Bishka
Veteran Member
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/bran.html
- Name: Branch Davidians
The Branch Davidians were earlier known as The Shepherds Rod, the Branch Seventh-Day Adventist or Branch SDA's.
- Founder: Victor Tasho Houteff
- Date of Birth: March 2, 1885
- Birth Place: Raikovo, Bulgaria
- Year Founded: 1929
- Brief History
- Victor Houteff first heard the teachings of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in 1918 at a revival meeting. He soon became an active and committed member. In 1929, he publicly announced his personal interpretation of the Bible which pivots on Micah 6:9 and the phrase "Hear ye the rod." Houteff believed Seventh-Day Adventist doctrines and teachings were inacurate and he called for reform. The church isolated Houteff and his followers with the result that Houteff broke from SDA and founded The Shepherd's Rod.
- Houteff saw himself as a divine messenger sent by God to reveal the secret information in the scroll mentioned in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 5. The scroll is protected by seven seals and within it reveals the events which are to occur prior to Christ's return and how the world will end.
- In addition, Houteff believed his task was to assembly a group of 144,000 Christians, as symbolized in the Book of Revelation 7:4. The group would travel to Palestine where they would establish the Davidic kingdom, which would lead to the second coming of Christ and the downfall of Babylon (i.e. the end of the world). Houteff compiled his beliefs in his book "The Shepherd's Rod."
- He began the process of attaining followers by founding the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas with eleven of his followers in 1935. Recruitment from within the SDA Church continued until 1942 when Houteff and his group broke completely from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church because the latter refused to allow for conscientious objection status during World War II. This event prompted Houteff to change the name of his group to the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association. Recruiting internationally, numbers continued to rise. By 1955, there were about 125 members residing at the Mount Carmel Center with others in Los Angeles and around the country.
- In 1955, Victor Houteff died. His followers were astonished because they had come to regard him as the new Elijah who would "help usher in the reign of God." With his mission incomplete and his prophetic claims unfulfilled, unease swept throughout the group.
- Houteff's wife, Florence, assumed leadership of the movement despite splintering within the group. One such splinter group, the Branch Davidians, led by Benjamin Roden, would later take control of the Davidian movement. Before this occurred, however, Florence Houteff predicted that the time of God's judgement would fall on April 22, 1959 because the 1,260 days of Revelation 11 would be completed and on that day God would intervene in Palestine. Followers began to assemble at the New Mount Carmel, located east of Waco, on April 16, 1959, prepared to move to the Holy Land.
- When Florence's prophecy did not come true, intense splintering began within the group. Admitting her errors, Florence dissolved the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association in 1961 and sold Mount Carmel to Ben Roden in 1965.
- Roden named his faction the Branch Davidian SDA's. Roden declared himself the fifth angel (Revelation 9:1), in the same vein as Houteff, who had declared himself the fourth angel (Revelation 8:12). He lead the Branch until his death in 1978, whereupon his wife, Lois Roden, assumed the role of the sixth angel (Revelation 9:16). She was regarded as a prophet and thought to possess new insight into the "femininity of the Holy Spirit".
- Vernon Howell joined the group in 1981 and Lois expressed her belief that he would be the group's next prophet. However, George Roden, Lois's son, forced Howell and his followers out of Mount Carmel in 1984. In 1988, Roden was sent to jail for contempt of court, a charge which stemmed from a series of obscene documents he filed with the court. With him behind bars, Howell took control of Mount Carmel and the Branch.
- In 1990, Vernon Howell changed his name to David Koresh (Koresh is a form of Cyrus). He chose this name from Isaiah 45, which states that Cyrus "was the only non-Israelite who was given the title 'anointed' or 'a messiah' or in Greek, 'a christ'." Koresh regarded himself as the Lamb from Revelation 5, and took it upon himself to open the seven seals and interpret the scroll (Revelation 5:2). If he could accomplish this task, Koresh believed, he would bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ.