David Koresh

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David Koresh

Born: August 17, 1959
Houston, Texas, USA
Died: April 19, 1993
Waco, Texas, USA
Occupation: Leader, Branch Davidians millennial cult

David Koresh (born Vernon Wayne Howell) (August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was the self-proclaimed leader of the Branch Davidians millennial cult, believing himself to be the Messiah, until a 1993 raid by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and subsequent siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended with the burning of Branch Davidian ranch, causing the death of Koresh and most of his followers.


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[edit] Early life

Vernon Howell was born in Houston, Texas to a 15-year-old single mother. He never knew his father and was raised by his grandparents. Koresh described his early childhood as lonely, saying that the other kids teased him and called him "Vernie".[citation needed] As a young boy, he was abused by his stepfather.[citation needed] A poor student because of dyslexia, Howell dropped out of high school. By the age of 18, he was working as a carpenter.

When he was 20, Howell joined his mother's church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He reputedly became involved with a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant,[citation needed] but marriage was forbidden by the girl's father and church elders. Koresh began to challenge the elders on many points of scripture and was expelled for being a bad influence on young people.[citation needed]

In 1981 he moved to Waco, Texas where he joined the Branch Davidians, a religious group originating from a schism in the 1950's from the Shepherd's Rod, themselves excommunicated members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1930's. They had established their headquarters at a ranch about 10 miles out of Waco, which they called the Mount Carmel Center (after the Biblical Mount Carmel), in 1955.

[edit] Ascent to leadership of the Branch Davidians

Howell allegedly had an affair with Lois Roden, the prophetess and leader of the sect who was then in her late sixties. This included a trip the two took to Israel. In 1983, Roden allowed Howell to begin teaching his own message which caused controversy in the group. They had a falling out, and by 1984, a power struggle ensued between Howell, Lois Roden, her son George, and Charles Pace. George Roden, claiming to have the support of the majority of the group, forced Howell and his group off the property.

Lois Roden died in 1986. By late 1987, George's support had withered. To regain it, he challenged Howell to a contest to raise the dead, even digging up one corpse to practice on it. Howell returned to Mount Carmel in camouflage, with seven armed followers. In the ensuing gunfight, George Roden was wounded in the chest and hands, and took cover behind a tree. As a result of the incident, Howell and his followers were charged with attempted murder. At the trial, Howell testified that he went to Mount Carmel to uncover evidence of corpse abuse by George Roden. Howell testified further that they had come armed because George Roden had expelled him from Mount Carmel at gunpoint, and claimed that his shots had been aimed at a tree. Howell's followers were acquitted, and in Howell's case a mistrial was declared. Roden was later committed to a mental institution in an unrelated murder case, leaving Howell free to assume leadership of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel.

In 1990 Vernon Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh. In the documentation involved, Koresh stated that the change was for "publicity and business purposes." The switch arose from his belief that he was now head of the biblical house of David, from which Judeo-Christian tradition maintains the Messiah will come. The name Koresh is a transliteration of the Hebrew name of Cyrus the Persian king who allowed the Jews who had been dispersed throughout Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar to return to their homelands. Both King David and Cyrus are referred to as Messiah (literally anointed one) in the Hebrew Bible (King David on several occasions, Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1), thus the names, "David" and "Koresh", Vernon Howell chose evidenced his belief that he was the Messiah, a belief that stemmed from a vision he claimed to have received from God in 1985 during his trip to Israel. Koresh is also similar phonetically to the family name,Quryash, of Mohammed, the founder of Islam. [1] Koresh was apparently an advocate of the "reunification" of Islam, Christianity and Judaism and was actively communicating with members of the Iranian Islamic clergy.[citation needed]

[edit] Accusations of rape

Koresh advocated polygamy for himself, and asserted himself married to several female residents of the small community. Some former members of the cult also accused (and still accuse) Koresh of declaring they owed him 140 wives, and felt he could claim any of the females in the compound as his. Evidently he fathered at least a dozen children by the harem. Allegedly, his harem included girls as young as age 14. However, the state of Texas has investigated, but never substantiated, any claims of statutory rape or child abuse against David Koresh (interview with sheriff of Waco, Sheriff Jack Harwell, in film "Waco: The Rules of Engagement"). At the time, in Texas, the age of parental consent for a minor to marry was 14.

[edit] Raid and siege

Main article: Waco Siege
 The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

On February 28, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) raided Mount Carmel. The raid resulted in the deaths of four agents and six Davidians. Shortly after the initial raid, the FBI took command of the federal operation and contact was established with Koresh inside the church. Communication over the next 51 days included telephone exchanges with various FBI negotiators.

As the standoff continued, Koresh, who was seriously injured by a gunshot wound, along with his closest male leaders negotiated delays, possibly so he could write religious documents he said he needed to complete before he surrendered. His conversations with the negotiators were dense with biblical imagery. The federal negotiators, for their part, treated the situation as a hostage crisis despite a two hour video tape sent out by the Davidians in which the adults and older children/teens appeared to explain clearly and confidently why they chose of their own free will to remain with David.

The 51-day siege of Mount Carmel ended when U.S Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations of veteran FBI officials to proceed with a final assault in which the Branch Davidians were to be removed from their building by force. In the course of the assault, the church building caught fire. The cause of the fire was later determined by the Danforth Report, a report commissioned by The Special Counsel, to be the deliberate actions of some of the Branch Davidians inside the building. However this hypothesis is disputed in the documentary "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," which argues that the fire was deliberately set when the FBI fired an incendiary device into the building after loading the building with CS gas, which is highly flammable. [citation needed]

Barricaded in their building, seventy-six Branch Davidians, including Koresh, did not survive the fire. Seventeen of these victims were children under the age of 12. The Danforth Report claims that those who died were unable, or unwilling, to flee and that Steve Schneider, Koresh's right-hand man, probably shot Koresh and killed himself with the same gun. "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" claims that FBI sharpshooters fired on, and killed, many Branch Davidians who attempted to flee the flames. Testimony by the few Branch Davidians who did successfully flee the fire supports this claim. Autopsy records indicate that at least 20 Branch Davidians were shot, including 5 children. The Danforth Report claims that the adults who died of gunshot wounds shot themselves after shooting the children.

David Koresh is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Tyler Texas.

[edit] Return to Earth

Branch Davidians believe that Koresh will someday return to Earth. Some hoped, based on Daniel 12:12, that this would occur 1,335 days after his death: December 14, 1996. The Hidden Manna faction believed that it would take place on August 6, 1999, then October 20, and now March 2012. Other survivors avoid date-setting.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995). ISBN 0-684-81132-4
  • Samples, Kenneth et al. Prophets of the Apocalypse: David Koresh & Other American Messiahs (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994). ISBN 0-8010-8367-2

[edit] External links

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