Shepherd's Rod - Name and Affiliation

Name and Affiliation

Adherents to the writings of V. T. Houteff have often been referred to as "Shepherd's Rods", however the correct term is "Davidian Seventh Day Adventists". This name is derived from the title of a two-volume series authored by Victor Houteff, the first volume of which was released in 1929.

In both volumes of his original work Houteff made references to the biblical book of Micah:

"The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it," Micah 6: 9 and

"Feed Thy people with Thy rod, the flock of Thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel." Micah 7:14.

"The name, Davidian, deriving from the name of the king of Ancient Israel, accrues to this Association by reason of its following aspects: First, it is dedicated to the work of announcing and bringing forth the restoration (as predicted in Hosea 1:11; 3:5) of David's kingdom in antitype, upon the throne of which Christ, "the son of David," is to sit. Second, it purports itself to be the first of the first fruits of the living, the vanguard from among the present-day descendants of those Jews who composed the Early Christian Church. With the emergence of this vanguard and its army, the first fruits, from which are elected the 12,000 out of each of the twelve tribes of Jacob, "the 144,000" (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8) who stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8), the reign of antitypical David begins." (The Leviticus of Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, p. 4, emphasis added).

• Note - The DSDA use to a vast degree the writings of Ellen G. White. Their belief basis of the 144,000 coming from the SDA church is from EGW (Testimonies for the Church, Vol.9, p. 164). Here she says that the "Israel of today" is the SDA church.