Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage

This week's book is Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage by Jeff Guinn.

 The road that led to Waco starts well before Vernon Howell arrived on scene and changed his name to David Koresh. Waco starts 170 years before the tragic events of April 19, 1993, and nowhere near the great state of Texas. It starts in New York with Baptist minister William Miller, who became convinced the end times were near, and predicted them to occur in 1844. When the world failed to end at the designated time and place, Miller’s adherents decided maybe his math was just off in some way, and they branched off to form the Seventh Day Adventists. In the 1920’s, Seventh Day Adventist Victor Houteff, who was determined to obey God’s law in all things, formed another splinter group of Seventh Day Adventists that he called The Shepherd’s Rod, and took his devotees to Waco, Texas where they purchased 200 acres of land to start preparing for the end times, no date given for when they expected that to happen. 

 Now, ultimately, this group ended up selling the land around the lake northwest of Waco and purchasing the acreage on which the events of 1993 would occur. In between this move to Waco and the move to the other side of Waco, the group would have several other leaders. Houteff, during WWII reorganized again, really emphasizing the groups connection to the Seventh Day Adventists in the hope of gaining religious exemptions to the draft, now calling the group the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association—and became forever known as The Davidians. 

 When Houteff died, his young bride stepped up, initially claiming the same spiritual power of divination. But when her pronounced end date failed to materialize, the followers lost faith in her. Ultimately, she left the group, remarried, and lived out her life in California. Into this void stepped Ben and Lois Roden.  

Ben Roden was the chosen successor. Chosen by those who stayed, who believed he had the spiritual vision...like literal visions....to see the Davidians through their next hurtles. So, this was 1955, and Roden would run the Davidians for like the next 20 years. When Roden died, there was a brief power struggle. His son George thought it should be a direct descent by blood, which would make George the natural successor. But most of the group believed Lois was the successor, as she too had had visions and prophetic dreams. So, Lois stepped up and ran the Davidians until her death in 1986. Ben died in 1978, and in the 8 years that Lois was in charge, Vernon Howell appeared at the Mount Carmel compound in Waco. 

 Vernon Howell was born August 17, 1959, in Houston, TX to teenage mother Bonnie Sue Clark. His father was not in the picture. Clark eventually married but Howell was never really close with his stepfather. Now, all reports about Howell consistently report that he was not a good student. Not necessarily a juvenile delinquent, just not academically gifted. Until he became involved in his mother's church and took to reading the bible, which he promptly memorized. And make no mistake. This was not some trick, or gifted word play. He undoubtedly knew the bible backwards and forwards. Biblical scholars might and in many cases do disagree with his interpretation of the bible. But they all agree that his quoted scripture is correct. 

 Now, Howell had women problems pre-Mount Carmel. Mostly, he liked them young. Too young to be legal. In the 1990’s, age of consent in Texas was 17, unless you were married. Marriage under age 17 could only be done with parental consent. The first time Howell got a girl pregnant; she was 15, he was 19. Not as creepy as it’s going to get. 

 In 1981, he made his way to Mount Carmel, and Lois Roden quickly took him under her wing. I’m not sure if it was because of his knowledge of the bible, his willingness to please, his overwhelming charisma, or what, but he became her protégé and quickly the heir apparent. George Roden was not pleased with this. 

 Ultimately, Howell left the compound briefly and set up a few miles away. But after Lois’s death, things got dicey. George Roden was mentally unstable...I mean, more unstable than Howell, so that’s saying something, and the remaining Davidians pointed out that there was still an existing restraining order against George Roden for the Mount Carmel property. George Roden was expelled, and Howell returned, but a small gun battle ensued during this time and Howell was briefly in jail. I believe he was acquitted, or no charges were filed. I don’t remember, but it’s in the book. But Howell returned to Mount Carmel as the undisputed leader of the group. And somewhere during this time, around 1990, he legally changed his name to David Koresh.  

 Now, the name change. That’s odd, right? Why? Why David? Why Koresh? David ties back to Davidian. King David. Koresh is for Cyrus. But again...Why? Well, Jeff Guinn provides a very plausible answer. And ties it back to Lois. And another 19th century prophet, this one unrelated to the Seventh Day Adventists. Cyrus Teed was born in 1839. His initial goal was to be a doctor, but his real passion was alchemy, and he allegedly became the first alchemist to successfully turn lead into gold, in October 1869. Immediately after this world changing breakthrough, he took a nap and realized he’d found the key to immortality. He then had a revelation wherein “a female angel, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” She informed Teed that he was to redeem the race but would die in the process. There would be a violent clash, a major event, and Teed would “translate” to more godlike form, and his followers would be among the chosen people to enjoy a new, sinless and immortal life. That Teed would be the Lamb of Revelations, that he would open the Seven Seals to begin these events. Teed also claimed to be the new incarnation of the Persian king Cyrus...only he used the Hebrew pronunciation of the name—Koresh. 

 Now....if you watched any of the Senate and House committees post Waco on this event, read any newspapers, hell, if you watched the Paramount plus series Waco, which was on Netflix back in 2020, although it was produced in 2018, all of that sounds familiar. Not Teed. But the female angle, the translating to a higher plane of being, the Lamb of Revelations, the Seven Seals...all of those things were mentioned in the series and news broadcasts. If you read the book, ALL of it is familiar. But where would Howell/Koresh have heard of them? Koreshanity was not a well-known thing, Teed having died in Florida in 1908. Well, Guinn traced that down for us and points out there was a copy of Teed’s book...Koreshanity...in the Waco Public Library. Now, there is no way to know for sure if Lois read the book, although since it was HER revelation that the holy spirit was female, which meshes with Teed’s telling quite nicely, it seems likely. And for reasons he outlines in the book, Guinn does not think Koresh read the book himself. But he does think that Roden read the book, and coached Koresh on what to say to gain effective control of the Davidians on her death. 

 Whether any of that is true, or if David found the book on his own, or if he never read of or heard about Koreshanity is unknown. The coincidence is...uncanny. I think he at least knew about the story contained therein, even if he didn’t read it directly himself. The two stories are too synched for it to be coincidence. Regardless, this plan worked, and when Lois died, after the brief power struggle with George Roden, Koresh was installed as the leader of the Davidians.

 And then, he started bringing in followers. Not like masses, never Jim Jones numbers, but the true believers who came and stayed, formed a really solid core at Mount Carmel. So solid, that when Koresh announced his New Light program, that celibacy would be practiced at Mount Carmel, except for Koresh who would accept the burden of sex on behalf of all his followers, they agreed. What did this mean in practice? Well, Koresh had one legal wife, Rachel Jones. She was 14 years old when they married.  He was 25. Again, this was legal under Texas law at that time...because both of her parents, Perry and Mary Belle Jones, consented to the marriage. But now, ALL the women at Mount Carmel would be his wife. And he would have sex with all of them.  

 But this was all part of God’s plan, you see. The bible said there would be 24 elders after the end times who would lead humanity back. Or something like that. And Koresh said those 24 elders would be his children by the women at Mount Carmel. And Rachel Koresh agreed. Because she had had a dream that this was God’s will.  

 But not everyone agreed, and those who didn’t began planning their egress from Mount Carmel. Included in those who left was Marc Breault. Now Breault started ringing the alarm bells in matters of possible child abuse and child sexual assault. See Koresh counted a woman from age 12. And the young girl who ultimately testified before congress, Kiri Jewell, was 10 when he first assaulted her. No penetration, but a sexual assault none the less. 

 And CPS began their own investigation into Mount Carmel on the allegations of child abuse. But nothing ever came of it. Other than to alert the Davidians that Babylon aka The Government, was closing in on them. But while the CPS investigation is going on, a UPS delivery man makes a report to ATF that one of the packages he was delivering to an auto repair shop, had come open. And in the package were a bunch of grenade shells.  

 Now, it is NOT illegal to own empty, unarmed grenades. And the Davidians had been manufacturing firearms for resale at gun shows. Which is not illegal, if you have all the licensing, which they did. The ATF alleged that they were making them fully automatic, which IS illegal, but really...in the 8 months...9 months.... leading up to the February 28 raid, the ATFs investigation didn’t really reveal much of anything. The warrant they got was not built on much evidence at all. It was all allegations. Look, I am not one of those people who say just cooperate with the police. Because the police, being human, are just as prone to egotistical fuck up as everyone else on the planet. But seriously, if the ATF hadn’t gone in guns blazing, if they hadn’t gone full nuclear, it’s likely their warrant would have fallen apart under the first arraignment.  

 There was more evidence for the CPS investigation and child sexual assault allegations, then there was of 76 violations of the National Firearms Acts of 1934 and 1986 respectively. So, knowing there was scant evidence of wrong doing...I mean knowing HOW to reconfigure a firearm from semi to fully automatic is not illegal, only actually doing so is illegal...why wouldn’t the Davidians just let them serve their warrant? 

 Remember Ruby Ridge? For the youngsters watching, in August 1992, the ATF attempted to serve a failure to appear (FTA) warrant on Randy Weaver on a charge of having sawed off a shotgun. Ten days later, Weavers 14-year-old son and wife were dead because of government sharpshooters. The Davidians did not agree with Weaver’s personal stances, but, along with a large chunk of America, they were just as horrified that the government could swing in and shoot innocent people for an FTA warrant. So, when the ATF rolls up on Mount Carmel on February 28, 1993 in their cattle cars with guns out, the Davidians had every reason to believe that this was the end times Koresh had prophesied.  

 And that’s pretty much exactly what they believed. Now, no one actually knows who started the two-hour firefight that day. The surviving Davidians say it was the ATF, the ATF say it was the Davidians. Both sides have ample reason to claim NOT IT for having started this shit show. However, one thing the Paramount + show got accurate is that there was a lone newsman driving on the road that day, trying to locate Mount Carmel to be present when the raid went down. And that newsman, who can be considered an unbiased witness, says the Davidians fired first. What is known, is yes, the element of surprise was lost. And the ATF leaders KNEW the element of surprise was lost. The only reason for them to have NOT called off the raid was ego. 

 Regardless of the truth of the matter, this day launched a 51-day siege that ended in a rather spectacular fireball on April 19, 1993, and the deaths of 76 Davidians, 53 adults, 21 children, and 2 infants who were born during the final conflagration and died almost immediately.  

 Now, about that fireball. There are three popular theories about what caused it, and almost all of them acknowledge that the CS gas used on April 19 was a contributing factor. CS Gas is a tear gas that causes severe irritation to the eyes and respiratory tract and can cause chemical burns on contact with skin. It is also flammable. So, the first theory, and I’ll admit it’s unlikely, is that the FBI deliberately set the fire. Look, it makes a good conspiracy, and while I doubt the FBI gave 2 shits about the adults in the compound, dead babies are bad press. And fire creates panic. But most importantly, if the FBI had set the fire deliberately, they would have had the fire department on standby to put out the fire. Fire is the most fuck around and find out of elements. It is wholly unpredictable. Setting a fire deliberately would be extraordinarily stupid from the FBI’s point of view.  

 The second theory is that this was accidental. The CS gas certainly didn’t help, but to be perfectly fair, Mount Carmel was a tinderbox well before the siege. It was made of shoddy wood paneling, it had no insulation, the tanks that had been pumping the CS gas in also knocked over the Davidians Coleman lanterns, adding more fuel to the floor. Essentially, between the flammable CS gas and the spilled kerosene, the floors were soaking in accelerant for several hours before the spark was lit. 

  Additionally, as a means of trying to insulate against the cold weather, the Davidians had placed hay bales against the walls. Trust me, hay, is HIGHLY flammable. Any spark could have set this off. And the Davidians were firing at the FBI from inside. One hot load could have created enough spark to set it off. 

  On the firing that day, the FBI denies having fired any shots at the Davidians. And while they DID fire some military rounds into the compound, they were used early in the day, several hours before the fire started. So, it is honestly unlikely those military rounds caused the fire. I tend towards skepticism on the matter of Oh no, it was not I, when it comes to people trying to avoid more trouble for themselves, but honestly, I do believe the FBI whey they say they did not fire that day. And here’s why. The FBI were in tanks. Like literal tanks. The small arms fire the Davidians were using had no chance to penetrate the tanks, so there is no earthly reason for the FBI to have fired back. They would not have needed to leave the effective cover of the armored tank to plink back at targets that would have moved while they were opening the hatch. And the rest of the FBI was well beyond the range of fire. But the Davidians, seeing this as the final assault, had every reason to fire.  

 The third theory is that the Davidians set the fire on purpose, that this cultic suicide was the end game all along.  

 Now Guinn proposes a fourth theory, one that I think is as likely as accidental death. The Davidians DID set the fire intentionally, but NOT as an intentional group suicide. Putting aside his creepy pen chance for young girls, Koresh WAS well versed in the bible. And Koresh and his followers had absolute faith in Koresh’s interpretation. So, Guinn proposes that the fire was set to PROTECT the Davidians. And can you imagine any more profound proof of god’s will than a literal wall of fire that saves you while driving your enemies back? 

 And supporting this theory is that even as tanks were plowing through the door, Koresh was working on his interpretation of the seven seals. A manuscript that made it out of the compound with survivor Ruth Riddle, and the manuscript eventually made its way to biblical scholars James Tabor and J. Phillip Arnold. These two gentlemen published this as The David Koresh Manuscript: Exposition of the Seven Seals, and wrote in their introduction “regardless of one’s evaluation of the content, one point is clear – in a short time, under most trying circumstances, David Koresh had produced a rather substantial piece of work.” 

 This book leaves one hanging. Not in the sense of the story is unfinished. It’s obviously finished. It essentially ended in a blaze of horror on April 19, 1993. There’s been fall out. Militia activity rose substantially following the Waco tragedy. Timothy McVeigh is well known to have used Waco as his excuse for the Oklahoma City bombing. But rather, there are no good guys and no bad guys. I mean, it’s easy to say the Davidians were brainwashed cultists, stupid red neck hicks who didn’t know the bible is only allegory. But if you’ll remember from Cults Inside and Out, ANYONE can fall prey to a Cult Leader. The Davidians were not stupid people. Their ranks included PhD’s and Harvard educated Lawyers. These were not stupid people. They were people of faith. Faith, is not illegal. Firearms, are not illegal. Both are protected by the Constitution. 

 Then there’s the ATF. Guinn does a credible job painting them as the red headed stepchild of federal agencies. They were underfunded and undermanned. I sort of think all federal agencies should be as underfunded and undermanned as 1990’s ATF was. They weren’t even technically a law enforcement agency, in the 1990s they fell under the Treasury Department. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are all legal, so basically, they were a regulatory body. And no one liked them. Because Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are all legal. This might garner sympathy for them, just trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability, but honestly...this entire operation from the beginning of the investigation through its brutal bloody confusion was so ham fisted and backwards.

 Reading through it, I felt like Captain Hindsight. I have ZERO tactical experience, but I could think of a dozen different ways the investigation could have been better, the arrest of Koresh could have been better, the siege could have been better. They should have had religious scholars advising the team. They should not have had an all-male team set up surveillance, but rather a man and a woman. Far less intrusive. Because of the way the compound was built, all by hand on private property, there were no building plans. They had no idea of the layout of the building, so they didn’t know that all the women and children sheltered in a bunker then were essentially cooked from the outside when the compound lit up. They could have embedded an agent inside as a believer. It would have taken longer, but they would have known that the members were all armed all the time, not just with the weapons kept in a central storage, which is what had been reported by Marc Breault. That had been true when Breault was a member. But when CPS started their investigation, the rules changed. 

 The ATF knew none of this because they were so underfunded. And rather than tag in a better funded agency....like maybe the FBI...they wanted their own win to counteract Ruby Ridge. And Waco was the result. 

 The only true innocents here are the children. It's easy to say, well why didn’t the parents send the kids out to be safe? Easy to throw that blame around. But would you? If you think the devil himself is knocking on your door, trying to take your children away, raise them in a method that is at conflict with your god, your faith...would you send your children away?  

 This was not JUST Koresh. The other parents had agency to. And whether this was a cult or not, they still ultimately chose to stay, and to keep their children with them. And one very important point, not made in the book, but still just as relevant. All modern established religions started as a cult. Christianity was a cult, operating on the outside during the Roman deity's reign. Islam was a cult, when it started. So was Judaism. If they had been left to live their own lives, who's to say the Davidians wouldn’t have done great good in this world? 

 I enjoy Guinn’s writing, I’ve read his books before and he is an excellent investigative journalist, well-schooled at keeping his own opinion out of it and reporting just the facts as he finds them. He reports as accurately as one can, thirty years after the fact, hoping that time gives us all a little distance and perspective. As tragic as these events were, I do find it interesting that the end message the world has taken away from this... You Can’t Trust the Government....has in some fashion resonated with members of both the left and the right. Don’t believe me? How else do you explain the rise of Antifa and BLM?

 Now if only more people would understand this, we might get a few more events reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” 

This book was originally reviewed on March 12, 2023 on YouTube, but is now available on Rumble and PodBean.