Benjamin Roden

Benjamin Lloyd Roden (January 5, 1902 – October 22, 1978) was an American religious leader and the prime organizer of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association.

Early life Benjamin Roden was born on January 5, 1902, in Bearden, Oklahoma (in what was then the Indian Territory). His parents, James Buchanan Roden and Hattie Roden, had five other children.

Little is known of Roden's early life but he grew up on a farm in Bearden and attended high school there before going to a teacher's college and then practicing as a teacher for a brief period. Thereafter, he spent some time working on oil fields, first in Oklahoma and later in Odessa, Texas.

Death Roden died in October 1978, after which Lois led the sect until the emergence of David Koresh in the mid-1980s.