Lois Roden
Lois Irene Scott Roden, was a president of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church, an apocalyptic Christian sect, her husband, Benjamin Roden, began in 1955 as a succession to the Davidian Seventh Day Adventist reform movement that began in 1930 under the leadership of Victor T. Houteff, who died in 1955. In 1977, a year before Benjamin Roden died, she said she received a vision of the person of the Holy Spirit symbolized as a feminine "shimmering silvery Angel."
For years, Lois had been greatly impressed with the reality that women were also made in the image and likeness of God, and that they therefore, by divine right, held a position of co-dominion with men in all things. She had been sharing this concept with the Branch believers since 1973 in the face of much resistance. She had nearly reached the point of abandoning her impressions of the femininity of the Holy Spirit for the sake of unity in the Church when she received the vision. The vision served to confirm to her and others that what she had believed to be Scriptural truth was indeed sustained therein, and it encouraged her to press forward in sharing the matter. Following this, she continually received more light from the Bible and other sources on this subject, including the fact that the Hebrew word for Spirit is feminine. She learned that the Jews believe that the Holy Spirit and the Shekinah (both of which are feminine words in the Hebrew) are one and the same, though they do not generally believe in Her individual Personhood. This feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit is a prominent feature in the Jewish Kabbalah.
From 1977 until the time of her husband, Benjamin's, death in 1978 she was co-prophet/president of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church along with him. When Benjamin Roden died, Lois remained as the sole lawful president until her death in 1986. Early in her presidency her leadership was challenged by her son, George Roden, and later (in late 1983) by Vernon Howell a.k.a. David Koresh. Both challengers would eventually draw away, or scare away, much of the congregation, as both employed force of arms to further their aims.
In 1979, along with publishing many related tracts, Lois began publishing a magazine entitled Shekinah. The magazine explored the issues of the feminine aspect of the Godhead and women in the ministry of the Church. Shekinah magazine contained Lois' commentaries as well as reprints of news articles and excerpts of publications from a variety of Christian, Jewish, and other sources which addressed women's place in the world of religion. Lois received awards and commendations for the magazine from some prominent groups and individuals in the religious world. Among them were an Award of Excellence from Excellence in Media Angel Awards, and another from The Dove Foundation.
Though Lois received strong support for her work regarding women's position of equality on earth as it is in heaven, she also received heavy opposition from the male dominated ministries. Some of the strongest of this opposition came from those relatively few former Church members who left her leadership to follow that of Howell/Koresh. One of his unique teachings was that Lois was no longer to publish her message. In early 1983 the Church's publishing building was destroyed by fire. Koresh later admitted that he had set the fire in order to stop her work. To this day, his followers abide by his teaching in this regard and refrain from republishing any of her teachings or distributing any of her remaining literature. The same is true regarding her husband Ben's literature. Such is not the case with those who profess direct succession to her and her work. Thus, Lois' work and legacy today are travailing under the infamy brought upon them through the actions of David Koresh and his followers.