From our study of the Scriptures we find that God places great emphasis on names.They are not haphazardly given or tossed about. For instance , when He made Adam, He was curious to see what name Adam would give His creation. Names are obviously important.
“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19)
Now this shows, as we have posted before that our King, doesn’t necessarily want to know “all things” in advance. For what “pleasure” would that bring if the expected comes and no new thing happens? We remember God made us for “His pleasure” and even though He has the foresight to know everything, it certainly could be that He holds things back “to see what happens”? In this case to see what Adams would name His creation.
But the meaning of names appears to matter much to our God and King. This point is proven clearly with Jacob. His name means supplanter or deceiver, which really isn’t too great a name to be one of God’s chosen.
So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28)
Another example is Apostle Paul.
As we know Saul was the name Paul went by prior to his conversion. Saul’s reputation, as “Saul” was anything but admirable to the Christians. Although the name was not directly changed by God as was Jacob, nevertheless, once he converted and soon went to work bringing in the Gentiles, his name changed to Paul.
We also remember that the first Saul, Israel’s first king had a likewise bad name due to the unfaithfulness of his calling. So it is clear the Lord made sure that the Saul name would change to the more trustworthy and noble name of Paul, at least from a Biblical perspective.
And of course the original Bible name change of Abraham —
“He shall no more be called the Abram, his name shall be Abraham; a father of many generations have I made thee.’’(Genesis 17:5)
With this truth, let us now look at some modern names and their significance.
Our last prophet, brother Houteff, as many of us know, unfortunately, had a wife who became apostate after his passing in 1955. Florence Houteff, basically almost drove the whole movement into the ground by her false prophesying. She attempted to take the reins, once Victor died, and made one colossal blunder after another. Long story short, after 7 years (1955 to 1962) of repeated mistakes and failures, she threw in the towel and left the movement.
But our King showed us a most telling sign of her folly. She later became the wife of a man whose last name was –Eakin! She became Florence Eakin! In English, it is pronounced similar to Achan (with the E silent), which means in Hebrew– trouble or troublesome.
“Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”(Joshua 7:16-22)
We know the rest of the story, Achan and his family and everything they had were stoned to death. In other words, Achan’s name is synonymous with sin and thievery. Exactly what Florence did in the end as well! From a faithful believer to an apostate, even denying Ellen White as God’s prophetess!
Then we have a man named Benjamin Roden. He was an infiltrator of the Rod movement back in the 40’s and 50’s. He came onto Victor’s property to hear sermons and learn of the message. But in hindsight he had an agenda. That was to become an exalted leader, perhaps a prophet. The opportunity came in Feb of 1955, when brother Houteff died. He sprang into action! He swooped down onto the grounds and began to tell anyone who would listen that “he” was the new Elijah message leader and that Victor could not be the anti-typical Elijah because he had died instead of being translated like the original Elijah had.
Fortunately many of the original members knew of Roden as an opportunist, not to mention a thief. He had built up a large bill on the grounds with his large garden, and left the organization holding the bag with expenses. There were other historical thief testimonies as well, as testified by at least 3 former Mt. Carmel residents (two of which are still living).
But do we see what this man’s last name was –Roden, in other words, short for Rodent! He was indeed a Roden-t which signifies a creature up to no good (causing trouble, disease and death, etc) and that’s what Roden proved to be! Roden would ultimately establish the “Branch Davidian” movement, the one where one of Satan’s henchman –David Koresh, would later lead and bring to a gigantic mess heard around the world in 1993.
Then we have our last modern name. Many of us remember the horrifying killings of a sinister killer who went by the name “Son of Sam”. He killed many in New York and terrorized the city back in 1976 to 1977.
Well, sure enough, our King has provided another sign by way of a name! This time though, this “Sam” is much more sinister because he is potentially leading his followers silently into eternal perdition, unbeknownst to them, but just as deadly! And there are potentially many more in number than just the six that Son of Sam took.
This man, whose full name is Lennox Sam, has set up his sites online and with YouTube and is very active. Blasting God’s true servants, murmuring and setting private interpretation time prophecies, etc, etc, he’s the real false package!
“Let all our brethren and sisters beware of anyone who would set a time for the Lord to fulfill His word in regard to His coming, or in regard to any other promise He has made of special significance.” (Testimonies to Ministers, p.55)
Beware indeed!
Sam is proclaiming an error-filled Rod message and transforming it into a totally different message and causing great harm with his deceitful and subtle teachings. The following prophecy is being fulfilled —
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” ( 2 Tim. 4:3-4)
He feeds on the unlearned and unwilling to study on their own. They prefer to be spoon-fed and lean upon flesh. Itching ears are thus satisfied! The following picture is picture-perfect as they say —
Of course the name alone cannot secure the destiny, but we are to know them by their fruits as the Lord said. And if the fruit is bad and the name matches it, well, the warning sign is well placed.
In closing, clearly from a Biblical standpoint names mean something to God, and possibly a sign as well. The Lord is ever showing us signposts, only we must learn to observe and heed them.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.” (Matt. 1:23)
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