reason in this manner: say the first four men in Ezekiel 9 have the same thing in their hands as is in the hands of the first four angels in Revelation 7:2. Furthermore, we conclude it is possible these instruments of destruction and hurting could represent four great prophetic messages or movements. Matthew saw them as calls from early morning

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to, and including the ninth hour.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And he said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.” Matt. 20:1-5.

Each of these prophetic movements have finished their sealing work.

The Shepherd’s Rod was the next prophetic message. It is a sealing message inRevelation 7; but in Ezekiel 9, it is a message of destruction, the fifth man with a slaughter weapon in his hand. In other words, the angel that came from the East to seal 144,000 has finished his work of sealing. He has laid down his seal and taken up his slaughter weapon joining his four predecessors.

Now that we have solved the, heretofore, unsolved equation and the answer is correct and without a flaw, we have no trouble in identifying the sixth man. Yes, we can conclude beyond a shadow of a doubt that the sixth man is God’s next great prophetic movement on earth, that of the separation.

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.” Zech. 13: 7,8.

“In this separation, according to verse 8, the people are divided in three parts: Evidently they are the saints, the hypocrites, and the heathen. The two latter parts are to be cut off (separated from the saints), and they are to die. Concerning the future of the former third…read verse 9.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 18 (Revised), p. 18. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation)

With this information in hand, we should have little difficulty in solving the remainder of the equation.

In Revelation 7, the swords are in the hands of the four angels while L1, p.9 13

in Ezekiel 9, the swords are in the hands of the six men. This shows, we repeat, that the fifth or sealing angel had laid down his seal and a man had taken it up as a slaughter weapon.

Evidently, John saw the work under the sealing time during which the swords only hurt. Ezekiel saw in vision beyond the sealing and at the beginning of the Judgment of the Living, a time in which men know how to use the sword of the Spirit. At the beginning of the Judgment of the Living, then, God’s people will evidently receive a measure of the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, Peter questioned Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Ghost. This is a type of the Judgment of the Living.

If Brother Houteff is this man in linen, it is time for him to come forth from the grave for he (the man in linen) is to announce the day the Judgment of the Living is to begin. He has the seal of life and a sword of death.

Now, brethren, you can begin to see what we workers have to face in the field. The people are saying all this and much more. When we do not give them an answer from the Rod message, they say, “We are going to hold back our tithes until this thing is straightened out.”

This thing has just begun. If something is not done and done quickly, it will spread until the Denomination gets the news that is going around. Don’t think that Adventist ministers will not use these things against us. They would jump at the chance to tell how the Davidians are holding back the tithes.

It was recommended, brethren, at the recent field-workers meeting that you call a General Field Workers meeting from everywhere, say, October the 10th. This would give us time to solve this solemn situation before the people come for the 25th.

You know better than we do how slow the tithes are coming in nowadays. It may be, Joel looked down through the stream of time and saw this condition which caused him to write:

“Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.” Joel 1:14.

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly

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with thy God?” Mic. 6:8.

Let us know immediately if October 10th is satisfactory. If we do not get your answer by September 27th, we will conclude October 10th to be satisfactory. This invitation is for both workers and laymen.

Yours to finish the work that God has given us,

THE BRANCH

NOTE: October 10th is THE DATE SET for the field workers meeting.

“…he (Ezekiel) will bear it (the message of the Judgment of the Living – 1 Pet. 4:17) to the people at the commencement of the ‘LOUD CRY (one of the ‘four main facts.’).” – Pre-Eleventh Hour Extra, Tract No. 1, p. 37. The Judgment of the Living or the “Loud Cry” did not begin in 1929 (see chart: The Harvest Period and the Close of Probation).

“Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.” Eze. 21:13.

“And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name (Shepherd’s Rod) be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah (Davidian Seventh- day Adventists), keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows FOR THE WICKED SHALL NO MORE PASS THROUGH THEE; HE IS UTTERLY CUTOFF.” Nah. 1:14,15.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple (Judgment of the Living), even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 3:1.

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and

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obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” Ex. 23:20,21.

“Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of HIS PLACE (not at the head of the work), and he shall build the temple of the Lord.” Zech. 6:12.

“…Behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” Zech. 3:8.

“Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Matt. 25:6.

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain (Davidian Seventh-day Adventist church): let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:1. Israel blew the trumpet ten days before the Day of Atonement.

“For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:15-17.

“Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.” Eze. 4:14.

The warning is to put all abominations out of our houses, if we are to live in His sight “…for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” Hos. 1:2. All foods contaminated with swine products and preservatives – commercial flours, white sugar and shortenings. Idols are to be put away – those that speak, and those that do not.

“Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” Mal. 4:4.

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Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

Dear Brethren:

WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

By the time this letter is in the mail, many will have received their copies of the first letter. And by the time they receive this word they will have read and digested the first.

Because of the shortness of time, these letters are written so simply that the most unschooled will have no trouble understanding them.

It is the desire of this organization to keep its people well posted on the happenings of the day. Each layman, each child, is to know the most secret things, even of the highest branch of the organization.

The NOTE in the first letter sounded an alarm in the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist church. This letter must be the second trumpet that Joel wrote about. The children of Israel blew the trumpets for ten days before the Atonement. These trumpets will be heard throughout the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist church for ten days.

This movement began with a fast (Joel 1:14). It will spread to all honest Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. October 10 IS THE DATE SET for this most solemn occasion. As in the days of Israel, all will want to be there that day. This, therefore, must be the first direct fulfillment of Joel’s trumpet.

“Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel (144,000, “for they are virgins.” Rev. 14:4), turn again, to these thy cities.” Jer. 31:21. No doubt, this meeting, October 10, will be one of the waymarks recorded here in Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing (a new message) in the earth. A woman

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shall compass a man (before the spiritual birth).” Jer. 31:22.

October 3, 1955

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:18.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Now, if the message of 1929 did all of this for us, and there is not one sinner among us as a people, then Jeremiah 31:22 and the last part of Nahum 1:15 were fulfilled at that time.

If Brother Houteff did not sin after receiving the message of 1929 – a Heaven-sent message, we all agree – he is the man prophesied in Jeremiah 31:22 – a man compassed by a woman – a full grown Christian, with the Righteousness of Christ imparted to him.

John says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:9.

If the Scriptures here quoted were the burden of the message in 1929, we can easily see it was wrongly named Shepherd’s Rod. It should have been called The Branch, “The Lord our Righteousness.”

Ezekiel saw the same man, as recorded in Ezekiel 9, as Jeremiah saw in Jeremiah 31:22. The sixth man in Ezekiel’s vision had a writer’s inkhorn by his side, a weapon in his hand, and had on a linen suit (linen is the symbol of Christ’s Righteousness). Therefore, if Brother Houteff is to fulfill the work of the man in linen, he must hastily come forth from the grave, announce the Judgment Day (of the living), and rename the literature.

In Chapter 3, Zechariah saw Joshua clothed, first with his own righteousness, then with Christ’s after the Lord rebuked Satan.

At first, Isaiah saw himself an unclean person, living among an unclean people. Then he saw himself after the Seraphim gave him “a live coal (symbol of purification or baptism of the Holy Ghost).” Isa. 6:6. Will Jeremiah, or Zechariah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Brother Houteff or someone else fulfill these prophecies?

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These are some of the questions the people are asking us.

Another example is Ezekiel 37. We all know that the Shepherd’s Rod teaches that the Seventh-day Adventist church is Judah – law giver two tribes, and that the ten tribes (Ephraim) are scattered throughout the world. It also teaches that the 144,000, or 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes are sealed while in the true church – virgins. How do we account for this?

God tells Ezekiel to take one stick and write on it, or point out who is Judah; then take another stick and write on it, or point out who is Joseph.

“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.” Eze. 37:16.

There must be a type for this prophecy recorded somewhere in the Bible. Where there is no type there is no truth (or antitype). The Bible gives us a record of just such a division. The twelve tribes were divided when Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, became king. The new king put a double burden upon the people and this caused the ten northern tribes to pull away from the Union. Jeroboam became their king. His kingdom was known as Ephraim, Joseph, or Israel, and sometimes is called Samaria. The two southern tribes, with Rehoboam as their king, became known as Judah. Their capital city was Jerusalem; so they became known also as Jews. This happened according to prophecy and the Lord’s will, so the Bible says.

Paul tells us these things were recorded for our learning; or, what they did, we will do. Sister White says, “We are repeating the history of that people.” –Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 160. We have an exact parallel to that division of Israel in the Advent Movement. When the Lord gave Brother Houteff the message in 1929, it came as a fulfillment of prophecy. Whatever he did, it was prophesied and it was the Lord’s will.

Brother Houteff, like Rehoboam, spoke harsh words to the people and put a double taxation upon them. When we were Seventh-day Adventists we paid one tithe. To be a Davidian Seventh-day Adventist we must pay the second tithe. This is what caused the shaking in the church.

“I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that

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it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God’s people.” – Early Writings, p. 270.

You see, friends, we have two groups of Advent people. Seventh-day Adventists (Ephraim) looking for Jesus to come in the clouds and take them to Heaven; Davidian Seventh-day Adventists (Judah – law giver) looking for Jesus to come and purge the rebels from among us, and take us to the Kingdom; therefore, two sticks.

This information adds power and force to the fact that the Advent people are spiritual Israel of today.

God told Ezekiel to write the names on the two sticks (Eze. 37:16). We know that God would not have told Ezekiel to do something and not have told him how to do it. He is not like we are. He is very exact in His business. These statements are true and cannot be denied.

The Advent people are shown also in Ezekiel 23. “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; …And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters (converts). Thus were their names; Samaria (Seventh-day Adventists, Egypt, and Assyria) is Aholah, and Jerusalem (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, Assyria and Babylon of Chaldea) is Aholibah.” Eze. 23:2-4.

“Behold, everyone that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) of thy sisters (Seventh-day Adventists), which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And thine elder sister (Seventh-day Adventist) is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister (Davidian Seventh-day Adventist), that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.” Eze. 16:44-46.

One person could accuse another of wrong conduct and the accusation be true, but the guilty, by words, proves himself innocent. When God points out our sins He does not give place for argument. Then,

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friends, are we going to accuse God, and say, “let man be true,” or do we say, “let God be true, and every man a liar?” Rom. 3:4.

Are we going to be like the Laodicean angel who says, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” when God says he is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked?” Rev. 3:17.

Isaiah tells us what we really ought to do: “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a STONE of stumbling and for a rock of offense to BOTH THE HOUSES OF ISRAEL, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isa. 8:13,14.

In 1929, God set a stumbling block (a message – Righteousness by Faith) before the Laodiceans and many stumbled over it. If those that stumbled will humble themselves, rise up and shake off the dust, the Lord can save them.

At this time God lays a stone of stumbling or a stumbling stone (a much harder saying, or message – The Righteousness of Christ) before his people (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists). If we fall on the stone (Christ) and be broken, He will save us. If we stumble over the stone (message) the Stone (Christ) will fall on us and grind us to pieces.

The following are a few more of the many things the people are saying which apply to us:

laicepS ecnerefnoC lareneG

The Lord is coming in His chariot October 10 to purify the Davidian camp. And they send a warning to all honest souls at Mt. Carmel to flee the Hill shortly after the meeting. For the Lord is going to rain terror on the Hill because of her sins.

This is what they say; then, they give us their proof from Inspiration.

The stick, Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, has the name Judah written on it; “Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.” Eze. 37:16. The names Jerusalem and Aholibah are also written on the stick. “And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.” Eze. 23:4.

“And when her sister (Aholah’s sister) Aholibah saw this, she (Aholibah) was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister (Aholah, Seventh-day Adventists) in her whoredoms.” Eze. 23:11.

“And thine elder sister is Samaria (Seventh-day Adventists), she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists), that dwelleth at thy right hand, is SODOM and her daughters.” Eze. 16:46.

“Samaria (Seventh-day Adventists) …prophesied in Baal.” Jer. 23:13. The Lord saw in the prophets of Jerusalem (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) horrible things of wickedness. And says they are unto Him as SODOM and GOMORRAH. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his

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wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” Jer. 23:14.

If the first part of Jeremiah 23:1-8 applies to the 144,000 after the purification, then,Jeremiah 23:10-40 applies to Seventh-day Adventist and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists before the purification; “…in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.” Jer. 23:20.

It is not right for us to accept all the nice things the Lord says about us and then deny all the bad things of which He says we are guilty.

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, the were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is REVEALED. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.” Luke 17:26-32.

“Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and TAKETH NOT WARNING; IF THE SWORD COME, AND TAKE HlM AWAY, HIS BLOOD SHALL BE UPON HIS OWN HEAD. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.” Eze. 33:2-5.

“So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore THOU SHALT HEAR THE WORD AT MY MOUTH, AND WARN THEM FROM ME ….HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THINE HAND.” Eze. 33:7,8.

So everyone is to flee from Sodom and not look back. “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE.” Luke 17:32. This is what the people are saying, and they say God is saying it, too.

THE BRANCH

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Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

Dear Brethren:

WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

They say that Brother Houteff was the true interpreter God called in 1929 and that he started a true reformation in the Seventh-day Adventist church – modern day Israel (Judah – 2 tribes – lawgiver).

“The ‘city’ (Jerusalem) is God’s church; namely, the Seventh-day Adventists (Israel).” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 129. (Parentheses belong to quotation)

Example: “Let Leah represent the true church of Christ (Seventh-day Adventists); Rachael, a sister church, but not the true (Protestant); Zilpah and Bilhah, the world (religious and irreligious). These are the mothers of the 144,000, and the way they (144,000) are gathered. But while the twelve tribes come from many mothers, they were begotten by the same father. So with the true – the 144,000. While they are gathered from all churches and the world, they must be brought into one church, at the same period of church history, by the same message (the third angel’s message).” – Ibid., p. 62. (Parentheses belong to quotation)

“If the first Pharaoh makes a perfect type of the church leadership in the days of the apostles, then we must accept the last Pharaoh who knows not Joseph, as a perfect type of the church leadership who have turned from following Christ their Leader. Volume 5, page 217: ‘The church has turned back from following Christ, her Leader, and is steadily retreating toward Egypt.’ Thus Israel the true (the 144,000) became slaves under Egyptian bondage (the sins in the world).” – Ibid., pp. 106,107. (Parentheses belong to quotation)

With the sword of true interpretation of the Scripture, Brother Houteff, in 1929, took Judah captive. Therefore, she is no longer the property of King Pharaoh and Egypt (or Seventh-day Adventists).

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About 1935, after five years of besieging Jerusalem, the king of Babylon (Brother V. T. Houteff) took Judah to Mt. Carmel and she became his property. He was king of Mt. Carmel. Tract No. 8, Mt. Zion at the Eleventh Hour. Mt. Carmel became Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is the capital of Judah.

Some say this is very deep and hard to understand. When you take into consideration the key of the king of Babylon found in Ezekiel 24:1-3; also the key of king Pharaoh, king of Egypt, found in The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 106,107 (quoted previous page), it all becomes quite simple.

“Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Set on a pot, set it on, and pour water into it.” Eze. 24:1-3.

The key found in Ezekiel 37:15-17 gives us understanding of all the religious names of Seventh-day Adventists and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists found in the book of Ezekiel. One key for the religious names and another key for the civil, help us understand who and what we are talking about in the book of Ezekiel.

“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.” Eze. 37:15-17.

October 18, 1955

These bright and shining keys never before used by any prophet – Brother Houteff or any before him – open up for us the mystery of Ezekiel’s prophecies as never before.

God gave Brother Houteff the keys to the hard prophecies in the book of Ezekiel. Today, He is furnishing the keys to the easy portion of that same book.

The king of Babylon prophesied in Ezekiel 24:1-3 is not the same as the one of 1930. No, not any more than the fifth man with a slaughter weapon is the same as the man in linen the sixth man with the writer’s inkhorn.

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We all agree that Brother Houteff was Ezekiel since he opened up those hard prophecies of Ezekiel 4 etc. This being the case, he could not be the man in linen (Ezekiel 10:2). For Ezekiel says he saw the man in linen go in between the wheels. “And he went in in my sight.” A man just does not see himself go some place in his own sight. The wrong kind of speech for man to use, let alone God.

Yes, we will have to admit there are two Ezekiels in this prophecy. Just as there are two kings of Babylon.

Brethren, we should let the Lord’s Spirit work, for it is not by might the work will be finished, but it is “by my spirit, saith the Lord.” Zech. 4:6.

When the Lord throws light on a subject in the Bible, that subject becomes so clear and simple even the children can see and understand it. All the prying, studying, and speculating man might do will avail nothing but confusion.

Considering these prophecies in the light of the foregoing explanations, the subject is quite clear. Brother Houteff (Ezekiel or king of Babylon) came to Jerusalem (the Seventh-day Adventist church) in 1929-1930 and divided the sanctuary – one at Takoma Park (Seventh-day Adventists — Ephraim, Samaria, Aholah, Assyria and Egypt) – the other, later at Mt. Carmel Center (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Judah, Jerusalem, Aholibah, Assyria, Babylon of Chaldea and Sodom). See Ezekiel 37:15-17; also chapters 23 and 16.

When Judah was in the Seventh-day Adventist church she had the name of Egypt (Eze. 23:19) but when she was taken out of Egypt (in reality Egypt or Ephraim separated herself from Judah), she dropped only the name of Egypt and added the names Assyria, Babylon of Chaldea and Sodom.

You see, friends, the call today is not to come out of Egypt but to come out of Babylon of Chaldea or Sodom, before she burns (What The People Are Saying, Letter No. 3). Letter No. 3 arrived at Mt. Carmel the morning of October 10. The trumpets are to sound ten days from that date.

Are his people at Mt. Carmel going to do as the Sodomites of old and be stubborn and remain? God is giving all ten days to make up their minds. The Scriptures teach us that if as much had been done for Sodom as has been done for us, she would have repented. Are His

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people going to take God at His Word or will an angel have to take them by the hand and lead them out as they did Lot in Sodom?

According to the parable of Ezekiel 24:1-3, October 22, 1955 is the last day of the Jewish civil year and also the 10th day of the seventh month of the religious year or the Atonement Day. Therefore, October 22 must be the day of the showdown on Mt. Carmel. Since the trumpets are to be heard for only ten days it must be that one has to make his decision by October 20.

There is one thing certain: Ezekiel appeared in the 9th year of his captivity at Mt. Carmel Center, speaking a parable of the king of BabyIon coming to Jerusalem on the day and at the time that God told him.

“When considered in the light of the four main facts so far established, these questions are virtually self-answering: (1) the Lord comes to earth in this chariot; (2) from it He commands Ezekiel to go speak to His people; (3) Ezekiel did not bear the message to the people of his day; (4) he will bear it to the people at the commencement of the ‘Loud Cry’ (Rev. 18:1).” – Pre-Eleventh Hour Extra, Tract No. 1, pp. 36,37.

Ezekiel is to deliver his message to king Pharaoh on October 12, one year later. “The Lord said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations.” Eze. 23:36. Almost one year later he is to deliver his message to Tyre, not on the 10th or 12th, but on the 1st day of the month.

Why these different days on which Ezekiel is to deliver his message? We do not exactly know as yet. If, though, it is necessary for us to know, the Lord will reveal it to us.

It seems as though the Lord is especially good to Davidians in this case. He seems to take into consideration that we have been so busy warning the Laodiceans of the impending doom that we overlooked the fact that He is going to judge us also.

Since the day comes so suddenly, the Lord gives us ten days to make up our minds to move. Then He allows two days for those to move who make up their minds at the last moment. This would give everyone time to get settled and ready for the Sabbath. Then they could be back on the 22nd for the showdown.

What was supposed to have happened on October 10 really did happen. Ezekiel through his letters and presence uttered the parable of

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Ezekiel 24:1-3. So the Lord took away the desire of Ezekiel’s eyes (the Sanctuary) with a stroke. “Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.” Eze. 24:16. The people are to know that the Lord will profane His sanctuary, the desire of their eyes. (Eze. 24:21). The house of Israel is to do as Ezekiel did. “Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign.” Eze. 24:24.

This shows that Ezekiel has come and written on the sticks. His next job is to join the sticks (Ephraim and Judah) together. By this simple means the Lord will cause all Davidian up-shoots and off-shoots to pass away. When Judah has only one sanctuary left, Ezekiel is to deliver the message that will join the two sticks. They are to be one stick one kingdom – twelve tribes. With no sinners among them, they will live in peace and harmony forever.

Brother Houteff tells us that the 430 year prophecy of Ezekiel 4 and also the 430 years of Genesis 15:13 run parallel in our time. “The typical 430 years prophesied to Abraham began in the true (our time) with Martin Luther … therefore both prophecies – the one to Abraham and the one to Ezekiel – refer to the same period in our time. The one to Abraham stands as a type, but the other is a direct prophecy, and both run parallel in our time.”– The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 116. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation). He also states that they run to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 9.

“The question may be asked, Why would God make a double prophecy for the same thing? – because the old prophecy (the type) only gives the details from the beginning of the third angel’s message to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. The prophecy by Ezekiel gives the information in detail from the beginning of Luther’s reformation to Ezekiel 9, marking of the 144,000, and unrolling of the scroll. (‘Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, nor will it be understood until the unrolling of the scroll.’ Volume 6, page 17.)” – Ibid. (Parentheses belong to quotation) Read the unrolling of the scroll, Revelation 14:14-17.

In the light of this key statement let us reason together.

We know that Ezekiel 9 did not begin in 1930, but we did have an unrolling of the scroll at that time. The statement says that the 430 years started with Luther’s reformation and fulfills at Ezekiel 9 and the unrolling of the scroll. This statement is saying that there is to be another unrolling of the scroll at Ezekiel 9.

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In other words Brother Houteff (Ezekiel) is simply saying that he not this man in linen. But he saw him (either by faith or vision) go in between the wheels. If these prophecies that we have no understanding of, heretofore, are opening up now; then the scroll is unrolling before our very eyes, and some are too stupified with one thing or another to see it.

Since the two 430 year periods run parallel with each other to Ezekiel 9, our figures should correspond to our prediction.

Example No. 1-A:

Ezekiel 4 prophecy: 1530 (Augsburg Confession) + 390 = 1920 (Brother Houteff joined the Seventh-day Adventist church) + 40 = 1960 – Ezekiel 9 or end of the 70 years of captivity since 1890.

Example No. 1-B:
Genesis 15:13 – Abraham’s prophecy: 1530 (Augsburg Confession) + 400 = 1930 (Shepherd’s Rod message) + 30

= 1960 – Ezekiel 9 or end of the 70 years of captivity since 1890. Example No. 2-A:

Ezekiel 4 prophecy: 1525 (Luther marries Kathryn von Bora) + 390 = 1915 (Sister White dies) + 40 = 1955 – Ezekiel 9 or the 70 years of captivity since 1890 cut short in righteousness.

Example No. 2-B:
Genesis 15:13 – Abraham’s prophecy: 1525 (Luther marries Kathryn von Bora) + 400 = 1925 (compilation of Christ

Our Righteousness) + 30 = 1955 – Ezekiel 9 or the 70 years of captivity since 1890, cut short in righteousness.

The coincidences of the children of Israel would work out about the same. Which date was the more important to Luther? When he became 17 years of age, 1500, or when he married Kathryn von Bora? Which year is important to the Lord and His people, 1930, when the sealing message started or the year He starts to redeem His people, in 1955?

“Jesus has left us word: ‘Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning: LEST COMING SUDDENLY HE FIND

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YOU SLEEPING. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.’ We are waiting and watching for the return of the Master, who is to bring the morning, LEST COMING SUDDENLY HE FIND US SLEEPING. What time is here referred to? Not to the revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven to find a people asleep. No, but to His return from His ministration in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, when He lays off His priestly attire and clothes Himself with garments of vengeance, and when the mandate goes forth: ‘He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.’ ” Testimonies Vol. 2, pp. 190,191.

When the 144,000 are marked (sealed) and our High Priest lays off His priestly attire in the atonement for the living in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), He will clothe Himself with garments of vengeance. Those who have failed to make the preparation will lament and mourn, “The harvest (Investigative Judgment of the Living) is past and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20.

“THIS IS THE TIME OF RECKONING WITH HIS SERVANTS.” Ibid., p. 191.

“Probation closes; Christ’s intercessions cease in heaven. This time finally comes suddenly upon all, and those who have neglected to purify their souls by obeying the truth are found sleeping. They became weary of waiting and watching; they became indifferent in regard to the coming of their Master.” – Ibid.

“If such had only known that the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary would close so soon, how differently would they have conducted themselves, how earnestly would they have watched! The Master, anticipating all this, gives them timely warning in the command to watch. He distinctly states the suddenness of His coming… The Master comes, and instead of their being ready to open unto Him immediately, they are locked in worldly slumber, and are lost at last.” Ibid., pp. 191,192.

Yes, the Lord’s people are locked in worldly slumber so deeply they think as do the Seventh-day Adventists, that the Lord does not mean to let the wheat and tares grow together. They think it is their duty to root up the tares. The Scripture says: “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matt. 13:30.

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We seem to forget that this is to be done by the angels. The fact that the church is still casting out, shows us that we are still in the sealing time and not in the marking, slaying time. Therefore, the man in linen is not directing the work at Mt. Carmel. Neither is the sealing angel directing the work. But men are directing the work and doing the best they know how, no doubt. They are to be commended for doing the very best they know how. This does not alter the fact that they will reject the very messages God sends because it does not come in a way that pleases them. “This work of separation or cleansing, brought to view in the parable of Matthew 13:30 and again in that of Matthew 13:47-49; also in the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-3 and in that of Ezekiel 9, a well as in Revelation 14, is directly applicable to the judgment day for the living.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 49.

“…the Lord’s coming to His temple (Mal. 3:1-3), His coming with all His angels (Matt. 25), and His coming enthroned above the living creatures (Ezek. 1), – all three representing the same event, as has beer shown, – take place at the beginning of the Judgment of the Living: the time in which the judicial activities of the heavenly sanctuary extend to the earthly sanctuary – the church.” – Ibid., p. 47.

Compare Ezekiel 9 with Malachi 3:1-3; Revelation 14; Matthew 13 and 25 as Tract No. 3 did in the two preceeding statements; then we have a better understanding of Ezekiel 9. We see too, that Ezekiel does not begin at the passover as a slaughter but on the Atonement Day with the investigation.

Furthermore, if we read Ezekiel 9 in the light we now have, we see that Ezekiel 9 begins with us – Davidian Seventh- day Adventists, Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem first – not Ephraim, Israel, Samaria. Ezekiel 9 does not stop with Judah. It runs through Ephraim (the Seventh-day Adventists) and then the world.

In other words we can not say probation closes for the church, then, boom, Ezekiel 9! This is what we have been guilty of without realizing what we were doing. We are just as guilty of lowering the harvest boom on the Seventh-day Adventists as they do on the world.

“Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress (printing press) therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants

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of Jerusalem, and men of Judah (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists), judge, I pray you, betwixt me (God) and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain (spiritual rain) upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” Isa. 5:1-7.

These verses of Scripture tell a sad story for us Davidians but the Lord gives us a remedy in verse three. He says to choose betwixt Him and His vineyard.

What is your decision, brethren, are you going to choose the Lord by accepting His message, “The Lord Our Righteousness?” Jer. 23:6. Or are you going to hang onto the old ship and go down with it (Isa. 5:6)?

There are seven woes passed upon this vineyard. Six are found in Isaiah 5. Read them. The seventh is found in Isaiah 33:1.

“Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil (when your light quits coming with which to spoil), thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously (Jezreel Letters cease), they (The Branch letters) shall deal treacherously with thee.” Isa. 33:1.

Read the remainder of this chapter, and you will see a much brighter picture in contrast to that of Isaiah 5.

The king of Babylon spoiled Jerusalem October 10, 1955. Just how much spoil he got will be determined on the Atonement Day, October 22, 1955 and forward.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Mal. 4:5,6.

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“Let Heaven Guide. 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 to earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.’ ” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 475

“However, I would remind you, Brethren, that no prophet of God has ever been welcomed by the church… For this very reason we must remember that when the LAST PROPHET comes he will have the greatest opposition to meet, for Satan well knows that if he loses now he loses forever. What makes Elijah’s work especially hard is that Christendom has long been drilled in the idea that no prophet is to come that there is no necessity for one, that it has enough revealed Truth to carry it inside the Pearly Gates.” – General Conference Special, 1954 edition, pp. 6,7.

“It is therefore only to be expected that the predicted Elijah will be denounced as a false prophet, perhaps even as the ANTI-CHRIST, off shoot, or what not.” – Ibid., p. 7.

“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 voice! 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.” – Ibid.

“This will be the Devil’s deal while the day of God is approaching and while Elijah is making the announcement of it…” – Ibid.

“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.” – Ibid., p. 8.

” . . . no priest or prelate can decide for you who the Elijah may or may not be… The message he brings is the only thing to go by.” Ibid.

“Likewise, irrespective of considerations of personnel faults, frailties, and failings, Elijah’s message and movement will be the only God-sent ones, the only ones to fear, to love, to stand by, to live or to die for

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No, there will be no other shield when heaven opens and the storm breaks in all its dread fury upon the world, to unavoidably pour down its lethal lightning from the skies.” – Ibid., p. 9.

” ‘Behold, I will send My messenger [Elijah the Prophet, chapter 4, verse 5] , and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple…’ ” – Ibid., p. 11.

“All may for a surety know both ‘the day’ and the Elijah as he proclaims it… All will see that no one but Elijah can proclaim the day.” – General Conference Special, p. 12.

“Joel’s two chapters give us a most compact and vivid view of ‘the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ From these alone we can clearly see what it is like. And as Elijah comes JUST BEFORE that DAY begins, he must necessarily be the one who is to interpret these prophecies of the day, and who consequently announces that the day is at hand.” – Ibid., p. 19.

“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 . . .” – Ibid.

“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

sgniteerG ylemiT

with God, then we will be enabled to do what should be done for our children. In this manner and this alone is the heavenly family to grow, bear fruit, and multiply.

Elijah’s work is to bring to our memory the law of Moses and to turn the heart of the parents to their children, and to turn the heart of the children to their parents lest the Lord our God smite those who continue in transgression with a curse (Mal. 4:4-6).

God is going to bring His work closer and closer. Parents, we need to prepare a close examination of self; this is for all of us. When our hearts are in tune with Heaven we will be enabled to do the necessary things to save our children, for Heaven will be working with us.

“Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” Mal. 4:4.

If we are to remember the law of Moses, we are to consider all the laws, statutes, and judgments that God gave to him which were not nailed to the cross; some of which are honesty and all things pertaining to health and cleanliness. Our bodies are to be clean inside and out. This can not be accomplished if our minds and our homes are not clean. All fail to some degree on this point. Others are careless in the preparation and handling of food. The pigs have to stick their noses in the trough in order to eat but they do not need to put their feet in it too.

As far as we know detergents do not have pork grease as a base but have other harmful ingredients.

The great and terrible day of the Lord is upon us. We need this timely warning to prepare ourselves for that day.

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Such is the nature of Elijah’s work.

“And so all who are willing and obedient, will have no trouble recognizing him and his message (John 7:17). They will know that anyone who comes with a message other than the message found in the prophecies concerning the great and dreadful day of the Lord, is not the promised Elijah.” – General Conference Special, pp. 22,23.

“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 an one 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 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.” – Ibid., p. 23.

These things are what the people are saying, and they say that God saying them too.

Yours to finish the task that God has given us,

THE BRANCH

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WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

November 15, 1955

Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

Dear Brethren:

Some say that October 10 was a failure. But what saith Inspiration? In regard to October 10, quoting from Branch Letter, No. 4, pp. 4,5 (pages 28,29 this booklet). “What was supposed to have happened on October 10 really did happen. Antitypical Ezekiel through his letters and presence uttered the parable of Ezekiel 24:1-3. So the Lord took away the desire of Ezekiel’s eyes (the Sanctuary) with a stroke (Eze. 24:16). The people are to know that the Lord will profane His sanctuary, the desire of their eyes (Eze. 24:21). The house of Israel is to do as Ezekiel did. ‘Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign.’ Eze. 24:24.” – Ibid., p. 5.

“This shows that Ezekiel has come and written on the sticks. His next job is to join the sticks (Ephraim and Judah) together. By this simple means the Lord will cause all Davidian up-shoots and off-shoots to pass away. When Judah has only one sanctuary left, Ezekiel is to deliver the message that will join the two sticks. They are to be one stick — one kingdom – twelve tribes. With no sinners among them, they will live in peace and harmony forever.” – Ibid., p. 5. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation)

Some say the only way Ezekiel’s mouth will be opened is for the people to do as Ezekiel did, for he is a sign unto them.

“Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword (those who continue to hang on to the old sanctuary).” Eze. 24:21.

“Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?” Jer. 37:19.

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“Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city (Jerusalem) shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s PRINCES (when they come for you or answer the call of these letters), then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire (Holy Spirit), and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah (ruler at Mt. Carmel) the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me (pride before fall). But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee (All are assured this same protection today). Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me.” Jer. 38:17-21.

“There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of MODERN ISRAEL, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity.” –Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 167.

“The Infinite Eye is upon the instruments of divine reproof, and they bear a heavy responsibility. But God regards the injury done to them through misrepresentation, falsehood, or abuse as though it were done unto Himself, and will punish accordingly.” – Ibid.

SEPARATION IN TWO SECTIONS

“The command, ‘Gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity,’ does not mean to gather His saints from the earth into heaven; neither does it mean to destroy the wicked from the earth; for the former are to be gathered, not directly to heaven, but first into ‘the barn,’ the kingdom on earth; and the latter are not to be destroyed immediately ‘in the time of harvest,’ but first are to be gathered into bundles, and then destroyed, as is further illustrated in the parable of the net.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 67.

“But the Israel of our time have the same temptations to scorn reproof and hate counsel as had ancient Israel… Though the Lord in mercy withholds for a time the retribution of their sin, as in the days of Jeremiah, He will not always stay His hand, but will visit iniquity with

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righteous judgment.” – Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 165.

“The unwillingness of the Lord to chastise His erring people is here vividly shown. He stays His judgments; He pleads with them to return to their allegiance… but they had wandered into idolatry, they had slighted the warnings given them by His prophets. ‘Yet He defers His chastisement to give them one more opportunity to repent and avert the retribution for their sin. Through His chosen prophet he now sends them a CLEAR and POSITIVE WARNING, and lays before them the only course by which they can escape the punishment which they deserve (that is to surrender to the king of Babylon – Jer. 38:17-20).” – Ibid.

“And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.” Eze. 34:19-22.

“I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.” Eze. 34:16,17.

“Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. In thee are men that CARRY TALES to SHED BLOOD: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.” Eze. 22:6-9.

“Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.” Eze. 22:2.

“The Lord said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them all their abominations.” Eze. 23:36.

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“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8.

Or, “if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10.

These many statements tell just what is wrong with us. They also give us the remedy for our ailments. There is no need for us to die. If WE will only turn to our Saviour and admit our wrongs, He can do some thing for us.

“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel.” Eze. 33:11.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1.

Ezekiel is not only to declare unto Aholibah her abominations, but he is to show her people their transgressions. He, Ezekiel (singular) is a sign unto you. The people are to do as he did.

The people are saying that October 10 must not have been a failure because the desire of Ezekiel’s eyes (the sanctuary) was taken away with a stroke (Eze. 24:16). They not only say this but that Ezekiel spoke to the people in the morning as he was commanded to do, and at even his wife died.

“So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.” Eze. 24:18.

There has been much speculation as to who Ezekiel’s wife is and when she is to die.

God tells us that when a man and woman are joined in marriage, they become one flesh. So after having lived with his wife for several years, a man should be better able to point out his wife in a crowd than any one.

So it is with Ezekiel, if any one knows who his wife is, he should. Not only this, but he should be able to give a ‘thus saith the Lord’ for proof.

As we look over the field of would-be candidates or those that had

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been picked by others, we find the field narrows to two women, the daughters of one mother.

Here we find that the younger of the two sisters, Aholibah, is Ezekiel’s wife, for Aholah is Hosea’s wife.

Ezekiel truly loved Aholibah, even after she played the harlot and went after her lovers (the Assyrians and Chaldeans). Ezekiel was true to Aholibah and loved her so much that he would not send someone else to plead for her. We all know the story, how Hosea called his first-born son and his brothers and sisters to go plead for Mother (the Seventh-day Adventist ministry. Ezekiel 23 and Hosea 1 and 2).

No, Ezekiel would not trust to chance and send someone else to do this all important work for him. He went himself. Not this only, but he sent a message ahead. He asked her if it would be convenient for her if he came to see her in Jerusalem on October 10.

The message asked her to invite all her friends (the Assyrians and Chaldean soldiers) to help her explain why she had done the way she was doing. Also he asked her to let him know if October 10 was satisfactory. But she did not so much as give him an answer.

Ezekiel thought if he would get some of the choice words in the dictionary and put them in his message, sign another name, and mail it from another town, she might think it was from Some One Higher up, this way she would be willing to listen to his pleadings.

In this manner all of the matrimonial problems could be solved. Ezekiel went to Jerusalem on October 10, 1955, thinking that the date was alright with her. When he got there he pleaded for Aholibah to listen to him. She said, “No, Ezekiel, I will not discuss these problems with you because you tried to trick me. I knew before you got here, though, that you were coming. Some of my friends (stooges) found out and gave me the information. If you will tell all our friends you did not use the right procedure, I will, then, let you know after a certain period of time if I can discuss things with you.”

Poor Aholibah died at even! At the time, she did not know she was to die so soon. If she had, we can be sure she would have conducted herself differently.

We should all learn a lesson from this and be sure and keep our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life; for we know not when our time

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might come.

The story is told that during the war the Allies would take the body of a dead soldier and strap it to a prisoner of war. This is a terrible thing, even to think about.

Spiritually speaking it would be a far more terrible thing to be strapped to a spiritually dead symbolic woman such as Aholibah which means destruction in any case.

There is no more need for Jerusalem of today to be destroyed than it was in Jeremiah’s day. The Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy teach us the condition by which she can be saved now, as then.

“A neglect to repent and to render willing obedience will bring upon men and women today as serious consequences as came upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which the judgments of Jehovah can no longer be delayed. The desolation of Jerusalem IN THE DAYS OF JEREMIAH IS A SOLEMN WARNING TO MODERN ISRAEL…” –

Prophets and Kings, pp. 416,417.

“Now, as then, by the mouth of His chosen servants He predicts the dangers before them. He sounds the note of warning and reproves sin just as faithfully as in the days of Jeremiah. But the Israel of our time have the same temptations to scorn reproof and hate counsel as had ancient Israel.” – Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 165.

“He stays His judgments; He pleads with them to return to their allegiance… Yet He defers His chastisement to give them one more opportunity to repent and avert the retribution for their sin. Through His chosen prophet he now sends them a clear and positive warning and lays before them the only course by which they can escape the punishment which they deserve.” – Ibid., pp. 165,166.

“Neglect to repent and obey His Word will bring as serious consequences upon God’s people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel…” – Ibid., pp. 166,167.

These words here requoted from the pen of Sister E. G. White are so plain there is no need of explanation. There is no chance whatsoever for us to misunderstand their meaning. Those who have Sister White’s books should read what she has to say on the king of Babylon and Jerusalem

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of Jeremiah’s day. Do this to get the setting for the movement of today.

All Jerusalem needs do today is, “If thou (Leaders, Davidians, Zedekiahs at Mt. Carmel Center) wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s (Eze. 24:1-3) princes (of The Branch), then thy soul shall live, and this city (Mt. Carmel Center) shall not be burned with fire (Holy Spirit); and thou shalt live, and thine house.” Jer. 38:17.

Do this very thing, O king Zedekiah, and keep your eyes. Defeat the prophecy which is against you and God will repent Him of the evil as surely as He did in the days of Ninevah.

Failure to see this would brand one as being blind as a Super-Laodicean could possibly be.
God used the Rod of Moses to lead ancient Israel out of Egypt. He used Joshua (Justice, Jesus – margin, Heb.

4:8) to cleanse the camp.
“…the Lord spake unto Joshua …Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, 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. 1:1,2.

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.” Josh. 1:5,6.

When Israel crossed Jordan, it was not the rod of Moses that was used to cause Jordan’s waters to cease flowing. No, it was the fact that God told Joshua to have the priests with the Ark to stand still at the brink of the water.

“And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.” Josh. 3:8.

Brother Houteff was no more called to use the rod (Shepherd’s Rod) to separate the wheat and tares than was Moses. He (Brother Houteff) was called to use the rod to SEAL the 144,000. Do you see this, brethren?

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“Israel is spelled with six letters. Had this name been more or less it would spoil the picture. Why? Because the six letters indicate the sixth section. Israel the true (the 144,000) are sealed at the close of the fifth section. Had the name

ehT

doR s’drehpehS

doR s’drehpehS ehT

that we may be well fortified with the Truth that we may be accounted faithful stewards and be progressing toward Christian maturity for the gathering harvest, and also that we may see eye to eye, all speaking the same things.” – The Symbolic Code, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 14.

Here the writer of this Symbolic Code admits that the “Latter Rain” has ceased falling. The Lord honors an honest confession. We all know that the rain (message) stopped when the messenger died. All Davidians believe that the former rain ceased falling when Sister White was laid to rest. We positively cannot claim that there is any connection whatsoever with Heaven by the author of the former rain, Sister White, considering that she is resting in the grave. Would it not be a false claim to say Brother Houteff is communicating with Heaven after being in the grave for nearly a year? To claim the affirmative would be advocating

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spiritualism.

To claim that a group of teachers has the same connection with Heaven that Sister White and Brother Houteff had, is to deny the Bible and the Spirit that prompted both to write.

Joshua was the only one that talked to the Captain of the Lord’s hosts (Josh. 5:13-15).
“The Captain of the Lord’s host did not reveal Himself to all the congregation He communicated only with

Joshua…” – Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 162.

Again, if anyone should possibly entertain the idea that this promise of a prophet means a multitude of preachers, then as surely as your soul lives, that one is fooling himself as badly as those misled followers of Korah, Dathan and Abiram fooled themselves in their presumptuous thinking that those three prophetic office-seekers and self-promoters were also prophets as was Moses. Those three imposters, be it not forgotten, even claimed that the whole multitude were holy. But were they? “Now Korah, the son of lzhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?” Num. 16:1-3. And as surely as the earth swallowed them then, just so surely will all such in these days, too, be swallowed by the earth when it opens its mouth and takes away the flood. “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” Rev. 12:16.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram were princes in the camp who believed that all the people were holy. They thought they could do Moses’ job as well or better than Moses himself.

If the Mt. Carmel leadership is casting out some of its members in order to keep the camp clean, then, are they not saying by this practice that they are holy? If this be true, they are saying, at least by their actions, that they are holier than those whom they cast out.

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Whatever the Branch letters may teach, we can be sure they teach that Brother Houteff will not use the Rod to finish the work. They prove that the judgment or separation of the wheat and tares, the Harvest, did not begin in 1929. Brother Houteff is not the Ezekiel that judges Aholah and Aholibah of Ezekiel 23:36.

For some reason the Lord did not see fit to instruct Sister White or Brother Houteff to make a clear distinction between the two phases of the closing work for the church: namely, the sealing and the marking or separation.

The Lord has ordained the Branch message to rightly divide the two phases and now the subject is clear.

In order to nail this board of contention down that it move not, let us take an eighty penny spike of Divine Wisdom and drive it into the center of this board and clinch it on the other side. By taking sixty penny spikes of inspired facts and common reasoning and starting in the center, nailing outwardly, staggering the nails, we can settle the question and hold the board in its rightful place.

All Davidians, at one time or another, thought Brother Houteff would be the one to lead Israel to the Kingdom. When he passed on, the picture became somewhat blurred.

Moses, with a rod and God’s power, led Israel out of Egypt. Sister White is not the antitypical Moses in the respect that she did not lead Israel out of Egypt. Israel went into Egypt several years after her work began. Some time around 1882 she wrote, “The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt.” — Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.

If Sister White could not keep Israel from going to Egypt while they were supposed to be following her, how could she ever lead them out of Egypt once they returned? We all know the answer. She could not and did not.

The Three Angel’s Messages of Revelation 14:6-9 (the infant) failed to get Israel out of Egypt. In fact, Israel did not even know she was in Egypt until the sealing message of Revelation 7:1-4 (the youth) came and told her.

Brother Houteff is the only man this side of Sinai with a rod as a Heaven sent message to get Israel out of Egypt. At least we know the

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Rod warns the church of the fact she is in Egypt.

Reasoning from this standpoint, Brother Houteff and the Rod must be the antitype of Moses and his rod. Both died, and we believe Brother Houteff will be resurrected to stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb as well as Sister White. However, they are not one of the 144,000.

Moses and Elijah the Tishbite both stood with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. This shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the antitypical Moses is not the antitypical Elijah the Tishbite. Moses is a type of the resurrected Israelites in a special resurrection. Elijah the Tishbite is a type of the translated Israelites in a special translation – those who never see death. Will Brother Houteff be two men in the Kingdom? Are you, brethren, trying to tell us that Brother Houteff stands on Mt. Zion in his body, as antitypical Moses, representing the resurrected Rodites? Then, his soul that never dies (being the other man) as antitypical Elijah the Tishbite, representing the 144,000 who never die? We believe this is deserving of some of your deepest thoughts. Think this through, brethren, and if you come up with the correct answer you, too, will stand on Mt. Sion.

The Lord tells us that without the living Voice of Prophecy in the midst of the church she is like a ship floating out to sea without chart or compass.

O brethren, why stay with the old ship and be swept away with the tide when the storm breaks upon her? Why not swallow your pride now, and take a life boat and come to shore and safety before it is too late?

Why not believe ALL OF THE PROPHETS and what they have written? Why be as stubborn as the Jews were in the days of Jeremiah and refuse to be taken captive by the king of Babylon? Sister White tells you in as simple language as can be written, if you refuse to submit to the king of Babylon your eyes will be put out.

Brother Houteff tells you your connections are severed with Heaven. You admit yourself that you are not getting any rain now. Ezekiel tells you the “desire of your eyes” has passed away and your sanctuary is profaned.

Will you make the same mistake the Pharisees made when John the Baptist pointed out the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world?” You know well enough that our John the Baptist, Brother

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V. T. Houteff, told over and over the story that the message of the Righteousness of Christ is to finish the work. The Rod message, Righteousness by Faith, is not sufficient to take you to the Kingdom, “Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.” Eze. 21:13.

Some say they are going to ride the Rod right on into the Kingdom. Friends, that train is not going that far, so you had better get off the dead rod while there is time left and swing onto a live Branch while it is passing your way.

Look at The Harvest chart. Brother Houteff died in February, the eleventh month, or the eleventh hour – one more month or hour to go and no inspired leader at Mt. Carmel. The safe thing is for everyone to unite his efforts with a live message right from Heaven. The Angel of Revelation 18:1 has arrived and His Glory will fill the whole earth.

Is a block cut from the mountain? Does not Zerubbabel bring forth a stone instead of a rod and is not the Stone Christ in His people? Is it not His Righteousness that will break the nations?

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…” Matt. 16:18.

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4.

“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Rom. 9:33.

“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to BOTH THE HOUSES OF ISRAEL, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isa. 8:14.

You see, brethren, these verses tell us that the message of the Righteousness of Christ is a stumbling stone. A stone is a much harder substance than a block.

The Rod message was to only one house of Israel – the church (Seventh-day Adventists), not two houses (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Adventists, Judah and Israel, 12 tribes, one stick).

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And furthermore Isaiah 8:14 makes it plain that from where this stone message comes is the Lord’s sanctuary for both the houses of Israel (both Aholah and Aholibah). The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. You cannot afford to, and you must not, stumble over the fact that the sanctuary is changed. For if you do, Christ, the Rock, will fall on you when He pours out His wrath upon the wicked.

“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” Zech. 3:9.

Complete vision, seven eyes, is in the stone-message that is laid before Joshua.

“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” Zech. 3:8.

“I will (says the Lord) bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” That is, He will bring forth the message of the Branch – Christ our Righteousness.

“And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name in The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.” Zech. 6:12.

To behold Christ, is to behold His message – The Branch. Christ’s own Righteousness will build His temple. “And he (the Branch message, Christ Our Righteousness) shall grow up out of his place” (Zech. 6:12) – the place Christ appoints.

These words, “grow up out of HIS PLACE,” suggest also that the message will grow up away from the head of the work.

Isaiah 5:3 adds to this same thought. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem (old Mt. Carmel Center), and men of Judah (Davidians everywhere), judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.” Isa. 5:3.

No one, whether he be at Tacoma Park or at Mt. Carmel Center, should think himself so intelligent that he can tell the Lord where He ought to have His Sanctuary. The Lord will not tolerate anyone telling

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Him how to run His business.

“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Zech. 4:10.

The honest do not mind how insignificant the beginning a message has: all they want is the truth. They will rejoice and gladly accept a message in which there is perfect vision. And they will see plainly that the plummet is in the hand of Zerubbabel, not in the hands of a group of uninspired teachers.

The Bible says that the builders will reject the stone message. Evidently they have a beam in their eye and are unable to see a gravel. But thank the Lord, the overcomers will be able to see truth from wherever it may come.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Rev. 2:17.

The new name written in this white stone (Christ Our Righteousness) is none other than Jesus’ new name – The BRANCH, which the mouth of the Lord named (Isa. 62:2).

“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” Rev. 3:12.

Be overcomers, brethren, and Jesus will give you that White Stone (His Righteousness). Not only that, He will change your name from sons of men to sons of God. He will write His new name on you BRANCH.

Jesus says: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” John 15:5.

“In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” Isa. 4:2.

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“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch…” Jer. 23:5.

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for MY NAME IS IN HIM.” Ex. 23:20,21.

The people are saying these sayings are true because the Lord is saying them. THE BRANCH

“Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.” Eze. 8:17.

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Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

February 3, 1956

Dear Brethren:

It is true that every wind of doctrine is blowing on the church. This is true to the extent that the Lord’s people are so confused they know not which way to turn. If one finds himself in this predicament there is only One he can turn to if he expects to receive help. That One is none other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The things the people are saying present a sad picture indeed. Some believe in this and the other voice, while others have confidence in a would be, Paul or Apollos or Cephas. There are still others that say they are going to trust in the Lord their God. They rely on His Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth and at last save them in His everlasting Kingdom. They say, since the Lord is not in the great wind, the great earthquake, or the great fire, we will wait for that still small voice (1 Kings 19:11,12). “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Zech. 4:10. The work is being accomplished by His Spirit, not might and power.

Some say that modern day Moses (V. T. Houteff) brought the truths that are to lead God’s people out of all nations and interpreted Sister White’s writings and the Bible on the subject of the purification of the church. Like Moses of old, the Lord did not see fit to use Brother Houteff to lead His people into the Kingdom. Instead, He will use another, Joshua, to first separate the thieves and idol worshippers from among His people, then take them to the Kingdom. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” Zech. 13:7.

This Scripture was fulfilled in the main when Jesus was crucified. It

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must necessarily have its counterpart in our day, because the remnant people of God have not been gathered yet. The context of this chapter is the separation and the opening of a fountain to the House of David, which we all know has not taken place.

Brother Houteff, in his study on Zechariah 13, places these events future from December 7, 1947. His comments on Zechariah 13:6,7 places the events future from the date he wrote it. “I have no special comments to make on verses 6 and 7, other than what is commonly understood among Christians. It is plain to see, though, that after the Lord’s shepherd is smitten, then it is that the Lord will SEPARATE His people.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 18 (Unrevised), p. 7.

Three things are to take place in verse 13:7. The Lord’s smiting the shepherd. 2. Sheep scattered. 3. Turning His hand upon the little (humble) ones. Now that the shepherd has been smitten, and the sheep scattered; this shows that the separation, or binding in bundles, has already begun. Yes, the binding in bundles did really start October 22, 1955. We have evidence to this effect. Not only this, but we see the Lord is turning His hand upon the little ones.

“The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.” Zech. 12:7.

The Lord’s servant tells just who these tents of Judah are and why they are saved first. We can expect the common folk of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists to be more receptive to the Branch message at this time.

“He shall save the tents of Judah first. The tents, you understand, are the dwellings of the common people. These the Lord shall save first. For what reason? — In order that He may humble the more prominent ones (the ones who lead His people), that they may not exalt themselves above the tents of Judah, and that all may learn to give the glory to God, not to any man.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 9, p. 5. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation) A wonderful revelation indeed, in this statement. Sister E. G. White explains this situation very forcefully in the Testimonies to the church.

“Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock. In the last solemn work (binding the tares into bundles and putting the wheat into the barn is in the time of the Judgment of the Living in the church) few great men will be engaged. They

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are self-sufficient, independent of God, and He cannot use them. The Lord has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you. But it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. In the daytime we look toward heaven but do not see the stars. They are there, fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot distinguish them. In the night we behold their genuine luster.” – Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 80,81.

People look upon the outward adorning, but God looks upon the heart. A genuine Christian character is what the Lord is looking for. He does not need a nominating committee or some intelligent person or group of persons to decide who is capable or worthy to be one of His servants. For a certainty, He has His own methods today as He has always had of choosing His servants. God, and God alone, will disclose them to view. In so doing He is the only one to be exalted.

Friends, let us be sure we get this one thing straight; it is not looks or means, or position, or a particular race or color that He wants. You can be sure He wants character, and a willingness to do His will. It matters not to the Lord if your face is as white as snow or as black as midnight. If you have the right motive at heart and you do not care who gets the credit, it is possible you may be exalted among the highest of the high in God’s closing work for the church.

Sister White puts it this way. “The religion of the Bible recognizes no caste or color. It ignores rank, wealth, worldly honor. God estimates men as men. With Him, character decides their worth. And we are to recognize the Spirit of Christ in whomsoever it is revealed.” – Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 223.

“The tares and wheat are now commingled, but then the one hand that alone can separate them will give to everyone his true position.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 235.

“The looker-on may discern no difference; but there is One who said that the tares were not to be plucked up by HUMAN HANDS lest the wheat be rooted up also. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then the Lord sends forth His reapers to gather out the tares and bind them in bundles to burn, while the wheat is gathered into the heavenly garner. The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares.” – Ibid., p. 234.

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Any person or group of persons that find themselves engaged in the business of casting out tares are not doing the Lord’s work. For, if there is anything that Brother Houteff made clear to us, it is this very thing. Not only Brother Houteff and Sister White, but our dear Saviour told us He would take care of the tares. “So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But He said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matt. 13:27-30.

You see, friends, Jesus told men to keep their hands off the tares. For when the time comes, He says He will send forth the reapers. “The reapers are the angels.” Matt. 13:39. “These angels,” says Brother Houteff, “are not those who shall ‘come’ with Christ at His second coming, but rather those whom He ‘shall send forth.’ They are like the three angels of Revelation 14:6-11.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, pp. 66,67.

We all know that the angels of Revelation 14:6-11 are messages. This is why Brother Houteff put swords in the hands of the angels standing on the world. Revealed prophetic truth, the Bible, is a sword that hurts those to whom it has been revealed if they do not accept it. God does not hurt or punish us for something we know nothing about or even heard of. Paul says, “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.

The locusts were commanded to hurt “only those men which have not the seal of God.” Rev. 9:4. If we do not do what the word tells us, we would be better off if we had not heard what it says, “gospel truth ruins if it does not save.” –

Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 134.

When the latter rain or sealing angel of Revelation 7 came in 1929, the four angels that had the four prophetic messages (sword, Bible) before his time were ready to hurt, not destroy. This shows that the judgment was going on in Heaven. The Judgment of the Dead could therefore only hurt the living, not destroy. Ezekiel saw beyond what John saw. In his vision Ezekiel saw the judgment after it had transferred to earth. You see, men do not have access to Heaven. Therefore, the hurting instrument, the Bible, is in the hands of the four angels.

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doR s’drehpehS ehT

“Who is to bring this revival and reformation, this great change? The BRANCH. And according to Isaiah 11:1 to 5, the Branch is the Lord, the Son of David.” – Ibid.

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“And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2.

“The ‘righteousness thereof’ shall be so pronounced that even the Gentiles shall be attracted by it, and all their kings by her glory. It is for this reason that the present church name will not befit her at that time.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42, p. 14.

“As you know, there are now hundreds of church names in the world, – yes, as many names as there are isms. All of them are named by the mouth of men, and the names of each imply that there are other churches like it although God recognizes but one. Many of the names even suggest Divine competition. For instance, do not the names, Church of Christ, and Church of God, make Christ and God competitors? Our own name, Davidian Seventh-day Adventist, shows outright that there is another Seventh-day Adventist Church (two sticks, Aholah and Aholibah). And even Seventh-day Adventist implies that there is a First-day Adventist church, also.” – Ibid., pp. 14,15. (Parenthesis added)

“Whatever the ‘new name’ may be, one thing is certain – the name will not imply that there is another church of its kind. And as there has never been a church similar in character to the one here projected, the name is to be not only singular of its kind, but entirely befitting the church in her righteousness.” – Ibid., p. 15.

These few statements are plain and simple enough aren’t they? No one will have any trouble understanding that the church name will be changed from Davidian Seventh-day Adventist to BRANCH. This is so plain the little ones will have no trouble understanding it. The Lord sure used Brother Houteff to make things clear to us. This must be why He called the Rod message the “latter rain” because it is so simple and easy to understand. Dear ones, the mouth of the Lord gave the BRANCH message its name. Man did not so name it. Was this name accidental or incidental? It is providential. There are other statements just as enlightening as these, for instance:

“Israel is spelled with six letters. Had this name been more or less it would spoil the picture. Why? Because the six letters indicate the sixth section. Israel the true (the 144,000) are sealed at the close of the fifth section. Had the name been of seven letters, it would denote ‘close of probation,’ instead of ‘beginning of harvest’. Israel in the time of harvest, will receive a new name by the mouth of the Lord. Read Isa. 62:2. Whatever that name may be, we are sure it will be perfect, to finish the

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picture of probationary time, as well as to indicate the end of all the redeemed, or close of probation. Woe to him who may think all these wonderful designs in the beauty of perfection are just a chance, or an accident. Such a one is denying the Master Mechanic of all creation. He is paying homage to evolution (chance).” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, pp. 233,234. (Parentheses belong to quotation)

In the time of harvest, Inspiration is telling us here in the Rod message that the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are to have a new name. This new name is a six-letter word – a perfect name to show us that the Harvest or Judgment of the Living has begun.

When is the new name of Jesus (Rev. 3:12) supposed to arrive? ” ‘A new name.’… The time the name is received is at the end of the 430 year period as explained on the chart on pages 112-13. Thus, the church is reorganized under a new name. The old name, being polluted, could no longer be retained. There is no one to go by the old name…” –Ibid.,p. 155. The chart on page 112 shows that from Luther’s revival when he found the Bible in 1500 + 430 years = 1930. A new message and a new name (Shepherd’s Rod) came at that time but not a six letter word. Since this name is not Jesus’ new name and not six letters, it could not be the name and movement perfectly fulfilling the prophecy, “I will write upon him my new name.” Rev. 3:12.

To find out what the new name is and when it comes let us quote: “This (marriage on June 13, 1525) was the real beginning of the protestant parsonage, which has showered the world with the choicest blessings. All the world … sat up and took notice.” – Martin Luther by Dallman, p. 253. “Dr. Martin shook the foundation of Rome’s claims upon his life by two radical steps . . . writings the ninety-five theses and taking a wife. His mental break with Romanism came when he placed the thesis on the Castle church door, but it was not until he married that his physical severance became complete.” – Martin Luther, God’s Man of Destiny by Miller, p. 106.

Luther started a revival in his own life when he found the Bible in 1500 + 430 years (Eze. 4:4-6) = 1930. God began the “latter rain” of Truth of Joel 2:23, calling V. T. Houteff to the prophetic office (Mic. 6:9) to announce the sealing of the 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-8) and the time or year (Rev. 14:15) of the Harvest (Rev. 14:16), the Investigative Judgment for the Living in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17) would begin and the new name of the church revealed. Read Matthew 13:30.

It was not until Luther, a monk, married Kathryn von Bora, a nun,

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that the reformation got under way and the people at Worms accepted Protestantism in 1525 + 430 = 1955, fulfilling the 430 year prophecy of Abraham. A reformation (a monk and a nun marry), 430 years later in the autumn of 1955 the cry was made, “Behold, the bridgegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25:6). The announcement of another marriage to take place in the wilderness (Hos. 2:14-16), that of The Bridegroom – The Branch, was proclaimed throughout the Davidian world. You see, from the proclamation of reformation and reorganization in the church in Europe by a marriage in 1525 + 430 years later brings us to 1955 the reorganization of the Davidian church in America. A new name (Lutheran) was given to the Protestant church in Europe in 1525. Four hundred and thirty years later the new name of Christ, The Branch, is given to the new church of the Lord’s reorganization to replace the name of The General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventist residing at Mt. Carmel Center, Waco, Texas. The Branch is to be the name of God’s church which brings the close of Probation. Instead of Christian, or some other name, the Kingdom church throughout the world will be BRANCH – Praise ye the Lord.

Now we know that Jesus is to do the harvesting. For proof, read Revelation 14:14: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.”

The Son of man in this verse is Christ our Lord. He did not come in 1929 with a sickle — something with which to cut down the wheat and tares. The Rod came in 1929 with a rain – the “Latter Rain” – to water the field and make it grow and mature – get ripe, prepared for the harvest.

To illustrate: The mother says to her eighteen year old son, “Johnny, mother would like for you to go out and water our garden. The bean vines have little beans on them; the tomato vines have little green tomatoes on them, and the squash are blooming nicely. We are sure to have lots of good food this summer. Of course, there are a few weeds among the plants, but we won’t bother about them.” The eighteen year old boy (not eighteen months old boy) goes out to the garden to water it. But first, he says to himself, “What did mother mean to water the garden? O yes, I know, she means to harvest it so she can get rid of these weeds.” So, the boy takes the hoe and cuts down all the beans, squash, and tomatoes along with the weeds.

What a foolish thing for the boy to do. But the Lord’s people have been just about as foolish – only more seriously so when they attempt

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to root up the tares. Jesus says that is His job, and He will do it after the watering has done its work – not while the fruit is still green.

The Lord furnished plenty of water, “latter rain,” in the Shepherd’s Rod message. But that rain is completed; and now has come time to gather the fruit, for it is ripe to harvest.

We as a people are like the boy. We got a big surprise when we found out that water was not the same as a hoe.

A crude illustration, indeed, but the simplest of the simple can’t miss the point.

Four things are made plain in the illustration: 1. There is a growing season, a time to water. 2. The harvest time comes after the growing season. 3. You do not use the same instrument to harvest your field that you use to make it grow. Davidians can no more say “latter rain” is harvest, than we can say water is a hoe and tell the truth. 4. Jesus says to leave the tares alone, do not root up and cast them out of the church. He says, “when the harvest begins, I’ll send My angels, My messages to do that work.” The truth you see, brethren, is what separates. The tares automatically take their stand on the wrong side. This is what it means to reject the Holy Spirit. This my friends, is what it means to burn the tares (by the Holy Spirit).

We have eaten our way down into the center of the pie. We must go around on the other side and eat in toward the center. What a pie this is! But the youngsters say, “We love it.” The children love it so much that they have already begun to labor for their parents. Parents are laboring for their household as never before. They see that if they do not show a loving and kind spirit now in this bundling time, they may lose their loved ones forever.

“The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.” Isa. 41:5-7.

You can see from these Scriptures what the people are saying and doing. They take this Branch message over to their Davidian brother. They get out their tools and beat it and smooth it out and nail down the facts that it proves we are in the time of the Judgment of the Living.

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“Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.” Isa. 41:1.

“And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.” Eze. 9:2.

The people say that the Branch Letters must be of the Lord, for they have cleared at least three points for us; 1. That Brother Houteff will not be resurrected to lead Israel into the Kingdom. 2. That the present Davidian organization will not finish the work. 3. That it will necessarily have to be reorganized and re-named, and led by another inspired leader.

In addition to the precluding information, we would like to offer the following as proof.

If God’s people are to stand on the word of God alone, we must consider the following line of reasoning. The questions are asked: 1. Is the man in linen just an angel? 2. Is he Christ? 3. Or does it mean a message? 4. If the latter, is it the Shepherd’s Rod message, or some other?

First thing we notice about the man in linen of Ezekiel 9, is that he is like the other five with him, inasmuch as all six have slaughter weapons. All are alike – men.

There are two ways that this particular man differs from the other five. First, he has on different kind of clothing – linen. The Bible teaches that linen is symbolic of the righteousness of Christ. The other five do not have on the linen. The man in linen is the only one of the six that has a writer’s inkhorn. These two things are what distinguish him from the other five.

Brother Houteff, in writing of the angels that Jesus is to send forth to do the separating, says, “These angels are not those who shall ‘come’ with Christ as His second coming, but rather those whom He ‘shall send forth.’ They are like the three angels of Revelation 14:6-11. Indeed, the third angel ‘is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner.’ – Early Writings, p. 118. Therefore the angels, the reapers, whom Christ sends forth, include both him who does the sealing, or binding, and those who follow on to do the destroying

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(Ezek. 9:2-4), first in the church, then in the world.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, pp. 66,67. Jesus says, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” John 12:31. “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:48

Sister White and Brother Houteff establish the fact that Ezekiel, chapter 9, is the Judgment of the Living or separation. All the prophets wrote of this event. The following is a list of texts for individual study Ezekiel 9; Matthew 15; 25:31-46; 22:11-14; 1 Peter 4:17,18; Isaiah 66:15-17; Luke 19:15-27; Malachi 3:1-3. There are many, many others. 1. The five men are messages, therefore, the man in linen must necessarily be a message. 2. The Lord called to the man in linen (Eze 9:3), therefore, the man in linen would not be Christ. “And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.” Eze. 9:3. 3. We must keep in mind that Ezekiel 9, or the separation, did not begin it 1929 when the

“latter rain” began. Christ calls to the man in linen after He comes to the threshold of the house to judge His people. The Lord would not judge His people until after the Rod had stopped raining. It other words, Jesus would not judge His people before warning them ahead of time. In plain language, a school teacher would not examine her pupils before she had assigned the lesson. She would not say, “students, this is your assignment for tomorrow. Now, get out your paper and pencil and we will have our examination on tomorrow’s lesson.”

The Shepherd’s Rod message is the lesson, or teacher, of Righteousness. The Branch is the examiner. A few years ago, in some places it was necessary for the students passing from grade school into high school to take an examination before the County Superintendent. In that case the teacher was not the one who asked the questions and graded the papers. So it is today, the Shepherd’s Rod taught the lessons, but the Branch is going to find out how much of that lesson we have learned.

The Shepherd’s Rod message plainly taught us that the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist name would be changed at the beginning of the harvest, or Judgment of the Living. No one can think of any more perfect name than Branch. Truly, the Branch (Christ) is the end of all the redeemed. Branch is a six-letter word and it is perfect because it is Christ’s own name. BRANCH indicates the end of all the redeemed. Jesus says, “I am Alpha (Christ) and Omega (Branch), the first and the last.” Rev. 1:11. Branch suggests a harvest, for on the branch of a tree

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is where the fruit grows.

“In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” Isa. 4:2.

“In that day, — in the day the daughters of Zion became haughty, in the day the seven women take hold of one man, — at that time the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for them that are the escaped of Israel.” Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 6 (Unrevised), p. 18.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Jer. 23:5.

“Here is a prophecy of the first advent of Jesus, the Righteous Branch, Who is to execute judgment and justice in the earth.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 35 (Unrevised), p. 3.

If the Branch is to “execute judgment” it would have to start when the judgment starts, or vice versa. Since the judgment is executed in the earth, not in Heaven, it must be that Judgment of the Living has begun!

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Isa. 11:1.

“Here is a family tree in which three persons are introduced. This verse does not say whom the rod represents; it does not say whom the Branch represents; but it does say that the stem is Jesse, the father of king David. The rod, of course, which came out of the stem, could be none other than the son of Jesse — David, the king of Israel. The verses following explain that the Branch is the Lord Himself. Clearly, then, this family tree represents Jesse, David, and Christ.” –

Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Unrevised), p. 3.

“The remaining verses of the chapter are concerning Christ, HIS WORK, and His Kingdom.” – Ibid.

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Isa. 11:2.

“Upon this one gift – the gift of the Spirit – all things hinge.” Timely

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Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Unrevised), p. 3.

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:10.

“That is, in the day of the Branch (in the Christian period), when this FAMILY TREE IS COMPLETED, THEN IT IS THAT THE KINGDOM OF PEACE SPROUTS, SO TO SPEAK, FROM THE GROUND UP (FROM THE ‘ROOT’).” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Unrevised), p. 5. (Parentheses belong to quotation)

You see now, brethren, God does not want us to leave Christ out of the picture. The picture is not complete with the Son of God, the BRANCH, left out. It was the trinity that worked together in the creation of all things, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. The three will work together in the re-creation.

In the Seventh-day Adventist message, God the Father’s Grace worked to get the 144,000. In the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist message His Spirit (in truth) worked to lead Judah to a better understanding of the Scriptures. In the Branch all are working together (grace, faith, Christ’s Righteousness) to reunite the two sticks, Israel and Judah, into one stick (144,000).

In Ezekiel 37, the Lord tells Ezekiel to write the name “Judah” two tribes – on one stick; then to write the name “Ephraim” – ten tribes – on another stick, then join them together and they would become one stick in Ezekiel’s hand.

The people ask Ezekiel what he means. He explains to them that God is joining the two sticks back together. They will be one in His hand.

We see that God’s people are divided into two sticks today (Seventh-day Adventists) and (Davidian Seventh-day Adventists). We know this to be true. First, we can see with our very eyes that Seventh-day Adventists and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are divided. If you do not believe this, just try to teach the Davidian message in a Laodicean church.

Second, we see this condition exists just prior to the setting up of the Kingdom. “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, wither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own

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land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.” Eze. 37:21,22. Read Ezekiel 37:15-28.

The Lord is just taking up space here in these verses of Scripture if Seventh-day Adventists and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are the same.

And lo, Brother Houteff says, There are two Adventist churches: “Our own name, Davidian Seventh-day Adventist, shows outright that there is another Seventh-day Adventist Church.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, 42 (Unrevised), p. 14. He also says that man gave us these two names. But God is to give the new name to her in the time of harvest.

“Whatever the ‘new name’ may be, one thing is certain – the name will not imply that there is another church of its kind. And as there has never been a church similar in character to the one here projected, the name is to be not only singular of its kind, but enitrely befitting the church in her righteousness.” – Ibid., p. 15.

The Lord tells us in these quotations the church is to have the new name before He takes her out of the land of the heathen. Furthermore, He tells us when He gives her the new name the “Kingdom sprouts from the roots.”

John the Revelator saw Jesus on the cloud with a golden crown on His head when He came to judge (the church). This means that He is a king. If He is king, He must have a kingdom; everything that offends is to be gathered out of His Kingdom.

Let us use another line of reasoning to point out the true message for this time: “We have been inclined to think that where there are no faithful ministers there can be no true Christians; but this is not the case. God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself. God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities. 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. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor.” – Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80.

“The strength of Israel,” you know, is as great as the number of its

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army. So in the sifting time we shall be better able to know the number who are really serving the Lord.

“THOSE WHO WE MAY THINK ARE TO LEAD THE CHURCH INTO THE KINGDOM MAY BE MISSING, WHILE OTHERS ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO US TAKE THEIR PLACES.”– Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 30, p. 16.

“Moreover, it will be found that those who are constantly drilling into the minds of the laity that there are to be no more messengers sent from God, no more truth needed, and that someone is constantly trying to deceive them; that they should keep aloof from everything that does not meet the minister’s approval, – those who do this are the very ones who have already unwittingly deceived the laity, and are doing their best to keep them deceived.” – Ibid., p. 17.

“And the only thing their fear will accomplish, unless they awake, is keep them deceived forever. These shall not be able to stand when the Lord appears in His temple. Hence, it is true that the revival and reformation brought to view in Malachi is the greatest ever seen, and is indeed to be crowned with the purification of the Church.” – Ibid.

“The Laodicean deception from within should not be news to you, for you well know that the Church has never in any age been DECEIVED BY ANY BUT BY ITS OWN MINISTRY, by those who have been as highly esteemed as were the members of the Sanhedrin, or those who crucified the Lord and who kept the nation deceived until it was too late to recover. Thus it was then, before then, and thus it has been ever since.” – Ibid.

“No, I am not telling you something new. You know this to be so. But you never think of it, and that is the main trouble with the entire Denomination (both Seventh-day Adventists and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists).” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 30, p. 17. You see, brethren, the Lord has you in a corner here. If you contend you are a part of the Denomination, just look what Brother Houteff is saying about you. Then, if you say you are not part of the Seventh-day Adventist church, just look what the Branch has placed on you. This you can never deny unless you quit trying to keep the people in darkness. Quit fighting the truth but rather accept it and save your soul and that of your families.

Who brought “this revival and reformation, this great change? – The BRANCH. And according to Isaiah 11:1 to 5, the Branch is the Lord, the Son of David.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), p. 24.

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“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” Zech. 3:8.

“This symbolism shows that at the fulfilment of this prophecy the angel of the church of the Laodiceans is no longer in charge of the Lord’s house… as a result of this revival and reformation within the Laodicean church, another church emerges of which Joshua is in charge, not the angel of Laodicea… Joshua is Heaven’s appointed judge, ruler. He himself is crowned as such.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), pp. 24,26.

See brethren, what a corner you are in now. If you say you are a part of the Adventist church then, you are the Laodicean angel. When this reformed church emerges, Joshua will be in charge, not your Executive Council. If you say you are not a part of the Adventist church, then you would necessarily be Aholibah, in which case, you are in a worse fix. God’s mind is alienated from Aholibah.

“And the Babylonians came to her (Aholibah) into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister (Aholah, Seventh-day Adventists).” Eze. 23:17,18.

There is but one way you can get out of the corner you find yourselves in brethren, and that is to become as a little child. Quit fooling yourselves into thinking you are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Quit serving mammon (self) and start serving God.

Just what the present hunting campaign will accomplish is yet to be seen. But there is one thing certain: Brother Houteff, with all the wisdom that God gave him, could not feed those sheep the Rod while it was green. How do you propose to feed them on a dead rod? The only way you could possibly do it is to put green glasses on them. Then too you would have to catch them first. Goats will eat anything, even the bark of a tree.

My best advice to you is, put up your dead rod and take up the live Branch. The sheep will love it, for another voice they will not follow. Feed the sheep the Green Branch, brethren, and make the rod live, to save your souls.

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Brother Houteff wrote in his study for May 17, 1942 that the Lord was going to change the name of the church from Davidian Seventh-day Adventist to some other name. He indicated he did not know what the new name would be (Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42 Unrevised, pp. 14,15). In his September 28, 1946 address he told us that the church name would be BRANCH. Also that Joshua would be the leader, not the angel of Laodicea (Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 Unrevised, p. 10).

This proves to us that God holds His hand over His Word until He sees fit to reveal it to us; also that Brother Houteff was writing under Inspiration at that time. Some say they are waiting until the sick are miraculously healed before they accept the Branch message. Others say someone has to die to prove it right to them; while others say, it must be one hundred percent with no hooks to hang their doubts. But God says those who do not exercise their faith and decide from the weight of evidence will not accept a message, though one rose from the dead. What is your decision, brothers and sisters?

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you are new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Eze. 18:30,31.

THE BRANCH

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Executive Council
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Mt. Carmel Center
Waco, Texas

Dear Brethren:

WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Some say they do not believe the Branch letters are of the Lord because they contain what the people are saying. They do not take into consideration that the people are just repeating what the Lord tells them to say.

They do not sit down and study through the Branch letters with prayer and fasting to see if they are from the Lord. They are like the Seventh-day Adventists about the Kingdom. When the Rod message came to them and pointed out the Kingdom, they said the people say that, not God.

The Lord plainly tells them: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” Isa. 2:2.

In the Scriptures here quoted, the Lord plainly tells what is going to happen in the last days, in our time. This needs no interpretation. The Lord plainly says: It shall come to pass in the last days. The Lord’s house shall be established, and shall be exalted, and nations shall flow unto it.

March 12, 1956

These are plain words, even a child can understand the story they tell. Not so, with men of learning; they say, “We cannot understand this. This is not what we have been taught in the institutions of learning. We must look around for other Scriptures to explain this for us.” So they find their answer, they think, in the following verse:

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall

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go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isa. 2:3.

You see, they say, “It is the people saying this thing about the Kingdom. We will not take what the people say.” So these men of learning lay the blame for their not accepting truth on the people. And what is still worse, Davidians are refusing to accept the Kingdom now that it has sprouted. “…in the day of the Branch (in the Christian period), in the day this family tree is completed, then it is that the kingdom of peace (the church purified) sprouts, so to speak, from the ground up.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Rev.), p. 5 (Parentheses belong to quotation. See also Branch Letter, No. 6, p. 15). This is all because it came as a surprise and in a way they were not looking for it – as a thief in the night. You see, this is why the Lord says Aholibah did worse than her sister Aholah. A startling fact, isn’t it?

Brethren, let us not do as others. Let us not fail to advance with truth and light because the people are repeating what God tells them to say.

We should not use the same methods of perverting the Scripture that our brethren used. To do this is to set a bad example for other churches and nations; for when the 144,000 voices begin to proclaim the truth all over the world, they will say, this is what the people are saying.

Let us ever keep in mind, that what big brother and big sister say and do, little brother and sister will do likewise. We all need to be careful what we do and say.

Let us not say that Ezekiel 9 begins with a visible destruction in the Seventh-day Adventist church forty-two months from the autumn after V. T. Houteff’s death, when the people and God’s word plainly teach it begins with an investigation — not a destruction. It begins as an investigation just as the Shepherd’s Rod message teaches, and not a destruction, as the Davidian movement now teaches.

Let us reason together and see if the above statement is correct.

“As the word ‘until’ means ‘up to,’ the tares are therefore to be gathered out, not before or after the harvest, but at the beginning of it. And ‘the time of harvest’ being ‘the end of probationary time’ (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 72), then the harvesting itself necessarily precedes the close of probation – the fruitless winter season. Consequently, the tares are separated from among the wheat before, not after, the end of probationary time.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 66. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation)

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We all know that when the earth opens and swallows up the flood (Rev. 12:16, Ezekiel 9 – executive) probation has already closed for the church. But the above statement, quoted from Tract No. 3, says that “the tares are separated (bound in bundles to be burned) from among the wheat before, not after, the end of probationary time.”

“The wheat, ‘the children of the kingdom’ (verse 38) [this is Matthew 13], are gathered into the barn, the kingdom; the tares, ‘the children of the wicked one’ (verse 38) – mere professors, those who are not doers of the Word, and who were granted membership ‘while men slept’ – ‘are gathered and burned in the fire’ (verse 40), after the wheat is bound into sheaves.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 66. (Parentheses belong to quotation, brackets added)

The first thing to be accomplished is to bind the wheat into sheaves and bundle the tares into bundles to be burned. Everything is to be done that can be done to save the wheat. The Lord will be sure that not one grain of wheat will fall by the wayside.

Tract No. 3 makes the subject of the harvest very clear.

” ‘The reapers are the angels’ who ‘shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.’ Matt. 13:39,49. These angels are not those who shall ‘come’ with Christ at His second coming, but rather those whom He ‘shall send forth.’ They are like the three angels of Revelation 14:6-11. Indeed, the third angel ‘is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner.’ – Early Writings, p. 118. Therefore the angels, the reapers, whom Christ sends forth, include both him who does the sealing, or binding, and those who follow on to do the destroying (Ezek. 9:2,5,6), first in the church, then in the world. Thus is the Separation in Two Sections. The command, ‘Gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity,’ does not mean to gather His saints from the earth into heaven; neither does it mean to destroy the wicked from the earth; for the former are to be gathered, not directly to heaven, but first into ‘the barn,’ the kingdom on earth; and the latter are not to be destroyed immediately ‘in the time of harvest,’ but first are to be gathered into bundles, and then destroyed, as is further illustrated in the parable of the net.” –

Ibid., pp. 66,67. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation)

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Matt. 13:47,48.

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Here we see there is only a separation, division, and not a slaughter at the beginning of the harvest, Investigative Judgment for the Living in the house of God. This was certainly demonstrated when we gathered at Mt. Carmel October 10, 1955. Some gladly accepted the new name of Jesus – The Branch, named by the mouth of the Lord (Isa. 62:2), named by Inspiration. As the case has always been in the past, when a new message comes the majority followed the blind leaders, who called the new name of God’s church, The Branch, a false name. The Bible says that the blind, who follow the blind leaders, will both fall into the ditch (Luke 6:39). Here is foreseen trouble ahead for Davidians who refuse to walk in the light of the Present Truth name (Branch). They will be bound into bundles prepared for the burning of the tares (Matt. 13:30).

“Always man’s greatest test, and one which has ever involved almost an instantaneous decision, has been in the unrolling of the scroll – in the eclipse of a past message by a new one, – present ‘truth.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p.9.

“This parable also shows the separation of the wicked from among God’s people in the church (‘the net’), this being the first section of the work of separation, the beginning of harvest. The subsequent section follows in the world, as the earth is lightened with the glory of the ‘Loud Cry’ angel, and as ‘another voice from heaven,’ says: ‘Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’ Rev. 18:4.” – Ibid., p. 68. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation.)

“As the field is ‘the world’ (Matt. 13:38), the parable of the wheat and the tares necessarily comprehends both sections of the harvest. As, by contrast, the ‘net’ hauls in the ‘fish,’ the converts made by the gospel church, the parable of the net therefore is limited to the separation in the church.” – Ibid.

The statements quoted here from Tract No. 3 make the subject of Ezekiel 9 (the harvest) clear as the sun. We see from this that Davidians have all been teaching it wrong; and many of our people still hold to the theory once advocated. Now we can plainly see that we have been teaching this most important subject from the wrong end. So, brethren, let us turn around and teach it the way the Rod message and the Bible teach it.

Some of the “one hundred percent Rod believers” say they could never harmonize the way we taught the subject of Ezekiel 9 with the Bible.

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The Bible says: “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” John 7:51. Davidians concluded from this statement that the investigative judgment (Ezekiel 9) began in 1930. But the Rod says, no, it is at a later date. So then they were in hot water and no one could clear it. All they could do, then, was to think that Ezekiel 9 (the harvest) begins with a visible slaughter in the Seventh-day Adventist church.

You see, brethren, you are guilty of the same sin as the Seventh-day Adventist church. The Adventists say: “Probation closes for the world, then boom! the harvest.” Your sin is worse than theirs, though, brethren; for, you move this same error one hour closer and say, “Probation for the church closes, then boom! – Ezekiel 9, the harvest.”

“Though it is the crowning work of our salvation and of the setting up of the kingdom of Christ upon the earth, yet the (harvest) ‘investigative judgment’ is one of the least understood and most mystified and confused Bible subjects of the

age. Were it not essential to our salvation, the Enemy would not have expended every possible effort to envelope it in darkness. Imperative, then, is the unremitting need to search the Scriptures ‘as for hidden treasure’ and to beseech God for the guidance of His Spirit in order rightly to understand this all-important subject…. Since the subject of the judgment is taught in types and in parables, and since the Lord explains that His teaching parabolically is so that only His disciples may know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:11), obviously, therefore, None But His Followers Can Understand the Whole Truth.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 3. (Parenthesis belongs to quotation)

V. T. Houteff explains The Harvest – Investigative Judgment of the Living in this manner: “A harvest means the ‘result of effort,’ of toil, ‘the gathering of a crop’ – reaping the result of labor and filling up the barns with grain. So rather than the year’s toil being finished at the beginning of the harvest, the heaviest labor of the year just then begins. And though harvest time is the shortest of all the periods of the harvest year, the work of reaping is not done in a moment; it takes time. The yield is not garnered by turning the field right into the barn; no, that would be a conglomerate mass instead of a harvest. First the sickle is put to the grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves, then threshed, after which it is put into the barn; and thereafter the chaff and the tares are destroyed.” – Ibid., pp. 64,65.

The separation: “The command, ‘Gather out of His kingdom all

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things that offend, and them which do iniquity,’ does not mean to gather His saints from the earth into heaven; neither does it mean to destroy the wicked from the earth; for the former are to be gathered, not directly to heaven, but first into ‘the barn,’ the kingdom on earth; and the latter are not to be destroyed immediately ‘in the time of harvest,’ but first are to be gathered into bundles, and then destroyed, as is further illustrated in the parable of the net.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, p. 67. Read Matthew 13:47,48.

“The term ‘latter’ denotes the last rain before the harvest… In short, the harvest is the day of cleansing, the day of Judgment, the antitypical Day of Atonement.” – Timely Greetings,Vol. 1, No. 17, pp. 3,4.

The term “latter rain” signifies the last rain (message – Rev. 14:15) just prior to the harvest (message – Rev. 14:16) or the judgment for the living message to the church (1 Pet. 4:17). In fact, V. T. Houteff says: “Here you plainly see that ‘The Shepherd’s Rod’ has arrived just before the Judgment for the Living commences.” – Jezreel Letter, No. 4, p. 1. (Parentheses Belong.)

” ‘The investigative judgment’ decides the cases of those who have professed faith in God, and who in consequence have had their name recorded in the books (Dan. 7:10), but some of whom have not endured to the end. It determines which names shall be retained and which shall be blotted out. So not until the investigation is completed, the sanctuary cleansed from unworthy members, will the books show the exact number of names that will be retained and accounted worthy of life… The investigative judgment of the dead consequently take place in the heavenly temple only, whereas the investigative judgment of the living takes place in the heavenly as well as in the earthly temple. While the records are being made up for the books in the heavenly, the people are being investigated for the separation in the earthly (Mat 22:11-13).” – Final Warning, Tract No. 5, pp. 108,109. (Paren. Belong.)

Here is set forth the truth of the harvest as being a period of time and coming after the latter rain of Truth has ceased falling. There is a separation at the beginning of the harvest (Matt. 13:30), and during the harvest period the 144,000 are marked (sealed) by the man clothed in linen (Eze. 9:1-4). When this work is completed in the books in heaven and in the church on earth by the message of the Atonement for the Living – Present Truth, the tares, those who receive not the mark, are taken away by the five men who follow on with the destroying weapons (Eze. 9:5-10). The wheat, the 144,000 who receive the mark by the man in linen (Eze. 9:3,4) are put into the barn – kingdom. We must

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ever remember that the harvest (the Investigative Judgment for the Living) is a definite message following the “latter rain” (Joel 2:23) the message of the Shepherd’s Rod. The harvest of the Judgment for the Living began in the autumn of the year 1955 at the Atonement, after Brother V. T. Houteff had passed away in the spring of that same year.

“But when our High Priest shall begin the atonement for the living, there must be a message of present truth – sounding of the trumpet urging every one to lay hold on the Lamb of God (Christ) by which only, can he in figure, come to the sanctuary, confess his sin and secure his life. Unless the… commencement (of the judgment) for the living be made known to us, we would have no present truth while the judgment for the living is in session. Neither would such judgment be legal or just. He who fails to respond to the heavenly summons, will be left without the seal or covering of God, and therefore must be cut off from among His people, as prefigured by the services in the typical day of atonement… This time of judgment is also called the ‘time of harvest.’… Therefore, the harvest commences with the closing work for the church.”

– The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 2, p. 164. Please read Revelation 14:15,16. The message of the Harvest – Investigative Judgment for the Living (verse 16) comes, you see, immediately after verse 15 which is synonymous with the latter rain of Joel 2:23. The harvest time is sealing time for the first fruits 144,000 (Rev. 14:16,17), which is synonymous with the harvest of Joel 2:24-27. This is also proven by the “Spirit of Prophecy” for we read: “This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel in vision.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445. We quote from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, p. 266. “The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord, and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.”

Again on page 267: “Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church… Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. But the general slaughter of all those who do not thus see the wide contrast between sin and righteousness, and do not feel as those do who stand in the counsel of God and receive the mark, is described in the order to the five men with slaughter weapons (Eze. 9:5,6): ‘Go ye after him through the city (church), and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; slay utterly old and

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young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.” (Parentheses ours.)

“The definition of ‘general’ is: ‘extensive but not universal.’ Therefore, it does not mean the destruction of the world at the appearance of the Lord; but it has reference to the wicked in the church. This slaughter is literal; it is to separate and release God’s people from sin and sinners; otherwise the marking would be of no value…. The same subject is again brought to view in ‘Testimonies for the Church,’ Vol. 5, page 211: ‘Here we see that the church – the Lord’s sanctuary – was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God.’ The wrath of God cannot, and never has been spiritual. We are again reminded that the 144,000 are the remnant: ‘Now indeed are the remnant ‘men wondered at’… ‘In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel… Thus the 144,000 are those who are sealed in the (harvest) judgment for the church, and with them the (harvest) judgment for the living commenced. Therefore, they are the first fruits.” The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 2, p. 165. (Parentheses ours.)

“When this number is sealed, probation will close for the church, and the judgment for those who are in the world will commence. As the ‘tares’ perish at the time when probation is closing for the church, just so at the close of the judgment for the world the sinners shall come to their end; the one is a figure of the other.” – Ibid.

Read Revelation 14:15-18. After having read verses 15 and 16, if you will please note carefully, you can plainly see that the Fourth Angel’s message of verse 15 comes to announce the time (meaning the year) for the “Harvest” to start, the time for the Investigative Judgment message for the living to begin, verse 16. The Angel of verse 15 says: “the time (meaning the year to begin reaping) is come for thee to reap.”

In the period of time called harvest, the time in between verse 15 and verse 18 of Revelation, chapter 14, the 144,000 are marked (sealed) by the Fifth Angel’s message by the antitypical Elijah the Tishbite who never dies, verse 17. V. T. Houteff says: “So in the time between the ‘latter rain’ (Shepherd’s Rod) of truth and the ‘outpouring’ of the Spirit’s power, there will be sealed a consecrated number who will escape from among the ‘slain of the Lord.’ ” The Answerer, Book 1, p. 91. Jesus said: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” Matt. 17:11. Elias, therefore, restores eternal life without experiencing death, the greatest of all blessings, which Adam and Eve lost when they

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sinned in the Garden of Eden by partaking of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

When the 144,000, who never die, stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1-5) the blessing of eternal life without death is restored. The land is become like Eden (Eze. 36:35), even the first dominion (Micah 4:8): the tabernacle of David which is fallen down is built up (Acts 15:16) – all this before the millennium. The Angel – Loud Cry Ministry of first fruits, the 144,000, will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Rev. 14:18) on the antitypical day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). They will then go out from Jerusalem to harvest the second fruits of grapes (Rev. 14:18), a multitude that no man can number from all nations (Rev. 7:9). “But in the last days… the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Micah 4:1,2. After the great Loud Cry harvest the Lord will cast the vine, the wicked, “into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” Rev. 14:19.

The One on the cloud like the Son of man (Rev. 14:14), The Branch, thrusts in His sickle (verse 16) to reap the first of the first fruits (Ex. 23:19) of Davidians, the wave-sheaf of the living (Lev. 23:10-12). “…it (the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association) purports itself to be the first of the first fruits (Ex. 34:26) of the living, the vanguard from among the present-day descendants of those Jews who composed the early Christian Church.” – The Leviticus of Davidian Seventh- day Adventists, p. 3. (Parentheses ours.)

At the beginning of the harvest (Matt. 13:30; Rev. 14:16) October 10, 1955, there was a separation among Davidians of Mt. Carmel Center. And an unnumbered company, a wave-sheaf or vanguard was garnered by the Branch. Now the new name of Jesus – The Branch, the number three seal for the 144,000 is very Present Truth. See Revelation 14:17.

Ellen G. White saw in her first vision: “The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads were the words God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us into prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the Lord, and they would fall helpless to the ground.” – “My First Vision.” Testimonies, Vol. 1, pp. 58,59. Soon the 144,000 will stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb and receive the Pentecostal power (Rev. 14:18). Their father Jacob, wrestled with the Angel and had his name changed, on his way home, before reaching Canaan. Likewise, the 144,000 (Jacob’s descendants) must wrestle with the same Angel (The Branch) and have their names changed on their

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way home, before standing on Mt. Zion (Rev. 14:1).

The Lord’s Servant Ellen G. Harmon (later White) in vision saw: “On this path the Advent people were traveling toward the city. Behind them, at the beginning of the path, was a bright light which an angel told me was the midnight cry.” – Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 59. “We passed through the woods, for we were on our way to Mount Zion.” – Ibid., p. 68. “Mount Zion was just before us…” – Ibid., p. 69.

Joel 2:23 prophesied of the message of the latter rain of truth that should come in the first month to announce that the harvest – Atonement for the Living which was yet future, was soon to come (Joel 2:24-27). V. T. Houteff says: “Yes, we are now living in the time of the ‘latter rain.’ ” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 17 (Unrevised), p. 4. After the harvest of Joel 2:24-27 the 144,000 first fruits will stand on Mt. Sion and the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon them (Joel 2:28) then they go to all nations with a Loud Cry. “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Joel 2:32.

For a clearer picture: (1) William Miller, from 1831 to 1844, announced the Investigative Judgment for the dead by proclaiming the messages of Revelation 14:6-8; (2) Ellen G. White, from 1844 to 1915, proclaimed the Three Angels Messages of Revelation 14:6-13, the Judgment of the Dead; (3) Victor T. Houteff, from 1930 to the spring of 1955, announced the Harvest, Judgment for the Living, to the Laodicean church, Revelation 14:6-15; (4) Autumn of 1955, The Branch declared the Harvest, Investigative Judgment to the Davidian church; divided the flock, gathering the wave- sheaf, the vanguard (Rev. 14:6-16). The Harvest or the Investigative Judgment for the Living by The Branch will continue to be Present Truth, the Harvest – Atonement for the Living, until the first-fruits, 144,000, are sealed and stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb – The Branch Kingdom. Thereafter, the 144,000 will become the Angel – Ministry (Jer. 33:15,16) to take The Branch message, “this gospel of the kingdom… for a witness unto all nations.” Matt. 24:14. See Isaiah 62:2. Ellen G. White prophesied much concerning The Branch as well as did V. T. Houteff.

E. G. White says: ” ‘And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads’… The vision of the prophet pictures them as standing on Mount Zion, girt for holy service…” – The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 590,591. “Upon the foundation that Christ Himself had laid, the apostles build the church of God.

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In the Scriptures the figure of the erection of a temple is frequently used to illustrate the building of the church. Zechariah refers to Christ as the Branch that should build the temple of the Lord.” – Ibid., p. 595. “Zechariah’s vision of Joshua and the Angel (Messiah The Branch) applies with peculiar force to the experience of God’s people in the closing up of the great day of atonement.” – Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 472. (Parenthesis Ours). “The work of Christ as man’s intercessor is presented in that beautiful prophecy of Zechariah concerning Him ‘Whose name is the Branch.’ Says the prophet: ‘He shall build the temple of the Lord…’ ” – The Great Controversy, p. 415.

V. T. Houteff declares: “Who is to bring this revival and reformation, this great change? – The BRANCH.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), p. 24. ” ‘Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord.’ Joshua is well instructed that the burden and ingenuity for building this

spiritual temple, belongs to Him Whose name is ‘the BRANCH.’ He is to grow up out of His place: To Him be the glory. He alone is to be exalted. He is to build the (future) temple of the Lord.” – Ibid., p. 27. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch…. This very message (of the Branch), therefore, is the message of ‘Righteousness by Faith’ to them that believe. In the day the ‘righteous branch’ is raised, Judah and Israel shall be saved.” – Ibid., No. 30, p. 18. “Zechariah, looking forward to the time of the spiritual temple (the last section of the church) and its construction, says: ‘Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord…” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 2, p. 260. Inspiration is here saying that the last section of the church is called The Branch, in the time in which Israel and Judah are saved. The Branch, therefore, means salvation to them and with The Branch, the statement means that Israel and Judah (144,000) would be lost.

(1) William Miller announced the judgment of the dead to begin after 2300 days (years – Num. 14:34). See Daniel 8:14. (2) After the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14, God called Ellen G. White to proclaim the Atonement for the dead – The Third Angel’s Message. (3) In 1930 God called V. T. Houteff with the Fourth Angel’s Message to announce that after 430 years of Ezekiel, Chapter 4, the harvest for the living would start. (4) In harmony with the prophecy and in fidelity to the Truth The Branch came with the Fifth Angel’s Message, the scroll unrolled, and the Harvest for the living in the Davidian church began on the very day and the very year the 430 years of Ezekiel’s prophecy end.

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“And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men” Rev. 9:15.

Revelation Chapter 14 contains five prophetic messages from verse 6 to verse 17, which are revealed in four prophetic movements. (1) The truth brought by the First-day Adventists contained two messages, the first and second angels of verses 6-8. (2) The Third Angel’s message conveyed to the world by the Seventh-day Adventists, verses 9-13. (3) The Fourth Angel’s message (The Latter Rain of Truth) brought by the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists to the church, verses 14,15. As John the Baptist came to the Jews to announce Jesus, the Shepherd’s Rod came to the Seventh- day Adventist church to announce The Branch, Jesus’ new name, and the year the harvest, and the time of the Judgment for the Living, would commence to the church. (4) The Fifth Angel’s message of verses 16,17, brought the harvest for the living, the purification of the church, through The Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. These five messages are combined in one glorious prophetic movement to give the “Loud Cry” to the world, Revelation 14:18; 18:1-4.

In Revelation 9:14,15 these same four prophetic movements of Revelation, Chapter 14, with their five angel’s messages are revealed by four angels arriving at four particular, and successive periods of time; at an hour, a day, a month, and a year. Being bound in the river Euphrates, the land of antitypical Babylon, the U.S.A. they are to be loosed after the 144,000 of Revelation 14:1-4; 7:1-8, are sealed by the man in linen of Ezekiel 9:1-4. The 144,000 are sealed by receiving three different names, (1) The name of God, (2) The name New Jerusalem, and (3) The New name of the Messiah. (See Revelation 3:12.) These three titles represent the profound truths found in the five angel’s messages of Revelation 14. As the 144,000 first fruits stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb, on the day of Pentecost, the work of that day will be greatly enlarged. The “two hundred thousand thousand horsemen” (Rev. 9:16), who slay the third part of men, “by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (verse 18), go forth into all the world “conquering and to conquer” and bring into the house of the Lord a great multitude of second fruits that no man can number.

Therefore, when antitypical Peter gives his sermon on Mt. Zion at the time of the morning sacrifice, the third hour of the antitypical day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-17), there will be more than 3,000 converted in one day, there will be 200 million, in one day, a nation almost the size

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of the U.S.A. in number. Fantastic you say!!! “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such a thing? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Isa. 66:8.

V. T. Houteff reveals: “The marginal rendering gives the preposition ‘at’ for the preposition ‘for,’ making the verse read: ‘At an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,’… Thus are designated four points in time ‘at’ which the four angels were to prepare ‘for to slay the third part of men.’ And as the ‘third part’ in the trumpets represents, as we have seen, those who reject Gods appeals to them to repent and be saved, then, accordingly, the angels’ preparing themselves on four successive occasions for the eventual execution of death upon ‘the third part of men,’ shows that the men are to reject a four-phase (four doctrine) message, each phase being revealed successively:

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spring in which Brother Victor T. Houteff died. At that time the “latter rain” of Joel 2:23 ceased. The Spirit of Prophecy which had been giving light on the latter rain of Truth became quiescent. As stated: “we now know through prophecy that the latter rain has temporarily stopped…” – The Symbolic Code, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 14.

As a result of the death of the Lord’s Servant, February 5, 1955, the latter rain stopped. Any purported light from the Davidian source, other than V. T. Houteff’s unpublished manuscripts, you can be sure, is only speculation or an intellectual examination of the Shepherd’s Rod. The light to be revealed now is on the harvest message for the living by The Branch through antitypical Joshua in the atonement for the living.

V. T. Houteff says his work is like “the work of John the Baptist. He was to proclaim, not the setting up of the Kingdom, but the coming of the King. But in announcing the one, he incidentally had to answer questions concerning the other.” – The Answerer, Book No. 2, p. 79. “Therefore the truth stands out boldly that the direct fulfillment of this chapter (Isa. 40) is found in our time, thus making John’s work an ensample of our work – John’s work the type, ours the antitype.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 36, p. 4.

In the light of Inspiration our conclusion is that, God did not call V. T. Houteff, the antitype of Elijah, John the Baptist, with the Shepherd’s Rod message to restore the Kingdom, but like John he came to announce the invisible King, the Branch, and Joshua, the visible king (Zech. 3:1-10; 6:12,13).

John the Baptist, the type, came not to set up the Kingdom in his day, but to announce Christ, Messiah, the King. Likewise, V. T. Houteff, the antitype of John (Matt. 17:12,13) came not to set up the Kingdom

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in our day but, rather, to announce Messiah, The Branch, and His under-leader, Joshua.

The harvest, the investigative judgment for the living (Matt. 13:30), the sowing of the seed to mark 144,000 (Eze. 9:1-4) who are to stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1-5) is therefore brought by Elijah (the master antitype), who is translated and who is to restore ALL THINGS of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 17, verse 11 and not by the antitype (V. T. Houteff) of Elias, John the Baptist (verses 12,13) who lost his life.

“Do you see that the prophet appears in a day HE CAN RESTORE ALL THINGS, everything that was lost through sin, EVEN THE KINGDOM?” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 7, p. 11. What can a man in the grave restore? Nothing!

It is plain to see that neither John the Baptist (Matt. 17:12,13) nor his antitype were to restore the Kingdom but that Elijah (Matt. 17:11), the antitype of Malachi 4:4-6, like Elijah the Tishbite (1 Kings 17:1) who was translated (2 Kings 2:11), is the one who is to restore all things, even life for ever more (John 6:47-51).

After John baptized Him in the river Jordan, Jesus preached for three and one-half years His Divinity and the Kingdom of Heaven at hand. Afterward He was crucified, died on the cross, was buried, and rose the third day, ascended to Heaven, and offered the antitypical wave sheaf of the dead in the courts above.

“The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. On the SECOND DAY of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the ceremonies of the feast were types of the work of Christ. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour.” The Desire of Ages, p. 77.

Paul says: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits (wave sheaf) of them that slept… Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” 1 Cor. 15:20,23.

The statement in Mark 15:42 that Jesus was crucified on “the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath” explains that this preparation day was Friday, the day before the Sabbath and at the third

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hour which is the time of the morning sacrifice (9 o’clock). Six hours later, “at the ninth hour,” (3 o’clock) the time of the evening sacrifice, Jesus “gave up the ghost.” Afterward Joseph went to Pilate requesting the body of Jesus and buried Him just before the Sabbath. See Mark 15:25,34,37,42.

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“First Fruits with Wave-Sheaf and Wave-Loaves “Being of cut stalks of grain, the wave-sheaf signified fruits TO BE

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harvested. And as the sheaf was to be offered before the sickle was put to the grain and gathered into sheaves, it obviously pointed forward to the spiritual harvest of first fruits TO BE gathered.

“On Pentecost, fifty days after the typical sheaf was offered, all Israel was to offer ‘a new meat offering unto the Lord… [two wave-loaves ‘baken with leaven’] the firstfruits unto the Lord.’ Lev. 23:16,17.

“Both the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves were thank offerings for the first fruits. One was dedicated at the beginning of the harvest; the other at the completion of it. In contrast to the wave-sheaf of cut stalks of grain, prefiguring fruits to be gathered after the sheaf was offered, the wave-loaves, being a finished product, signified fruits previously gathered. (The reader who would best comprehend the significance of these three ceremonial celebrations ALL- IMPORTANT TO OUR SALVATION, will follow [study] the chart on page 77…)” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, pp. 76-78. (Last bracket only is ours.)

“The wave-sheaf was to be offered ‘on the morrow after the Sabbath’ – that is, on the first day of the week, now commonly called Sunday. This offering was to be presented, not on a special day of the month, but rather on a special day of the week, before the sickle was put to the grain and gathered into sheaves (Lev. 23:11,14). Coming just at the right time, in the season of the first fruits, the Passover week was the period in which the wave-sheaf was usually offered before the Lord, its ritual prophetically projecting

“Christ, the Antitype of the Wave-Sheaf.” – Ibid., pp. 78,79.

The priests, in the days of Jesus, offered the wave-sheaf on the second day of the feast. When Jesus was crucified on the second day of the feast, which was Friday morning at 9 o’clock (Mark 15:25), He was the antitypical wave- sheaf, fulfilling the offering of the ceremonial law of the daily morning sacrifice in the heavenly sanctuary (tabernacle). When Jesus “gave up the ghost” at 3 o’clock in the afternoon (Mark 15:34,37), fulfilling the antitypical evening sacrifice (Ex. 29:38-41), the hand of God rent the veil of the temple between the holy place and the Most Holy, into which the earthly high priest entered only once a year, on the day of Atonement. The earthly temple service of the sacrifice of animals ceased on Friday when the Lamb of God died. Since the One to Whom all the animal sacrifices pointed forward, in the type, had come, the plan of redemption and recreation had met its fulfillment. On the morrow after the seventh-day Sabbath the antitypical wave-sheaf was

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offered in the tabernacle not made with hands, signifying the beginning of the harvest for the dead and the transformation of the temple service from earth to heaven.

“He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; He lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails (“with a voice of deep pity cried, ‘My blood, Father, My blood, My blood, My blood!” – Early Writings, p. 38). He points to the tokens of His triumph; He presents to God the wave sheaf, those raised with Him as representatives of that multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming. He approaches the Father, with whom there is joy over one sinner that repents; who rejoices over one with singing. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 834.

Now it is plain to see that Ellen G. White and Victor T. Houteff were indeed prophets of God and were, truly, writing under the influence of the Spirit of Prophecy. See Amos 3:7. Since Mrs. White and V. T. Houteff both are in the grave, as are the Bible prophets, it is necessary to consult the Branch and Joshua, the Living Testimony of Jesus in the church today, for an interpretation in harmony with the Scriptures and their writings. The same spirit that dictated the prophecies must interpret them. See Revelation 12:17; 19:10.

Christ’s crucifixion on the cross, the rending of the veil on Friday, and His resting in the grave on the seventh-day Sabbath, signified the ending of the typical earthly temple ceremonies. At that time, the Mosaic dispensation with the presence of the Holy Shekinah, the offering of animal sacrifices, and the Levitical priesthood officially ended. The Messiah’s resurrection on the first day of the week, the offering of the wave-sheaf at Passover time in the heavenly courts,

on the morrow after the Sabbath (Lev. 23:11) before the Eternal Father, signalized the beginning of the heavenly Sanctuary “daily,” morning and evening, temple service in the holy place.

Since the Levitical priesthood was not perfect, the Messiah became our High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec “seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for” us. A change in the priesthood necessitated a change also in the law. That is, the Levitical priesthood with the offering of the blood of animals, which is imperfect, was changed to the Melchisedec Priesthood, which is perfect, offering the pure warm

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blood of the Lamb of God for repented sins. See Hebrews 7:11,12.

The offering of the wave-sheaf in heaven marked the beginning of the Christian dispensation, and beginning of the harvest for the wave-loaves, the 120, which were offered at the feast of weeks (Lev. 23:15-17), Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). While our High Priest was offering “Daily” in heaven, the Apostles were offering daily in the temple on earth (Acts 3:1) the emblems of His broken body and spilt blood, the bread and the wine (Acts 2:46) from house to house.

God had commanded Moses to offer a daily burnt offering, morning and evening sacrifice, a lamb of the first year, with the promise that throughout Israel’s generations He would sanctify the tabernacle, the priest, and the congregation of Israel with His presence, in an ordinance forever (Ex. 29:38-46). The disciples of Jesus carried out God’s command to Israel by offering the emblems of the antitypical Lamb at the sacred hours of prayer (9 and 3 o’clock), the condition on which the 120 received the glory of God on the day of Pentecost (Ex. 29:38-46). The little horn that waxed exceedingly great, took away the “daily” from the Christians in 538 A.D. and set up his sanctuary with his own laws for 2300 days (years). See Daniel 8:9-14. According to the type, this service must be restored before the 144,000 stand on Mt. Sion with the Lamb.

In 1844, after the end of the 2300 days (years) of Daniel 8:14, the restitution of true worship was begun. It is to continue until all things are restored by antitypical Elijah (Matt. 17:11). Typical Elijah purified the priests of ten-tribe Israel on Mt. Carmel.

In Malachi 3:1: “The Lord is to send (His messenger) Elijah the prophet… before the judgment of the living members of His church begins.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 11, p. 18. See Matthew 17:12, 13. “Here you plainly see that ‘The Shepherd’s Rod’ has arrived just before the Judgment for the Living commences.” – Jezreel Letter, No. 4, p. 1.

Please take note of Brother V. T. Houteff’s comment on Amos 1:2. “This scripture, you see, reflects the tragedy which took place on the top of Carmel in the days of Elijah. Here we are given the hint that there is to be another show- down between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 41, p. 7.

In these statements is reflected two Elijahs. 1. Elijah the messenger that the Lord sends BEFORE He suddenly comes to His temple in the

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Judgment of the Living. 2. The antitypical Elijah that has another show-down on Mt. Carmel AFTER the Lord suddenly came to His temple in the Judgment for the Living. The difference in the works of these two antitypical Elijah’s is as distinguishable as night is from day. The same picture holds true in Matthew 17. In verse 11 is brought forth Elias that restores ALL things, even the Kingdom and life without seeing death. In Matthew 17:12,13 is set forth Elijah John the Baptist who died, of which V. T. Houteff said his work was the antitype. For the Bible scholar, and a student of prophecy, type and antitype, will find in this explanation the truth made plain.

But the church says that V. T. Houteff was a false prophet. John the Baptist was also called a false prophet by his own people as was Jesus the Messiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and all the Bible prophets. Man is fallible and, to know the truth, he must consult Inspiration. Because the church says that a message is heresy does not make it false. The safe thing to do is to study a message that comes in the name of the Lord for oneself. We can not take man’s word only, if we desire to learn what is truth.

Jesus offered the antitypical wave-sheaf of the dead at the time pointed out in the symbolic service and He received His mediatorial crown on the day of Pentecost, the day the Theocratic kings of Israel were crowned, in harmony with the ceremonial law (at the third hour). Furthermore, the 120 received the outpouring of the latter rain of power on the day of the Pentecost, the feast of weeks, according to the Levitical law at the third hour. Peter and John went up to the temple to pray at the time of the evening sacrifice, at the ninth hour (Acts 3:1). “The hours appointed for the morning and the evening sacrifice were regarded as sacred, and they came to be observed as the set time for worship throughout the

Jewish nation… In this custom Christians have an example for morning and evening prayer.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 353,354. These sacred hours (the third and ninth) of prayer were taken away from the Jewish Christians in 538 A.D. by that little horn power that waxed exceeding great toward the “pleasant land,” the Holy Land. He who set up his own sanctuary (Dan. 8:9-14) with its pagan priesthood and Sunday worship. We are admonished by Paul to keep the feasts (1 Cor. 5:7,8). God’s Feasts!

At His ascension Jesus went into the Holy place at the third hour to offer the wave sheaf at Passover time. In 1844 He went into the Most Holy place of the Sanctuary above at the third hour, the time of the morning sacrifice (Rev. 14:7), at the Atonement time.

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Ellen G. White says: “The time of the Holy Spirit’s power is the time when in a special sense the heavenly gift is sought and found. In Christ’s day many heard the gospel, but their minds were darkened by false teaching, and they did not recognize in the humble Teacher of Galilee the Sent of God. But after Christ’s ascension His enthronement in His mediatorial kingdom was signalized by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was given.” –

Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 120.

V. T. Houteff says: “We should therefore perform our vows unto God, keep our solemn feasts (ceremonial law), and do everything in God’s order so as to be found righteous, ready to escape the doom of the wicked, and march on to the Kingdom.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1 No. 24 (Unrevised), p. 11.

Here we are instructed to keep the antitypical feasts before we leave for the Kingdom. This message, keeping the feasts and performing our vows is the investigative Judgment of the Living.

“Broadly speaking, the law of Moses consists of three parts. The first is the Ceremonial law, the law of the temple – the sacrificial law. This law, of course, we today must not observe, except in antitype, for it foreshadowed things to come particularly Christ’s first advent. Thus it is that if we had lived in Old Testament times and had failed to comply with the sacrificial law and system of that day, we would thereby have demonstrated unbelief in Christ, Who was to come. But since we are living in the Christian era, if we should now observe the typical sacrificial law and system (slaying animals), we should thereby demonstrate unbelief in Christ, Who has come.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 37, pp 14,15.

In the light of these Inspired facts we can not say the ceremonial law was nailed to the cross: It was the Lamb that was nailed to the cross and the sacrifice of animals which was done away. Here is a truth that we will have to face before we reach the Kingdom and stand on Mt. Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1). The ceremonial law demands our most earnest research and scrutinizing study for it is the law of redemption and the key that unlocks the Gospel of the New Testament.

To make the subject of Ezekiel 9 iron clad and nailed down that it cannot be moved; let us start, not in the center of the subject, but rather, at the other end – the end from which the ROD MESSAGE TEACHES – the right end. If we teach this subject from the wrong end it becomes a club. The sheep will not eat a club; but if we turn the Rod

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around, it becomes a beautiful Branch and the sheep will see that there is sustaining life in its luscious foliage.

For the spike of Divine wisdom and nails of inspired facts, turn to Tract No. 3, page 55. The Harvest chart here shows that Ezekiel 9, the harvest, begins in the AUTUMN at atonement, time of the Investigative Judgment for the Living, and brings about a separation in the church as depicted by the man in linen with the writer’s inkhorn and a destroying weapon who is commanded to set a mark on the foreheads of all who sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the city (church). The man in linen was not given the command to slay, he did not arrive in the spring at the Passover, the time of the slaughter of Ezekiel 9:5-7. The other five men follow on to slay after the sixth man, the one in linen, finishes his work of marking the 144,000 first fruits (Rev. 14:15). The Shepherd’s Rod cannot be represented by the man in linen since the Rod’s number is 5, not number 6. Consequently, the man in linen must represent the message of Jesus’ new name, Branch, a six letter word. See Branch Letter No, 1, art. Revelation 7 and Ezekiel 9.

After studying The Harvest chart, you will see that the king of BabyIon uttered the parable, Ezekiel 24:1-3, on the exact day it was destined he should. October 10, according to the chart, fell on the first day of the Bible seventh month. So we see plainly, brethren, that the parable of Ezekiel 24:1-3 is the exact fulfillment of Leviticus 23:23,24, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” Lev. 23:23,24.

Branch Letter No. 3 arrived miraculously on Mt. Carmel the very day and at the right time to “sound an alarm in my (God’s) holy mountain” (Joel 2:1) and to rain terrors upon it (Eze. 21:12).

Some say that the ones who went to Mt. Carmel October 10, drove in, turned their cars around, and headed them toward the exit for a quick get-away. This is very true, for no one knew what was going to happen. No one knew but that the Carmelites would kill those who went there and they, the Carmelites, did not know but that the people had come to slay them. Neither side knew but that the Lord might slay alI.

Now this happened because we had for 25 years been teaching Ezekiel 9 from the end to the beginning, instead of the beginning to the end. Had we been teaching this prophecy right; there would not have

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been an alarm sounded at Mt. Carmel October 10. All this goes to show the Lord holds His hand over the prophecies of the Bible and then reveals them at the proper time.

“The (430 year) prophecy by Ezekiel gives the information in detail from the beginning of Luther’s reformation to Ezekiel 9, marking of the 144,000, and unrolling of the scroll.” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 116.

Had we understood Ezekiel 9 in its entirety, there would not have been an unrolling of the scroll in October 10, 1955. Since the scroll did unroll at that time, it all proves that Brother V. T. Houteff was a true servant of the Lord; and The Shepherd’s Rod message was from God.

Furthermore, these things prove that The Branch, the Lord Himself, came at the predicted day to unroll the scroll. This also gives power and force to the fact that the Advent people are the true Israelites of today and no one can gainsay the fact.

To add proof upon top of proof that the Lord knows what He is doing, follow the chart in Tract No. 3, page 55.

According to the parable we can plainly see that October 10 (our tenth month), is the same day as the first day of the Bible seventh month; and that the fifteenth day of the seventh month (first day of Feast of Tabernacles) is the same day as our October 25, history day at Mt. Carmel this year 1955.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:13.

“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” John 9:39.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39.

“Say not ye, There are yet four months (or even 42 months), and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35. (Parenthesis ours.)

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Now the subject of Ezekiel 9 (harvest) is so plain that a blind man could see with just a little help. Yes, everyone can plainly see that the Lord Himself is the only one that can proclaim the day that Ezekiel 9 is to start. He set aside centuries ago the tenth day of the seventh month, or October 20, 1955, for the beginning date of the Judgment of the Living (Ezekiel 9), the harvest of the “first fruits” 144,000.

October 10 will not fall right next October because the tenth day does not come on the first day of the seventh month and it is not certain that it would have worked out right for 1954. Even if October 10 had come on the first day of the seventh month, 1954 (Lev. 23:24) please tell us what name you would have given the message?

Any name you would give the message would be fictitious. The mouth of the Lord (Isa. 62:2) has already named the church which is to harvest the first fruits, the 144,000. The name that He gave to the Loud Cry church is His own new name – BRANCH.

If you continue to doubt this message is of the Lord, please tell us how all these things could harmonize to the very day? All of the following fall into a structure of inspired truth that the most intellectual mind cannot controvert.

For instance, commenting on Ezekiel, Chapters 1 and 2, V. T. Houteff says: “Necessarily, then, the faces of the cherubim, just as with the faces of the beasts standing before the Judgment throne (Rev. 4:6,7) are figurative of the saints in the time of Judgment… (1) the Lord comes to the earth in this chariot; (2) from it He commands Ezekiel to go speak to His people; (3) Ezekiel did not bear the message to the people of his day; (4) he will bear it to the people at the commencement of the ‘Loud Cry.’ ” – Pre-‘Eleventh Hour’ Extra, Tract No. 1, pp. 36,37.

The “Loud Cry” Angel is the Lord Himself, The Branch, in a message of the Investigative Judgment for the Living of Revelation 18:1 to the church first and then to the world (verses 2-4).

In the light of these facts antitypical Ezekiel was commanded to utter a parable to God’s people in the ninth year on the tenth day of the tenth month of his captivity. The parable is likened to the king of Babylon setting himself against Jerusalem on this same day. It is the Atonement for the Living. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation ….Also

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on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” Lev. 23:24,27. This is Present Truth for the church at this particular time.

Joel says: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” Joel 2:12- 14.

At this time the Lord is pleading with His people to turn to Him with the whole heart, for He is merciful, kind and slow to anger. He is waiting and ready to repent of the evil He will do to all who fail to repent of their sins; for who knows whether they will repent when their names come up in the Sanctuary above, on the day of Atonement, and, as a result, leave behind a curse rather than a blessing. The time to repent is now!

This is a very serious matter, for we have come to the very last message (the Harvest of the Living, Rev. 14:16-20) for the church. Consequently the Lord warns all to repent since this same message is soon to go to the world in the “Loud Cry.” “Blow the trumpet in Zion (the church), sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” Joel 2:15-17.

Unlike the first trumpet blast of Joel 2:1 which announced the nearness of the Lord’s appearing in the Atonement for the living; the second trumpet sound is to awaken God’s people to the fact that we are now in the time of harvest for the living. The appeal to repent is so far reaching that universally, in the church, none are to be excluded but all are to be brought to repentance or be left without the wedding garment.

“The guests at the marriage feast were inspected by the king. Only those were accepted who had obeyed his requirements and put on the wedding garment. So it is with the guests at the gospel feast. All must

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pass the scrutiny of the great King, and only those are received who have put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness.” – Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 312.

The ministers are to weep between the antitypical porch at the entrance of the temple and the brasen altar where the “daily sacrifice,” in the type, was kept burning continually (Ex. 29:38-46). They are to plead with the Lord to deliver His people from heathen rule, lest it be said, where is their God?

“Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:” Joel 2:18,19.

Since the conditions mentioned above do not prevail in Israel and Judah’s homeland today, this prophecy is evidently yet future, and since we are living in the very end of the Christian era and the beginning of Messiah’s everlasting Kingdom on earth before the millennium, the period in which this Gospel of the Kingdom is preached in all the world, as a witness unto all nations in the “Loud Cry,” it is mandatory, therefore, that one and all take off their garments of sin and death – Judgment of the dead of the Third Angel – and put on the pure white robe of Christ’s Righteousness, the message of the Investigative Judgment for the Living – the Loud Cry of the Third Angel’s message – and live forever, “for why will ye die,O house of Israel?” Eze. 33:11.

As soon as the good news of the Kingdom is spread abroad in the church and the brethren see that it is not necessary, in the time of the Judgment for the Living, to go through the grave to gain salvation (eternal life) they will shout, “Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Let’s accept the message for the living and never die.” Read John 6:47-51. The Harvest (Judgment of the Living) is therefore, “The Seed-sowing Time.” “For when a person’s judgment is pending, and he is unaware of the fact, he will be unprepared and unable to stand when his case is investigated.” – The Judgment and the Harvest, Tract No. 3, pp. 55,54.

Jesus said: “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matt. 13:30. The very first thing the Investigative Judgment for the Living message does, is to separate the tares, noxious weeds, from the wheat and

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bind them into bundles to be burned, while the righteous wheat is put into the barn, the Kingdom. This separation is not the slaughter of Ezekiel 9:5-8 but rather it is Ezekiel 9:3,4 as symbolized by the sword in the hand of the man in linen with the writer’s inkhorn by his side with which he marks the righteous for the Kingdom. John the Revelator says the Lord accomplishes this work by thrusting in the sharp sickle (Rev. 14:16) which is the message of Jesus’ new name – BRANCH (Zech 3:8; 6:12).

When is the new name of Jesus (Rev. 3:12) supposed to arrive? ” ‘A new name,’… The time the name is received is at the end of the 430 year period as explained on the chart on pages 112-13 (of The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1). Thus, the church is reorganized under a new name. The old name, being polluted, could no longer be retained. There is no one to go by the old name…” – The Shepherds Rod, Vol. 1, p. 155. The chart on page 112 shows that from Luther’s revival, when he found the Bible in 1500 + 430 years = 1930. A new message and a new name (Shepherd’s Rod) came at that time but not a six-letter name. Since this name is not Jesus’ new name and not six letters, it could not be the name and movement perfectly fulfilling the prophecy, “I will write upon him my new name.” Rev. 3:12.

To find out what the new name is and when it comes let us quote: “This (marriage on June 13, 1525) was the real beginning of the Protestant parsonage, which has showered the world with the choicest blessings. All the world… sat up and took notice.” – Martin Luther, by Dallman, p. 253. “Dr. Martin shook the foundation of Rome’s claims upon his life by two radical steps… writing the ninety-five thesis and taking a wife. His mental break with Romanism came when he placed the thesis on the Castle church door, but it was not until he married that his physical severance became complete.” –

Martin Luther – God’s Man of Destiny, by Miller, p. 106.

(1) Luther started a revival in his own life when he found the Bible in 1500. 430 years (Eze. 4:4-6) later, in 1930, God began the “latter rain” of Truth of Joel 2:23, calling V. T. Houteff to the prophetic office (Mic. 6:9) to announce the sealing of the 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-8). (2) To announce the time or year (Rev. 14:15) of the Harvest (Rev. 14:16), the Investigative Judgment for the Living in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), would begin. In fulfillment of the prophecy the message of the Branch – the new name of Jesus came on time in the autumn of 1955

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declaring the Harvest had begun.

It was not until Luther, a monk, married Kathryn von Bora, a nun that the reformation reached fruition and the people at Worms accepted Protestantism (1525 + 430 = 1955, fulfilling the 430 year prophecy of Ezekiel) – a reformation (a monk and a nun marry). 430 years later in the autumn of 1955, came the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him.” (Matt. 25:6). The time of the Harvest for the Living, or the announcement of another marriage to come was made throughout the Davidian world. You see, from the proclamation of reformation and reorganization in the church in

Europe by a marriage 1525 + 430 years later brings us to 1955 the reorganization of the Davidian church in America. A new name (Lutheran) was given the Protestant church in Europe in 1525. 430 years later the new name Jesus, The Branch, is given to the new church of the Lord’s reorganization to replace the name of The General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, residing at Mt. Carmel Center, Waco, Texas. The Branch is to be the name of God’s church which brings the close of probation. Instead of Christian, or some other name, the Kingdom church throughout the world will be called THE BRANCH – The Lord our Righteousness (Jer. 33:15,16). Praise ye the Lord!

“Let us not neglect to note, too, that the name of a people is not really a name, but a title. And titles, you know, change as fast as Truth unfolds, as fast as Truth advances from one phase of the gospel work to another. To illustrate…. the Church of Moses’ time was Israelite, at Christ’s time it was called Judean, and after that Christian. Finally came the time that it was called… Protestant. Then either Lutheran or some other…. Now you see every additional timely Truth brings an additional timely name.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 34, pp. 23-25.

“Now that the city (church) is spiritually called Egypt (Seventh-day Adventist), it denotes that it is holding God’s people in slavery. The name Sodom (Davidian Seventh-day Adventist) denotes that God’s true people will have to be rescued from it as was Lot.” – Ibid., No. 15, p. 12. (Parentheses ours.)

“And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter-weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; And the

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Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city (church), through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Eze. 9:2-4.

Remember in Branch Letter No. 1 we explained that there are four angels in Revelation 7ready to hurt. These four angels represent four prophetic messages, movements: (1) Moses and Israel and the animal sacrificial system; (2) Christ crucified and resurrected and the Apostles; (3) William Miller and the First-day Adventists with the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14; (4) Ellen G. White and Seventh-day Adventists with the Sabbath and Sanctuary Truth – the Judgment for the Dead. John saw also four angels on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds that they might not blow on the earth. The holding angels are four non-prophetic messages and movements: (1) Martin Luther and the Lutheran church, with the message of Justification by faith, the first basic fundamental truth; (2) John Knox and the Presbyterian church, with the message of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the second fundamental truth; (3) John Wesley and the Methodist church, saved by grace; (4) Calvin and Campbell with the message of Baptism by immersion, making the sum of eight angels; four prophetic and four non-prophetic messages. Then John saw another angel ascending from the east, “and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth (the new land – U.S.A.), and the sea (the Old Country), Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees (people), till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Rev. 7:2,3.

By this angel’s ascending from the east it is understood that he has come to explain the Mid-East situation and to interpret Bible prophecy concerning present and future events of the land of Abraham which, heretofore, have been a mystery. The four angels standing on the four corners of the earth and the four ready to hurt make a total of eight angels, plus the angel from the East equals nine messages and movements disclosed to view in Revelation, Chapter 7 – four non- prophetic and five prophetic. By the fact the angel from the east is number 9: also, by reason that he cried, hurt not, till “we” have sealed the servants of God (144,000),and since 9 is followed by 10 (symbolic of universality), shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is another angel, message, to come after the angel from the East has delivered his message. The angel whose number is 10 will finish the work of sealing 144,000 first fruits (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5) in the church, and then, a great multitude that no man can number of all nations (Rev. 7:9).

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Ellen G. White proclaimed: “Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church…. Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel (verses 1-4).” – Testimonies, Vol. 3, 267. (Parentheses ours.)

“This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel in vision. John also had been a witness of this most startling revelation.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445.

V. T. Houteff states: “…the sealing of the 144,000 takes place in the period of ‘the sixth’ seal… Ezekiel 9 is found an event analogous to that of Revelation 7…” – “Behold, I Make All Things New,” Tract No, 9, p. 54.

There are only nine angels representing messages disclosed to view in Revelation 7:1-8, but ten is universal. The Shepherd’s Rod or the angel from the east is number nine and there is no way of escaping the fact that there is another message, number ten, to follow the Rod. Since THE BRANCH THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS comes after the rod in the family tree of Isaiah 11:1, we are forced to conclude The Branch is number ten, the last universal message, first to the church and then to the world in the Loud Cry (Rev. 14:16-20; 18:1-4).

“For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:16,17.

Here we see that the Lord comes to His people with the fire of a Spirit-filled message (“Is not my word like as a fire?” Jer. 23:29), and sword, the prophetic Word of God to plead for His people. Says the Spirit of God: “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.” ls 49:2. “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.” Rev 1:16. “The sword of the Spirit… is the word of God.” Eph. 6:17 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than an two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit.” Heb. 4:12. If the Truth cannot save it kills. This is the Judgment for the Living, in the house of God, which separates the tares from the wheat (Matt. 13:30).

The righteous get their name changed. “Thou shalt be called by

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new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2. The Harvest (Rev. 14:16) for the living, in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), is the new name of Jesus (Rev. 3:12), and is like a two-edged sword out of His mouth “dividing … the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12.

Those who do not take the message to heart and are sealed by the truth of His new name will be slain, and the escaped ones will be called by a new name of the Lord. The tares run to hide behind a tree (leader), and live on symbolic swine flesh, abomination, and the mouse of false interpretation of the Scriptures, all such are “consumed together, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:17.

“After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.” Matt. 25:19.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, 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. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:1-3.

The third and fourth chapters of Malachi are closely related, and the messenger the Lord sends, before He comes to His temple in verse one of chapter three, is Elijah of chapter four. John the Baptist was antitypical Elijah (Matt. 17:12,13) sent before Jesus suddenly came to His temple in Jerusalem, But since these Scriptures have a latter day application Ellen G. White says: “William Miller” was “raised up in the spirit and power of Elijah … Like John, the forerunner of Jesus …” – Early Writings, p. 233. Miller came to announce Jesus suddenly coming to His temple in the Most Holy place of the Sanctuary above, in the Investigative Judgment for the dead. V. T. Houteff was the antitypical Elijah in 1930, like John (Matt. 17:12,13), the “messenger” sent before the Lord suddenly came to His temple, the church, in 1955, for the Investigative Judgment of the living. V. T. Houteff says: “… John’s work an ensample of our work – John’s work the type, ours the antitype.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 36 (Revised), p. 4. “And since there was a special message for the Judgment concerning the dead, it is even more important that there should be a special message concerning the Judgment for the Living, the announcement of which is already

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here… Here you plainly see that ‘The Shepherd’s Rod’ has arrived just before the Judgment for the Living commences.” – Jezreel Letter, No. 4, pp. 2,1. (19,18 in Reprint).

William Miller in 1831-1844 (Rev. 14:6,7), announced the “Lord… shall suddenly come to his temple” at the Atonement and the hour of the Investigative Judgment for the dead. Ellen G. White, 1844-1915 (Rev. 14:9-13), was the messenger who proclaimed the Sabbath covenant and the Judgment of the Dead. V. T. Houteff, 1930-1955 (Rev. 14:15),

was sent to announce the time for the Lord, The Branch, to suddenly come to His temple in Heaven and Joshua the High Priest to the church on earth for the Atonement of the Living, 1955. Antitypical Elijah (Matt. 17:11) the Tishbite is the messenger of the covenant proclaiming the antitypical ceremonial Sabbaths (1 Cor. 5:7,8) in the Investigative Judgment for the Living. “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.

“And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel (The Shepherd’s Rod message) came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time (year) is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud (The Branch) thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” Rev. 14:14-16. (Parentheses Ours.)

“As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.” Eze. 1:28. Evidently John had this same vision of the Harvest as recorded in Revelation 14:14, and verse 16. Ezekiel had a vision of the Judgment for the Living in Israel, the church, and John saw the time, or year, of its fulfillment.

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” Matt. 25:31. This is His coming in Judgment for the Living in the world, according to verses 32-34. At that time the glory of the Pentecostal power has been poured out on the 144,000 first fruits, in preparation for the Loud Cry to the world, when the Lord is in a cloud by day and fire by night over Jerusalem. See Isaiah 4:5.

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“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his (David the rod and Jesse’s) roots.” Isa. 11:1. BRANCH grows out of rod: Here is a prophecy of the coming in judgment to the church of the Messiah, The Branch, by Isaiah some three hundred years after king David’s time: yet, the prophecy is future from Isaiah’s time, “there shall come forth a rod.” Therefore, the prophecy has a latter day application to God’s people. 1. Jesse, Seventh-day Adventists; 2. Rod, Davidian Seventh-day Adventists; 3. The Branch, Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists.

“Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.” Eze. 17:22,23. This prophecy by Ezekiel has a latter day application to God’s people, which shows that a twig (remnant) of the Branch is planted in the high mountains of Israel. For the Word says that every fowl of every wing shall dwell in the mountains of Israel, indicating not only the Jews and the ten-tribe Israel, but also converted Gentiles.

“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone (Christ, the chief corner stone) shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.” Zech. 3:9,10. In the first place, the stone represents a message of Christ, the Rock of Israel, “my servant The BRANCH” (verse 8), having seven eyes, complete vision of the plan of redemption. No church has ever had a vision of the complete plan of salvation since Christ until now. In the second place, God has never removed the iniquity in the land of Israel. And, in the third place, every man has never called his neighbor under the vine and fig tree in Israel. The Jews have never had a missionary program and, especially, a world-wide mission like the one here portrayed, calling everyone to Israel. This cannot be in the earth made new since there will be no need for a program like this one there. For all will be saved who are going to be saved when Jesus comes the second time. The Shepherd’s Rod cannot boast of having this wonderful complete plan of salvation, for the messenger said, “I cannot say that I have sufficient knowledge of the Bible to carry me clear inside the pearly gates.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 13 (Revised), p. 8.

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“Speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both (between Joshua and The Branch).” Zech. 6:12,13.

The BRANCH shall build the temple, and the counsel shall be between the both of them; The man, Joshua, the prince, sits upon Messiah’s throne with The BRANCH. John says: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my

throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev. 3:21. Daniel explains: “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” Dan. 7:27. Jesus said to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matt. 6:10. Ellen G. White states, “Christ is coming to establish His kingdom on the earth.” Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 63. This is before the millennium. See Matthew 25:31-34. What more evidence does one need to prove the authenticity of the Inspired Word of God and the Truth concerning Messiah’s Kingdom? The Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy writings by E. G. White and V. T. Houteff all agree as one to this truth of Christ’s Kingdom on earth.

“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Zech. 4: 10. The seven eyes of the Stone of Zechariah 3:9 run through the earth in the Loud Cry when Messiah sets up His Kingdom (Acts 15:15-17).

“Who is to bring” about “this revival and reformation, this great change? The BRANCH.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), p. 24.

“Philosophers endeavored to study into the mystery of the Hebrew economy … The true Interpreter must come. The One whom all these types prefigured must explain their significance.

“Through nature, through types and symbols, through patriarchs and prophets, God had spoken to the world. Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity. The Messenger of the covenant must speak. His voice must be heard in His own temple. Christ must come to utter words which should be clearly and definitely understood.

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He, the author of truth, must separate truth from the chaff of man’s utterance, which had made it of no effect. The principles of God’s government and the plan of redemption must be clearly defined. The lessons of the Old Testament must be fully set before men.” – The Desire of Ages, pp. 33,34. The world must be taught the Sanctuary law as it applies to Messiah’s sacrifice.

The same conditions still exist today as in Christ’s day. Two thousand years of sinful living have not brought mankind any nearer a correct understanding of the Hebrew economy and the principles of God’s government. Therefore, God sends His message and messenger in the investigative Judgment of the Living to explain the plan of salvation according to the Hebrew economy. Since Jesuit priests have infiltrated the church to such an extent that they have kept the Truth of the plan of redemption from His people, God sends Elias (Matt. 17:11) to His church with a message of purification, and to restore all things, “everything that was lost through sin, even the Kingdom?” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 7, p. 11.

“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel (Seventh-day Adventists and Davidian Seventh-day Adventists), for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the church).” Isa. 8:14. (Parentheses Ours.)

Messiah’s work in the sanctuary above in the Investigative Judgment for the Living, and the work of His messenger, Elijah (Mal. 4:4-6), in the church on earth with a message of Christ, The Branch, is a message of Himself. It is like a stone that one might stumble over and a Rock of offence to the wicked, but if received, it is as a sanctuary to all who will hear, believe, and do God’s will. He is a Rock of offence to all who refuse His protection and care and like a rolling stone to those who will not heed His instructions and who reject His message, it will fall on them as a stone and grind them to powder.

“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” Zech. 3:9.

Evidently this Stone is the same that is spoken of in Revelation 2:17. It has the engraving of the new name of Jesus, The Branch, the message of our High Priest, written within and has perfect vision, the complete plan of salvation, seven eyes. Here is set forth the purification of the

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church – a full and complete Gospel that brings forth a pure people. When this takes place the Lord will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory.” Isa. 62:2.

“As such they are depicted by the ‘stone’ (church or Kingdom) that is in Joshua’s sight. It has seven-eye perfect vision.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), p. 25. (Parenthesis belongs to quote.)

“Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Zech. 4:7.

The church is symbolized by a mountain (Isa. 2:2) and in the purification of the church, the Investigative Judgment of the Living, in the house of God, the tares are removed. The mountain is leveled off and become a plain, so to speak, and has become a fit place for the Loud Cry church. Zerubbabel brings forth the head stone with Jesus’ new name engraved in it (Rev. 2:17). With this Stone, on the new temple site, Zerubbabel sets up the chief corner stone, a tried Stone, a sure foundation, and the temple is quickly finished. “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it.” Zech. 4:9.

“And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2.

V. T. Houteff says: “Whatever the ‘new name’ may be, one thing is certain – the name will not imply that there is another church of its kind. And as there has never been a church similar in character to the one here projected, the name is to be not only singular of its kind, but entirely befitting the church in her righteousness.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 42 (Unrevised), p. 15.

“Israel is spelled with six letters. Had this name been more or less it would spoil the picture. Why? Because the six letters indicate the sixth section. Israel the true (the 144,000) are sealed at the close of the fifth section. Had the name been of seven letters, it would denote ‘close of probation,’ instead of ‘beginning of harvest.’ Israel in the time of harvest, will receive a new name by the mouth of the Lord. Read Isaiah 62:2. Whatever that name may be, we are sure it will be perfect, to finish the picture of probationary time, as well as to indicate the end of all the redeemed, or close of probation. Woe to him who may think all

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these wonderful designs in the beauty of perfection are just a chance, or an accident. Such a one is denying the Master Mechanic of all creation. He is paying homage to evolution (chance).” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1 , pp. 233,234.

V. T. Houteff said he did not know what the new name of Jesus was, but there was one thing sure, that when the name should come it would be a six letter word and would be sufficient to finish the picture of probationary time. In other words, the name of the church was changed several times to teach Present Truth up to that time. But now that the new name of Jesus has come, the name of God’s true church is changed to Messiah’s new name and it will never be changed again since she (the church) is called by the Son of God’s new name; “the Branch” shall “grow up unto David” “in the land.. and… she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness.” Jer. 33:15,16. God’s government is a Theocracy indeed, as in the days of Moses, with Jesus the Lamb of God, our sacrifice, instead of a lamb of the first year. The Son of the Eternal Father is our High Priest in the Courts of Heaven (Heb. 8:1,2) and antitypical Joshua is our high priest in the church on earth (Zech. 3:1-8). The counsel is between them both (Zech. 6:12,13).

The Shepherd’s Rod is the Fourth Angel’s Message of Revelation 14:15, as well as the Angel of Revelation 7:1-8, which came in 1930 to announce the coming of The Branch with the new name of Jesus to harvest the living 144,000 first fruits of Revelation 14:1-4. Being the fifth Angel’s message to the church, Revelation 14:16,17, the Branch has come at the appointed time (Oct. 1955), to restore all things, even the Kingdom (Matt. 17:11). It is written:

“And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Mic. 4:8. “The tower of the flock,” must mean the throne in Zion, and the existence of a throne implies the existence of a king and a kingdom. The first dominion does not come to the mother, but to the daughter of Zion, and that very soon.

“I will return, and will build again (the second time) the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.” Acts. 15:16. “And their governor shall proceed from the midst of them… in the latter days ye shall consider it.” Jer. 30:21,24.

The dominion spoken of here is not the dominion in the earth made

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new after the 1000 years, when Jesus will visibly sit on His throne, but the restoration in the land of Israel, like Eden, before the millennium (Eze. 36:35). On this throne an heir-son of king David will visibly sit, and govern the Kingdom of Christ’s glory, over which the Messiah will invisibly rule (Rev. 3:21) in a cloud by day and a fire by night over Mount Zion for a defense (Isa. 4:5).

The Lord has said, that if anyone could break His covenant with day and night, that there should be neither day or night, then His covenant with David to have a son to sit upon his throne could likewise be broken (Jer. 33:20-26).

We can be assured that it is impossible for anyone to break God’s covenant with the day and the night as long as this earth shall stand. Therefore, we are to understand from Jeremiah’s illustration that God’s Loud Cry church will be a Theocracy. The tabernacles of David will be restored, and the 144,000 will then go forth into all the world giving the law from Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa. 2:2,3). Are you planning to be in Jerusalem, and on Mount Zion for this glorious event? Ellen G. White has instructed us that: “The prophet pictures them (the 144,000) as standing on Mount Zion, girt for holy service.” – The Acts of the Apostles, p. 591.

Isaiah declares that “in that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” Isa. 4:2.

About 1930 V. T. Houteff published a book, The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, which informs us that the new name of Jesus would be revealed at the end of the 430 years after Martin Luther’s reformation. ” ‘A new name.’ …God Himself with His own mouth gives the name so it can not be counterfeited. The time (year) the name is received is at the end of the 430 year period as explained on the chart…. Thus, the church is reorganized under a new name.” – The Shepherd’s Rod, Vol. 1, p. 155. (Parenthesis Ours.) The high point or beginning of Luther’s reformation, historians say, was in 1525 when he married Kathryn von Bora, and started the Protestant Parsonage. Hence, 1525 + 430 years brings us to 1955, the year the name of THE BRANCH, the new name of Jesus, was spoken by the mouth of the Lord, causing a separation, a division in the Davidian church at Mt. Carmel Center, west of Waco, Texas. This marks the ending of the Christian era and the real beginning and ushering in, of Messiah’s everlasting Kingdom (Matt. 6:10).

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for

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an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:10. “That is, in the day of the Branch (in the Christian period), when this family tree is completed, then it is that the kingdom of peace sprouts, so to speak, from the ground up (from the ‘root’). It then stands for an ensign of the people, and to it shall the Gentiles seek for salvation. Plainly, then, this kingdom is to be set up while probation lasts. Moreover, the place where it is to stand (rest) shall be glorious.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Unrevised), p. 5.

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” Ex. 23:20,21.

The Angel spoken of here is the same that John saw coming down, lightening the earth with His glory (Rev. 18:1). He is the same Angel that Jacob wrestled with on his way home to Canaan (Gen. 32:24-30). This very same Angel (“who is Christ” – Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 469) stands before Joshua to give him a change of raiment, and place a fair mitre on his head (Zech. 3:1,4,5). John sees this mightiest of Angels on the cloud with a sickle and wearing a crown, and then sees Him thrusting in His sickle (His New Name being His sickle – Rev. 14:16). A severe warning is given to those who would provoke Him, for such, there is no pardon, indicating that now we have come to the time of the Investigative Judgment for the Living as it was in the days of Moses when Israel left Egypt (Isa. 11:16). The earth will open her mouth in the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, and swallow up those who are not sealed by Jesus’ new name, as it did Korah and his sympathizers who railed against Moses. This is about to take place in our day.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” Rev. 2:17; 3:12.

The overcomer will receive a white stone (pearl – Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 115) with a new name written in it, and only those who receive it will know the name that is found in the stone. The overcomer also has the opportunity of life, to become a pillar in God’s temple. There is

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no need for him to go out of the church which has the name of Jesus, The Branch, searching for more light and understanding of the word of God, since he has three names written on him or three messages written in his forehead: 1. God, of the Sabbath, the Creator of the heaven, the earth, and all that is in them. 2. The name of the New Jerusalem, capitol city of the Kingdom that is filled with the Holy Spirit. 3. The New Name of Jesus – BRANCH (Zech. 3:8; 6:12).

Three Seals: 1. GOD – the Truth of the Seventh-day Sabbath, and the Third Angel’s Message under Inspiration’s guidance through Ellen G. White (Rev. 14:6-13). 2. NEW JERUSALEM – the Fourth Angel (Rev. 14:15), Inspiration’s message of the Shepherd’s Rod by Victor T. Houteff proclaiming the Truth of Christ’s Kingdom (Matt. 6:10), announcing the coming of the Investigative Judgment for the Living in the church (1 Pet. 4:17), and the two kings of the Kingdom, the invisible One, and the visible king (Zech. 6:12,13; Rev. 3:21). 3. THE NEW NAME OF JESUS – the Fifth Angel (Rev. 14:16- 20). Joshua the visible king: THE BRANCH, the invisible King of Kings. “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Isa. 62:2. Glory, Hallelujah! Victory! Victory! Victory! The 144,000 saints of God standing on Mount Sion with the Lamb, ready to give the Loud Cry from Jerusalem!

“And I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” Hag. 2:7-9.

It is plain to see that this house or temple is to be built before the one thousand years, seeing that the nations are still in existence. This temple is to be far greater than Solomon’s temple, seeing that all of the silver and the gold belongs to the Eternal Father. The days of small things are past and the time of great and glorious events are before all who will take hold of them. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow: Amen and Amen.

By the explanations here set forth in the Scriptures, the Spirit of Prophecy by E. G. White, and The Shepherd’s Rod by V. T. Houteff, one can see that the Lord has taken “the reins in His own hands.” (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 300). You can easily see, brethren, that the Rod cannot possibly meet the conditions these Scriptures set forth. No,

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not any more than can Seventh-day Adventists or any of the others – only the BRANCH can meet these requirements of Inspiration.

Peter says: “This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.” Acts 4:11. “Those who sit before Joshua are ‘men wondered at.’ As such they are depicted by the ‘stone’ (church or Kingdom) that is in Joshua’s sight. It has seven-eye – perfect vision.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 8 (Revised), p. 25.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men; whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

BRANCH (Christ) is the only name that can save your soul. If you hang on to any other name you will be like a war prisoner with a dead man strapped to his back.

The BRANCH (Christ) stands and knocks at the door of your heart. Why not let Him come in and sup with you and you with Him? He is pleading with you through prophecy, through types, symbols, ceremonies, and parables, and the Spirit of Prophecy.

Some say that the Branch message is premature and it will surely fold up but they have no proof for their assertions. We have brought forth iron-clad proof herein; abundant, that the message was timed to the very day.

Then, there are others that say they do not believe the Branch because the ones teaching it do too much stammering, that they use “if’ and “maybe-so” too often; that they are going to wait until so and so comes along with his message; then, they will make a change. The people may stammer but one can see plainly there is no stammering or maybe-so in the Branch letters. Nothing but positive truth is taught. What if so and so did not come along with a message? Then, if and when, the other fellow comes along with his message, and it happened not to be the truth, where would you be then? Passing up revealed truth, waiting for something else is risky business. The Harvest is a very short work. One can hardly afford to hang his doubts on these hooks and expect to ride into the Kingdom on them.

“Is the softening, subduing influence of the grace of God working upon you? Have you hearts that can feel, eyes that can see, ears that can hear? Is it in vain that the declaration of eternal truth has been made concerning the nations of the earth?” – Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 405.

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“The great crisis is just before us. To meet its trials and temptations, and to perform its duties, will require persevering faith…. The Lion of Judah, so terrible to the rejectors of His grace, will be the Lamb of God to the obedient and faithful. The pillar of cloud which speaks wrath and terror to the transgressors of God’s law is light and mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His commandments.” – Ibid., p. 404.

Some say they can’t accept the Branch because they do not understand about the King of Babylon the letters mention. Besides, they say that Sister White says the church is not Babylon.

We need to remember that Abraham was a Chaldean and, also, that most all races come from either Egypt or Babylon. Therefore, if we are Abraham’s seed we must be Babylonians. Sister White was writing of spiritual Babylon and the Branch letters are speaking of the civil; furthermore, there is no such organization as spiritual Babylon, at the present, as a nation or nations.

After the message of the Judgment of the Living is delivered to the world, all who reject it will become spiritual Babylon. The Lord confuses their language and the tower they are building to heaven will come to naught. All who reject the Judgment of the Living will receive he Mark of the Beast, says Brother Houteff in Jezreel Letter, No. 1.

This being the case the Branch (harvest message) will go to the world before the final and complete fulfillment of Ezekiel 9.

The subject of the king of Babylon goes back to the tower of Babel. The story is found in Genesis 11:1-9. The Lord was the one who confused their language and scattered the people. Since the Lord Himself came and confused their tongues, He must be the true King of the tower builders – the King over Babel – or Babylon.

So, it ever has been when man gets so wise in his own conceit, as to think he can build his structure into the heavenly courts; then it is, that the Lord either comes or sends His representative to thwart their evil purposes. We need never think that we can leave the Lord out of the picture and accomplish anything that will last.

When Israel of old got independent of God, He sent King Nebuchadezzar, His servant (Jer. 25:9) to confuse their language by taking them captive and destroying their city. Jeremiah thoroughly warned Zedekiah what would happen if he did not submit to the rule of the Lord’s

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servant, King Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless, Zedekiah let his pride stand in the way of his and his family’s salvation. Some are doing this very same thing today. O, what a price to pay for pride.

Why did not Zedekiah obey the Lord’s instructions given him through Jeremiah? If he had believed Jeremiah’s message, things would have been different for all Israel, even for Israel of today. “The history of ancient Israel is for our benefit…. As a people we lack faith. In these days few would follow the directions given through God’s chosen servant as obediently as did the armies of Israel at the taking of Jericho. The Captain of the Lord’s host did not reveal Himself to all the congregation. He communicated only with Joshua, who related the story of this interview to the Hebrews. It rested with them to believe or to doubt the words of Joshua, to follow the commands given by him in the name of the Captain of the Lord’s host, or to rebel against his directions and to deny his authority.” – Testimonies, Vol. 4, pp. 162,163.

To follow the Lord today, though, one needs only to follow His written word, not what man says. Anything that agrees with the Spirit and the word and speaks according to the law and testimony must be of God.

In studying the subject of the king of Babylon, we find that the Lord sends some one to correct His people and likens him unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He is the king of Babylon because he is the Lord’s servant, His representative to His people. He makes him king above the confusion, and ruler of the situation.

In reality, God is the true King of Babylon. He can rule in any circumstance. Daniel, in explaining the metal image to Nebuchadnezzar, says: “Thou art this head of gold.” Dan. 2:38. In reality, Daniel was saying that God was that head of gold. In other words, we will have to admit whether we want to or not, that God is the true ruler of the universe.

When the Seventh-day Adventist church reached a low ebb of spiritual attainments, the Lord, in order to save her, found it necessary to reform her. So, in 1930 He raised up in her midst, Brother Houteff, to start a reformation. Since the church at that time was Judah – lawgiver, Brother Houteff is likened unto the king of Babylon – a corrector. He announced the purification of the church and divided it with the sword of truth and took peace from the face of the earth. The Advent people thought they were to convert the world and take the church straight to heaven and by-pass the kingdom on earth. The flood

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of unconverted came into the church, so we had a modern-day tower of Babel experience in 1888.

Sister White could not be a type of the king of Babylon, for she came before 1888. She came not as a corrector of the Babylonians, but to lead the children of Israel while in Egypt; thus her statement that we are not to call the church Babylon. It is possible though for the Davidian movement to become a part of spiritual Babylon if they do not accept the harvest or separation message. This clears the statement in the Spirit of Prophecy that the back-slidden Adventists would help persecute the true ones during the “Loud Cry.”

The key to the subject of the king of Babylon is found in Ezekiel 24:1-3. This is the key also of the entire twenty- fourth chapter of Ezekiel. Not only that, but it is the key to the harvest message (Ezekiel 9), the Righteousness of Christ and the time of the Kingdom of Heaven. Read the account of the true king of Babylon in Jeremiah 27:8-22; Matthew 25:31,46.

Now let us nail this study down with great nails of inspired facts, that the simplest of the simple can understand. In order to nail the subject of the “harvest” down that it cannot be moved, it will be necessary to consult a very few texts.

First, in Ezekiel 9:3, the Lord comes to the threshold of the house (the church); then, He calls to the man in linen, the one who has the message of Christ our Righteousness. He commands him to go speak to His people (Tract No. 1, pp. 36,37). This begins the “Loud Cry.”

Ezekiel, or the king of Babylon, is to utter his parable in the ninth year of his captivity, tenth month, tenth day of the month. This is civil time for that is the time by which Ezekiel goes. This also shows that he is earthly. The Lord uses Bible time (Leviticus 23:24) which shows He is of heavenly origin. The two harmonize to the very day. This proves that heaven has united with earth to finish the gospel work.

Joel blows the trumpets (Branch letters) for 10 days. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” Joel 2:15. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” Lev. 23:24. John the Revelator is assured the Lord will be there also on October 20 (Lev. 23:27) for he sees Him on the cloud with a sharp sickle in His hand and with a golden crown (Rev. 14:14). This shows that the harvest began the twentieth of

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October and from that date we are living under a Theocracy.

Now, since this is true, Davidian Seventh-day Adventist is no longer the name of the church. The mouth of the Lord has given it a new name – BRANCH (Isa. 62:2). “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:10. “That is, in the day of the Branch… when this family tree (Isa. 11:1) is completed; then it is that the kingdom sprouts, so to speak, from the ground up…” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 31 (Unrevised), p. 5. We can see that Jesus (the Branch) is the offspring of David and also Jesse. The Rod message cannot live without the Branch to give it life. A rod has no root in itself; therefore, it must draw its nourishment from another source. A plant (Branch) must have roots in order to live. This is why Jesus says He is the offspring of David; yet, He is the root of him (Rev. 22:16).

The Advent Movement is also set forth in other prophetic writings.

John saw the river of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb. “On either side of the river was there the tree of life” – roots of the Father on one side of the river and the roots of the Son on the other side of it. The two trees are joined together by the Holy Spirit over the river. These three are as one and in them is eternal life (Rev. 22:1,2).

You, brethren, can plainly see from this illustration that it takes the Trinity to complete the picture. Anyone that finds himself teaching there is only one or just two members of the Godhead is preaching self instead of Christ.

If one finds himself in this predicament he had better rebuke the devil and leave this evil thing while there is yet life. If you are humble, why not live up to your claims. It would be far better to eat humble pie now and live, than to have to eat it later and lose your soul. Do not follow in the footsteps of Achan and put off your salvation until it is too late. The angels in heaven will rejoice if you delay no longer.

The leaves from this tree are for the healing of the nations. There is life in the luscious green leaves of the Branch. There is no life in an autumn leaf, which suggests dying and death, for it died after the latter rain of truth ceased February 5, 1955. Friends, take the Lord’s advice and get quickly off that which is dead and waning and put your confidence in that which is alive and flourishing.

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For anyone to say that the 42 months of Revelation 11 began with Brother Houteff’s death is claiming Inspiration. Brother Houteff did not say that it would begin at his death. How can you? Brother Houteff did not put anything in his writings that tell us that the 42 months begins at his death. He did not leave you anything just before he died that says it would begin at his death. And if he did it would not be true. You have construed such from his writings of the Shepherd’s Rod. You are wrong indeed, because we have ample proof that it did not.

For anyone to say, “four months,” or even 42 months, “and then cometh harvest” is saying in effect, the “Lord delayeth His coming.” If anyone warns you to not investigate a message now because the “two olive trees” are dead, tell them that they are saying to you, the “Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.” Eze. 9:9. What they are really saying is that the “Two Witnesses” are dead since the source from which they get their information, the messenger V. T. Houteff is in the grave, that the Spirit of Prophecy has become quiescent.

Why be like the Laodiceans, brethren? Why not be like the Bereans? Why stick your neck out as you have, to get it chopped off? Now that you see your mistake, why not call in the hunters and reorganize under the Branch? There is life in the Branch for you; but only death in the things you are pursuing.

Brother Houteff has told you repeatedly that the Branch would swallow up the Rod movement. You claim you believe Brother Houteff; then, why do you not follow his interpretations given in the name of the Lord?

Ezekiel 9 does not begin with a visible destruction 42 months from Brother Houteff’s death. To say so is private interpretation and out of harmony with the Davidian message and the Bible. The Shepherd’s Rod message and the Bible teach that Ezekiel 9 began in October 1955 as an investigation. The Rod teaches that the harvest (Ezekiel 9), according to the Scriptures, begins in the Autumn at the Atonement and ends when the earth opens her mouth and swallows up the flood at the Passover.

This is right: in harmony with the Bible and all the inspired writings of the Spirit of Prophecy by Sister White and The Shepherd’s Rod by Brother V. T. Houteff.

The old Elders in the Rod (men of great light) should have no trouble in seeing the logic in the way the subject is here presented. Their duty,

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then, is to go to our younger ministers and teach them the truth of Ezekiel 9 as is here taught. With all working together as brethren in the faith, seeing eye to eye, we can bring about the reformation as has never taken place among God’s people. We can, then, quickly finish the work for Seventh-day Adventists for they will see eye to eye with us.

Regardless, brethren, whether you do your God given duty or not, this is the way the work will be finished.

If these trumpet blasts do not bring the Jericho-like walls of opposition tumbling to the ground, we can be sure that an atomic blast would have no effect. Those who continue to teach that Ezekiel 9 begins three and a half years from Brother Houteff’s death may sleep through the millennium. Since Brother Houteff died in February, three and a half years from then would come in August. You do not have any Scriptures to prove that there ever was a Passover or an Atonement at that time of year.

There are those who say they cannot accept a message at this time unless it is attended by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power, speaking in tongues, or miraculous healings or both. Others say there must be a supernatural death of some of the leaders among either Seventh-day Adventists or Davidian Seventh-day Adventists to prove the message right.

Some go so far as to predict that certain persons will die on a certain date. When that day rolls around and no one falls dead they try to palm their mistake off on someone else. They accuse the other fellow of the mistake they themselves made; then to cover up their evil designs, they point an accusing finger at the other fellow. They do this only to turn the public’s accusing eye away from themselves. This done, they hope to continue for a little season.

The only hope for anyone that has a mistaken view on an event to take place is to gracefully admit his misunderstanding. Even though we are able to prove a date correct it does not mean we understand all in connection with the event.

The Lord leads His people step by step. If we are to keep on stepping with Him, we must not let our ideas jell in any certain direction.

By our former training, as a church, it is possible to get a wrong view of a Scripture or an event to take place. When the time comes for the fulfilment of the Scripture and it does not turn out as we, as a people,

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have always thought, then to continue to say thus and thus is the only way it can be (because of previous training though evidence by Inspiration proves otherwise) is to deny the Master Builder.

In regard to miracles, at this time, the Lord’s servant says: “Accordingly, the antitypical Pre-pentecostal harvest takes place in a self-deceived church, the Laodicean, ‘the house of God;’ and through miracle-working power manifested by Heaven itself in the angels (Matt. 13:39), it yields the 144,000, the first fruits of those who are never to die. Whereas the antitypical post-pentecostal harvest takes place among the nations; and through miracle-working power manifested by the Spirit-filled 144,000, it yields the great multitude which no man can number (Rev. 7:9), the second fruits, of those who are never to die.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 46 (Unrevised), p. 28. (Paren. Belong.)

Please read all of Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 46 (Unrevised). It shows that gifts of tongues and miracle healings are post-pentecostal, not pre-pentecostal, after the church is made pure, not before the tares are taken out. If there is to be any healing done before the Pentecost it will be through the angels (the message) – the message of health reform and healthful living conditions.

“Sad to say, though, multitudes of uninformed and misinformed will continue to get hooked as they jump at hooks baited with miracle-promises dangling invitingly from the lines of so-called miracle-workers here, there, and everywhere, thus going from bad to worse, squandering their time and their money, their life and their health, their hope and their faith.” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 46, pp. 46,47.

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” Ex. 23:20,21.

The Angel spoken of in this Scripture is evidently the Lord Himself since the Lord’s name is in Him. The “thee” is the Lord’s people, the Israelites, for Paul tells us: “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4.

While on earth Jesus taught that He had power to forgive sins. Not only did He teach it but He proved His power by healing the sick and raising the dead.

“But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice (message), and do all that I

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speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary into thine adversaries.” Ex. 23:22.

Verses 23 and 24 tell His people that He will cut off the heathen nations if they will not bow down to heathen gods “nor do after their works.”

“And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Ex. 23:25.

Paul says that the Israelites were for examples to us. These Scriptures did not meet their complete fulfilment to the Israelites and must be for modern Israel, for us.

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” Isa. 58:6-8.

“Here we see that our characters, our beauty, our health, our vigor, our righteousness, the original creation of God which has been lost through sin, will be restored by the message (of The Branch the Lord our Righteousness).” – Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 41 (Unrevised), p. 5.

“Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee.” Luke 14:12-14.

Just because others have used these Scriptures quoted here, there is no reason to believe they are fulfilled and are done away. Since no one people has ever met the conditions they set forth is evidence to prove we should raise our standards to their requirements.

Because one person is a type of Ezekiel or Jezreel is no reason to believe that no other could come after him fulfilling the same type, providing he does the same type of work. If the latter’s writings are in

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harmony with the former and both likewise agree with the Bible, both can be a type of Ezekiel.

“Ezekiel’s prophecy revealing itself to be a message for the church today, the prophet, himself, must necessarily, then, represent the messengers who carry the message to the church at the time appointed.” – Pre-“Eleventh Hour” Extra, Tract No. 1. 27.

THE BRANCH

NOTE: Our new address is The Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association, Route 7, Box 471-B, Waco, Texas 76705, U.S.A.

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Joel 2:32.

The symbol of Aaron’s rod that budded reveals that it was destined to become a Branch. “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after theorder of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?” – Heb. 7:11.

The Levitical priesthood was imperfect because the blood of the animal sacrifices could not grant eternal life, since they were only a shadow of the True, the sacrifice of Messiah. Consequently, it was necessary to change the priesthood.

“…the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” – Heb. 7:12.

Instead of mediating the blood of goats and sheep in the earthly temple, Messiah mediates His own blood for us in the Heavenly Sanctuary.

“…for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest… not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.” – Heb. 7:15,16.

“…He is the Mediator of a better covenant… For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second… The Holy Ghost this signifying… I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts… In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.” – Heb. 8:6,7; 9:8; 8:10,13.

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