Victor Houteff - The Hearing

The Hearing

On February 19, 1934 in Los Angeles, California Houteff began his presentation to the Pacific Union Conference Committee of twelve. Their number included A. G. Daniells, former General Conference President, who served as committee chair, and noted Adventist scholars, F.C. Gilbert and H. M. S. Richards - founder of the Voice of Prophecy, a popular Adventist radio show. To Houteff's adherents, the Adventist theologians appeared somewhat disdainful of the self-taught Bulgarian. H.M.S. Richards Jr. later claimed that he had taken, "careful notes," though according to Pastor M.J. Bingham, Houteff's secretary and friend, who was present at the session, Richards behaved churlishly towards Houteff by propping his feet up on a windowsill and paying scant attention to Houteff's presentation, which he had at length prepared at the Committee's request.

After the very first study, an adjournment was called by the Committee.

After four weeks, the Committee released its official reply, A Reply to The Shepherd's Rod, which was authored by Professor O.J. Graf. In his rebuttal of the Committee's reply, Houteff complained that a number of his written statements had been taken out of context, or summarily dismissed without proper consideration. Nevertheless, the Committee's verdict was final. However,Victor Houteff took careful notes of the proceedings and put his view of the session in his book, "The Great Controversy over the Shepherd's Rod" http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Tracts/trac007.html

Though he had been forced out of the SDA Church, Houteff had no intention of leaving it. Since the Church leadership had rejected his message, he took it to the people with great success. In 1934, his evangelistic endeavors began to bear fruit. Several thousand Adventists accepted Houteff's doctrine of the Shepherd's Rod. His Message began to have a considerable impact on the Adventist Church, which, at that time, counted less than 250,000 members worldwide. In 1934, Houteff formed the Universal Publishing Association. While he had no intention of forming his own church, he did wish to use every medium within his power to spread his message within the SDA Church. He viewed the Adventist Church as backsliding from the beliefs upon which it had been founded a hundred years before, and saw his message as a method of solving the many doctrinal disagreements which had arisen as the Church expanded in the 1900s after Ellen G. White's death. The first chapter of Houteff's book, The Shepherd's Rod, dealt with the Biblical 144,000 of Revelation, Chapter 7. Houteff's teachings are inclusive of a message intended directly to the Seventh Day Adventist members, in which God will have a judgment upon his people (Ezekiel 9) and have a purification in his church, resulting in the 144,000 and "those with" to finalizing God's closing work in Earth's history, and consequently converting the remaining non Seventh Day Adventists throughout the word ("the remnant"), to make up The Great Multitude of Revelation 7:6. Houteff's above said teachings were based on Scripture and Ellen White(EGW) writings. For example, one of his basis for church purification was on EGW's quote from Testimonies to Ministers, p.445, where she said that the sealings of Rev. 7 and Ezekiel 9 prophecy were one and the same. He pointed out that both the Scriptures (1 Peter 4:17) and Ellen White ( Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p.210-211 and Vol. 3, p. 266-267) showed that judgment for the living begins in the House of God (church). He also used numerous Scriptures such as Isaiah 66:15-21, Malachi 3:1-5, Joel 2:1-32. Though the Adventist Church has had no official stand on the 144,000 and its sister group of "those with", or The Great Multitude of Revelation 7:6, it rejected Houteff's teaching that the 144,000 believers of Revelation 7 and 14 were Adventists, and that The Great Multitude was made up of non-Adventist Christians. Houteff countered this by pointing out that Ellen White said that the "Israel of today" is the SDA church (Testimonies for the Church, Vol.9, p.164). And by statement, he was able to point out that the 12 tribes of the 144,000 are thus from the SDA church (Rev. 7:1-4).