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  )

Mt. Carmel’s main Administration building

(Note- due to the large amount of information concerning our subject matter, we’ve had to make this into a 3 part post)

Before we go into his next phase (Mt. Carmel years) we want briefly explain what transpired about 4 years after the first Shepherd’s Rod publication had been published and sent to some SDA members in the United States. As we’ve mentioned there was quite a controversy building once the writings were circulated. Many converts to the message were spreading the publications and as such the high level Conference leaders were forced to do something about it. The catalyst was when a South Carolina Conference leader by the name of E. T. Wilson embraced the teachings propounded by Victor Houteff.

So now a statement had to be made, no longer could the uproar be ignored. If the leaders remained quiet it seemed a far- reaching revival and reformation would be the certain result. A situation that would cause a change in structure and acceptance of some new prophetic beliefs.  So they held as a unit that the SDA church had Ellen White as it’s last prophet and could not seriously consider that another prophet could come to the church. She was the one and only messenger of God sent to the church. And the claim that Victor Houteff was the Elijah prophet prophesied in Malachi 4:5 and Testimonies to Ministers p.476-476 could not be studied, perceived or allowed.

So soon a plan was hatched that a committee of 12 SDA leaders and Mr. Houteff would have to meet so that something could appear to have taken place to address the laity concerns, and that they could say either, “Yes we believe in Victor Houteff’s teachings” or “No we don’t believe in them”. The leaders and Victor Houteff  in early in 1934 agreed to a formal 7 day meeting. Mr. Houteff’s teachings and prophecy explanations were finally, after 4 years, to be heard.

While we can’t go into all that transpired up to, during, and after the historical meeting in this post, we can simply say that the meeting became a fiasco. The prepared agreed terms were changed by the committee during the actual meeting and Victor Houteff was cut off on the first day of the 7 day meeting. At this exact same time there was another SDA leadership meeting across country in Washington D.C. unbeknownst to Victor.  The whole fiasco is written about in brother Erik Bell’s “Secret Tribunals of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.” (see here for report http://mtccamp.org/)

He explains what was concurrently happening , “In the meantime the denominational leaders in Washington, D.C. had received inquiries about Mr. Houteff’s teachings.  They had received copies of his writings, some of which had been mailed to them by him, and those who examined them were convinced that they contained error.  The matter was presented to the General Conference Committee on February 19, 1934, the same day on which Mr. Houteff was given the hearing on the West Coast.  After discussing the matter, the General Conference Committee took this action: ‘Voted that W.A. Spicer, F.M. Wilcox and W.H. Branson be a committee to prepare material for a leaflet counteracting the false teaching of the Shepherd’s Rod.'”-(History p.14)

It is hardly believable, but in the Conference’s own words, they state that long before the committee of twelve rendered their decision, in fact before Bro. Houteff made his presentation on the West Coast, they condemned and sentenced the brother and his teachings.  It is impossible to publish a more damaging, self-incriminating confession than this!  If this cannot awaken the reader to the fact that the church had absolutely no intentions to deal with the Rod fairly, then may God have mercy on your soul!”   (See full discussion on the meeting at   http://mtccamp.org/ )

In commenting soon after the hearing, E. T. Wilson said,  “Present truth has enraged the conference men and they are unable to cope with the situation in a fair fight, so they are threatening to close the West Union Church. But because the conference men are not thought well of there, they have chosen the local elder and a lay preacher to handle the situation on the coming Sabbath, and this promises a good interesting time.” — July 3, 1934.

The Outcome Of The West Union Church Meeting

   “We had a good day Sabbath at West Union where the Busch family lives, and there was a signal victory for the truth at the eleven o’clock hour for the business to be attended was left in the hands of the lay preacher and the local church elder. The conference had submitted the following proposition to the church: They would send the church a tent to be used for evangelist work in the community, provided the church would vote to bar E.T. Wilson and Dr. Stokes from the pulpit.

It was a beautiful sight to see the elder in tears, and in broken words say that he could not put such a movement or proposition to the church stating that he had never investigated `The Shepherd’s Rod,’ and that Elder Wilson and the doctor were his friends, and men of God so far as he knew, and that he had never heard them teach anything but the truth.

“All this time the preacher’s little wife was weeping, but not with broken heart, but for joy, and the entire church was in tears as well as the visitors of whom there were about thirteen, who are ardent believers in the reformatory message of “The Shepherd’s Rod.” One of the ladies said that it was an insult to their intelligence to submit such a proposition as that submitted by the conference. It certainly was.” — July 10, 1934. (Symbolic Code, Vol. 1, no.1, p.1)

 (Signed) E.T. Wilson.

We wanted to lay the above foundation to set the stage as to how the SDA leaders were dealing with this situation. So it was reasonable for Victor and the brethren to get into a peaceful setting where they could “go to work” publishing the work Victor felt God had inspired him to do. As he and many of the believers were dis-fellowhipped, they needed a gound base from which to establish headquarters. That was to be a property Victor called, “Mt. Carmel” located in Waco, Texas. A large country property with 189 acres that would be build up over 20 years and from where thousands upon thousands of books , tracts, charts and other literature was published and sent around the world.

MT. Carmel years  –  The years in this rural area were to be the productive years of his work. Victor explains the reason for moving.

“… He has given us one of His beautiful lakeside hills adjacent to Waco, Texas, a city of about 60,000, yet far enough from it to be away from the world and its evil environment — about 5 miles from the center of the city, and about 2 1/2 miles from the city limits. There lies 189 acres of land for our “camp…The many letters of encouragement received during the past several weeks, most of which indicated that you were praying earnestly that the Lord would guide His servants in wisdom and counsel while seeking a central location for headquarters from which to operate the work of proclaiming the message to the church, have been greatly appreciated by all and especially by those who have been spying but the land, as it were, and we are happy indeed to bring to you a good report and a few grapes from this trip and, in the language of the faithful ones of old, we can say, “We are well able?” to take the city, but we know this can be done only as we do as those two warriors of old did, namely “follow the Lord fully.”

  “It has been evident for some time that it would soon be necessary to seek a more central location for the office in order to serve the whole field efficiently, so those at headquarters have been praying very earnestly over this matter for many months, and as they kept on praying for light, the Lord finally indicated definitely that beautiful Southern California was no longer to remain the center of His work for the “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” but an eastward course was to be seen in the stream from that “fountain” which is to swell Into the great river of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and plans were soon formulated whereby a thorough search could be made In the territory indicated by the Lord where the future headquarters were to be found.”(Symbolic Code, Vol. 1, no. 10, p.2-3)

From this rural “camp” Victor and his brethren soon built many buildings and farmland. Below is the first building built in 1935,  known as the “kitchen”.

 As the years went by the property was improved and as can be seen from the top picture, the work culminated in the well designed  Administration main building. Below is the inspiring “11th hour” ground floor clock built in the foyer of the office within the administration building.

Below are pictures of the  Chapel (inside and outside). Notice one of the symbolic charts hanging up on front wall.

As they completed their camp, the writings continued to go forward. Victor continued to do work on his voluminous publications. He compiled works such as Shepherd’s Rod, vol. 1 and 2, Symbolic Code news publications  (which contained many updates, letters, reports, and teachings), 2 volumes of Timely Greeting sermon addresses totaling 98 sermons, small booklets known as “Tracts”, 1 to 15, with an additional 8 miscellaneous Tracts,  9 Jezreel Letters in small booklet form addressed to the church leaders, the Answerer,  which compiled 5 volumes of Q and A from the SDA brethren (over many years), and 25  prophetic symbolic “Charts”.

But perhaps most fascinating is the Charts. The details and the prophetic symbols are exact in design and often have Biblical references clarifying the symbols. Below are some of the charts. The below charts cover Daniel 8, Noah flood type and anti-type, Hosea prophecy chapter 1 and 2, the Temples type and anti-type, the Ceremonial Harvest.

Take a look at the 25 charts. To view them closer click here (click to enlarge) http://www.shepherds-rod-message.org/charts/

We certainly know that the world is rapidly winding down, the nations are getting restless, the middle east is a fireball ready to explode. We also know that before the end the Lord promised us one last prophet- “Elijah”  before the great and dreadful day. Concerning this we can look at 3 choices. Let us briefly analyze them.

1) We can claim as some in the SDA do, that Ellen White fulfilled the role of Elijah.

This postilion comes with a controversy that must be prayerfully considered. In Test. to Ministers , p.475 and 1 Selected messages, p.412, Ellen White describes the Elijah to come as a “he”. One must assume that she was calling herself a he in order to believe she was predicting herself as Elijah. Further we must cancel the Lord’s historical precedent, in that He never called a male prophet by a female name. We’d have to conclude that “Elijah” is meant as “Ellen”.

2) We can claim there is no real latter-day fulfillment of this prophecy. The Lord was talking about John the baptist as fulfilling the prophecy.

Our founding fathers said this concerning that, “But was the prophecy wholly fulfilled in John the Baptist? We answer, No; for it is more intimately connected with the great day of the Lord than was the mission of John, His work had exclusive references to the first advent; but the prophecy must relate more especially to the second advent, which is the crowning event of the ushering in of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”-“Review and Herald,” February 23, 1864

3) We can claim the only man within  our SDA church history to claim the fulfillment of the Malachi 4:5 prophecy and then  produce the writings to back it up — Victor T. Houteff .

In regard to this last option we quote  two EGW quotes.

“Men, women, and youth, God requires you to possess moral courage, steadiness of purpose, fortitude and perseverance, minds that cannot take the assertions of another, but which will investigate for themselves before receiving or rejecting, that will study and weigh evidence, and take it to the Lord in prayer. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (Test. vol. 2, p.130)

“It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light and encourage others to follow his example. We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing every thought and comparing scripture with scripture. With divine help we are to form our opinions for ourselves as we are to answer for ourselves before God.” (GC p.598)

Next week we’ll finish with the different stories ,signs,  and wonders that occurred at the camp. We’ll conclude with  Victor  Houteff’s core message and the writings that caused a “shaking” among His remnant church (and still so today).

(Many thanks to sister Dara for providing the Mt. Carmel pictures) For more original Mt Carmel pictures click here http://www.shepherds-rod.org/photo/page1.htm )

Today a vital understanding is important in regards to understanding what a prophet of God and a messenger of God really is. Also we must understand who the “last” one is to be. Let us begin by finding out what a prophet of God is. We begin with the Spirit of Prophecy.

“In the highest sense the prophet was one who spoke by direct inspiration, communicating to the people the messages he had received from God. But the name was given also to those who, though not so directly inspired, were divinely called to instruct the people in the works and ways of God.” (Education, p.46)

Here we see that there was “direct inspiration” prophets and then there was “not so directly inspired” prophets. However we should note that she is describing the title in  past notations . It’s important to note that today we are faced with some solid words that show there are no more “prophets” after the Elijah prophet.

“God speaks through his appointed agencies, and let no man, or confederacy of men, insult the Spirit of God by refusing to hear the message of God’s word from the lips of his chosen messengers. By refusing to hear the message of God, men close themselves in a chamber of darkness. They shut their own souls away from vast blessings, and rob Christ of the glory that should come to him, by showing disrespect to his appointed agencies.”(Review and Herald, Sept.5, 1893)

The above clearly says that we are to listen to His chosen messengers, lest we close ourselves “in a chamber of darkness.”

To illuminate further what a prophet is we read in (Amos 3:7) , ” Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.” We see that the Lord does something only after he reveals it to His spokesmen-the prophets. So one of the main aspects of prophets is to foretell what the Lord will do.

For examples of this clear foretelling of upcoming events we can refer a few examples. Malachi predicted “..the Lord , whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple..” Has this happened yet? No, this prophet has declared what the Lord will do (future tense).

Ellen White has declared that the world’s governments will establish a “Sunday law”, has this happened? No yet, but this will come to pass.

Also in (2 Peter 1:20-21) we read, ” Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Again we see that all foretelling and the interpretation of foretelling events of Scripture is left only to the Holy Spirit which God anoints to a “holy” man, a prophet, or in Ellen’s case–a holy woman.

Today, unfortunately, God’s people have seen in their midst a few who have illegally mounted the “prophet” throne and proclaimed themselves as such, directly or indirectly. Either saying so upfront or implying it, or not denying it should their followers make the claim. But this false usurping is thoroughly debased if we will only seriously study the clear, simple, plain word of God through His prophets.

Let us look at solid evidence that only one prophet is to come in the last days. As we’ve mentioned many times before, there is two clear quotes from the word of God that point this out. We shall quote them and after them we shall add what the Elijah prophet himself said about this subject. Let us remember that the Elijah prophet is to “restore all things” and that this spokesman of the Lord, is the last source(restoration) we must refer to because it’s the last word of the Lord.

How many of us would like to arrive in a city and ask the people there for a 20 year old map? Of course we’d want the latest to know where we are going and how to get there. It’s the same with His latest prophet, it’s the Lord’s latest map to the kingdom.

As we search Scripture closely we find the well-known Malachi 4:5,  and it reads, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”

Then we have the other unmistakable quote from Spirit of Prophecy.

“Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: “You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.” (Testimonies to Ministers, p.475)

We notice that they both show ONE person, a male, to come in the spirit and power of Elijah. What is the prophet to do? Obviously from the two quotes we can see that he is to bring a message. And that is to be about the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and how we can survive it. In other words to reveal plainly what this day is to be like and to be prepared. We see he describes this day from his God-given ability to “interpret” Scriptures. But he will not succeed initially . Why? Because the people will say “you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way, let me tell you how to teach your message.”

The people, which can only be God’s remnant people, the Seventh Day Adventist people, will know that this man (Elijah) will have a message to bear. But they will be led to put it down and others will step forward to proclaim another message apart from the God-given one. A Elijah message of reform and reformation will be replaced by a smooth and peace and safety message.

Has this happened? Yes indeed! Brother Victor Houteff has been the ONLY large-scale “interpreter” from our SDA history to have qualified to fit this specific prophecy. Can we name any other in our history known for his interpretations, claiming his work as Elijah,  and then rejected?  No we cannot.

His interpretations were numerous, his writings uncovered “hidden” treasures of truth, never before in history declared or understood. Even the Jews were stumped on the meanings of some of the prophecies that Victor Houteff soundly uncovered. Yet the great majority of the SDA, at the urging of the leaders, blindly turned away from investigating this Elijah prophet’s writings and symbolic charts.

“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent you, how often I have longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ” (Luke 13:34)

Because of this rejection, we now can see why Ellen White prophesied that a “small portion” would be saved in the remnant church. (Testimonies for the Church, Vol.1, p.608-609). The Lord does not change (Mal. 3:6). If he spared only 2 from over the age of 20, out of hundreds of thousands in the Egypt exodus, will He let down His standards now? Will He overlook the fact that we  reject a prophet He sent? Search  our history, not once did He ever give His people a pass once they soundly rejected His prophets. His judgments followed and they were thorough. That is why we continually plead to all who will listen —read and study the last prophet’s words for they are the Lords!

So it is clear that only one male prophet is to come after Ellen White.

“As never before, we should pray not only that laborers may be sent forth into the great harvest field, but that we may have a clear conception of truth, so that when the messengers of truth shall come, we may accept the message and respect the messenger.” (Test. for the Church, vol. 6, p.420).

Let us now look at the direct words spoken by our last prophet addressing  the “last” prophet to come issue. Here are the common excuses used to deny the Elijah prophet.

1) They inject that John the Baptist fulfilled the role of the Elijah to come (Mal. 4:5)

Brother Houteff addresses this — “ Now the question: Is the ancient prophet Elijah himself to re-appear, or is some other, having the same spirit and power, to take his place?

   John the Baptist’s statement that he himself was not the Elijah, and Jesus’ statement that John was the Elijah of that day, not of our day, clear three points:

   (1) That John was not in any sense of the word fulfilling the mission of the Elijah who is to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, but that he, the last prophet to the church of his day, simply came in the spirit and power of Elijah, to prepare the way for the Lord’s first advent.  So it is that the Elijah of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the last prophet to the church of this day, comes in the same spirit and power, to prepare the way for the Lord’s second advent.

   (2) That as John was the Elijah of his day, yet not Elijah the Tishbite himself, then the promise of the prophet Elijah is not necessarily to be fulfilled in person by the ancient prophet himself.

   (3) That as the Elijah of Christ’s first advent was one person, and also as the Elijah of Mt. Carmel of old was one person, not a multitude of priests, then by parity of reasoning the Elijah of today must also be one person, not a multitude of ministers.

   The promise, itself, moreover, is for only one, not for more, and, with but one exception, we know not of any other time when God employed even two prophets (let alone many) at one time, to convey one message to one people.  He invariably called one, and that one himself, under the direction of the Spirit, employed others to help him take the message to the people.  Thus only were any others ever identified with a called one.

 What a blasphemous theft!  — should one endeavor to steal away the truth about the prophet’s office, to pass on a lie instead, — to say that Elijah is not an individual but a group of people, in the face of the fact that the types, and the prophecy as well, besides Heaven’s law and order, disallow such a thing.  Thus to go contrary to Holy Writ is an outright effort to do away forever with the promised prophet of God, as Pharaoh endeavored to do away with Moses by drowning the male Hebrew children, and likewise as Herod tried to do away with Christ by slaying the little children of his day!  What wickedness indeed!  Think this through, too, Brethren.(1950 General Conference Special, p. 31-33)

Next he reveals the real purpose of his message.

No one but a hopeless Laodicean, one who forever holds to his day-dreaming that he has need of nothing more, — no more Truth or prophets, — can fail to see that the prophecies pertaining to the day of God are only dark sentences to him, that he is in need of everything instead of nothing, and that the work of the promised Elijah is not the work which the Laodiceans are doing. 

The Laodicean message (the Judgment for the Dead) is definitely not Elijah’s message, although many may think it is.  That many are blind to this, the Lord points out: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.”

   Moreover, we all know that the work of typical Elijah was to do away with the prophets and priests who served Baal instead of God, those who led ancient Israel into the greatest fallacy and folly of the day.  Accordingly, the antitypical Elijah’s work, being in the spirit and power of typical Elijah, must therefore be similar to typical Elijah’s work-restoring Truth and righteousness, and bringing judgment upon the false prophets and teachers in the antitypical day which in itself is the separating of the chaff from the wheat — the work of the Judgment for the Living.”(1950 General Conference Special, p.30-31)

2) The next issue we find today (particularly among some DSDA) is that brother Houteff was not the last prophet to come. This is soundly cleared up if we read and believe , in the plain, simple and clear words of VTH.

“Since God is not experimenting, and since He means just what He says, there should be no doubt in your minds that the Scriptures concerning antitypical Elijah (he who is to awaken the church and to warn the Laodiceans of “the great and the dreadful day of the Lord”‘ make sure that he is one person.  Of a surety, he is to have faithful helpers, but according to the prophet Nahum he will greatly make use of the printing press and will scatter his message by the postage stamp everywhere, as the leaves of autumn.  He will not care what is done with his publications, but will make sure the they find their way into all hands, laps, pockets, yards or waste baskets throughout Laodicea…” (1950 General Conference Special, p.34)

“And since the Enemy cannot get around the Truth, he does all he can to blacken character and to pick flaws in personalities.  The prophet’s message nevertheless cannot be judged by the behavior of its professors, for even the Apostles misconducted themselves before the ascension of Christ.  The multitude, too, that followed Moses was anything by exemplary; in fact, in many instances they were disgraceful.  And the “holy men of God” who wrote the Scriptures were faulty men.   Even Moses himself was not faultless. Regardless, though, he was still Moses, and his was the only message and movement for the day.

   Likewise, irrespective of considerations of personnel faults, frailties, and failings, Elijah’s message and movement will be the only God-sent ones, the only ones to fear, to love, to stand by, to live or to die for.  No, there will be no other shield when heaven opens and the storm breaks in all its dread fury upon the world, to unavoidably pour down its lethal lightning from the skies.

   Finally, for what other purpose could any right thinking minds suppose the Lord would send His prophet if not for them to give ear to him, that they might thereby survive the great and dreadful day of the Lord?   For what else, indeed, could the Lord have made a record of prophecy and promise of His last-day prophet?  Ponder this, Brethren; think it through.”(1950 General Conference Special, p.8-9)

As if the above is not enough to point out that the Elijah prophet is the last “one” to come, we read, ” Since the promised Elijah is to be the last prophet to the church today, as John the Baptist was the last prophet to the church in his day, and since the last work on earth is the Judgment for the Living, the truth stands forth like the light of day that Elijah’s message is the message of the Judgment for the Living, the last, which in the very nature of the gospel is of far more importance and consequence than any other message ever borne to a people.” (1950 General Conference Special, p.23-24)

3) The claim that Ellen White was the “Elijah” to come. This began in 1962, over 70 years after EGW made the statement that a “he” was to come as the anti-typical Elijah. In 1962 the leaders went back and added an asterisk to (Test. to Ministers, p.475) saying they she was really saying that she was talking of herself as the Elijah to come. Brother Houteff knew of this deception, even in 1950 and addressed it.

“The Judgment for the Dead, furthermore, is not the message of “the great and dreadful day.”  It does not even touch on the prophecies of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And since the one by whom the message on the Judgment for the Dead was unfolded has already been dead these many years, and since nothing, not to mention “all things,” has as yet been restored, and, too, since that one never claimed to be the Elijah, nor to unfold the prophecies of the Judgment for the Living, no one, therefore, can honestly and innocently say Elijah has already come and gone. 

In view of these facts, it would be stupidity of the lowest form, if not blasphemy, for any one to lay such charges to her, or to imagine that her prophetic office fulfilled anything more than a preparatory part of the mission of Elijah.” (1950 General Conference Special, p.39)

In closing my brethren, let us watch and be on guard because the devils know they have but little time. Our prophet has spoken and said –what the Lord will do.

“However, I would remind you, Brethren, that no prophet of God has ever been welcomed by the church.  On the contrary, each in his time was rejected, abused, and most of them were martyred by the ones to whom they were sent — the very ones who were supposed to be serving God!  Indeed, the Lord Himself paid the same price.  For this very reason we must remember that when the last prophet comes he will have the greatest opposition to meet, for Satan well knows that if he loses now, he loses forever. 

What makes Elijah’s work especially hard is that Christendom has long been drilled in the idea that no prophet is to come, that there is no necessity for one, that it has enough revealed Truth to carry it inside the Pearly Gates. It is therefore only to be expected that the predicted Elijah will be denounced as a false prophet, perhaps even as the anti-Christ, offshoot, or what not.

   Moreover, the old Devil has already put all his forces to work, piping pleasing tunes to lure Truth seekers to climb aboard his golden bandwagon.   Its glittering tinsel of truth is already beguiling many with his wares while his captains and generals are to the top of their voices shouting their “Hallelujahs,” “Holy Ghost,” “gift of healing,” “gift of tongues,” “gift of miracles,” and all the rest, although the entire fanfare is devoid even of a spark of life. 

Every wind of doctrine will be blowing, false revivals and reformations will be at their peak.  Everything that can be done will be done to distort the Truth and thus distract and dishearten believers and draw their attention to something other than the message of Elijah.

   Thus will be the Devil’s deal while the day of God is approaching, and while Elijah is making the announcement of it as the scroll unrolls and while the prophecies concerning the day of God are being unsealed.   His work and his interpretation of the prophecies for the great day will identify him as the promised Elijah the prophet (“Testimonies to Ministers,” p. 475),

and this will enrage the Devil as never before.  Nevertheless, one’s only safety will be in the teaching of Elijah, for there will be no other voice of timely Truth and authority to whom one may turn.  Any others will lead their victims blind-folded into perdition.

   Do not henceforth leave in the hands of others your investigation of the subject.  After hearing the evidences, you alone in the closet of prayer and with the aid of the Spirit can determine whether the Elijah has come, or whether he is yet to come.”(1950 General Conference Special, p.6-8)