Robert, Joe.

The Branch Davidians were the offspring of a reform movement that originated within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. In the early 1930s, a Bulgarian immigrant named Victor Houteff claimed to have had personal revelations from God and published his controversial views. His book The Shepherd's Rod (1932) served as a challenge to traditional Seventh-Day Adventist views of the apocalypse and church practice. Houteff's book inspired the Branch Davidian movement within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The new Branch Davidians emphasized the need for the gift of prophecy among their leaders and believed that King David's earthly kingdom would be re-established on earth prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Upon his excommunication from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Houteff settled in Waco, Texas, and taught his followers until his death in 1955. This collection contains various pamphlets edited by Houteff as well as The Shepherd's Rod.

The Roden family, whose writings are well represented within this collection, are crucial to the developments leading up to the infamous Waco Siege of 1993. Benjamin Roden became the president of the fledgling church after Houteff passed away, calling for obedience to the feasts and fasts found throughout the biblical text. Benjamin's wife Lois claimed a vision of her own in 1977 when it was revealed to her that the Holy Spirit was a feminine entity. On October 22, 1978, Benjamin died. Lois assumed the mantle of leadership, much to the dismay of her son George.

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