Victor Houteff - Victor Houteff and Adventism

Victor Houteff and Adventism

During the 1920s, Victor Houteff, a strict Seventh-day Adventist, became a Sabbath School teacher at the Exposition Park Church in Los Angeles, California. A keen student of the Bible, Houteff began to delve deeply into it, and the writings of Mrs. Ellen G. White. His Bible study classes in the church lasted longer, and became more complex, attracting large groups of Adventists, every week. Houteff's particular focus was the Scriptures from Isaiah, in chapters 54 through 66. Houteff encountered opposition to his interpretation from the established Seventh-day Adventist Church. Eventually, Houteff and a large number of his Bible class were disfellowshiped by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Houteff persisted, moving his class of more than fifty students to a large house across the street from the church, where he continued to study and teach. Houteff attempted to interest the Adventist California Conference in his Biblical findings, which he believed were really a continuation of the Three Angels Message of Revelation 14. The Three Angels Message is one of the basic doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In 1929, Houteff completed his doctrinal studies and submitted them in the form of a book entitled The Shepherd's Rod. In the preface to the manuscript that would become, The Shepherd's Rod Volume 1, he wrote,

"It is the intention of this book to reveal the truth of the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7 but the chief object of this publication is to bring about a reformation among God's people. The truth herein contained is divided into seven sections, giving proof from seven different angles, to prevent any doubt or confusion. This subject is made clear by the use of the Bible and the writings given by the Spirit of Prophecy.

The truth revealed here is of great importance to the church just now because of the foretold danger which God's people are soon to meet. It calls for decided action on the part of the believers to separate themselves from all worldlings and worldliness; to anchor themselves on the Solid Rock by obedience to all the truth known to this denomination, if we must escape the great ruin. "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."

Victor Houteff did not directly claim himself as a prophet, similar to Ellen White,who also did not directly say she was a prophet.However, followers of his teachings understand that he showed clearly by prophectic interpretation and Ellen White writings (1 Selected Messages, p.412 ), that his messsage was the Elijah message prophesied in Mal. 4:5 (See Tract called "The 1950 General Conference Special). Some viewed him as a reformer in the mold of A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner, and a believer in the doctrine of Justification by Faith. A small, quiet man, he felt it his duty, as a Christian to reach out to his Church, thinking that his doctrine would lead to conservative reforms in the denomination. His book, published on December 4, 1930 caused a great stir in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, evidenced by the fact that four years later, Houteff was given a hearing by twelve of the Adventist Church's leaders.