The Shepherd's Rod or Davidian Seventh-day Adventists movement was founded in 1929 by Victor Houteff. He joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1919 and was later excommunicated from the church in 1930 for promoting "heretical" doctrines that he claimed were new revelations from God to further Adventist theology.
The official organizational name was adopted in 1942 as The Davidian Seventh-day Adventists but its message was still referred to as "The Shepherd’s Rod" by both members and critics. The name is a reference to Victor Houteff's initial and most important publication, The Shepherd's Rod. It finds its origin in the Bible, namely, the book of Micah 6:9; 7:14. It reached its peak in the early 1950s with thousands of adherents before splintering into various factions after Victor Houteff's death in 1955. There are various groups claiming Victor Houteff's theology today. They claim a number of unique doctrines that are said to be for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.
History
Victor Houteff's early days The Shepherd's Rod manuscript traces its roots to Victor Houteff, a Seventh-day Adventist Church sabbath school teacher in good standing in a southern California congregation. In 1929, Victor Houteff came in conflict with church authorities over differing interpretations of chapters 54–66 of the Book of Isaiah. He believed that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was God’s remnant church but needed to be revived and reformed. Victor Houteff shared these new revelations in his Sabbath School class and they were well received by church members. A number of church elders determined that his interpretations were not compatible with Adventist theology. He was then asked to discontinue his teachings. Shortly thereafter, Victor Houteff had an informal meeting with some local and regional church administrators to share his views. These leaders dismissed his interpretations of scripture as "fanciful.” Victor Houteff was viewed by his followers as an inspired messenger of God that was sent to the Seventh-day Adventist church and was regarded as having the gift of prophecy.
Publication of The Shepherd's Rod
By the summer of 1930, Houteff compiled his ideas in a 172-page manuscript entitled The Shepherd's Rod. He called for a worldwide denominational reform and allegedly brought "new thought" to Seventh-day Adventists eschatology.
Houteff listed 12 specific areas that he felt the church needed to address under the heading "Partial List of Abominations". According to Houteff, the book's chief purpose was "a call for reformation". It also included information attempting to define the identity of the 144,000 of the Book of Revelation, as well as his disputed interpretations of Isaiah 54–66.
Houteff personally handed 33 copies of his manuscript to church leaders at the General Conference held from May 29 to June 12, 1930, in San Francisco, California. According to Houteff, each recipient promised to read the manuscript thoroughly and respond to him either in person or by letter.The Great Controversy, pp. 5–6. In the subsequent six years only two recipients responded. The official church explanation was that the recipients were preoccupied with the tasks of the Session and did not have sufficient time to review the manuscript.
One of the recipients, F. C. Gilbert, a field secretary for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and respected author of Adventist theology books, responded by letter approximately two weeks later. Gilbert advised Houteff to give up his ideas. To Houteff's disappointment, he did not address his twelve points or views on the "144,000". Instead, Gilbert challenged Houteff's application of certain symbols, questioned his method of analysis and rejected his manuscript as unsound. Gilbert also sent copies of his findings to church leaders in the Los Angeles area. Church leaders were satisfied that Houteff's interpretations had been refuted.
Houteff, however, remained sure of his teachings. He completed his book by adding 83 pages and had 5,000 copies of The Shepherd's Rod printed in November 1930, which he then distributed to various Adventist ministers, workers, and laymen.
The spread of controversy
Despite being disfellowshipped in 1930, Houteff remained opposed to establishing a new movement.The Little Armageddon: The Great Controversy Within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, p. 21 He told his followers: "in case some one's name is taken off the church books for carrying on the message, do not be discouraged in any way but press onward as though nothing happened. Pay your honest tithe and offering to your church and feel like IT IS your Father's house." Collections of study groups began to form in various Adventist churches across the country for the purpose of reviewing Houteff's new doctrines. Those who accepted his conclusions and promoted his material were also disfellowshipped.ref. no. 75
In 1932, Houteff published The Shepherd's Rod, Volume 2, a 304-page book. Two additional booklets followed in 1933 comprising the beginning of a series of tracts that would be later referred to as Volume Three. Allegations began to surface that believers of Houteff's teachings were being physically removed from worship services simply due to their study of Houteff's materials. Reports also spread that Houteff himself was brutally assaulted upon attempting to enter a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Los Angeles, California.http://www.shepherds-rod.org/OldCodes/2No9.html (Scroll to page 5)(ref. no.74-75)
Finding no other recourse after the Seventh-day Adventist Church rebuffed Houteff's claims and demands for reformation, Rod believers organized the Universal Publishing Association (UPA) in 1934 in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of the UPA was the publishing of the Rod's message, which Rod adherents believe is the Lord's fulfillment of Micah 6:9 and 7:14.
In December 1933, Carolina Conference President E. T. Wilson publicly embraced Houteff's views and began promoting them, becoming the Shepherd's Rod Vice-President on organization in 1934.
1934 hearing
On January 18, 1934 a formal hearing was granted when the Tabernacle Seventh-day Adventist Church of Fullerton, California sent a request to regional administrators requesting an official hearing to examine Houteff's teachings. The agreement stipulated that twelve ministers were to assemble as a panel to hear Houteff's views. Houteff was to present five studies to the panel in one week. After each study, the panel was to review his study, determine its veracity and reconvene the meeting. If an error was found in the study, the meeting was to be discontinued.
The hearing took place on Monday, February 19, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. According to Houteff, he only learned of the details of the hearing on the previous Thursday. Twelve experienced ministers were chosen to hear Houteff's views and decide if those views were consistent with the Church's understanding of prophecy. The twelve ministers were: A. G. Daniells, Field Secretary; Glenn A. Calkins, President of the Pacific Union Conference; G. A. Roberts, President of the Southern California Conference; C. S. Prout, President of the Southeastern California-Arizona Conference; W. G. Wirth, Bible Teacher at the College of Medical Evangelists; H. M. S. Richards, Evangelist; C. M. Sorenson, Bible Teacher at Southern California Junior College; J. A. Burden, Manager of Paradise Valley Sanitarium; J. C. Stevens, Pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Glendale, California; W. M. Adams, Religious Liberty Secretary of the Pacific Union Conference; J. E. Fulton, President of the Northern California Conference; and F. C. Gilbert, Field Secretary of the General Conference. Unknown to Houteff, the highest ecclesiastical body of the church met that same day in Washington, D.C., declared his teaching to be heresy and appointed a committee to prepare a document refuting his arguments for general circulation.
In Los Angeles, the meeting began with prayer and a verbatim reading of the agreement that had brought the panel together. It was expressed by the Chairman, A. G. Daniells, that the meeting would be conducted "in strict harmony with the terms of the agreement set forth in the written request." Houteff presented his first study on the topic of "The Harvest". Despite the Chairman's statement and the terms of the agreement, the Panel requested that Houteff continue with the remainder of his studies after the conclusion of his first study, so the Panel could get the "full picture". When Houteff declined in harmony with the terms of the agreement, the meeting was abruptly adjourned. The Committee presented its findings in writing four weeks later on March 18, 1934, unanimously declaring that his teachings were false.. http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Tracts/trac007.html After feeling that he was treated unjustly at his hearing, Houteff started to form an association for the purpose of promoting revival and reformation among Seventh-day Adventists. Despite taking this step, Houteff continued to advocate that adherents continue to maintain membership within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The events of the first few years of the Davidian movement provide, to a degree, some insight into the reasons that the controversy continues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today. Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders felt that Houteff was incorrigible and headstrong, listening to no voice but his own and persisted in teaching his ideas until the Church was forced to disfellowship him. Davidians respond that Houteff's teachings were not officially declared heresy at the time he was disfellowshipped or for several years thereafter, and there were no other grounds upon which to do so. Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders also contend that the panel of twelve ministers heard Houteff's views even after he was disfellowshipped and found the views to be unsound. Davidians assert that Houteff's hearing was unfair because it reportedly violated the Fullerton Agreement and his teachings had already been judged. Davidians point out that, in their view, the leadership were underhanded in convening a meeting in Washington, D.C. behind Houteff's back before the Committee's decision was made.http://mtccamp.org/ (see Secret tribunals of the SDA, p. 6-14) There is also contention about whether Houteff voluntarily forfeited his membership or not. However, official Seventh-day Adventist Church history states that he was disfellowshipped and did not voluntarily forfeit his membership.
In 1934–1936 the Seventh-day Adventist Church declared the Shepherd's Rod message to be heresy. Today, it continues to identify the Davidian movement as a "disloyal, divisive movement". Any member choosing to identify with either the Davidian message or its originator subjects himself/herself to Church discipline, up to and including being disfellowshipped.
Official organization
On March 12, 1934, the Shepherd's Rod was officially organized. Houteff argued that this was done because the Fullerton Agreement stipulated that the Seventh-day Adventist Conference Committee should have responded to his first study in approximately 24 hours and several weeks had passed with no communication from the Committee after abruptly adjourning the meeting. The Seventh-day Adventist Church responded that he was informed at the close of the first study that the Committee would need time to study and compare notes.
On July 15, 1934, the organization's first newsletter, The Symbolic Code, was published. In the August 15, 1934 issue, Houteff wrote,