Davidians

Davidians are followers of the Davidian movement, a Christian splinter tradition that originated in the United States in the 1930s as a reform movement within the Seventh-day Adventist milieu. The movement began when Victor Houteff, a Bulgarian-born Adventist lay teacher, published The Shepherd’s Rod and asserted that biblical truths had been lost by the Adventist Church and needed restoration. Adherents emphasized prophecy, the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, and the belief that an imminent divine intervention would restore a Davidic government on earth.

In the 1950s a separate branch developed under Benjamin Roden, giving rise to the Branch Davidians. After Roden’s death, leadership passed to Lois Roden and later to Vernon Howell, who adopted the name David Koresh and led the group from the 1980s into the early 1990s. The Davidians remained a tightly knit, scripture-focused community with ongoing revelations claimed by leaders and a strong emphasis on ends-time prophecies.

In 1993, the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, were surrounded by federal and local authorities in a controversial siege. The ensuing confrontation ended in a fire and the deaths of 76 people, including Koresh, raising enduring debates about religious freedom, policing, and cult dynamics.

Today, several Davidians groups remain, including branches tracing their origins to Houteff’s movement. The mainstream Seventh-day Adventist Church regards the Davidians as a separate denomination and not a part of Adventism.