https://www.facebook.com/940443132715252/

Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Association, 20412 Farm Road 1025, Exeter, MO (2026)

01/12/2026

Question:
I would like clarification on Brother Trevor's presentation "What we need today is bound up present truth." Some are coming to a conclusion that we are not to read the SRod books again only the bound up. Is this what Brother Trevor's presentation is saying?

Answer:

There are many precious truths contained in the Word of God, but it is "present truth" that the flock needs now. EW 63 The Bible, Spirit of Prophecy and Rod have much truth, but is important to us right now is the very present truth. The Lord tells us why:
“*What the world needs today is to know what they must do to be saved.* There are many interesting and pleasing discourses given that the speaker counts the very height of success, but they are not thus registered by Him…who weighs such discourses in the balances … and pronounces them wanting.” RH, February 22, 1887 par. 10

What is needed by everyone in the world, including Davidians, Adventists and people who are still in the world is the practical understanding of how to live the God centered life we must live in order to be saved. To succeed, we need step by step instruction in living a righteous life. Righteous means right doing. We must learn what God wants us to do today, not yesterday, and then we must do it if we are to be saved. The present truth we need today will help us to cease being “half-hearted, unsystematic, and thus unscientific” in our approach to our religion and instead, help us become wholehearted, systematic and scientific in the “imperative work of exchanging wrong ideas and theories, habits and practices, for right ones…”8SC1-12:11 This is the all essential present truth for today.

There are many important truths stored in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, that is, the inspired writings of BOTH Brother Houteff and Sister White. The Rod explains how God uses a “perfect system” based on the symbolism of Zechariah 4 to produce, store and distribute this truth as it is needed. The “precious truth” from the Bible (the two olive trees) are transmitted by the two golden pipes to the Golden bowl. All of the Bible is inspired of God, but not all of the Bible is equally timely truth for us today. God’s perfect system is His way of selecting the exact truth we need at the present time. For example, neither the message of Jonah (past and future) or the message of Noah (past) are present truth today. God’s perfect system can point out not only what is present truth, but what is not timely truth for us today. For example, the Rod tells us that “the old message… is out of date as is the message of Noah's flood….”2TG 30:18 By “old message,” Brother Houteff means that “…the "Judgment for the Dead, (for the proclamation of which the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination was specifically called forth), is now out of date as is the message of Noah's flood….” JL 9:4 We do not repudiate “out of date” doctrines that are not present truth today. They are still just a much truth as they ever were. But we are called to emphasize present truth today, for that is what the flock needs.

God wants us to have the truth we need today to become the kind of people He can use to be “saviors.” It is not enough to have the truth of yesterday; it is necessary to have special meat in due season. The Lord knows what we need to develop the character of Christ in a way that the world has never seen in a people as a whole since time begun. The problem is that from the beginning people have tended to reject the present truth in favor of past truth. Over and over in history, this is what has happened. But now time is almost over for us. God’s true people will not “follow the examples of the Jews and the Romans” (Answerer2:80) in rejecting present truth. Those who oppose are not God’s people. "Opposition is the lot of all whom God employs to present truths specially applicable to their time. There was a present truth in the days of Luther, -- a truth at that time of special importance; there is a present truth for the church today." *"Different periods in the history of the church* have each been marked by the development of some special truth, *adapted to the necessities of God's people at that time*…. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency.” Tract 7:64 As we head into the most critical period in earth’s history, we do in fact need *special, emergency present truth* if we are to almost overnight become the people God wants and needs us to be.

The present truth the people of God need today is not a new message, but truth already embedded in writings in the golden bowl that is specially adapted to our needs today. The Lord may have had much written on a particular subject or only the bare outlines. In either case, He is able to bring out all the necessary present truth on the subject He wants us to have when it is time. He does this through His perfect system by having either the two pipes to write voluminously on the subject, or by having the seven pipes expand largely on the already given outline of truth. The Lord uses either method to bring needed present truth. As an example, the Lord had Brother Houteff write a great deal on Carmel, but very little, past the bare outline, on Bashan. Instead, the details of that truth were bound up by the porter and the appointed shepherds, the seven tubes. There are many other precious truths in the bowl to distribute at the right time, some like the truth of Carmel which is both outlined and written up in great detail, and some like the truth of Bashan, which was outlined in the Rod, but bound up in greater detail by the porter and the seven tubes.

God sees the future as clearly as He sees the past and present. He has always known what we need for this time and He has given us all the truth in the final message we will need until the Kingdom. The Lord has created an exclusive two-step process of first decoding (interpreting) the hidden prophecies of the Bible into the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy and secondly, of restricting the distribution of the needed present truth exclusively to His own channel of “actually inspired” teachers (ministers), thus allowing Him to deliver the precise truth needed at the time it is needed. Satan understands this system, and tries to disrupt it by encouraging members (lamps) to go directly to the bowl or the two olive trees.

The Rod teaches that the prophecy of Zechariah 4 describes a “…perfect system of preparing, and dispensing the Word of God, "meat in due season," to His people…” 1TG14:22 The Lord further tells us that “the system of Bible interpretation, described by Zechariah, is the Lord's only system.” 1TG14:23 Under God’s “only system” today, the lamps receive their oil from the seven tubes (the ministry) while the ministry in turn take the oil they feed to the lamps not directly from the Bible, but from the Golden bowl. This is counter to the Protestant belief that anyone can go directly to the Bible for present truth. Unfortunately, this Protestant view has been accepted by some Davidians as well.

Under God’s system, the seven lamps (all of the laity) are not to go directly to the Bible or the golden bowl themselves for present truth. This is also counter to many “lamps” belief that they have the right to go directly to the golden bowl for meat in due season. Someone may even exclaim, “What! Are you teaching that I can’t read the message for myself?!” Anyone can read the both the Bible and writings of the Spirit of Prophecy (the golden bowl), but in a larger sense, yes, the message teaches that it is seven tubes that are to take the exact present truth oil we need today from the Bowl and deliver it to the lamps. This is the Lord’s “only system” today.

Some may think, “This point is new to me and not all to my liking!” But if this is indeed what the Rod teaches, rejecting this teaching would be a mistake that genuine Davidians will want to avoid making. God’s true people will not be offended, rather they will be happy since they know that God, not man, is leading us into the very truth we most need today. As it turns out, this “perfect system” of producing and distributing the truth is indeed not “new,” but has always been what the message teachers. But it is today in a special way present truth for all Davidians. And incidentally, it is a good example of how we can have “meat in due season,” present truth, that is already in the golden bowl without needing a new prophetic messenger and message.

Since God calls this way of distributing the present truth His “perfect system,” the wise will be happy to accept this “new” truth. They will understand that is very much in their physical, mental and spiritual benefit, as is all present truth from God. Not only is this system what we need as individual Davidians to help us develop the character of Christ, it the way we will finally achieve unity and spiritual power as a people, for we are told that “It is the only remedy for isms and discord” among God’s peopl. There are those who think that reading the Spirit of Prophecy on their own is enough. While there is great light in the golden bowl, it is present truth specially adapted for this time that we most need now.

In the symbolism of Zechariah 4, the lamps do not take oil directly from the Bowl, but receive carefully selected present truth suited for their special needs today. This is important, because the there are many precious truths in the Spirit of Prophecy (golden bowl) that are not present truth for today. For example, “the old message, the "Judgment for the Dead," is out of date as is the message of Noah's flood,” 2TG30:18 The same is true with the Rod. There is much truth in the Rod on the Carmel pasture, but today, Carmel is not present truth any longer and so that part of the message is also as out of date as the message of Noah’s flood. These doctrines are still all truth, but not the present truth for our time that God’s knows we need now.

Many Davidian laymen (lamps in the symbolism of Zechariah 4) who believe in the Carmel pasture do not understand this because they are not connected to the seven tubes. Instead, they believe they can draw present truth directly from the Bowl themselves. But God has told us that the system of oil distribution shown in Zechariah 4 is His “only system.” God does not lie. The only way to receive the present truth we need to succeed today is through God’s perfect system. Anything else will result in confusion, discord and ultimately failure.

There is a deep seated and longstanding view among Christians, including Davidians, that they can select the oil themselves they need. “Can we not read the message for ourselves as well as any minister? We believe the Holy Spirit enlightens our understanding. The Rod teaches that “every true follower of Christ is inspired….” We do not need to only receive oil from the seven tubes, we can take it ourselves from the Bowl just as well they can. “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy.” Numbers 16:3.”

It is true that anyone can read the Bible and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy themselves. But the only system God has today for distributing the present truth oil that we so desperately need right now is through the seven tubes (the ministry) taking the oil in the Bowl to the lamps (the laity). Present truth comes from God. What is present yesterday may not be what is required today. It is not up to any individual to determine what is present truth and what is not. It is a great mistake for any person to say, “I accept this particular truth, but not that one.” It is not up to the individual to exercise their private judgment on what is present truth and what is not. The Lord Himself has created a perfect system of interpretation and distribution to meet ALL our present truth needs.

This is of course quite contrary to the protestant worlds way of thinking. “I can determine myself what is true and what is not true with the help of the Holy Spirit. I don’t need any man telling me what is present truth and what is not present truth.” But as we all understand by this point, God did in fact say He has a “perfect system” to distribute oil to the laity. The system is “perfect” because God controls every step of the overall process. He literally “holds the reins” in His own hands. There is no opportunity for teaching error, or for failing to provide the truth in due season. The Lord controls what is present truth. He also controls the entire process of distributing the oil through His system.

In practice, this means that God has filled the golden bowl to the brim through the two golden pipes with oil on many subjects. There is oil in the Bowl going back to 1844 and because the Rod is the final message, there is oil for all our future needs as well until the kingdom comes. There is so much oil in the bowl that it is impossible for any human being to know on their own what is the most needed present truth for today. This is where God’s perfect system comes into action. Faithful members (the lamps) need inspired present truth for today, not yesterday. The seven tubes transmit this oil directly to the lamps who are willing to receive it. Strange as the system may seem to some, this very system is what makes us into the great and wonderful people God needs today to finish the work. “This is the only system, moreover, that can make the church perfect, without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing -- a people without guile in their mouths, all seeing eye to eye, all saying the same thing.”1TG14:22

When you hear supposed Davidians saying something different than Bashan, you can be sure that they are not connected to God’s perfect system. In God’s judgement, we are either with Him or we are against Him. If we are not connected to God’s system, then in God’s view we are connected to the enemy’s’ system. It is very late in the day. It is time to set aside our proud feelings of independence, and instead, it is time and past time to make our calling and election certain with God’s final Association and be part of the Lord’s “perfect system” in the final moments of earth’s history.

10/10/2025

I was asked the question, "What caused you to jump ship from Mt Carmel?" Here is the reason "I jumped ship" and it is the reason everyone who wants to be part of the "Flock of God's heritage" should be "feeding on the Rod in Bashan."🙂

The type interpretation for Mt. Carmel in the Golden Bowl shows only one Mt. Carmel. After the real Elijah left Mt. Carmel, it ceases in the type to have any further role in events of concern to us today. The same is true of anti-typical Mt. Carmel. After Brother Houteff died, Mt. Carmel ceased to have any role for Davidians. For many years, there was not even one Davidian there. Nothing. Some brethren split off from Mountain Dale in New York in 1990 or so and started calling themselves "Mt. Carmel." Anyone can call themselves anything they want, and many people have called their group "Mt. Carmel", but there can be only one anti-typical Mt. Carmel just like there was only one typical Carmel. The spiritually significant type of Mt. Carmel that the Rod teaches was one single place where Elijah had a showdown with the prophets of Baal, so in the anti-type it must be one place with anti-typical Elijah there.

In 1955, anti-typical Elijah died and anti-typical Mt. Carmel died shortly after that. How did anti-typical Mt. Carmel die? First, without anti-typical Elijah, anti-typical Carmel in Waco, Texas had no reason for existing, and soon did cease to exist. Another way it died was SPIRITUALLY. Truth is life, error is death. Mt. Carmel started to publish and teach many things that were wrong, that is, it taught the people error. What kind of error? Many things. For example, Mt. Carmel actually taught that Ezekiel 9 would come in 1959! Then when time and chance proved to everyone that this wrong, Mt. Carmel started teaching that our work for the church was done, and that we should start working for the Protestant world! Mt.

Carmel also taught many other pernicious errors, some which are repeated to this very day. If Truth is life and error is death, what do you suppose it means to teach error? For anti-typical Mt. Carmel, it meant not only spiritual death, but physical death. The place was sold, all the people left, and the old Davidian Association founded by Brother Houteff that owned Mt. Carmel was dissolved. It completely ceased to exist in any form. It was legally dissolved in 1962. This association and anti-typical Mt. Carmel as well, died or in other words, had no kind of existence or function in anyway after 1962. From that time to this time it has not existed in anyway.

The material and legal points about the last part of Mt. Carmel's history may be new to you, but I give you my word they all happened exactly as I said. I believe that you can judge the spiritual points for yourself from the Rod. Does the Rod teach only one lesson from the type of Mt. Carmel and thus one anti-typical Mt. Carmel? (Yes.) Does the Rod teach only one anti-typical Elijah? (Yes.) These are things anyone can check on themselves from Rod. There was only one Mt. Carmel, and it is has been dead from 1955. That is, Mt Carmel has been dead for over 70 years!

I did not leave Mt. Carmel, , since I was never a member of Mt Carmel. In a very real way, however, Mt. Carmel left all of us real Davidians many years ago when it started teaching a lot of error. God knew this would happen after the human founder (Brother Houteff) of antitypical Mt. Carmel died, which is why the Bible tell us that after Carmel we are to feed in Bashan and then Gilead:

“Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: LET THEM FEED IN BASHAN and Gilead, as in the days of old.” Micah 7:14

Here is a command for God’s people to feed in 3 places. If the first pasture is no longer active, God wants us know it is time to go to the second pasture, Bashan. What is the work of Bashan? To teach a new “Bashan message”? NO. God has told us already: “Feed thy people with thy rod.” The flock of God’s heritage (God chosen people, not any others) will feed on the Rod (not anything else!) from Carmel, then Bashan, then Gilead. All at once? No, just as in the type, the sheep feed first at one pasture and then move to another place, and so on. To learn more where this type or picture is drawn from, read SR2, page 80.2.

God never just goes away and leaves His people (sheep) by themselves. He always has faithful shepherds to take care and feed His sheep. Read 2SR80.3-81. This is what happened in the anti-type at the 1961 session when faithful shepherds (Davidian ministers and teachers authorized by Brother Houteff himself) realized that we were in the Bashan period now and formed the final Association (the Rod designate name for this association is Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association) which the Rod says will be the one to finish (“accomplish”) the work. (Leviticus, p.2)

Even though anti-typical Carmel does not exist anymore, God’s sheep continued to feed on the Rod in the Bashan period which, as we have seen, follows the Carmel period in Micah 7:14. Without God’s wise foresight in telling us that His sheep feed in both Carmel, Bashan and Gilead, we would not have known what to do after 1955, when anti-typical Carmel died spiritually.

Thankfully, there is no reason to be confused today if we believe the Bible and history. Carmel does not exist, but Bashan today is feeding God’s special people present truth from the Rod. For God people, there really is not confusion or need to choose at all: God says “Let them feed at Bashan” and this is to clear to misunderstand.

11/24/2019

Who Is The DSDA Association?
What Is The Mission Of DSDA?

The DSDA Association is a religious Association dedicated to bringing about a fundamental reformation and revival in lives of Seventh Day Adventists throughout the world. We are the oldest extant Davidian Association in the U.S. today, and in fact the "Mother Association" from which most (but not all) Davidian groups today have descended. We believe and teach the Shepherd's Rod message as Brother V.T. Houteff taught it through both his precept and example. We teach the same truth today that we taught in 1961, when this Association was founded by Davidian brethren from around the world. Our goal today continues to be to teach the pure Shepherd's Rod message without any additions or subtractions of our own.

The Leviticus of The Davidian Seventh Day Adventists gives this Association a threefold mandate to "accomplish" (finish) the work of the Gospel in our generation. "... this Association within the Seventh-day Adventist organization is ordained to the work of a threefold end:
(1) It is to go to the house of "Israel and Judah" (Ezek. 9:9), and "say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready....""
"(2) Accordingly, it is to implement that "great reformatory movement" and purification called for "among God's people...." [5T80]
"(3) Then with a loud cry it is to "go into the highways and hedges" (Luke 14:23), preaching "the everlasting gospel...unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6)...." Leviticus, pp.12,13.

"The Association's literature, The Shepherd's Rod Series, draws its title from the rod of Moses, the shepherd of Midian." Leviticus, p.4 This Association accepts without qualification the Shepherd's Rod's teaching that it is the last message and that Victor T. Houteff is the last interpretative prophet with the last message for the SDA Church.

"...the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association exists solely to accomplish a divinely appointed work within the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, wherein it therefore strictly confines its activities...." (Leviticus, p.2), until the Loud Cry of the 3rd Angel.

The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association is the offspring of the General Association of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists. The GADSDA was originally organized under the name General Association of Shepherd's Rod Seventh-day Adventists by Victor T. Houteff in 1934. The headquarters center in Waco, Texas, was called "Mt. Carmel", and "Carmel" or "Mt. Carmel" soon became the most commonly used name. With the death of Brother Houteff in 1955, Mt. Carmel began to publish and teach things that were foreign to the Shepherd's Rod Message.

These errors included Mt. Carmel's call for a solemn assembly in 1959 in anticipation of a their prediction of Ezekiel 9 that spring. In addition, Mt. Carmel also latter rejected its Divine mandate to work solely for the Adventist church and began to work for the Protestant churches as well. From the Davidian point of view, Mt. Carmel withered and died spiritually from the time the first error was taught. Later, in 1962, it ceased to exist in any sense when it was formally dissolved by it's membership in a special session.

It was apparent to many Davidians a year or two before that Mt Carmel was dying. In August 1961 a worldwide session of Davidians has held in Los Angeles, California. During the the 1961 session, a study was presented by Brother Bingham, the editor of the “Educator” paper and principal theologian of the new Association, on Micah 7:14. Brother Bingham conclusively proved that with Camel already spiritually dead, and soon to be literally so as well, the next good pasture in Micah 7:14 was Bashan. The session voted to accept Brother Bingham’s study, and this Association, though legally named the "Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association," has been known ever since as “the Bashan Association,” or simply "Bashan."

As the brethren were not at that time prepared to accept the true appointment of anyone to the presidency in accordance with Article 4 of the Leviticus, Brother H. G. Warden was elected vice-president, along with Sister Ruby V. Haylock as the Executive Secretary; Sister Jemmy E. Bingham as Treasurer, and Brother M.J. Bingham as Editor.

Many Davidians at that time blamed the GADSDA council for the apostasy and death of Mt. Carmel. Because of this near-universal suspicion over what the new council might do, Brother Wesley Green proposed that a standing committee of the delegates be created with special authority over the Executive Council. This was the session delegates' way of creating a body with the authority to be a counterweight to an out of control council. The necessary implementing bylaw was unanimously accepted by the session.

With these actions, the Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Association became a reality. From that time to this, the Association has continued with its mission of bringing revival and reformation to the Seventh Day Adventist church membership world wide.

Since 1970, the Association has been headquartered in Missouri, situated in the rolling oak forests of the scenic Ozark Mountains. Visitors are always welcome and we especially welcome everyone to our Sabbath chapel services at 4:00 p.m. Sabbath afternoons, either in person or via our live stream. Google "Bashan Live Stream."

Address

20412 Farm Road 1025
Exeter, MO
65647

Telephone

(417) 835-4922

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Association posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Davidian Seventh Day Adventist Association