The Waco Incident

When: April 1993

Where: Ranch Apocalypse, Waco, TX

Who: David Koresh, ATF, FBI

The Branch Davidian religious group was founded in 1885. Sometime later after 1885 Victor Houteff in 1929 he broke away from the Seventh-day Adventist Church to establish The Shepherd’s Rod. Houteff believed he was a messenger from Christ and was told that he was the one to reveal information from the secret scroll, the same scroll that was mentioned in the Book of Revelations. Houteff wanted to re-establish the Kingdom of King David, in order to create the second coming of Christ. In 1935 Houteff founded the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, TX. A few years later he broke all ties with the Seventh-day Adventist Church due to conflicting ideas on the WWII, so he changed the name of his group to Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association. In 1955 Houteff passed away, after his death his group broke into splinter groups across the country.

A man name Vernon Howell emerged out of nowhere and joined a group named Branch Davidians in 1981. Howell quickly became very popular with in the group and was being seen as a prophet. Soon after making a name for himself he changed his name to David Koresh in 1990. “Koresh” means a form of Cyrus from the book Isaiah 45. Which states a prophet predicts a Persian King name Cyrus who would return the Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild King Solomon’s Temple. Also, David saw himself to be the the Lamb of Revelation and would open the seal of scrolls to bring in the second coming of Christ. After a couple of year he moved his 135 followers to a place he called Ranch Apocalypse in Waco, TX. Koresh believed that the end of times would not occur in Israel but actually in America and wanted to protect his followers. As time went on residents started to hear rumors that the Davidians were practicing distasteful religious practices, abusing children and having a cache of illegal weapons.

On February 28, 1993 the ATF (alcohol, tobacco and firearms) raided the Ranch Apocalypse and surround the compound with 75 camouflaged men with weapons. One of Koresh’s top aides called 911 and begged that the attack be called off because there are women and children inside. That fell on deaf ears because moments later the ATF opened fire on the compound with automatic fire weapons. After an intense firefight 6 Davidians and 4 ATF were killed and 1 Davidian and 24 agents were wounded. Finally after 51 days the FBI took the lead in the operation and soon ran out of patience. The order was giving to storm the compound on April 19, 1993 to end the standoff. Soon after a fire ignited most likely from one of the hundreds of tear gas canisters were thrown inside 17 children and 30-40 others perished at the hands of the federal government. Bill Clinton with John McCain and other government officials labeled Koresh as a mad man and held him responsible.

If you believe the government’s story that Koresh instigated the confrontation I have a bridge to sell u across the Gulf of Mexico. I do not agree with Koresh’s view on religion or views on life. I feel that someone needs to be held responsible for that massacre and shouldn’t be swept under the rug.