To: talk.religion.misc
From: drazen@andrews.edu (Dan Drazen)
Subject: The Branch Davidians: A History (9407.dvdhist.dd)
Date: 49940705

In article  tburnett@nmsu.edu (T. L.
Burnett-Vinz) writes:
>Is the breakoff of the Branch Davidians one you might be willing to
>share??
> 
>I have not heard the whole story, and would be interested... Quite. 
>:)  
>
>Thanx!
>MLizette
>tristan@kazak.nmsu.edu

Don't say I didn't warn you, TL.

It all began in 1929 with Victor T. Houteff.  A Seventh-day Adventist
from (where else?) California, he began an offshoot movement based on a
belief in a literal Remnant of 144,000 (cf. Revelation 7:4-9, 14:1) and
in the need for reform of the church.  Though the group took the name
"Davidian Seventh-day Adventists" in 1942, they were popularly known as
"The Shepherd's Rod" (after the title of Houteff's first book).  In
1935, Houteff, eleven followers and their families migrated from
California to Waco, Texas.  They settled on a farm which they referred to
as Mount Carmel Center.  This was to be the temporary headquarters of
the 144,000 until their sealing and their eventual transport to
Palestine to re-establish the Davidian theocracy.  This, in turn, would
coordinate the closing work of spreading the Gospel, thus setting the
stage for the Second Advent.

That was the theory, at any rate.  The Mount Carmel complex probably
held no more than 125 people when Victor Houteff died in Feb 1955.  With
Houteff's death, the movement began splintering.  Most followed
Houteff's widow, who claimed that April 22, 1959, would see the
intervention of God to clear both Jews and Arabs out of Palestine in
order to establish the Davidian kingdom.  Several hundred people
gathered at Waco in anticipation.  When the date came and went, so did
the people.  By 1962, the leadership admitted the movement had been a
false one and officially disbanded.

Several smaller factions, however, vied with each other for control of
the Waco property.  George Roden, son of Benjamin Roden (a dissident
from an anti-Houteff faction) assumed control of the property, only to
lose control (under a hail of gunfire) to one Vernon Wayne Howell in
1978.  Howell later changed his name to David Koresh and the rest is
hysteria.

For information on the Branch Davidians before the Waco standoff went
down, see "The Madmen of Rodenville", _Wittenburg Door_, Feb-Mar 1988,
pp. 16-22, as well as the article "Davidian Seventh-day Adventists" in
the _Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia_ (vol. 10, SDA Commentary
Reference Series).

Daniel J. Drazen

Disclaimer: The file contained in the box above or displayed in a separate window from a link in the box above is NOT owned nor implied to be owned by BeYoND THe iLLuSioN. Most files at BeYoND THe iLLuSioN are originally from public Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) which were popular in the days before the Internet or from gopher, web, and FTP sites from the early days of the Internet which no longer exist today. Essentially, all files were acquired from the public domain in one for or another.

However, there have been occasions when copyright protected material has appeared on BeYoND THe iLLuSIoN without permission of the copyright holder. In these instances, we have and will continue to remove the copyright protected file as soon as it is brought to our attention. This can now be done using our Report Copyright Material form. Fill out the form, and the webmaster will be notified of the situation.

There are also times when files found on BeYoND THe iLLuSioN have a real home somewhere else on the Internet. In these instances, we will gladly replace the file with a link to its true home whenever it is brought to our attention. If you know of the true home of any of these files, you can use our Report Original URL form to bring it yo our attention.