Branch Davidians

Apocalyptic religious community that engaged in a 51-day standoff with police and federal agents in Waco, Texas. The confrontation resulted in deaths on both sides and sustained controversy about unconventional religious groups and appropriate law enforcement response to situations such as the one that arose in Waco. The Branch Davidians are a Seventh-Day Adventist splinter group that believe that people are living in end times—the era just before the Biblical apocalypse of Armageddon. Further, they believe that the biblical Book of Revelation holds clues about these end times, which, according to the Branch Davidians and some other groups, can be correctly interpreted by a true prophet or “chosen vessel.”

Vernon Howell, a self-styled prophet who changed his name to David Koresh in 1990, became involved with a group of Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, in 1981. After a succession struggle, Koresh eventually gained control of the group, which was housed in a compound called Mount Carmel. Koresh claimed (and his followers believed) that he was the last prophet, one who was able to correctly interpret the Bible. They also believed that he was the “Lamb” who would foretell the Second Coming of Christ and open the seven seals of the book of Revelation.

Koresh drew on the Bible to suggest that the person who ushered in the Second Coming would not be an immaculate divinity, but rather a “Sinful Messiah.” Seeing himself as this messiah, he prepared for his prophetic role by engaging in sex with multiple women, who he considered his wives. Koresh fathered children with many of these women, some of whom were below the Texas age of consent for marriage or sexual relations.

Reports of Koresh's sexual activities (described by critics as child abuse) and his stockpile of weapons (considered illegal by some law enforcement groups) reached the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which obtained a warrant for his arrest. The ATF anticipated that Koresh would not give himself up, and so it launched an operation known as Operation Trojan Horse on February 28, 1993.

Koresh and the Branch Davidians learned about the intended surprise operation before it occurred, and the ATF was aware that they knew. Nevertheless, the operation proceeded, with deaths on both sides. Some critics of the federal government have claimed that the ATF launched an intentionally deadly raid against the Branch Davidians.

The FBI took over the virtual siege of the Branch Davidian compound on March 1, opening negotiations that ultimately failed. While most Branch Davidians saw themselves as free moral agents happily ensconced in a religious community, the FBI saw them as cult members manipulated by Koresh. Because of these different views, the two groups talked past one another. Koresh's personal history, his “Bible babble,” and his insistence that he was the “Lamb” did not impress the authorities. Meanwhile, Koresh and the Branch Davidians viewed the psychological techniques of the authorities, including the use of bright lights and loud noises focused on the compound, as evidence of an oppressive government at work. Disagreements about releasing children from Mount Carmel and the compound's access to food staples and the media worsened negotiations. Koresh produced a surrender offer on April 14, saying he [Page 91]would surrender after completing his writings about the seven seals.

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