Vol. 2 Timely
Greetings No. 43
THE ONLY
PEACE OF MIND
Volume 2
Number 43
Copyright, 1950 Reprint
All rights reserved
V.T. HOUTEFF
A DEAD TOP, AN
OFFSHOOT
OR AN UPSHOOT--WHICH?
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 1
TEXT FOR PRAYER
Fidelity to Principle
For our prayer thought this afternoon, I
shall read from Testimonies, Vol. 5, page 43, the
first paragraph:
"We have marked illustrations of the
sustaining power of firm, religious principle.... The gaping lions' den could
not keep Daniel from his daily prayers, nor could the fiery furnace induce
Shadrach and his companions to fall down before the idol which Nebuchadnezzar
set up. Young men who have firm principles,
will eschew pleasure, defy pain, and brave even the lions' den and the heated
fiery furnace, rather than be found untrue to God. Mark the character of Joseph. Virtue was severely tested, but its triumph
was complete. At every point the noble
youth endured the test. The same lofty,
unbending principle appeared at every trial.
The Lord was with him, and his word was law." -- Testimonies, Vol.
5, pg. 43.
Let us now pray that we shall have the
religion of David, of Daniel, of Joseph.
These men were but youth when they entered upon their respective
careers, yet they were as firm in their convictions as the needle to the
pole. They did not digress from a single
righteous duty or principle, regardless of pressure or circumstances. Their stability of character and zeal to make
the world better, persuaded the Lord to make them
kings. Now we ought to pray that we be
not obstructionists, but that we be builders in the
highway of civilization; that rather than merely take up space, we be fruitful
vines in God's great vineyard.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 2
A DEAD TOP,
AN OFFSHOOT,
OR AN
UPSHOOT--WHICH?
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY
ADVENTISTS SABBATH,
MT.
All people down through the ages that have
ever embraced a fresh message from God, were branded
as "offshoots" and considered dangerous -- something from which one
must beware lest he be shot at, as it were, stabbed, trapped, or something as
bad, or hard to tell what.
As you know, we, too, are branded as such
and are accused of leaving the Denomination even as much as were the apostles
accused of leaving Judaism and taking up Christianity. Actually the apostles had left nothing, for they
not only took along with them every truth Judaism had, but they went on with
the fresh Truth of God also, whereas Judaism fell back. The apostles, moreover, would have remained
in the synagogue if the Jews had not driven them out. For this the apostles were called
"offshoots," or the like.
We likewise have not pulled away from the
Denomination, but have been cast out of our respective churches and forced to
go by another name, Davidian Seventh-day Adventists,
-- and all this for no other reason than for
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 3
embracing the additional Heaven-born Truth which gives power
and force to the Advent message (Early Writings, pg. 277), and which makes us
better Seventh-day Adventists than we have been or could otherwise be.
Now, if we be "offshoots" for
walking in the light which heaven sends from time to time to lead God's people
in the way of Truth and Righteousness, then I should like to know what our
brethren think they themselves are, for by the same token of logic the Mother
Denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist, is itself an offshoot from another
denomination. Moreover, this is also
true of all the Protestant denominations, for they are the offshoots of the
Catholic; and the Apostolic is an offshoot of the Jewish. Who, then, outside of the Jews is not an
offshoot? In fact, if we go as far back
as Abraham's time, we will find that even the Jews were an offshoot of
something before their time. If
offshoots are therefore to be shunned, hated, and abhorred, then why are there
any Christians at all? And if this is an
eye-opener to those who think themselves something other than an offshoot, they
should now without delay apply for admission to the Synagogue, or else begin to
behave like God's men.
Do you, Brother, Sister, see that if it had
not been for the "offshoots," for those who had backbone of their own
to stand up for present Truth, for "meat in due season" (Matt.
24:45), none of us would ever have had a chance to become Christians -- Protestants,
Adventists, or Davidians. We all would have been members of the
God-forsaken Synagogue, if of anything.
In fact,
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No. 43 4
we would have had no Bible religion at all, for the
Jews themselves have departed even from what little they had retained of it
2000 years ago. Should we, then, not be
thankful for the faithfulness of the offshoots who have gone before us (if such
they be) and of whom Christ is the first?
I, for one am proud to be called an offshoot with my Lord. I, therefore, like to be an offshoot, but
would dislike to be a dead top.
Our hostile brethren, though, are mistakenly
calling us "offshoots."
Rightly we should be called "upshoots,"
for that is what additional Truth does to the Church and to anyone who accepts
it. A tree that does not put forth an upshoot in the season it should, is either dying or is
already dead. Plainly, then, without us
"upshoots," the brethren would have no
chance to survive the Laodicean malady, and no chance
to reach the Kingdom of glory. They
will, while dying, forever be dreaming of being rich and increased with goods,
though in fact the Lord Himself points out that they are "wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev. 3:17), and know it not. How thankful they ought to be to us who have
withstood their fiery darts for the sake of Truth!
In the twentieth chapter of Matthew we find
five such upshoots.
Would you like to know who these upshoots
are? To facilitate the study of them, I
have prepared this chart, and now is your opportunity closely to look at it and
faithfully to consider it.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 5
PICTURE
This chart is a reproduction of the parable
found in the twentieth chapter of Matthew, the parable in which the Lord points
out that the Householder, God, in the course of time hired laborers on five
different occasions.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 6
Let us now read the parable itself:
Matt. 20:1-7 -- "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 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. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and
found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because
no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also
into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive."
The first laborers, of course, were the Jews
in Moses' day. Now since the next, the
ones that were hired at the third hour were the Christians, it follows that the
day (the twelve allegorical hours of the parable in which the hiring is
actually carried out) is symbolical of a period of time. It is the time in which the written Word of
God, the Bible, appears and shines directly to mankind -- the period since
Moses' day.
Inasmuch as the first laborers, the Jews,
were the ones hired "early" in the day, the day Moses began to write
the Bible (the light from God) and caused It to shine upon the world, brought
the day, the word "early" therefore implies that the period which
preceded the
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 7
appearance of the Bible is the parabolical
night, when there was no Bible on earth.
There was no direct spiritual light, but only indirect -- moon
fashion. Finally, then, the period
before Moses and the period after Moses (the period without the Bible and the
period with the Bible) complete the cycle of twenty-four symbolical hours on
which the Lord based His parable, and of which this chart (page 6) is a
reproduction.
We have now seen that the absence of Bible
light before Moses' time caused the time to be symbolized by night, and the
presence of the Bible light since Moses' time, caused that period to be called
the day.
The first group of laborers being the Jews,
and the second the Christians, the next three calls consequently point to other
three groups in the Christian era who have been commissioned to go into the
vineyard. There they are to preach
something as original as was the ceremonial system of worship which Moses
preached; and also as original as the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension
of Christ which the apostles preached, for the message of the one must be
comparable to the message of the other; that is, if the first two messages were
original, the last three must also be original.
The only such original message given after the preaching of the apostles
is the 2300 prophetic days of Daniel 8:14.
It being first preached by the First-day Adventists soon after 1820 A.D.
(The Great Controversy, pg. 331), and being the third message in the line of
the parabolical calls for servants, shows that in the
stream of the parabolical time, the hour struck six
in 1820 A.D.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 8
The next call for servants to preach
something just as new and as original came in the year 1844. It was the cleansing of the Sanctuary after
the 2300 prophetic days were passed, and was preached in connection with the
seventh-day Sabbath. That group of
servants called themselves Seventh-day Adventists. They proclaimed, "Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is
come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7.
The ninth parabolic hour, therefore, struck
with the rise of the Seventh-day Adventists.
But the fact that there is another call for servants, that of the
eleventh hour, the last, points out that after the message of 1844 there is to
be another such original message and also a new group of servants to proclaim
it. This message, the eleventh-hour
message, moreover, is to be a laymen's movement, for the laborers were found
idle and in search of employment in the market place.
The "market place" where the
Master is said to have gone after such employment-seekers, is, of course, the
church, for the Lord chooses His servants only from among His well-informed
people.
Should we be reminded again and again that
in the introduction of each message the Householder was compelled to hire new
servants from among the laity? And did
not the ministers always stand aloof, doing all they could to prevent others
from coming in touch with the messages?
What a weighty thought! What a
responsibility
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 9
rests upon the brethren who are now shepherding the flock!
The question "Why stand ye all the day
idle?" is very definitely saying that those who are hired are not of those
who were already at work, not of the ministry.
And the answer, "Because no man hath hired us," makes it
emphatic that the eleventh-hour workers are of the faithful laity, of those who
are anxiously waiting to serve the Lord, but who previously have not been given
the opportunity.
Of this last message Inspiration warned the
Denomination by leaving on record the lines which I shall now read:
"I saw," says Sister E.G. White,
"angels hurrying to and fro in heaven, descending to the earth, and again
ascending to heaven, preparing for the fulfillment of some important
event. Then I saw another mighty angel
commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel,
and give power and force to his message.... This message seemed to be an
addition to the third message, joining it as the
Again I read:
Let Heaven Guide
"Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says:
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 10
'Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord.' Somebody is to come in the spirit
and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: 'You are too earnest,
you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your
message.'" -- Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 475.
(If you wish to study the parable in all its
details, you may do so by reading The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, pp. 222-239.)
Now you see that the so-called
"offshoots" Christ Himself calls God's servants. We can therefore honestly and sincerely ask, Can the church and the world get along without the
unpopular "offshoots"? The
answer is simple: If they could have gotten along without the early-hour
servants, and without the servants of the third, sixth, and ninth hours, then
the church and the world could get along without the eleventh-hour servants
(the so-called offshoots), too. But in
such a sad condition, what would the world be like?
Moreover, since the announcement of the
separation of the saints from the sinners originates with the eleventh-hour
servants, and since they are to cry aloud and say, "Awake, awake; put on
thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and
the unclean." (Isa. 52:1): and also to say
"Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth
peace! O
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 11
keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked
shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off." (Nah. 1:15); it follows
that without the eleventh hour message and servants, the Church, Zion, would be
left sleeping forever, never to behold the feet of him who brings these good
tidings, of him who publishes peace, and never to put on her beautiful
garments, never to be fitted for the Kingdom.
I say that if left in such an unhappy and
unholy state the very elect would forever remain unclean and unsanctified --
deceived! And since the eleventh-hour
servants, the Davidians, are the ones unto whom the
message of this cleansing, "the Judgment of the Living," is
committed, then those who on account of it are our enemies, those who are doing
everything they can to keep the common people ignorant of the Truth and from
coming in contact with It, are the very ones who are endeavoring to deceive
"the very elect," if possible.
Thank God that it is impossible.
We should, therefore, now proclaim these
good tidings of peace even with greater zeal than ever, for commands the Lord:
"Say unto the house of
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No. 43 12
and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall
be My people, and I will be your God." Ezek.
36:22-28.
It will not do for us lightly to pass over
these verses of Scripture as we and the whole Denomination have been doing
heretofore. All of us should carefully
note that the Lord is to sanctify Himself by taking His elect from among the
heathen, and out of all countries, and bring them into their own land, into the
land of their fathers. "Then,"
when they return into their father's land, says the scripture, will He sprinkle
clean water upon them, and thus shall they be cleansed from all their filthiness
and from all their idols. Then and there
they are to be given a new heart, and a new spirit, and be made to walk in
God's statutes and to keep His judgments.
To this adds the Lord:
"Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and
confounded for your own ways, O house of
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43 13
be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all
that passed by.
"And they shall say, This
land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and
desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about
you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was
desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.
"Thus saith
the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of
No one dares say that these promises have
taken place, and no one dares say that they are post-millennial. Think on them and study them over, Brother,
Sister. Do not lightly dismiss them, for
they are your life. They mean your
salvation, your destiny, your eternity.
No one is fit to live and reign with Christ during the thousand years
who does not participate in this cleansing.
Finally, those who cast us out, and who
speak evil against us, those who are desperately fighting to keep the message
from the people, I am sure you now plainly see, are the very ones who are used
by the rebel leader to deceive "even the very elect if possible"
(Matt. 24:24). They are those who cast
us out of the churches
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No. 43 14
which we helped build; those
who are threatening the laity, forbidding them to read the literature, and
commanding them to consign it to the stove in order to keep them ignorant of
God's message for the hour. All their
efforts, though, will come to naught as verily as did the efforts of the
leading Jews against Christ's first advent.
For this obvious reason the church cannot
get along without us "offshoots," or rather "upshoots,"
and yet be saved for eternity. Let me
now read God's promise and encouragement for us all:
"Hear the word of the Lord, ye that
tremble at His Word; Your brethren that hated you,
that cast you out for My name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but He
shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." (Isa.
66:5)
Are The Davidians, Their Message, And
Their
Success In
Prophecy?
Now to this question, I say that they must
be if God is responsible for their coming into being. Please turn with me to--
Hos. 1:10 -- "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall
come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My
people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 15
children of
Here you see that the Jews were to be rejected
from being God's people, and you well know that this came to pass when the Lord
said unto them: "Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Matt.
23:38.
The prophecy nevertheless continues and
projects to the gathering time, the time God's penitent people appoint to
themselves one head, a king. These, of
course, are not the unconverted Jews of today, but they are the descendants
from among those who have been assimilated by the nations and by the Christian
church, from those who have lost their identity and who are now "as the
sands of the sea" in number, but who now as Gentiles (gentiles to their
own and to the world's short-sighted knowledge) have accepted Christ. (You who have missed my past studies on the
subject, may read Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 29 and Tract No. 8, Mt Sion at the 11th Hour, pp. 7-17.)
Who is the earthly head, king, whom the
Scriptures say the people "appoint" at the gathering time? -- Let us
read,
Hos. 3:4, 5 -- "For the children of
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No. 43 16
and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His
goodness in the latter days."
In this part of the prophecy, you see, we
are told that after they have sojourned among the Gentiles for "many
days" without a king, and without any sign of identification (having been
entirely lost sight of as a nation and as a people), they shall finally have
antitypical David rule over them. This
would not be ancient David as he was already dead when this prophecy was
made. Neither could this promised David
be Christ Himself, for Christ is the son of David (Matt.
Furthermore, you will note that Hosea
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No. 43 17
Hos. 2:1-5 -- "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi;
and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not
My wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between
her breasts; lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was
born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her
with thirst. And I will not have mercy
upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their
mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully:
for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me
my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."
Obvious it is that God is commanding Jezreel, the first-born of the three children, to speak to
his brother Ammi and to his sister Ruhamah, who in the allegory are symbolical of the laity,
both male and female. The mother whom
they are commanded to reform is, of course, symbolical of the ministry, of
those who bring forth converts into the church family. The one to whom God speaks (Jezreel), therefore, is symbolical of a prophet. Here you plainly see that the "revival
and reformation" does not come through the ministry (the mother) but
through the laity, the children, and that the ministry (the mother) is in even
greater need of reformation than the laity, for the mother is being accused of
disloyalty and is by the children advised to reform. This is indeed a laity-movement directed by
the Spirit of Prophecy, by Jezreel's heaven-inspired
effort and message.
The fact that the day of Jezreel
is to be great, together
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 18
with the fact that he is a symbol of a prophet, prove
that not only the Davidian message itself is in
prophecy, but that so also are its success and the need of reformation therein
recorded. Here you see that the Enemy's
wicked effort to squelch the message and to make Jezreel's
work of none effect will come to naught, for "great shall be the day of Jezreel," says the almighty One, while He brings all
His people out of the land (Hos. 1:11).
The message to the Laodiceans,
too, is directed to the ministry, for says the Lord:
Rev. 3:14-16 -- "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write;... I know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My
mouth."
Here, too, the angel (the ministry), who has
charge of the church, is again reproved and plainly requested to reform.
Ezekiel also is a witness of this
"startling revelation," for he declares that the cleansing begins
"at the ancient men which were before the house" (Ezek. 9:6). Let us turn to Ezekiel's prophecy:
Ezekiel 9:1-10 -- "He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them
that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying
weapon in his hand. 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. And the glory of the God of
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"And to the others He said in mine
hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare,
neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom
is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.
Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
"And He said unto them, Defile the
house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city. And it came to pass, while they were slaying
them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord
God! wilt Thou
destroy all the residue of
"Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the house of
Not in the world, but in
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 20
church, the iniquity is great, and there the slaughter
takes place. Moreover, the multitude
that is brewing and fostering the abominations are unconscious that they are
acting as if the Lord had forsaken the earth, as if He has left it for them to
run it and to do with His people as they please.
Here you see what it means to hear the Rod,
and what it means to close your ears to it.
The purification of the Church (the judgment
of the living) is, through the prophet Daniel in chapter 7, verse 10, called
the judgment, and in chapter 8, verse 14, is called the cleansing of the
Sanctuary. Christ, though, in one of His
parables likens the cleansing to a harvest in which the tares (sinners) are
burned, and the wheat (the saints) are put into the
barn (into the purified Church-Kingdom).
Next He likens it to a net from which, after being drawn to shore, the
bad fish (sinners) are cast out, and the good fish (saints) are put into
vessels.
When those who do not receive the mark, and
thus not the seal, are put away, then the church will appear "fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Prophets
and Kings, pg. 725), and "only those who have withstood temptation in the
strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it
[The Third Angel's Message] when it shall have swelled into the loud cry."
-- Review and Herald, Nov. 19, 1908.
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 21
Let us now see what takes place after the
abomination-loving multitude fall under the slaughter weapons of the angels;
let us see what is done for those who are left.
To see this we again go to Ezekiel's prophecy:
Ezek. 37:16-28 -- "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. And when the children of thy people shall
speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what
thou meanest by these?
"Say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of
Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even
with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine
hand.
"And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand
before their eyes.
"And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of
"And I will make them one nation in the
land upon the
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 22
mountains of
"Neither shall they defile themselves
any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of
their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces,
wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.
"And David My servant shall be king
over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.
"And they shall dwell in the land that
I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they
shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's
children for ever: and My servant David shall be their
prince for ever.
"Moreover I will make a covenant of
peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will
place them, and multiply them, and will set My
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
"My tabernacle also shall be with them:
yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
"And the heathen shall know that I the
Lord do sanctify
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 43 23
Here you see that not only will God cleanse
His church (Judah and Israel) by taking away all those who pollute His house of
prayer, but that afterwards He will gather into His purified church all the
dispersed who have descended from both the Kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes)
and of the Kingdom of Judah (the two tribes) -- all who are now out among the
nations, not in the church of the Laodiceans. He will make them one nation, over which,
prior to the Millennium, shall rule antitypical David, their king. No more shall they be annoyed by the heathen;
no more shall they be among the sinners; no more shall they be fed by a
multitude of shepherds, but only by one -- by God's appointed shepherd. Great, indeed, shall be the day of Jezreel! His efforts
and the efforts of his co-workers, the laity, shall succeed whether the mother
(the ministry) hears or forbears.
Plainly, you see, the Davidians,
their message, and their success are in prophecy.
Is The
Shepherd's Rod Literature
Also In
Prophecy?
To
this question the prophet Micah answers:
Mic. 6:9 -- "The Lord's voice crieth
unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it."
You have now heard God Himself recommend
that you hear the Rod -- yes, The Shepherd's Rod, for since Micah's day The
Shepherd's Rod is the only rod that
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has spoken, the only rod that can be read and listened
to. The wise shall see its name, and
hear its voice and also Him Who has appointed it. They shall fill their vessels with the extra
"oil" (Matt.25:4), says the Lord.
Thus it is seen that not only is the Rod
literature in prophecy, but that you are advised to hear it. If you neglect this opportunity, naturally
you will be found with the sinners fostering the abominations in the
church. But if you now give attention to
the Voice of God through the Rod, you will receive God's sealing approval.
What Will The Saints Do After The
Separation?
For light on this subject, we turn to
Isaiah, the prophet--
Isa. 66:15, 16, 19, 20 -- "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....
"And I will set a sign among them, and
I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish,
Pul, and Lud, that draw the
bow, to Tubal, and Javan,
to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame,
neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
"And they shall bring all your brethren
for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in
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chariots, and in litters,
and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering
in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord."
After the slaying of the sinners who say in their
hearts that the Lord delayeth His coming, and who eat
and drink with the drunken (Matt. 24:48, 49), then it is that the Lord sends
those who escape from the slaying of the Lord on a missionary tour; He sends
them, you observe, to the Gentiles, to the nations that as yet know not God and
His message. The escaped ones bring to
the house of the Lord all their brethren, all that will be saved. Thus is the gospel work finished, and thus
are God's people saved and called out of antitypical
I am sure that you now plainly see why the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists are not
"offshoots" but rather "upshoots,"
and what it means to hear the Rod and Him Who has appointed It, as well as what
it means to turn your back against It.
You can now intelligently make up your own
minds as to what stand you will take.
You may either take your stand with the opposers
against Truth and reformation, or you may take your stand for God's Truth with
His messengers, and by reforming your own lives you may lead others to do the
same. Whatever you decide you will know
that it is your own choice. God, though,
Who really knows what is best for your own interest advises
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you to follow Him to do what Truth instructs. I hope this will be your whole-hearted choice
and thus the joy of your life, that you will never
consent to be a "dead top," but that you will anxiously decide to be
a living "upshoot." I also hope that none of you will let the
enemies of God talk you out of these revealed truths on these men-forsaken
Scriptures, for you already know that the opposers of
the Truth have nothing official, nothing authoritative, and nothing logical or
meaningful to offer you on these heretofore unrevealed truths. Yes, I hope that you will not trade these
"pearls of great price" for rubbish and stubble.
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