No. Davidians and Branch Davidians are not the same organization neither do they share the same beliefs, congregate, and/or associate together. “The Branch Seventh-day Adventists,” as they were formerly known, are an off-shoot from the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists. Their founder was Benjamin Lloyd Roden (1902 – 1978). In 1959, he separated from the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists to form “The Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists” as they are commonly known today. This off-shoot group came into being 30 years after The Shepherd’s Rod whose founder was Victor Tasho Houteff (1885–1955).

No. This cannot be further from the truth. Shepherd’s Rod believers advocate that The Seventh-day Adventist Church is God’s remnant church and all should remain faithful to their local congregations and church conference. The Shepherd’s Rod advocates, as prophesied by both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, that the “tares and wheat” are co-mingled and will be until the angels of God remove the “tares” from among the “wheat.”

No, it does not, nor has it ever. The Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement (SDARM & IMS) and its factions are the proponents of the belief that the Seventh-day Adventist church has become part of Babylon. They are often confused with The Shepherd’s Rod that rejects this error. In fact, here is a quote from one of our publications, “The S.D.A. church is not Babylon. If it were we would have been duty bound to come out, but since it is not, we have no place to go.”—The Symbolic Code, Texas, 1935, Vol. 1, No. 14, pg. 8. If you would like to read more about our stance on this particular subject, read our article: Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church Babylon?

No. The Seventh-day Adventist church is where Shepherd’s Rod believers attend and worship as faithful Adventists. This is where they are baptized, hold membership, partake of communion services, and fellowship with their Adventist brethren.

The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association is not an “off-shoot” as The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists claim. Its adherents are members of the SDA church and are duty bound to stay faithful to the denomination but “…sigh and…cry for all the abominations [sins] that be done in the midst thereof.” (Brackets and emphasis added) Ezekiel 9:4. In other words, Shepherd’s Rod believers have a message of “revival and reformation” to bear to the SDA church as revealed by both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, “The Lord's voice crieth unto the city [Church], and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod [message], and [God] who hath appointed it.” (Brackets and emphasis added) Micah 6:9. “Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done’ in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in an agony, even sighing and crying.”—The Review and Herald, June 8, 1873, par. 5. For more information, read our Tract 1: Pre-"Eleventh Hour" Extra and Tract 7: The Great Controversy Over "The Shepherd's Rod".

No. This is false. Ezekiel 9 is carried out by the angels of God not men according to the Bible, Spirit of Prophecy, and the Shepherd’s Rod. We are uncertain as to the origin of this idea but it has been promulgated by church officials that are unfamiliar with the Shepherd’s Rod and refuse to look into it but are thus ready to spread misinformation, denounce, and prejudice the minds of both ministry and laity alike. We as faithful Seventh-day Adventists are not governed or actuated by violence but love for God, church, and our fellow man. Evaluate the statements below from the Bible, Spirit of Prophecy, and our publications regarding the ones who will be carrying out the separation of the “wheat and tares.”

Bible

• “He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. … The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” Matthew 13:28-30, 39

Spirit of Prophecy

• “Finite man is likely to misjudge character, but God does not leave the work of judgment and pronouncing upon character to those who are not fitted for it.  We are not to say what constitutes the wheat, and what the tares. The time of the harvest will fully determine the character of the two classes specified under the figure of the tares and the wheat.  The work of separation is given to the angels of God, and not committed into the hands of any man.”—Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 47

• “The looker-on may discern no difference, but there is One who said that the tares were not to be plucked up by human hands, lest the wheat be rooted up also. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then the Lord sends forth His reapers to gather out the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn, while the wheat is gathered into the heavenly garner. The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares. Those who have been members of the same family are separated. A mark is placed upon the righteous.”—Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 10 (1895), Lt 64a, 1895, par. 13

The Shepherd’s Rod

• “…the Angels, not men, are to separate the good from the bad…”—Timely Greetings, 1950, Vol. 2, Nos. 45, 46, pg. 27

• “Therefore the angels, the reapers, whom Christ sends forth, include both him who does the sealing, or binding, and those who follow on to do the destroying (Ezek. 9:2, 5, 6), first in the church, then in the world.”—Tract 3: The Judgment and the Harvest (third-edition), 1942, pg. 66

Generally, the laity listen and believe what their ministers and church officials tell them without investigating for themselves to determine if the things they are being told are true and are thus acting as without a mind of their own. Ministers, elders, and laity alike are trekking perilously and are counseled against allowing prejudice to bar them from an honest investigation of purported truth.

•  “When new light is presented to the church, it is perilous to shut yourselves away from it.  Refusing to hear because you are prejudiced against the message or the messenger will not make your case excusable before God.  To condemn that which you have not heard and do not understand will not exalt your wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in their investigations of truth.  And to speak with contempt of those whom God has sent with a message of truth, is folly and madness.”—Testimonies on Sabbath School Work, p. 60.

• “But beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men, and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men, and accept the decisions they make, and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to his people, if these leading brethren do not accept them.”—Gospel Workers, p. 126

• “The mind that depends upon the judgment of others is certain, sooner or later, to be misled.”—Education, p. 231

• “‘All ye are brethren.’ All are exposed to temptation, and are liable to error. Upon no finite being can we depend for guidance. The Rock of faith is the living presence of Christ in the church. Upon this the weakest may depend, and those who think themselves the strongest will prove to be the weakest, unless they make Christ their efficiency. ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.’ [Jeremiah 17:5].” Brackets added.—Desire of Ages, pg. 414

• “God will not condemn any at the Judgment because they honestly believed a lie, or conscientiously cherished error; but it will be because they neglected the opportunities of making themselves acquainted with truth.”—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 437

  If you would like to read more about if more truth was to come to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and what should be our attitude regarding “new light,” read our article: New Light