Godsloveandlaw's Blog

In our last segment of this 3 part post, we’ll cover some experiences that took place at the camp. Although it first started out as a camp, it grew into nearly a well-built miniature city. Along with several buildings, farming, gardens and other scenic beauty graced the large grounds. But more important than the landscape was the purpose for the camp. Victor developed a sophisticated printing shop to handle the large mailing campaign.

Mt. Carmel miracles and experiences .

Victor and his wife had their living quarters above the printing shop. One night Victor was at rest in the above quarters when he noticed a silence that wasn’t usual.  The printing shop was usually running almost 24/7. The tracts and other literature were printed continually. He was “about his Fathers business”.

So he went down there in his pajamas to inquire what was going on. The workman explained that the machines had apparently broken down and that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. After hearing this matter, Victor told the man to go on home, he’d take care of it.

The next day the man showed up for work and the machines were back up and working just fine. What happened? One thing was sure, Victor had no mechanical experience.  The only thing that seems possible  is that Victor had prayed that night in the machine room. And the prayer was answered. God’s work could not be stopped.

The next gives light on Victor’s conscientious effort to not let his work be idolized. One day he went up in the chapel to give his usual sermon. As he was speaking, he began to get choked up. Tears began to flow. He felt something deeply and couldn’t control his emotions. This was not normal for him. As the people felt the emotional moment , someone stood up and in an effort to comfort him,  said that he was  a special man and that he was doing a great work for God.

Suddenly Victor’s emotions changed. He looked at the man sternly and said “Don’t you ever call it “my work”, it’s God’s , He’s the one who desires all the credit. Worship Jesus.” The people understood. They knew that he didn’t want even the appearance of any idolization of him or his work. Perhaps he sensed that some at the camp were in need of being reminded of Who it was that was running the show.

We must remember that the Lord had bestowed upon this man the ability to “interpret” Scripture, just as EGW prophesied about the Elijah to come in Testimonies to Ministers, p.475. As such through him came revelations of new light such as the pre-millennial kingdom, the church purification, the hidden prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Zechariah, Ezekiel and others. So some had viewed him as almost a genius prophet. Victor never denied his work as Elijah but he also never rang his own bell and directly said “I’m the Elijah prophet”. Just like Ellen White also never said “I am a prophetess”.

So from this we see that although gifted he, in no way,  wanted any glory or self-exaltation.

Next we’ll look at the miracle of the kitchen fire and the water dam. Sister Bonnie  Smith, who is now 83 explains–

“The Lord preserved this shack by a miracle one early morning.  Some dish towels that had been left hanging over the stove the night before to dry caught fire when the wood stove was started for the cook to prepare breakfast.  

The roof had been repaired many times with tar so it quickly became one big blaze. (The camp had just bought a 6 door refrigerator and a Holbert bread mixer, they had saved for years to be able to buy these.)  A bucket brigade was begun but it was quickly realized that there was nothing that man could do to stop the fire from burning.  So Brother Houteff said, “Let us kneel down on these rocks and ask God to save our kitchen.”  When we open our eyes after the prayer the fire was out, there was nothing left but smoke.  That was just one of our miracles.”

In April of 1943 the dam almost broke.  The City of Waco sent out 300 CC men to sandbag the breaking area.  They would not go out on the dam because of the danger.  So we fed them and sent them back. 

After they were gone, Brother Houteff, called all the heads of families to gather by the dam. They knelt in the mud to ask God’s protection while they sandbagged the breaking area.

When the prayer was over Brother Houteff said the 
dam would not break, that it was safe to sandbag the area.  They did so for about 36 hours without stopping. 

Our Miracle!!! Our miracle is seen here in this picture.

You will notice all the water being held back by the soft dirt with no rocks visible to hold back that large body of water.  God understood our lack of knowledge and blessed our efforts in making the dam.”

Sister Bonnie Smith is one of only a few people alive today who lived on the camp. She still abides in the message and can recall very clearly the happenings that occurred back in the day.

Next we had the “children’s revolt” story. Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s the big fashionable thing going around the US was the roller skating rinks. Soon some of the kids who lived on the grounds became anxious to have their own rink on the sprawling property. They nudged their parents and later a meeting took place.

Victor and the parents, along with the kids, all had a meeting about what the kids thought was a necessity. Victor let the people speak ,and from sister Bonnie’s account–  he got an ear full! Patiently listening, he took in what they had to say. Victor then coolly said that there was to be no such thing allowed on the property and that any one who wishes, could be free to leave.

He could not allow worldly amusement fashions because the whole purpose, he felt, was to raise the children up to  be a God-fearing peculiar people, not a partaker of worldly passions and amusements. In this he was closely connected with Ellen White. There was farming, building, teaching, studying, learning, and chores that would take up the time. Walking, hiking, woodwork,  gardening and such could satisfy the physical needs.

But after the confrontation, apparently a sizable group of parents and kids decided they couldn’t live without their pleasures and left the camp. But Victor held his ground and knew that as God’s messenger, no distractions could be allowed, as it would surely be seeds that would sprout into further “retreating towards Egypt”, as Ellen would say.

Last days of the camp

Victor lived to be almost 70 years old. He died on Feb. 5, 1955. 27 days shy of the 70th year. As he worked all the way up to his final days, he had a wife named Florence who was his help mate for about 18 years. By all accounts she was a loving supportive wife who also doubled as his secretary. At least that was the image.

We all remember that sad, sad story of one of the closet people who knew Jesus as He walked this earth–Judas. Although he professed to know the Lord and learn from him, he secretly harbored unrighteous thoughts and deeds. He was a thief in their midst. At the end he fell from grace and betrayed the One he professed to love and follow.

The Victor- Florence story ended similar to that story,  ending in a betrayal. We don’t know what went wrong but as soon as Victor died, she moved to take over. She even called a board meeting the very NEXT DAY after he died. She discussed among other things HER  Future compensation! The body was not even cold yet and there she was holding a business meeting the next day.

You see the devils, led by Satan, were all over this situation. Once Victor died it was their chance for disruption. And there certainly came much disruption soon . And the leader was none other than –Florence Houteff. The man who was supposed to take over was E. T. Wilson, but their meeting excluded him and Florence got her buddies to elect her as the leader of the camp.

Soon she and her cronies began to publish some symbolic news codes. The mixed some of  Victor’s “unpublished” sermon addresses with some of their own messages. Victor had made some of his sermon addresses unpublished and kept them, as the story goes,   in a private file cabinet. No one has ever produced evidence why Victor did not publish them. Although 98 sermon addresses were published, others were not, by his own decision.  Some believe that he was divinely held back.

Regardless, Florence took it upon herself to begin publishing the private addresses. Today, there is a mixed view of these symbolic code news items. They are often referred to as the “new codes”.  Some claim that they are divinely inspired just as the published ones are, others claim that Victor held them back for a reason and one shouldn’t second guess that decision and leave them alone. And should be viewed as “historical” writings as opposed to authoritative divine instructions as the published ones are.

But the BIG blow that came was when Florence and gang made their own prophecy predictions and announced them in the newsletters (sym. codes). They predicted that Ezekiel 9 would occur in April  1959. One thousand people migrated to the camp near the predicted time. The day came and went. Nothing happened! Soon the people were disillusioned. Many soon left the movement and it became the prophesied “Knock out blow” that Victor himself said would happen.

Later in 1963 Florence quit the faith and denounced her husband’s work and even Ellen White! She moved away and disbanded the camp. Thus the end of the camp came to a sad end. Yet the Lord was not done. Even as the apostles were shattered at their King’s death, the movement soon gained life and grew. So too is the story of the work that Victor Houteff started.

“.. if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”(Acts 5:38-39)

Today we are witnessing a growing interest world-wide.  In fact, the message seems to be spreading faster outside the United States. The message is being put forth out on many fronts. The electronic forums include websites such as Davidian organization websites, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube videos,  Elijah message websites, and other outlets are offering the people a chance to study the message on their own.

Ellen White gives counsel–

“.. 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.” (Testimonies to Ministers, p.106-107)

We’ve taken a look at some of the experiences of the camp and Victor’s life. Let’s now look at the main core beliefs that were expounded by him.

Core beliefs  

1) The fulfillment of Malachi 4:5.

In His tract called “1950 General Conference Special” Victor lays the case for a prophet to come to the SDA church after Ellen White. Just as EGW never directly said she was a prophetess, so too did Victor not say it directly. Yet upon reading this tract, there is no other conclusion to come to, but that he knew that his role was that of the end-time fulfillment of Mal. 4:5.  (http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Misc/GCS.html

2) Judgment for the living.

He drew from both the Scriptures and Ellen White (Spirit of Prophecy) that there was to be a church purification prior to the Loud Cry. He showed that the Old Testament writers had a large amount of writings showing this end time purification. Tract 3 is called “The Judgment and the Harvest”. It goes into the specifics of this church judgment. http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Tracts/trac003.html

3) Pre-millennial Kingdom

His hallmark teachings are the writings on the pre-mill. kingdom. There are quite a few OT verses that speak of promises given to His people of a kingdom to be set up in the last days. What he was able to do is to lay out all of these writings into a big picture of how it will all take place. http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Tracts/trac008.html

Obviously the above is just the main general teachings, but there is much more, such as instructions in health reform, dress reform and worship (temple) reform. For example,  to view the health reform see the tract called, ” The Entering Wedge”.http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Misc/EW.htm

In closing, if one is to believe in the Lord’s final prophetic prophet application, then one must also conclude that the job of this Elijah is to “restore” all things. Meaning that all the important things we are to know and obey are to be delivered by this Elijah prophet. The teachings are to “straighten us out” in any understanding, idea, or doctrines we have held onto- hence the restoring. The most important point that he propounded was that the message of Elijah held within it the vital –sealing message, the one that,  if obeyed would get the believer sealed in their forehead.

We have only to investigate the subject under prayerful submission to know what is –truth, because He promised us –“However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He shall guide you into all truth..” (John  16:13)

(We’d like to thank sister Bonnie Smith and brother Don Adair, both living former members of the camp. They were the sources of the camp experiences. For a site that covers almost all of his work click here  http://www.shepherds-rod.org/srinx.html  )

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