The Place of Fire in Branch Davidian Eschatology
By James Scott Trimm
(Originally written in 1994)
“…James Trimm– with the endorsement of theologian Phil Arnold– has been able to build… complete with citations from Houteff and Lois Roden, an ostensibly plausible theory about the start of the fire. On the morning of April 19, Trimm postulates, David Koresh ignited the fire at Mt. Carmel as a means of closing the Fifth Seal and ushering in the Sixth. Key to Trimm’s theory are two passages from the scriptures, Ezekiel 10:2 and Zechariah 2:5,… The Trimm-Arnold theory holds that Koresh may have scattered coals over… Mt. Carmel, building a ‘wall of fire’ that he believed would be harmeless to its inhabitants, but death to intruders. And indeed, on March 7, Koresh did cite the ‘wall of fire’ text in a chat with the FBI.”
(The Ashes of Waco; An Investigation; by Dick J. Reavis; 1995; p. 272)
The paper below was entered into the congressional record and cited before congress by Congresswoman Slaughter during the Branch Davidian Congressional hearings in 1995:
Ms. Slaughter. Do you know James Trimm? Are you familiar with that name?
Mr. Zimmermann. Who, ma’am?
Mrs. Slaughter. James Trimm.
Mr. Zimmermann. Thats not a name—
Ms. Slaughter. A Researcher from Dallas-Fort Worth who had the endorsement of theologian Phillip Arnold who I believe will testify here later today, that they had a plausible theory about the start of the fire, and this was after the Passover. On the morning of April 19, Mr. Trimm postulates, koresh ignited the fatal fire at Mount Carmel as a means of closing the fifth seal and ushering in the sixth. So he believed that the fire was necessary in order to get to the sixth seal, and that Koresh had talked to the FBI before about this wall of fire.
Did you and your client discuss this?
Mr. Zimmermann. We did not discuss fire, ma’am.
(Joint Hearings; Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians; Part 2; page 71)
The Place of Fire in Branch Davidian Eschatology
During one of my earliest interviews with Branch Davidians in March of 1993 I was told by Brad Branch that Koresh had given each member a departing Bible study before they would leave Mt. Carmel. According to Brad, Koresh told him that Zech. 14:2 is where the Branch Davidians (or “Branches”) were in prophecy at that time. Koresh had told him that the Branches who were leaving Mt. Carmel were those who “shall go forth into captivity,” and that it was very important that people on the outside know that Zech. 14:2 was happening. This information was later confirmed to me by Branch Davidian theologian Livingstone Fagan. On Wed March 24, 1993 I called the FBI to offer some insight on Zech 1 4:2 in relation to the unfolding events. My call was quickly brushed off and I was told that the FBI had specialists hard at work on the subject. Although I did not know it at the time, it was in fact deadly important that people on the outside know that Koresh saw himself as being in Zech. 14:2, for knowing and understanding how Koresh and the branch Davidians understood this passage might have prevented the tragedy on April 19, 1993. As early as Dec. 14, 1946 Davidian founder Victor Houteff viewed Zech. 14 as being of the utmost importance. In commenting on the passage Houteff taught:
In view of the fact that Jerusalem is to be protected by a wall of fire (Zech. 2:5) while the house of Judah reigns there, it is definite that the battle here described must be fought before the house of Judah is established.
(Timely Greetings Vol. 1, No 19 p. 3)
Houteff goes on to comment on Zech. 14:3-4 where he also ties in Zech. 12:6 which says in part “In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an heath of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf,…” and then comments:
When the Lord smites the armies of the nations,He also makes the rulers of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood. Thus shall they with the “everlasting gospel” devour all the heathen round about, and thus shall Jerusalem be inhabited safely by God’s faithful people.
(Ibid p. 5 )
Even earlier, in 1933, Houteff had made even more astounding observations tying Zech. 2:5 to Ezk.. 10:2 and to the Davidians being taken up in the Lord’s chariot:
…The Lord “spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city.” (Ezek…. 10:2) The scattering of the “coals of fire”… over the city represents absolute purification of the heart… He will be unto them “a wall of fire round about.” Here we are graphically reassured
that “in that day”, in the day that the Lord takes the reins in His own hands and comes to dwell in the midst of the city, His presence, His marvelous chariot, shall be a protection round about his people!… Then shall the chariot, being dedicated to the saints, and filled to capacity, take off for the portals of glory…
(Tract 1p. 39-40)
Thus Houteff taught that “the man clothed with linen” would “scatter” “coals of fire” “over the city” creating “a wall of fire” that would protect them ‘like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf.” so that the (fiery) chariot shall be a protection around them. and take them up to glory.
In a 1969 tract Houteff’s successor, Ben Roden, taught that the prophecy of Zech. 14: 1-2 had been fulfilled in 1948 when “all nations” (UN) split Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan. (Ben Roden; As Birds Flying p. 2, June 1969; Marvelous Prophecies of Jerusalem Fulfilled, p. 1, May 1973). This originally led me to believe that Ben Roden had abandoned the “Fire” prophecy altogether. However examination of another Ben Roden tract makes it clear that this was not the case.
Ben Roden taught that there were five angel’s messages in Rev. 14. Ben saw himself as having the fifth angel’s message. Ben say the fifth angel as signaling the end of what adventists call “the investigative judgment” or “probartionary time” and bringing to fruition the judicial and executive judgements. In his tract THE FINAL ATONEMENT Ben Roden writes:
The investigative Judgment begins with the dead, those who first lived upon the earth, and closes with those who are living on the earth.
Therefore: If the living are to know the time of their investigative
Judgment, they must be told by Inspiration. The Revelator saw another angel: “And another angel came out of the tmple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of
the earth is ripe.” Rev. 14:15.
Here we see:
1. Another angel (message) with a loud voice declares that is is time for the Lord to reap the “first fruits.” Let’s keep in mind that Judgment and reaping (harvest) are synonymous terms.
2. This angel (prophetic message) comes out of the “temple.” the place where the Judgment is going on. He follows the third angel’s message. Therefore, this angel is the fourth message of Rev. 14. This
angel with a “loud voice” is also found in Rev. 7. See verse 2.
The Lord, Himself, reaps the first fruits. Rev. 14:16, Read Rev. 7:1-8.
“And another angel (another prophetic message) came out of the temple (from the Judgment scend) which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.” Rev. 14:17. “And another angel come out from the altar (Holy Place), which had power over fire; and he cried with a
loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.” Rev. 14-18.
Conclusion:
When the Lord seal (3T 266-7) and reaps the first fruits of Rev. 7:1-8, the church will be purified by the fire from the Holy Place (altar, Rev. 14:18), and the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the remnant (Acts 2).
Ben Roden was succeeded by his wife Lois Roden. Lois reopened the case on Zech. 14:1-2 while delivering a sermon on May 15, 1979. In this sermon Lois Roden read over Timely Greetings Vol. 1 No. 19 and commented on the text. Lois argued, based on several points, that the event of Zech. 14:1-2 had not yet occurred. Commenting on Houteff’s comments on Zech. 14:2 & Zech. 2:5 (quoted earlier) Lois said:
You didn’t have the wall of fire to protect the house of Judah in 1948 or 1967 that’s why I say its yet future… We have a spiritual application of it and then we have a literal [application], and the spiritual application has been made by Brother (Ben) Roden…
(Lois Roden; taped sermon May 5, 1979)
She went on to comment on Houteff’s comments on Zech. 12:6 as applied to the event of Zech. 14:2 saying:
What kind of “sheaf” have we been talking about? It shows the wave “sheaf” is going to be “like a torch of fire.” Their going to have
the “wall of fire” [Zech. 2:5] about them to do their work…
now that didn’t happen in 1948 neither did it happen in
1967 when the application has been made.”
(Lois Roden; taped sermon May 5, 1979)
In the early 80’s Lois Roden wrote a series of three tracts entitled “Chariots of Fire” parts 1 through 3. The first two of these tracts featured a military tank on the front cover, and Elijah’s chariot of fire on the back cover. This fiery chariot on the back cover was given the following caption: Faithful Elijah was caught up to heaven in a glorious chariot of fire. He is a representative of those who will be translated without dying when Christ comes.
In part two of this series she writes:
He (Isaiah) also saw their translation to Paradise in the merkabah Chariot, God’s Traveling Throne (Ps. 68:17) by the Heavenly Host…literally speaking, the “smoke” from the north (Is. 14:31) refers to a “signal fire” by which an army is called together.
(Lois Roden; Merkabah: Chariots of Fire part2, page8, July 4, 1983)
Koresh later echoed Lois saying: Just like the Merkabah tract 2 says the signal fire is to do what? To gather an army right?
(Taped message on Manna – after July 4, 1983)
Thus Lois taught that Houteff’s predictions concerning Zech. 14:2 were yet future and the wall of fire (Zech.2:5) meant that the wave sheaf (a term used by Branches to refer to the first of the firstfruits, i.e. the Branches themselves) would “be like a torch in the fire” (Zech. 12:6). This was to take place at the same time that Houteff had said that the chariot would come and take them up. The stage had now been set for a very tragic future for the “wave sheaf.”
Lois Roden was followed in the leadership by David Koresh who claimed to have the “seventh angels message.” Koresh inherited a Zech. 14:2 which hadn’t occurred yet. David also claimed to be the “angel ascending from the east” of Rev. 7:2. Since the Branches see Rev. 7 and Ezekiel 9 as speaking of the same event, Koresh was also seen as the “man clothed in linen” of Ezekiel. 9. Now in Ezekiel 10 this same “man clothed in linen” is told to take “coals of fire”…and scatter them over the city.’ (Ezkekiel. 10:2) This parallels Rev. 8:5 which states: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it onto the earth.”
All of this can be seen in quotes from Koresh’s taped Bible studies:
Let me repeat. Now Sister White’s the third [angel’s message], Brother Houteff is the fourth, Brother Roden is the fifth, Sister Roden is the sixth, and the angel ascending from the east [Rev. 7:2] is the seventh angel… Now notice the seventh angel tells us that when the seventh seal is opened, there’s silence in heaven. Christ comes down to earth. And Christ comes down to execute Ezekiel 9. But look how its done. Theres a revelation of all executive judgments from the foundation of the world. Verse 5: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast [it] into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” Rev. 8:5. Earthquake represents resurrection.
(Taped message; Judge What I Say; April 14, 1985)
…the rainbow upon his head [Rev 10:1], that’s a covenant promise isn’t it? The promise is that next time God’s gonna take care of you with fire right? [He’s] not gonna drown ya next time. [Gen. 9] So we know this is a judgment message right?… his feet were as pillars of fire [Rev. 10:1]. Where he walks is gonna burn right? Whatever territory he stands upon is gonna burn right?… Now Revelation 10 is a revelation, but what does it reveal?… the angel starts speaking right before the trumpet sounds, right? In other words sometime before the trumpet sounds… chapter 11 verse 25 when the seventh angel sounded there will be great voices in heaven. These voices are the same voices which are speaking in Revelation chapter 15 the wave sheaf are in heaven at that time… If your not there and you were supposed to be wave sheaf, you’re lost my friend! You are lost!
If you don’t go up the first time the chariot comes around, you don’t go up!… Chapter 10 tells us that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he should begin to sound, the angel starts speaking this verse is the same thing God’s revealing in Revelation 14:7 OK, which is the same thing that takes place right before
Revelation chapter 11 verse 15. Cause when the angel sounds friends, its over! The wave sheaf is over! And if you’re not a wave sheaf you are nothing!
(Taped message; untitled; on the wave sheaf, undated c. 1985)
Remember Ben Roden taught that the fifth angel’s message (but the seventh according to Koresh’s break down) would end with the end of probationary time and the purification of the Church by fire from the Holy Place/Alter (see quote above from Ben Roden and Rev. 8:5 with Ezek. 10:2).
Koresh also recognized Deut. 32 as relating to the angel’s message of Rev. 10. To begin with, Koresh pointed out that the angel of Rev. 10:1 is dressed up like a rain cloud, and Deut. 32:a says that God’s truth will rain upon the earth:
Here we have the Lord revealing in symbolism his truth coming from heaven like as it were rain. In Rev. 10 the angel comes down with a cloud upon his head which signifies rain, right?
read all of Deuteronomy 32.
(Taped Message, Judge What I Say, David Koresh April 2, 1985)
Moreover, my interviews with Livingstone Fagan have revealed that Deut. 32 is seen as a key to the Seventh Seal. Koresh taught according to Fagan, that the wave sheaf learn the “new song” from the sinful messiah of Psalm 40 (Ps. 40:3, 12) that they, with the lamb, teach it to the 144,000 (Rev. 14:1) and that it is identified with the “song of Moses” (see Rev. 15:3). Deut..32 is of course “the song of Moses” (Deut. 31:30). Note that this song states: For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Deut. 32:22)
As shown previously, Koresh taught that he was the angel ascending from the east in the sixth seal saying “hurt not” to the four winds (Rev. 7:1-2) These four winds were perceived as the messages of Ellen G. White, Victor Houteff, Ben Roden and Lois Roden. As shown in the following quotes:
…there are four angels during the executive judgment, they are to slay the third part of men and they are prepared at an hour, day, month, year. They’re bound in the great river Euphrates, they’re bound up in confusion in other words. But we find in Revelation, chapter seven, who these angels are. Remember during the sixth seal the 144,000 are to be sealed. But before they’re sealed there has to be four prophetic messages which have power to destroy. In other words, they have come and they have come and they have been rejected by the majority. But even though these four messages, Ellen G. White, Victor Houteff, Brother Roden and Sister Roden, are ready to destroy their adversaries, another message of mercy, the seventh
angel, ascends from the east saying,”hurt not”…
(Taped message, Koresh, Judge What I Say -April 2, 1985)
However, in the seventh seal, the executive judgment, these messages would be loosed to destroy (Rev. 9:13-16(, as Koresh said: So the seventh seal opens and tells us that during the time of the sixth trumpet, the four angels, which have been bound in confusion, from Ellen White, Brother Houteff, Brother Roden and Sister Roden,
that these four angels are now going to have power to destroy..
(ibid)
But now look at how these four angels destroy when Koresh looses the seventh seal:
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…
By these three was the third part of men killed,
by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone,
which issued out of their mouths.
(Rev. 9:15, 18)
This agrees with Ben Roden’s THE FINAL ATONEMENT tract quoted above. Thus by the time Koresh had inherited the leadership, the Branches were expecting the siege on Jerusalem to take place at some time in the future. At this event they expected that the “man clothed in linen” would take “coals of fire” and “scatter them over the city” creating a “wall of fire” that would in some way protect them causing they, the wave sheaf, to be like “torches in the fire”.
At this time God’s “chariot” would take then up to “glory”. Now it has been well documented that during the siege Koresh believed he was in a “waiting period” of the fifth seal (see APOCALYPSE AT WACO, James Tabor in Bible Review Oct. ’93’; THE WACO TRAGEDY, James Tabor in From The Ashes, 1994; THE DAVIDIAN DILEMMA, Philip Arnold in From The Ashes, 1994; KORESH’S SEVEN SEALS TEACHING, James Trimm in Watchman Expositor Vol II, No. 4, 1994). Now Koresh believed that at the end of this waiting period would come the sixth seal, which involved Rev. 7 and the judicial judgment of the living, the marking of the 144,000 to be immediately followed by the seventh seal, the executive judgment of the living, the slaughter of those not marked (Ezkl. 9) and the instruction following to take the coals of fire and scatter them over the city (Ezkl. 10:2; Rev. 8:5). Koresh may have believed that the now famous 58 minute message of March 2 might seal the 144,000 and the end of his waiting period. He later looked to the heavens for a sign, the sixth seal in Revelation includes cosmic disturbances. He then looked to Passover as a possible end of his wait, because the marking of the 144,000 is seen by the branches as the atypical Passover, due to the obvious symbolism. It was vitally important that Koresh’s waiting period be extended, as Dr. Arnold and Dr. Tabor had recommended, and that Koresh not come to the conclusion that his time was up. When the tanks came crashing in on April 19, 1993 announcing “…the standoff is over…” they were telling Koresh that the waiting period must be over. The only resolution was to convince Koresh that his wait could be years, that he would need to write out and explain the seals for the 144,000 to be marked.
It should be added that according to the Branch Davidiand David paralleled the seven seals both to the seven angel’s messages and to the seven visions of 2Esdras (in the Apocrypha). The sixth angel’s message is that of the Holy Spirit and is sybolized by fire (In Koresh’s system the sixth angel’s message is Rev. 14:18 which speaks of fire). This is also in agreement with Ben Roden’s THE FINAL ATONEMENT tract which parallels the fire of Rev. 14:18 with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 as well as the end time fire (see Ben Roden quote above). Moreover in the sixth vision of 2Esdras a messianic figure on a mountain is protected from an army gathered to war against him a by fire which comes forth from him (2Esdras 13:1f).
That these understandings existed among the Branch Davidians may be verified by several statements made by various Branch Davidians since the fire: Janet McBean:
We know that something terrible
may happen on this world, because of the children.
But we also knew that because of the children,
instead of something terrible happening,
we could be translated…
Interviewer: Was it necessary then for them to die to live?
Janet Kendrick: No they didn’t have to die.
She’s saying they could have been translated without ever dying.
Interviewer: Translated meaning…
Kendrick: Meaning that… their spirits just went up
and left their bodies behind, ands that’s not the same
as someone shooting you…
McBean: There’s different ways of translation.
Elijah when he was translated did not leave his body behind.
Moses died and then God took his body to heaven…
Enoch, the Bible tells us, just walked right into heaven…
Interviewer: But the children’s lives were going to be translated
at some point? McBean: …We don’t know how those children were going to return to heaven.
They could have been translated with us, just go up, Ok?
You just don’t see us um, some…Christians today
believe in the rapture…well translation is just like a rapture, Ok?
I can maybe explain it that way, so we may have just gone up like that.
Or we may have had a traumatic ending like we did now with the fire…
Interviewer: How did this [the fiery chariot of Elijah]
fit into your idea of how [for] many in your group,
the end would come.
Kendrick: That God would come and take them up
in the merkabah (throne chariot).
Interviewer: That God would literally send down
a chariot to take them up for all the TV cameras to see?
Kendrick: Yes. McBean: We believe in being translated like Elijah was translated
so if I was in there and I saw the fire start then I would expect God
to take me. But if I was in there and it was still burning
and I didn’t see it happening and I had a gun beside me
I wouldn’t see it as being suicidal or wrong and finish myself off
rather then being burned.
(Janet McBean and Janet Kendrick – NPR interview)
The purpose of this article has not been to place blame for the Mt. Carmel fire on anyone, but to expose that very early in the siege information existed that could have averted the tragedy. With some small amount of research the FBI could have learned from Koresh’s use of Zech. 14:2 that pushing a premature ending of the siege might be choosing a path that could lead to the “wall of fire” scenario. Perhaps in a future “cult standoffs” the FBI will give more heed to the input of serious theological scholars. Such situations are definitely NOT the time for an arrogant do-it- yourself mentality.
James Trimm
Copyright 1994 by James Scott Trimm
Related:
A Rebuttal of Branch Davidian Theology
Branch Davidian Theology: A Doctrine onto Death
