THE STUDENTS OF THE SEVEN SEALS (BRANCH DAVIDIANS)

History of the Church

The breakaway sect was founded by Victor Houteff, who had joined the SDA church in 1919. His beliefs deviated from main-line church doctrine. This became obvious when he wrote his book The Shepherd's Rod in which he outlined errors that he found within the church. He believed that Christ's return would only occur when at least a small number of Christians had been sufficiently purified. Houteff believed that he was a messenger sent by God to conduct this cleansing. He saw his task as a brief one, consisting of:

• revealing the secret information contained in the scroll described in Revelations, Chapter 5. This scroll has written on both sides a description of the events to occur when Christ returns and the world as we know it ends. The scroll has been protected by seven seals.
• purifying a small group of Christians, and thereby trigger the second coming of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, when the Downfall of Babylon (i.e. the end of the world) would occur and the Kingdom of David would be established.

He founded the Mt. Carmel Center near Waco TX with 11 followers in 1935. He called the group "The Shepherd's Rod" after his book title. They attempted to recruit membership from within the SDA church with only modest success. In 1942, he broke completely away from the SDA because the latter refused to grant of conscientious objector status to its members during World War II. He selected the name Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists for his organization. After the war, he started to recruit members internationally.

After Houteff's death in 1955, control of the Davidians passed to his wife Florence. She moved the community to a new location farther from Waco. She prophesied that the 1260 days mentioned in Revelation 11:3 would end and the Kingdom of David would be established on 1959-APR-22. Many hundreds of followers sold their possessions and moved to Mt. Carmel in anticipation of the "end time". They were bitterly disappointed when April 23 dawned and it was business as usual around the world. The group almost did not survive the failure of the prophecy; only a few dozen members remained. Many had left to form the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association which remains active to this day. Florence Houteff left in 1962.

Benjamin Roden assumed control of the group, and renamed it the General Association of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists. He proclaimed himself to be King David's successor. After his death in 1978, his wife, Lois Roden took control. She had been receiving visions that God is both male and female, that the third person of the trinity (the Holy Spirit) was female, and that Christ would take the form of a woman at his/her second coming! A power struggle developed between Lois and her son George.

Vernon Howell (1959-1993) joined the group as a handyman in 1981. In 1984, he married the daughter of a prominent member of the community, Rachel Jones, then aged 14. A series of power struggles resulted. George Roden had Howell thrown off the property. He later dug up a 25 year old corpse, placed it in the chapel and declared that the person who returned the corpse to life would be the next leader. Howell and followers sneaked into the compound to photograph the casket. They were detected and a gun battle between Vernon and George Roden resulted; George was wounded. George was imprisoned for violating a restraining order and for contempt of court. The latter charge was caused by a series of legal actions that he filed which were filled with profanity and threats against the judges. When Roden was imprisoned in 1987, Howell and his followers took over control. They found an illegal drug laboratory on the premises which made methamphetamine; they also found a large quantity of pornography. Both were removed. Howell was later tried for attempted murder, but the jury could not reach a verdict. In 1989, Roden split a man's head open with an axe; he was found not-guilty of murder by reason of insanity. He is now living in a state mental facility.

A major international recruitment drive was established in 1985; it was aimed at SDA members (in particular those who had been disfellowshipped from the church due to their beliefs). This effort brought in members from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, etc. A number of businesses were created within the compound; guns were purchased wholesale and resold at gun shows. There were 130 members living at Waco in the Spring of 1993; they were a multi-racial, multi-ethnic group of whom 45 were black.

The group called themselves "Students of the Seven Seals" (meaning in reality: students of the scroll protected by the seven seals). The term "Branch Davidians" (BD) was derived from Roden's expression "Get off the dead [Shepherd's] Rod and move onto a living Branch". It was not generally used by the membership, but became the name most commonly used by the public. Vernon Howell changed his name to David Koresh in 1990. In 1992, Koresh renamed Mt. Carmel "Ranch Apocalypse", because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the BD compound.

Church Beliefs

• God has provided a prophet whose pronouncements are to be regarded on a par with the Bible.
• Christ's death on the cross provided salvation only for those who died before 32 CE. People who have died since will only be saved through the activities of the current BD prophet.
• they believe that the "lamb" mentioned in Revelation 5:2 is not Jesus Christ (as essentially all Christians believe) but is David Koresh himself. The lamb is to open up the seven seals and trigger the sequence which ends the world as we know it. This belief caused a great deal of misunderstanding; many Christians believe that Koresh viewed himself as Jesus Christ, and was thus psychotic.
• after the breaking of the seals, Christ would return to earth. A battle would occur in which the BD's would play a major role. The BD members alone would ascend to heaven to be with God.

Church Practices

• The BDs at Waco led a communal, highly regulated and disciplined life: raising early, eating together, growing their own food, committing long intervals of time to Bible study, etc. Some members had jobs outside the community which contributed financially to the organization.
• They published a periodical "Shekineth Magazine"
• they held conventions which were synchronized with the feast days defined in Leviticus 23:4-43.
• Following Koresh's "New Light" doctrine, he began to persuade married women within the group to join him as "spiritual wives "; this involved sexual access.
• There were rumours that Koresh was sexually assaulting children in the community. This was supported by disgruntled ex-cult members and by a father involved in a custody suite. These assertions are of doubtful validity. Several investigations were conducted by local Child Protective Services; they turned up no evidence of any abuse. None of the children who left the compound during the siege exhibited any signs of abuse.
• During the 1990's, all 7 of the elements which are commonly found in doomsday cults were present at Ranch Apocalypse:
  1. a single charismatic leader
  2. physical and sexual control of the membership
  3. preaching which concentrated on the impending end of the world
  4. a major role assigned to the group at the end time
  5. large collection of guns, and other weapons
  6. a belief that they are being heavily persecuted by the government
  7. Christian beliefs, with major deviations from traditional teachings

What is Known about Waco

• The ATF decided to arrest David Koresh on firearms violations. He could have been easily arrested away from the compound while jogging or while visiting Waco. But apparently it was necessary for them to arrest him at the compound near the guns.
• a group of armed ATF agents raided the compound on 1993-FEB-28;
• shots were fired and the ATF withdrew; there was loss of life on both sides;
• the FBI took charge; a 51 day siege followed;
• On 1993-APR-19, specially adapted tanks approached the building to penetrate the walls and inject a form of tear gas inside;
• a group of fires started; they combined to form a great conflagration;
• 8 followers were able to escape during the attack;
• Koresh and about 75 of his followers [numbers differ in various sources] died of stab wounds, gun shots, and from the effects of smoke and flames. This included 21 children.
• 5 followers were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and firearms violations.
• two others were convicted of arms charges.

Whenever a high-profile and tragic event occurs (e.g. the assassination of President Kennedy, the bombing at Oklahoma City, etc) facts become mixed with fantasies. Waco is no exception; the truth will probably remain unknown. There have been many individuals and groups who have disseminated information of varying quality, including:

• surviving members of the Branch Davidians
• disgruntled ex-members of the group
• the ATF
• the FBI
• counter-cult groups (also known as anti-cult groups)

What is Not Definitely Known about Waco

• Were there illegal weapons at Waco?: Probably there were. Koresh implied so in a telephone conversation with the FBI; he also admitted it to his lawyer. There is also evidence in the form of a famous video clip showing bullets emerging from within the compound and penetrating the outside wall; the firing rate would indicate an automatic weapon. The McLennan County Sheriff's Office determined that UPS had been delivering components which could convert legal firearms into fully automatic (illegal) weapons. 4 live grenades, 6 grenade launchers and 48 automatic weapons were recovered after the fire, in addition to 151 legal weapons.
• Was Koresh guilty of statutory rape? Probably not. There is one rumour from former members of the BD that Koresh believed that he had an obligation to father two dozen children by mothers who were virgins, and that he obtained permission from parents to engage in sexual activities with some of the children. Yet a number of investigations by Children's Protective Service found no evidence of any wrongdoing. A report issued by a psychiatrist at Baylor College of Medicine concluded that the children of the Branch Davidians were being sexually and physically abused. This report is now known to be false.
• Were Army personnel present at Waco? Apparently not. There are claims of helicopter gun ships and tanks equipped with flame throwers being used at Waco. But this appears to be misinformation.
• Who fired the first shot? Only the person responsible knows that, and he/she may be dead. Some believe that an ATF agent accidentally discharged his firearm and shot himself in the foot; there is a rumour of one or more guard dogs being shot; others believe that someone within the compound fired the first shot.
• Was a non-fatal resolution possible? Probably. On April 14th, Koresh promised to surrender if he was given time to write a document explaining the seven seals of Revelation. The attack started 5 days later, while he was writing the book.
• How were the fires started?: There is one belief that when a tank punched a hole in a compound wall, it overturned a propane tank which broke into flames. There is another belief that Koresh ordered quantities of kerosene to be placed around the compound and lit manually. The video evidence seems to show a number of small fires that quickly combined into a general conflagration. The engineering consulting firm Failure Analysis were hired by the National Riflemen's Association to study the fire. They presented their findings at a seminar at MIT, concluding that it was most likely set by the Branch Davidians themselves.
• Who is responsible for the deaths? This is an unanswerable question. This author would personally divide the responsibility into 4 more or less equal parts:
  • David Koresh for assembling a large cache of weapons, and exciting his followers into a fever pitch anticipating the end of the world
  • The general membership for staying at Waco in spite of all of the warning signs that they were members of a destructive, doomsday cult
  • Some of the experts hired by the FBI who were apparently so unaware of the dynamics of doomsday cults and of the Branch Davidian beliefs and practices that they advised the FBI to take aggressive action, assuring them that the possibility of resistance and of mass suicide was low
  • The FBI for:
    • believing some experts in the presence of contradictory recommendations of other experts.
    • for total lack of understanding of Koresh's message; it was discounted as "Bible babble" by one agent. Another agent thought that the 7 seals were sea creatures.

Events from the Branch Davidian perspective

• they had calculated that the end would occur in 1995, a full two years in the future
• they surprised that no tanks and fire were involved in the initial raid by the ATF agents as prophecy predicted. (Tanks and fire were to come later).
• they believed that they would be transported to Jerusalem for the final battle; this was not happening.

During the siege, Koresh made repeated requests to communicate with Biblical scholars. Two academics did offer to help in the negotiations, but were turned down by the FBI. David Koresh repeatedly stated that he would not surrender until he received instructions from God. On April 14, he believed that he had received his long-awaited revelation. He was instructed to write a description of the Seven Seals and then to surrender to the FBI with his followers. He was apparently engaged in this task when the attack occurred 5 days later. One of the followers who escaped from the compound during the fire carried a disk containing the part of Koresh's book that he had just completed. It probably would have taken two or three weeks more for him to complete the task.

Events from the FBI perspective

Useful References

• V.T. Houteff, "The Great Controversy Over 'The Shepherds Rod", Universal Publishing Assoc., Waco TX (1954)
• J.D. Melton, Ed, "The Encyclopedia of American Religions, Vol. II", Triumph Books, New York (1991), P. 676
• T. Miller, Ed, "America's Alternative Religions", SUNY Press, Albany (1995), P. 149-158
• D. Koresh, text of taped sermon recorded on 1993-MAR-02. Analysis by Stephen Tice included. See: gopher://wiretap.spies.com/00/Library/Religion/Fringe/koresh.txt
• D.J. Reavis "The Ashes of Waco. Featured at http://rampages.onramp.net/~djreavis/
• J. Tabor, E.V. Gallagher, "Why Waco", University of California Press (1995). Featured at: http://www.neo.com/ucalpress/whywaco/
• An expose "GOP keeps focus on ATF'S mistakes in Waco" is available at: http://www.nando.net/newsroom/nt/nation7.html
• Another expose, by K.S. Van Horn "Abuses of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is at: http://www.access.digex.net/~croaker/koramer.html
• A list of the firearms found at Waco; sound bytes of 911 calls, etc; links to other Internet sites about Waco, etc are at: http://www.nashville.net/~police/waco/
• The "Internet Crime Archives" contains descriptions of various "killer cults [which] tend to be led by charismatic megalomaniacs who pit themselves and their churches against the rest of the world". They include the Branch Davidian group. See: http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/cults.html
• A list of 45 references to the Branch Davidian group and to its leader can be accessed at: http://www.unc.edu/~elliott/koresh.txt
• Congressional testimony by Dr. Bruce Perry concerning treatment of children at Waco is at: http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/civitas/publications/congress.html

Return to the OCRT home page; return to the "Descriptions of Religions and Ethical Systems" page.