Lois Irene Scott Roden was a president of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church, an apocalypticChristian group which her husband, Benjamin Roden founded. The sect began in Texas in 1955 as a secession from the Shepherd's Rod movement led by Victor T. Houteff, itself a secession from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Contemporaneous with the surge of the Feminist Movement in the 1970s, Roden asserted that women, like men, were made in the image and likeness of God, and that they thereby hold a position of co-dominion with man in all things. She believed the Holy Spirit is a female entity. In 1977, a year before Benjamin Roden died, Lois said she had received a vision of the Holy Spirit, describing it as "a silver angel, shimmering in the night. It was a feminine representation of this angel. I had been studying Revelation 18 and it said this mighty angel was to come down to earth and that was my understanding". She asserted as proof her ideas that the Hebrew word for Spirit is feminine, and that Jews regard the concept of "Holy Spirit" and the "Divine Presence" are one and the same. . From 1977 until the death of her husband Benjamin in 1978, she was co-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 in a leadership election in 1979, and in late 1983 by Vernon Howell. Both challengers drew away supporters from the congregation, scaring away others by their reliance on the force of arms to further their aims. Before Koresh challenged her leadership, he and Roden had an affair, which Koresh justified by claiming that God had chosen him to father a child with her, who would be the Chosen One. In 1979, along with publishing many related tracts, Roden 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. She received minor awards and commendations for the magazine from religious groups and individuals. Among them were an Award of Excellence from Excellence in Media Angel Awards, and another from The Dove Foundation.
