A BRIEF TIMELINE OF

THE SHEPHERDS ROD

AND
DAVIDIAN
OFFSHOOTS.
 1885 – Birth of Victor T. Houteff in
Raikovo, Bulgaria, Eastern Europe.
 1907 - Houteff migrates to the USA.
 1919 - Houteff is baptized at Rockford,
Illinois and accepted into
Seventh-day Adventist Church
membership.
 1885 – Birth of Victor T. Houteff in
Raikovo, Bulgaria, Eastern
Europe.
 1907 - Houteff migrates to the USA.
 1919 - Houteff is baptized at Rockford,
Illinois and accepted into
Seventh-day Adventist
Church membership.
 1923 - Houteff moves to California.
 1928-1929 - Houteff serves as Sabbath School
teacher and begins teaching
strange doctrines in the
Olympic Exhibition Park
SDA Church.
 1929 - Olympic Exhibition Park Church
studies Houteff’s teachings,
admonishes him to
discontinue the teachings and asks
the Pacific Union Conference to
examine the teachings.
 1930 (Spring) - Houteff issues his doctrines
under the title “The Shepherds
Rod Vol.1”
 1930 (Oct.) - Church administrators from Pacific
Union and Southern California
Conference meet with
Houteff to discuss his
teachings.
 1930 (Nov) - Olympic Exhibition Park Church
votes to withdraw Houteff’s
membership.
 1932 - Shepherds Rod Vol. 2 is issued.
 1933 - Houteff begins to issue a series of
tracts propagating his teachings.
 1934 (Jan) - Houteff and the SDA Church in
Fullerton submit a formal
request to the Pacific Union
Conference for another hearing on
Houteff’s ideas.
continued..
 Continued - The topics identified as
fundamental to Houteff’s
message to be discussed at the
hearing were the following:-
The
harvest
Ezekiel 9
The leopard beast of
Revelation 13
Hosea 1-2
Matthew 20.
 1934 (Feb) - A 12 minister committee, including
AG Daniels and HMS Richards,
meets with Houteff,
although the latter had earlier
objected to the composition of
the committee, saying that
they were “unfit for the
occasion”.
 1934 - General Conference Autumn
Council voted declaring that the
Shepherd’s Rod was
teaching error.
 1935 - Houteff purchases land near Waco,
Texas and establishes the Mt.
Carmel center.
 Continued - Houteff is recognized as the
leader of the group and an “advisory
committee” is put together to help
him.
 1937 - The group is reorganized as “The
General Association of the Shepherds
Rod Seventh-day Adventists”, with
President (Houteff), Secretary (Mrs
Houteff), Treasurer (Mrs Hermanson,
Houteff’s mother-in-law, and a nine-
member appointed executive council.
 1942 - To deal with the problem of
possible draft of members into
military service , the group changes
its name to “The Davidian Seventh-
day Adventists”.
 1950 - Houteff speaks of “an ever-
increasing family of offshoots, the
most prominent and the most
tormenting of which is the
Shepherd’s Rod.”
 1955 (Feb) - Houteff dies, in spite of declaring that
“Moreover, as the Shepherd’s Rod is the Elijah message, it
is impossible for anyone who accepts it and lives it to die,
for the type demands translation” (The Symbolic Code,
Vol.1 No.9 [Mar.15,1935] p.9
 1955 - Florence Houteff, the widow,
assumes the office of Vice-President.
 1955 - Ben Roden claims inspiration and
declares that God has instructed him
to take the leadership vacated by
Houteff.
 1955-59 - Roden founds the Branch
Davidian Seventh-day Adventists and
tries to recruit Davidian Seventh-
day Adventists.
 1959 - Davidians, under the leadership of
Mrs Houteff, call all Davidians to
assemble at Mt. Carmel center on
April 22. This was the date when God
was supposed to establish…
 Continued - …His Kingdom in Palestine and
miraculously transfer the Davidians
there. Nothing happens. Most
adherents drift away; Houteff’s
movement begins to disintegrate.

 1959 - July 27 – Aug 7 , a group of Davidians

and General Conference ministers
meet. Some Davidians admitted
inconsistencies and errors and left the
group. A few splinter groups formed
and broke away.
 1961 - On December 12, a newsletter from
Mt. Carmel announces that Houteff’s
teaching concerning Ezekiel 4 and 9
was at variance with the Bible, the
work at Mt. Carmel is stopped and
the disappointment of April 22 is
acknowledged as error.

 1962 (March) - Leaders at Mt Carmel formally

submit notice of resignation and
dissolve the General Association of
the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists.
 1962 - After long battles over the New Mt.
Carmel centre, Ben Roden and his
followers are allowed to occupy the
centre on the condition that they buy
out the shares of the Davidians;
Davidians scatter and Roden’s group
becomes the largest of the splinter
groups.
 1977 - Ben Roden’s wife Lois claims a vision
from God in which she understands
that the Holy Spirit is feminine.
 1978 - Ben Roden dies; Lois takes over the
leadership.
 1978-83 - Lois’ message about the
femininity of the Holy Spirit
 1979 - Vernon Howell is baptized into the
Tyler SDA Church, Texas, USA.
Vernon Howell aka David Koresh
 1979 - Vernon Howell is baptized into the
Tyler SDA Church, Texas, USA.
 1981 - Howell is disfellowshipped after
getting a woman pegnant; moves to
Mt. Carmel Center, now under Lois’
leadership; Howell becomes the
handy man at Mt. Carmel.
 1983 - Howell claims the prophetic gift; he
convinces Lois’, on the basis of Is.8, to
have sexual relations with him, the
two cohabit; friction develops
between Howell and Lois’ son,
George, who also claims the prophetic
gift.
 1984 - Fragmentation occurs among Branch
Davidians; George Roden forces
Howell and his followers of the Mt
Carmel Center; Howell declares
himself freed by God from any
responsibilities to Lois Roden; George
did not prosper at the center: he loses
his followers and goes into debt, rents
buildings out, and spends some time
in jail. Meanwhile Howell gains the
title to Mt Carmel by paying off
sixteen years of delinquent taxes.
 1986 - Howell begins to teach that he is the
second intercessor for mankind.
 1990 - Howell legally changes his name to
“David Koresh”, after Israel’s King
David (prototype of the Messiah) and
King Cyrus (who freed the Jews from
Babylonian captivity).
 1993 (April) - Fire destroys the Waco
compound.
Mt. Carmel Center, Waco, Texas 1993
 1990 - Howell legally changes his name to
“David Koresh”, after Israel’s King
David (prototype of the Messiah) and
King Cyrus (who freed the Jews from
Babylonian captivity).
 1993 (April) - Fire destroys the Waco
compound.
 1993 onward - Davidians continue their activity
mainly through cyberspace.