Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect

by Kenneth G.C. Newport

What were the beliefs of the Branch Davidians? This is the first full scholarly account of their history. Kenneth G. C. Newport argues that, far from being an act of unfathomable religious insanity, the calamitous fire at Waco in 1993 was the culmination of a long theological and historical tradition that goes back many decades. The Branch Davidians under David Koresh were an eschatologically confident community that had long expected that the American government, whom they identified as the Lamb-like Beast of the book of Revelation, would one day arrive to seek to destroy God's remnant people. The end result, the fire, must be seen in this context.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Cults

379 pages, ebook

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Grump · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly academic book. Lots of source-citing and expectation setting and that made it a bit of a slog. But density aside, it was pretty fascinating. This book is not really about typical Waco disaster narrative most of us are familiar with. It's about the religion of the people who were inside the building when it went up in smoke.

So if we start way back at the beginning ...

First there were the Seventh-Day Adventists. They're a protestant offshoot that came out of the Millerite movement. The Millerites were folks who were super sure that Jesus was going to come back on October 22, 1844. But he didn't so they were pretty disappointed. But then some folks figured that Jesus wasn't actually supposed to be coming back to earth, he was supposed to be in the 'holiest of holies.' So they got the day right but the place wrong. They also said people should be doing their church thing on Saturday because the Sunday thing was something devised by Satan aka the Catholic church. So because they are really keen on Christ's eventual advent and they go to church on Saturday. They're called Seventh Day Adventists. Whatever.

Another part of the SDA way of doing things is that prophecy isn't just limited to the good book. It can happen whenever. And they bought that this woman Ellen White was having prophetic visions and knew what God was talking about. Good stuff. Also, the SDAs believed that they are the 'remnant' or the true believers who will deliver God's message during the end times. These folks are pretty focused on the endtimes and weird shit in the book of revelation.

So eventually another prophet comes along, this time it's a Bulgarian guy named Victor Houteff and he has a message about 'the rod' and he thought the SDA Church wasn't being crazy enough. He had a different reading of the chapters 54-66 book of Isaiah. He was really pumped about restoring King David's biblical kingdom. This got him kicked out of the SDA church but a bunch of people liked what he was saying so they became the Davidians and set up shop in Waco TX as a place to go and get away from worldliness. Victor Houteff dies and his wife says there's gonna be an apocalypse in 1959. Surprise that didn't happen so she shuts the whole thing down and the group breaks up. Then this guy called Ben Roden declares himself a prophet takes over the Waco compound. This time they are the Branch Davidians.

Ben Roden dies and HIS wife takes over. Her name is Lois and she says the Holy Spirit is a woman and that's big shit. It's this kind of snazzy prophecy that attracts a young man by the name of Vernon Howell who starts giving this woman in her late 60s the pipe. This is 1981.

Vernon and Lois's son George fight because Vern's digging out George's ma and because they both want to take over the Waco compound. Vern leaves the compound and goes to Palestine, Texas and takes a bunch of followers with him.

People liked Vern better. So George challenges Vern to a dead-raising contest (I shit you not) to see who's the better prophet. He actually digs up a body but Vern doesn't take the bait and tries to get George arrested but he doesn't have evidence so he and some other folks raid the compound with guns but forget to bring a camera. They have a shootout and George runs away.

George later kills his roommate with an axe and dies in a mental institution. These are the people we're dealing with.

So now Vern's in control of the people who are going to help god usher in the apocalypse. He changes his name to David Koresh because King David and King Cyrus (in Hebrew it's Koresh). Whatever. One of his big rules is only he gets to do any of the fucking. He gets to fuck other guy's wives and any other female he wants as a wife. One of them is 12. So ... yeah.

Koresh is SUPER obsessed with a part of the book of revelation about the seven seals. This supposedly describes really accurately the way the world is going to end. Evidently God's chosen people, the Branch Davidians are going to be cleansed with fire and then reborn to spread the good word.

So that's what they do. After a botched raid that gets a bunch of them and a handful of government agents killed, the cult sets fire to themselves, according to this book. So far none of them have come back.

Cult people are fucking retards.

[Jerry Peace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newport does a fine, if really dry, job of delineating the history of the Davidians and the Branch Davidians, from their split from the Seventh Day Adventists. And he does a heroic job of trying to explain the theology of Houteff, the Rodens, and David Koresh. Like many Christian apocalyptic and eschatological belief systems, the Branch Davidians seem to have decided their dogma and cherry-picked requisite biblical defenses. He and I differ mightily concerning the necessity, planning and execution of the disastrous February 28, 1993 ATF raid. Newport rates the ATF intelligence much higher than I. His FBI are simply bumbling choirboys; I take a harsher stand. And I remain unconvinced that the Branch Davidians set Mt. Carmel on fire. Regardless of the origins of the tragic fire of April 19, 1993, one thing remains startlingly clear. The ATF and FBI verified Koresh's biblical warnings of the agents of Babylon. If indeed their deaths and resurrections would usher in the New Age of Christ, then the U.S. government acted its part of martyring catalyst perfectly. And this absurdly predictable verification of belief by obtuse and heavy-handed response presaged the exact same manipulation of our leaders eight years and five months later.

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through investigation of the faith, an offshoot of an offshoot that started in 1844 with an end of the world prediction that did not occur for the Seventh Day Adventist faith. a list of leaders with each getting more surreal until David takes charge and resorts to efforts to raise up his own squad of rulers, at times with underage females.

Heavily footnoted, Bible verses, some B/W images.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author offers insight into the story of the Branch Davidians. The story is well documented. Even though the book is almost like reading a textbook, the story is very engaging.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really solid. Crichtonesque in how awesome the book is while still vividly having such a hateable author. conclusion rocked