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The Shepherd's Rod (aka the Shepherd's Rod message) is a message believed and adopted by Davidian Seventh-day Adventists or Davidians, and authored by Victor T. Houteff . Davidians have claimed themselves a part of the Seventh Day Adventist Church but the majority were disfellowshipped (excommunicated) because they follow the interpretations by Victor T. Houteff, himself excommunicated because of his teachings, as these additional doctrines are not accepted by the Official ministry or the General Conference. Davidians have chosen to identify themselves as part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1929 (the inception of the original Rod doctrine of the 144,000, see 1 Shepherd's Rod), seeing themselves as a reformatory group who strive for revival and reformation within the main denomination (see Shepherd's Rod Tract, 5). However, the majority of the original Davidians were disfellowshipped due to the rejection of the Rod message by the Seventh-day Adventist Church's leadership (see Tract #7: The Great Controversy Over the Shepherd's Rod). Davidians believe in the complete writings of Ellen White, the message of Righteousness by Faith given by A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner (also known as the 1888 message), the King James Bible and the writings of Victor Houteff.
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Adherents to the writings of V T Houteff have often been referred to as "Shepherd's Rods." This name is derived from the title of a two-volume series authored by Victor Houteff, the first volume of which was released in 1929.
In both volumes of his original work Houteff made references to the biblical book of Micah:
"The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it," Micah 6: 9 and
"Feed Thy people with Thy rod, the flock of Thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel." Micah 7:14.
"The name, Davidian, deriving from the name of the king of Ancient Israel, accrues to this Association by reason of its following aspects: First, it is dedicated to the work of announcing and bringing forth the restoration (as predicted in Hosea 1:11; 3:5) of David's kingdom in antitype, upon the throne of which Christ, "the son of David," is to sit. Second, it purports itself to be the first of the first fruits of the living, the vanguard from among the present-day descendants of those Jews who composed the Early Christian Church. With the emergence of this vanguard and its army, the first fruits, from which are elected the 12,000 out of each of the twelve tribes of Jacob, "the 144,000" (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8) who stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8), the reign of antitypical David begins." (The Leviticus of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, p. 4, emphasis ours).
"THIS publication contains only one main subject with a double lesson; namely, the 144,000, and a call for reformation. The object in view is to prepare God's people for the impending doom of Ezekiel's prophecy, chapter 9. There is no new doctrine taught, neither does it condemn the ones we have. The wonderful light between its pages shines upon a large number of scriptures which we have had no understanding of heretofore. The interpretation of these scriptures is supported entirely by the writings of Sr. E.G. White, that is termed the Spirit of Prophecy. This publication does not advocate a new movement, and it absolutely opposes such moves. It brings out a positive proof which cannot be contradicted that the Seventh-day Adventist church had been used by God to carry on His work since 1844."
Houteff taught that these Biblical interpretations explained some recognized points of discord within the Adventist Church such as who comprises the 144,000 and the great multitude of Revelation chapter 7, the shaking and sealing within the SDA church (Ezekiel 9) and the prophecies of Ezekiel 4, Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 12. Houteff further expressed that he had a duty to take his doctrinal findings in message-form to the Seventh-day Adventist Church only. Furthermore, V. Houteff never taught that in obtaining membership within the DSDA organization one was to sever one's membership with (be an "off-shoot" of) the Seventh-day Adventist church; but instead a "movement within a movement" which he believed was prophesied by the prophet of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ellen G. White, to take place (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 475).
In addition to the fundamental beliefs (dated 1929) of faith held by Seventh-day Adventists, Davidians also believe:
1. That the prophetic gift in the Seventh-day Adventist church, by which medium the church was brought forth in 1844 and nurtured and preserved for seven decades, ceased its manifestation in 1915 and was not remanifested until 1930 (Fundamental Beliefs and Directory 11, 12); and that this cessation and this remanifestation are paralleled by the cessation of the prophetic gift in the Old Testament and the re-manifestation of it in the New.
2. That the present manifestation was timed to the 430-year prophecy of Ezekiel 4 (1 Shepherd's Rod 115), and that it is the addition anticipated in Early Writings, p. 277; 1 Spiritual Gifts p. 195; The Story of Redemption, p. 400.
3. That it was manifested anew in the closing work for the church to effect the sealing of the 144,000 servants of God (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266; Review and Herald September 23, 1873 paragraph 4; Review and Herald June 8, 1886 paragraph 1;), and to give power and force (Early Writings, p. 277) to the Three Angels' Messages (Rev. 14:61) so that the 144,000 might be empowered to accomplish the closing work for the world, namely, to gather the great multitude out of all nations (Isa. 66:19, 20; Rev. 7:9; Rev. 18:4; 2 Shepherd's Rod 168).
4. That the destruction of the tares from among the first fruits of the living (Matt. 13:30, 48, 49; Ezek. 9:6, 7) results in the purification of the church at the hand of God through a literal angel, not themselves (1 Shepherd's Rod 13-18, 51; 2 Shepherd's Rod 163-165; Reporting Un-Adventist Activities 2). Because V T Houteff taught that the slaughter of the tares from among the wheat (Ezekiel 9; Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 266) is accomplished by God alone, those that teach that any man acts as the destroying angel(s) (e.g. Vernon Howell [David Koresh] who taught that the adherents to the Shepherd's Rod message actually act the part of the destroying angels) or sealing angel (those who believe another man after V T Houteff is endowed with the gift of inspiration to seal the saints, contrary to V T Houteff's original teachings that he was the last prophet 9 Tract: 67; 5 SC 6-12:2; General Conference Special 5-7) cannot be classified as adherents to the original Davidian message.
5. That immediately after the slaughter of Ezekiel 9 the angels let loose the four winds (Rev. 7:1), whereupon ensues the time of Jacob's trouble (and Michael's standing up to deliver from it all whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Dan. 12:1; Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen White, pp. 100, 101; Fundamental Beliefs and Directory, 11-12).
6. That the angels letting loose the four winds to blow over the four corners of the Earth (Rev. 7:1), does not anticipate a world war but rather a worldwide decree enforced throughout Babylon by the image-beast and that then no one may buy or sell save he who worships the image. (Rev. 13:157; Fundamental Beliefs and Directory 12).
7. That subsequently, the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7) for the 144,000, the sons of Jacob, logically develops on their way home (Gen. 32:1, 24) to the land of their fathers (aka the kingdom) (Ezek. 36:28; 37:21, 25; Daniel 2:44).
8. That the foregoing epochal event shall cause the 144,000 to have their names changed as did their father, Jacob (Gen. 32:28), and as a body receive a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name (Isa. 62:2).
9. That these events shall ultimate in the setting up of the Kingdom (Dan. 2:44; Isa. 2:1; Mic. 4; Ezek. 36 & 37), wherein the 144,000, those who follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth(Rev. 14:4), shall stand with Him on Mt. Zion (Rev. 14:1), and there receive the forces of the Gentiles. (Isa. 60:5, 11).
10. That with this sequence of events will ensure the Loud Cry of the angel that lightens the earth with his glory (Rev. 18:1), as the other Voice cries, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Rev. 18:4).
11. That in response to this call, many nations will say: Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Mic. 4:2).
12. That the Voice will cease to cry when all the saints shall have been gathered out of all nations. Then shall the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11, 12).
13. That then will follow the dissolution of the worldwide organization of the image of the beast (Rev. 19:1), the close of the investigative judgment of the living (Rev. 15:5), the end of probationary time (Rev. 22:11), and the pouring out of the seven last plagues upon the wicked (Rev. 16).
14. That under the seventh plague, the hosts arrayed for the battle of Armageddon will fight with, and will be decimated by, the armies of Heaven (Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 406) and that Christ shall appear in all His glory, destroy the remaining wicked, resurrect the righteous dead (1 Thess. 4:15-17), and usher in the millennium (Rev. 20:5).
15. That for "a short space," or "a little season" (Rev. 17:10; 20:3), one hundred years (Isa. 65:20), after the millennium in Heaven, after the Second Advent of Christ, the wicked shall live again and then finally be destroyed by fire (Rev. 20:9), whereupon all things shall be renewed, and God's original plan shall proceed to perfect fulfillment in an uninterrupted eternity of heavenly joy (Rev. 21:4).
Victor Tasho Houteff, was born in Raikovo, Bulgaria, on March 2, 1885 and immigrated to the United States in 1907 at the age of 22. Originally Greek Orthodox, his native church requested the Bulgarian Government to expel him from the country (see 2 Timely Greetings #35). In 1929, Victor Tasho Houteff, an immigrant and Sabbath School teacher in the Los Angeles area, brought what he claimed was a new message of the Shepherd's Rod to the Seventh-day Adventist Church (see 2 Timely Greetings 35: 12-31). It was submitted in the form of a book also entitled The Shepherd's Rod. His claims were not accepted and were deemed by the leadership to contain doctrinal error incompatible with previously accepted dogma. Because he refused to recant his beliefs and insisted upon teaching them to the membership he was disfellowshipped from the church. The majority of those who accepted the message he claimed to bring were also disfellowshipped due to the leadership of the Adventist church rejecting it.
Victor Houteff founded the Universal Publishing Association in 1934. In 1935 he established his headquarters outside Waco, Texas, calling it Mt. Carmel Center. Up to 1942, his movement had been known as the Shepherd's Rod, but when Houteff found it necessary to formally incorporate so members could claim conscientious objector status, he named his association the General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists (GADSDA). The term "Davidian" refers to the restoration of the Davidic kingdom. Houteff directed Davidian Seventh- day Adventists to evangelize the Adventist church exclusively. Davidians that have accepted the additional message of The Shepherd's Rod believe that 1 Cor. 10:11 teaches that the history of ancient Israel is a figure/type of what will happen within the Seventh-day Adventist Church and with the 144,000 after the church is purified by God.
Victor Houteff continued to publish additional volumes of his prophetic writings until his death in 1955. These publications contain, but are not limited to, no fewer than 15 numbered tracts, five volumes of "The Answerer", two volumes of "Timely Greetings", (Volume 1 containing 52 books and Volume 2 containing 46 books), a series of usually monthly publications entitled "The Symbolic Code" containing many of Victor Houteff's Sabbath sermons given after believers in both "the Spirit of Prophecy" (Ellen White) and Davidian messages were disfellowshipped and chose to have private worship rather than begin a new church denomination. All included were questions and answers, recipes for healthful living, spiritual encouragement and admonition, letters from the field of their work in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and many other practical Christian-living topics. He also published miscellaneous publications and public letters to the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (nine "Jezreel Letters"). All of these publications were distributed and mailed free of charge to many thousands of recipients throughout the world.
Ben Roden was a businessman from Odessa, Texas. It was through him that Don Adair came into the Rod message while still a youth. Long after the death of V. T. Houteff, Ben's surviving wife, Lois, was involved with a peripheral movement within Davidia. In it she proclaimed that the Holy Spirit was female; a doctrine never supported or supplied by V. T. Houteff. It was through the association with Lois Roden that Vernon Howell (aka David Koresh) became aware of the message. Stock-piling weapons, believing that humans constituted the angels of Ezekiel 9, however, were never doctrines initiated or supported by V. T. Houteff.
Bonnie Smith (née Campbell) grew up at Mt. Carmel center under V T Houteff's administration. She married Sydney Smith, Bibleworker for Mt. Carmel (See Fundamental Beliefs and Directory). Her copies of Davidian publications furnish the original publications and charts of the Shepherd's Rod material found on the www.upa7.org website.
Donnie Adair, (prefers Don) was born January 23, 1932 in Hollis, Oklahoma (Adair, Don, A Davidian Testimmony, Mt. Carmel Center, 1997, p. 10.) He originally heard the Rod message from Ben L Roden (Ibid 13) at the age of 19 (Ibid 18). Don made the transition from Seventh-day Adventist to Davidian very quickly but found that he was not welcome to attend or be baptized at the Odessa, TX Seventh-day Adventist Church (Ibid 14) due to his beliefs in the Rod. Ben L Roden invited the 20-year-old Don and his brother Dale to study at Mt. Carmel Center. Don left his regular employment and moved to Mt. Carmel Center (Ibid 19) to work in the print shop. He acted as Vice President of the Davidian Youth Society (Ibid 25, 26) while engaged in studies at Mt. Carmel and upgrading his English and Speech skills at Baylor University (Ibid 25). He began to date fellow believer Juanita (aka Wanda) who worked in the Administration Building as a typist when he was 22 (Ibid 177) and they married. In January 1955 he moved to Logan, Utah with his wife to apprentice in his father-in-law's electric shop. When he learned from Bonnie Smith that V T Houteff had died, he moved back to the Waco area where he painted houses (Ibid 179).
E. T. Wilson, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, became Davidian after being handed volumes 1 and 2 of the Shepherd's Rod (see The Great Controversy Over the Shepherd's Rod, page 10). He left his position with the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and became Vice President of the General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. As Vice President, the Leviticus of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists states that E. T. Wilson had the responsibility to act in the president's (V. T. Houteff's) absence.
Martin James Bingham (aka M J Bingham) was born February 22, 1905. He was in charge of the Education Department and school at Mt. Carmel Center, as well as being an ordained minister of the Rod, under V T Houteff (See Fundamental Beliefs and Directory). He also performed ministerial duties (travelled and taught the Shepherd's Rod message), and acted as Editor of many of the Shepherd's Rod publications. He married on December 5, 1955 to Jemima (aka Jemmy) in Georgetown, British Guiana (Monett Times-Bi County Obituaries, August 4, 1988 http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobarry/data/obits/b/binghammartinjames.htm).
Victor Houteff died February 5, 1955. The day after his death, Florence Houteff, secretary to the General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists and wife of the late V. T. Houteff called an Executive Council meeting (see Link regarding New Codes or False Codes, below). In that meeting she sought to gain support for herself as leader in spite of E T Wilson's position as Vice President according to The Fundamental Beliefs and Directory of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, p. 15. Florence was successful in obtaining a vote as Vice President in exchange for portions of various assets of the Association to supporting members of the vote. Thus began a succession of attempts by multiple individuals to gain control as the spiritual head of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist movement despite the fact that Victor T. Houteff stated in a publication entitled "General Conference Special" that "No other voice of timely truth and authority" would become available after "The Shepherd's Rod" message, and that "Any others will lead their victims blind-folded to perdition." (General Conference Special pg. 8).
One claimant was Benjamin Roden, a businessman from Odessa, Texas. Roden called on Houteff's widow Florence, the newly elected Vice President, to step aside and let him take over. Samuel Licayan, Andrew Johnson, (the first self-named Ben David), and Fred Steed were also contenders for Houteff's office.
However, Florence Houteff established herself as head of the GADSDA movement. Conducting studies of the Bible and her late husband's message, Mrs. Houteff came to the conclusion that the Forty-Two Months period prophesied in Revelation 11:2 would begin in early 1956 and end in 1959, at which point in time the Adventist Church would be purified by the events foretold in Ezekiel 9 (contrary to 14 Tract 22 which states that the slaughter of Ezekiel 9 takes place while the U.S. is at war).
Believing that the end of time was imminent, Mrs. Houteff and her council began a campaign to evangelize across the U.S., Canada, the West Indies and western Asia. The campaign included publicity events such as equipping cars with signs that read, "Hear Ye The Rod," a Biblical reference (Micah 6:9) to "The Shepherd's Rod" Message. The cars also were outfitted with loudspeakers to broadcast the Rod message to passersby.
As a publishing organization the GADSDA under Mrs. Houteff's direction printed massive amounts of literature for dissemination in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1957, Mrs. Houteff sold most of the property which had comprised the Mount Carmel Center established by her husband in Waco, Texas. She and about eight hundred of her followers moved to Elk, Texas where they purchased 942 acres (3.81 sq km), twenty miles (32 km) east of the town, and formed what she styled "Mt. Carmel Center." At this time her publications were urging all believers in the Shepherd's Rod message to forsake their property, homes and possessions, and assemble at Mt. Carmel Center to await the soon return of Jesus Christ.
In 1958, Elder Martin James Bingham, ordained minister of DSDA (Fundamental Beliefs and Directory 17), former secretary to Victor Houteff, one of the original founders of the first Mt. Carmel, published in his small periodical, The Timely Truth Educator, an issue now known as, The Last Mile Home, in which he refuted Mrs. Houteff's forty-two months doctrine; pointing out that since the "Gentiles," mentioned in Revelation 11:2 were not currently "treading the city of Jerusalem under foot," the forty-two months could not have begun. M.J. Bingham continued to voice his opposition to Mrs. Houteff's teachings in his monthly publication, The Timely Truth Educator.
M.J. Bingham continued to agitate against Mrs. Houteff's prophecies until 1959 when time proved her incorrect. She and 850 of her followers were in a profound disappointment.
In 1962 Florence Houteff decided to disband the GADSDA. She and what remained of her Executive Council divided the assets of Mt. Carmel Center amongst themselves and left Texas. Ten years later, Mrs. Houteff, then in her early fifties, re-married and re-joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
M. J. Bingham refused to abandon the Davidian movement. With former members of GADSDA from the West Indies, Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Indonesia, he formed an Executive Council, and called members of the old Association to a session in Los Angeles, California. H.G. Warden, a former Adventist minister, was elected vice-president. The "Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association" was formed in 1962. Then, Elder Warden and most of the council abandoned the DSDA, and as it began to splinter into factions. Don Adair formed "The General Association of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists".