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Birth of Victor Houteff (founder of the Davidians)
Victor Houteff was born in Raicovo, East Bulgaria Ottoman Empire -
Victor Houteff Joined the Seventh-Day Adventist Chruch
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination that day of worship is Saturday -
Initiation
Victor T. Houteff founded the Davidians, a small Adventist reform movement, in 1929. -
Victor is disallowed from Seventh Day Adventist Church
Houteff begins teaching doctrines that eventually get him expelled from the Los Angeles Seventh-Day Adventist church of which he is a member. -
Resettling
Six years later, Houteff and thirty-seven of his followers resettled two miles from Waco, Texas, where they established the Mount Carmel Center. The community expanded there, growing to around ninety people by 1955. Houteff was completely in charge and trusted, viewed by his followers as the only person who could reveal Biblical secrets about the end of time. However Houteff died. The Branch Davidians were organized in 1955 by Ben Roden following the death of Davidian founder Victor T. Houteff. -
Death of founder
Houteff’s suffered from heart failure and his death shocked the Davidians because he stated that he would never die. They feared there would be instability within church organization leadership. Prior to his passing, Houteff had appointed his second wife, Florence Houteff, to lead the Davidians until the Lord chose another prophet to take charge. He sold the property near Lake Waco and resettled in 1957 on a 941-acre farm, nine miles east of Waco which was called New Mount Carmel. -
Passover
Florence Houteff and the other leaders predicted the imminent establishment of God’s Kingdom on April 22, 1959. They called on members to gather at New Mount Carmel before that date, which coincided with Passover. About nine hundred gathered, but when signs did not appear, the Davidians began to disperse quickly. -
Benjamin Roden takeover
Benjamin Roden announced that he was the sign the Davidians were seeking. The failure of the prophecy discredited Florence Houteff, and a small following looked to Roden as their new prophet. Roden’s Branch Davidians claimed the New Mount Carmel property, which was now seventy-seven acres. Roden centered his teachings on the significance of the restored state of Israel, which would be a sign of preparation for Christ’s return to earth.