The Story of the Shepherd’s Rod
The Story of The Shepherd’s Rod
The Shepherd’s Rod
party, or Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, is an offshoot from the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. It was started by Victor T. Houteff, who was born in
Raikovo, Bulgaria, March 2, 1885, and died at Waco, Texas, U.S.A., on
February 5, 1955.1
"Mr. Houteff’s first religious affiliation
was with the Greek Orthodox Church."’ Becoming involved in difficulty
with the leaders of that religious denomination, and with those of the
Bulgarian Government, he was violently expelled from the country of his
birth.’ It was in 1907 that he came to the United States.
Victor Houteff was baptized at Rockford, Illinois,
and accepted into membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on May
10, 1919.3 He moved from Illinois to California prior to the camp meeting
held in the Los Angeles area in 1923.4
Disaffection came early in the man’s experience,
for, dissatisfied with the care given him at one of our sanitariums, he
was tempted with doubt: "Is that sanitarium God’s place for His sick
people? I asked myself. Is this people really God’s people? The answer
that came to these questions was this: The sanitarium is God’s, and the
church is God’s, but the people that are running them are reactionaries,
they are the modern priests, scribes and Pharisees, that there is a need
for more Samaritans among them. This is where God’s truth is, though,
and God helping me, I said, I shall stay with it."’ Thus a root of
bitterness sprang up in his heart.