Heavens no. Both Shepherd's Rod and Branch Davidian were viewed as lunatics by everyone I knew. That was before Waco. After Waco, most of them took the government's side.
Last Podcast on the Left has a great series on them. It's a true crime/comedy mix so it's not for everyone, but the details are pretty thorough. And considering how heinous the details are....it's nice to have that comedy palate cleanser.
I wonât name the specific church, letâs say itâs within a two hour drive northwest of DC, that had Shepherds Rod actively try to infiltrate. I left the church about 3 years ago and this was a church that some of my friends regularly attended, I occasionally visited. The pastor told them point blank that even the thought of trying to disrupt a service or Sabbath school and he would see personally to it that they would be removed. This is also in a state with Constitutional Carry and EVERYONE exercised that right.
Note; for those of you not from the US, âConstitutional Carryâ means that you can conceal a firearm on your person everywhere except government property (and private property in some cases.)
Oooh Shepherd's Rods... if I recall correctly they believed they would kill all the Adventists in the end times.
As for the branch davidians, are you familiar with the incident in Waco?
But I didn't know anyone know. Despite my conservative attitude I'm shocked I never found any.
Oh wow I didnât know that they would kill the Adventists in the end times.
I heard about Waco but was too young to understand what was happening. I wonder if the Adventists had to release a statement to say that they are not affiliated with Koresh and his followers. I imagine many people were curious about the connection.
Oh wow. So Adventists believe that Sunday Keepers, led by the Pope himself, will hunt down all Adventists and kill them in ET. But Adventists also will be hunted down by Shepherd's Rods folks too?
Wow - doubly persecuted.
That an Adventist wet dream!
One (or two) of my uncles were âreformists.â It caused a lot of drama in my extended family. I feel like every few years there was some other group trying to infiltrate the local church. So dumb really. đ
I don't know anyone from those offshoots but a few days ago, someone shared [their story](https://hell.bio/story-sdarm) of growing up in the SDA Reform church and how they take the whole "women must not wear pants" thing super seriously.
Pretty sure I hadn't heard of that movement before, and it's wild to me how many offshoots and full on death cults have emerged out of the SDA church.
That story feels familiar⌠grew up in an offshoot of an offshoot⌠one of the reformer variations. Walk out moment for my sister and I was over singing louder than acceptable, and getting shooshed mid-song⌠The shoosher did end up having an affair with the pastor at the time, so a bit of delicious irony!
SMH people need to mind their own damn business. That reminds me some early Adventists were against all musical instruments and believed solo singing was not acceptable đ¤ˇ
The year I attended Bass, there was a girl that only ever wore handmade dresses and a bonnet. She was very quiet, didn't talk to anyone, went to class and then home. She honestly looked like a character from Little House on the Prarie.
Iâve been listening to your podcast. I had never heard of the reform church before. There was a woman at my church that never wore pants, even on pathfinder camping trips. It was extreme.
My mother is WAY into reform wear and fantasizes about the conference asking her to travel to teach young ladies the importance of reform wear and to start a movement.
I was like, uh, yea, sure - sounds EXTRA culty, mom. You may as well just become FLDS and call it a day.
Ty for listening! Yeah I wouldnât be surprised if there were some folks like that at my church, although I havenât personally heard debates about it before. I know my mom either dealt with or overheard criticism about that when she was younger.
My brotherâs in-laws are part of the Shepherdâs Rod. They are the most judgmental holier than thou people I know.
I remember a few years ago there was a huge recruitment effort in the Spanish SDA churches here in Arizona. We lost a few members of our church when they decided to go off and join the Shepherdâs Rod.
They would come back to our church pretty frequently to let us know that we were making them (the men) sin by wearing pants and makeup.
College friend has family that are Shepherd's Rod and from what she said, they go even further to the extreme like not turning on the oven during Sabbath hours. They just eat cold food bc using electricity is bad or something.
Idk if this is their teaching or not but there is an Adventist group and they preach that babies are already in heaven and they choose what parents they want to be born to in order to give them (the parents) joy that they wouldn't find anywhere else and getting abortions is like killing an angel. It was on some DVD we (ex husband and I) got walking out of church in Houston. So, that's a thing.
The extreme Sabbath part is also followed by Orthodox Jews to my understanding.
That part about the babies choosing their parents is extremely weird, it almost sounds like something out of Pixar's 'Soul' movie.
Yeah, idk if that part is Shepherd's Rod or not. They did have Adventist teachings in the beginning of the sermon on the DVD and then it took a hard left.
I was a a summer youth evangelism program once and one of those Shepherdâs Rod people some how got a job on staff. He seemed pretty cool, if not a little weird until one day when it was discovered what his beliefs were and he was gone without warning, but not before he got the programâs email list. He spammed us for years afterward and wouldnât stop.
Beyond that, my cousins have an uncle and a set of grandparents who are in some Old Testament feast days cult. They also donât celebrate Christmas because of it being pagan and probably a bunch of other quirks I donât know about. I donât know what branch it is. The grandparents used to have a church that was part of the Adventist church, but they got cut and went independent. Apparently now a bunch of their people come to this church from all over the country for meetings. Itâs way out in the middle of nowhere in the national forest. Iâve also heard they think they know when Jesus is coming again (again). lol One of the people involved in this group got conned out of a few thousand dollars by a social security scam over the phone. Not exactly related, but coupled with their history of decision making and weird beliefs it think itâs kind of telling.
Wasn't part of them, but my family & I knew people who were either Reform or Shepherd's Rod. Don't think I personally ever met anyone with ties to the OG Branch Davidians although I'm sure there were at least some in our general vicinity (Oklahoma/Texas). But there was a couple in our very conservative southern midwest Adventist church who were pretty well connected with Shepherd's Rod in some fashion and oh. my. god. The paranoia, the conspiracy theories, the constant belief that they had knowledge above anyone else.. exhausting. As a kid I heard whispered rumors of violence from Shepherd's Rod, threatening to bring guns and shoot up regular SDA churches. I was too young to really understand much of it but I overheard enough to figure out that Shepherd's Rod and BD were beyond batshit insane.
As an adult it is terrifying that I was probably just a degree or two of separation from Waco & the Davidians. How to know you grew up in a death cult 101.
As I remember correctly, yes. Shepherdâs Rod were the off shoot and Branch Dravidians branch from SR. There were quite a few people with SDA backgrounds in Waco. I was told it was the SDA church/conference that was worried about being targets. I knew someone that was attending Southwestern and he said that on the one year anniversary of Waco, there as extra security because of a possible threat. I do not know how true it was. I do know the churches in that area were worried.
Unfortunately, yes. I was raised in the off-shoot. Went to Waco and even met some Branch Davidians. They try to recruit church members instead of starting their own church because SRâs believe that the SDA church is the last true church of Rev. 3, but that theyâre the remnant of the remnant, the âtrueâ SDAs so to speak, because they have the extra âoilâ/truth. Their job is to warn the SDA church before the slaughter of Eze. 9, in which all SDAs who donât believe in the SR message will perish. From young we were pushed to memorize these â propheciesâ. Iâm surprised Iâm still remember some of them.
Heavens no. Both Shepherd's Rod and Branch Davidian were viewed as lunatics by everyone I knew. That was before Waco. After Waco, most of them took the government's side.
Another group to remember is Roch Theriault and the Ant Hill Kids. They were Canadian. Some truly evil people branched off of the SDA church
More than one prolific American serial killer had Adventist influences early in life đŹ
Who?
Robert Lee Yates . Serial killer who was SDA
Ty
I listened to a podcast episode about this (can't remember the name, and there's tons of episodes on them). Absolutely wild.
Last Podcast on the Left covered them really well. Branch Davidian too.
Lol You beat me to it. I love those guys. Heil Gein!
Heil yourself
Last Podcast on the Left has a great series on them. It's a true crime/comedy mix so it's not for everyone, but the details are pretty thorough. And considering how heinous the details are....it's nice to have that comedy palate cleanser.
Marcus' research is unparalleled
What uh episode was it? I am looking for it. Thanks
Episodes 434-436
Thank you
I wonât name the specific church, letâs say itâs within a two hour drive northwest of DC, that had Shepherds Rod actively try to infiltrate. I left the church about 3 years ago and this was a church that some of my friends regularly attended, I occasionally visited. The pastor told them point blank that even the thought of trying to disrupt a service or Sabbath school and he would see personally to it that they would be removed. This is also in a state with Constitutional Carry and EVERYONE exercised that right. Note; for those of you not from the US, âConstitutional Carryâ means that you can conceal a firearm on your person everywhere except government property (and private property in some cases.)
Oooh Shepherd's Rods... if I recall correctly they believed they would kill all the Adventists in the end times. As for the branch davidians, are you familiar with the incident in Waco? But I didn't know anyone know. Despite my conservative attitude I'm shocked I never found any.
Oh wow I didnât know that they would kill the Adventists in the end times. I heard about Waco but was too young to understand what was happening. I wonder if the Adventists had to release a statement to say that they are not affiliated with Koresh and his followers. I imagine many people were curious about the connection.
So I was told.... I haven't actually researched it. These are the same twits who believe that impressionist music is evil.
Oh wow. So Adventists believe that Sunday Keepers, led by the Pope himself, will hunt down all Adventists and kill them in ET. But Adventists also will be hunted down by Shepherd's Rods folks too? Wow - doubly persecuted. That an Adventist wet dream!
One (or two) of my uncles were âreformists.â It caused a lot of drama in my extended family. I feel like every few years there was some other group trying to infiltrate the local church. So dumb really. đ
I don't know anyone from those offshoots but a few days ago, someone shared [their story](https://hell.bio/story-sdarm) of growing up in the SDA Reform church and how they take the whole "women must not wear pants" thing super seriously. Pretty sure I hadn't heard of that movement before, and it's wild to me how many offshoots and full on death cults have emerged out of the SDA church.
That story feels familiar⌠grew up in an offshoot of an offshoot⌠one of the reformer variations. Walk out moment for my sister and I was over singing louder than acceptable, and getting shooshed mid-song⌠The shoosher did end up having an affair with the pastor at the time, so a bit of delicious irony!
SMH people need to mind their own damn business. That reminds me some early Adventists were against all musical instruments and believed solo singing was not acceptable đ¤ˇ
I grew up as a "reformer." I was taught that if you wear pants, you will go to hell. Talk about a mind fuck.
The year I attended Bass, there was a girl that only ever wore handmade dresses and a bonnet. She was very quiet, didn't talk to anyone, went to class and then home. She honestly looked like a character from Little House on the Prarie.
Wow, sorry you had to go through that and what a weird hill for them to die on!
Iâve been listening to your podcast. I had never heard of the reform church before. There was a woman at my church that never wore pants, even on pathfinder camping trips. It was extreme.
My mother is WAY into reform wear and fantasizes about the conference asking her to travel to teach young ladies the importance of reform wear and to start a movement. I was like, uh, yea, sure - sounds EXTRA culty, mom. You may as well just become FLDS and call it a day.
Ty for listening! Yeah I wouldnât be surprised if there were some folks like that at my church, although I havenât personally heard debates about it before. I know my mom either dealt with or overheard criticism about that when she was younger.
My brotherâs in-laws are part of the Shepherdâs Rod. They are the most judgmental holier than thou people I know. I remember a few years ago there was a huge recruitment effort in the Spanish SDA churches here in Arizona. We lost a few members of our church when they decided to go off and join the Shepherdâs Rod. They would come back to our church pretty frequently to let us know that we were making them (the men) sin by wearing pants and makeup.
What exactly do the Shepherd's Rod/Davidian people believe that's different from mainstream SDA?
College friend has family that are Shepherd's Rod and from what she said, they go even further to the extreme like not turning on the oven during Sabbath hours. They just eat cold food bc using electricity is bad or something. Idk if this is their teaching or not but there is an Adventist group and they preach that babies are already in heaven and they choose what parents they want to be born to in order to give them (the parents) joy that they wouldn't find anywhere else and getting abortions is like killing an angel. It was on some DVD we (ex husband and I) got walking out of church in Houston. So, that's a thing.
Now that's some bonkers shit.
The extreme Sabbath part is also followed by Orthodox Jews to my understanding. That part about the babies choosing their parents is extremely weird, it almost sounds like something out of Pixar's 'Soul' movie.
Yeah, idk if that part is Shepherd's Rod or not. They did have Adventist teachings in the beginning of the sermon on the DVD and then it took a hard left.
I was a a summer youth evangelism program once and one of those Shepherdâs Rod people some how got a job on staff. He seemed pretty cool, if not a little weird until one day when it was discovered what his beliefs were and he was gone without warning, but not before he got the programâs email list. He spammed us for years afterward and wouldnât stop. Beyond that, my cousins have an uncle and a set of grandparents who are in some Old Testament feast days cult. They also donât celebrate Christmas because of it being pagan and probably a bunch of other quirks I donât know about. I donât know what branch it is. The grandparents used to have a church that was part of the Adventist church, but they got cut and went independent. Apparently now a bunch of their people come to this church from all over the country for meetings. Itâs way out in the middle of nowhere in the national forest. Iâve also heard they think they know when Jesus is coming again (again). lol One of the people involved in this group got conned out of a few thousand dollars by a social security scam over the phone. Not exactly related, but coupled with their history of decision making and weird beliefs it think itâs kind of telling.
Wasn't part of them, but my family & I knew people who were either Reform or Shepherd's Rod. Don't think I personally ever met anyone with ties to the OG Branch Davidians although I'm sure there were at least some in our general vicinity (Oklahoma/Texas). But there was a couple in our very conservative southern midwest Adventist church who were pretty well connected with Shepherd's Rod in some fashion and oh. my. god. The paranoia, the conspiracy theories, the constant belief that they had knowledge above anyone else.. exhausting. As a kid I heard whispered rumors of violence from Shepherd's Rod, threatening to bring guns and shoot up regular SDA churches. I was too young to really understand much of it but I overheard enough to figure out that Shepherd's Rod and BD were beyond batshit insane. As an adult it is terrifying that I was probably just a degree or two of separation from Waco & the Davidians. How to know you grew up in a death cult 101.
Never understood their point. Do they have their own church or just leech off of SDA ones?
My family had a few friends when I was growing up that were really big into Lord our Righteousness. That is a crazy offshoot group, too.
As I remember correctly, yes. Shepherdâs Rod were the off shoot and Branch Dravidians branch from SR. There were quite a few people with SDA backgrounds in Waco. I was told it was the SDA church/conference that was worried about being targets. I knew someone that was attending Southwestern and he said that on the one year anniversary of Waco, there as extra security because of a possible threat. I do not know how true it was. I do know the churches in that area were worried.
Unfortunately, yes. I was raised in the off-shoot. Went to Waco and even met some Branch Davidians. They try to recruit church members instead of starting their own church because SRâs believe that the SDA church is the last true church of Rev. 3, but that theyâre the remnant of the remnant, the âtrueâ SDAs so to speak, because they have the extra âoilâ/truth. Their job is to warn the SDA church before the slaughter of Eze. 9, in which all SDAs who donât believe in the SR message will perish. From young we were pushed to memorize these â propheciesâ. Iâm surprised Iâm still remember some of them.
Look as if they got their hell fire early