Remembering Waco: how did Koresh convince over 100 followers he was the Messiah?

It has been thirty years since the world was captivated by a dramatic standoff in Waco, Texas. In 2023, a Netflix documentary on the events reawakened interest around the world in one of the most bizarre and tragic events in American history.

While Netflix's documentary titled 'Waco' takes us through the bloody conflict of the siege between members of the Branch Davidian religious group and FBI agents at Mount Carmel Center ranch, there is much more to the story.

Join us as we take a look at how David Koresh, the sect's leader came to power and convinced around 130 people that he was the Messiah.

Photo By McLennan County Sheriff's Office. - http://www.therightperspective.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/david-koresh.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17726433

The gory conflict between the U.S. Federal Government and David Koresh's religious cult, the Branch Davidians, began on February 28, 1993.

Photo by United States Government - Retrieved from the Texas Ranger Evidence Locker at Austin, Texas, by Mike McNulty, and published to the blog https://copsproductions.wordpress.com/ in 2012., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128195216

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) had obtained a search warrant for the compound located in Axtell, Texas, just 13 miles to the northeast of Waco. The ATF also had arrest warrants for David Koresh, along with a few key members of the Davidians.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had initially hoped to serve their search and arrest warrants during a daytime raid, counting on the element of surprise to allow them to quickly dominate the situation and reduce the risk of conflict with the Branch Davidians.

However, a KWTX-TV reporter who had gotten word that something was going to go down at Mount Carmel inadvertently tipped off the Branch Davidians when he got lost and asked a postman, who just happened to be Koresh's brother-in-law and was a member of the cult, for directions to the compound.

This unfortunate tip-off led to an unsuccessful raid and a dramatic shootout that resulted in the death of four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians on that fateful day.

Photo by  United States Government - Retrieved from the Texas Ranger Evidence Locker at Austin, Texas, by Mike McNulty, and published to the blog https://copsproductions.wordpress.com/ in 2012., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128195216

Moreover, it spawned a siege initiated by the FBI at the compound that would end up lasting an unheard-of 51 days and had a very tragic ending.

After much back and forth and attempts to negotiate with David Koresh, which is shown extensively in the Netflix documentary, the siege ended when the FBI decided to launch a tear gas attack on the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993.

However, any sense of victory for the U.S. government felt did not last long. Shortly after the tear gas attack, authorities were shocked when the Mount Carmel Center went up in flames with devastating results: 76 Branch Davidians died: 26 children, two pregnant women, and David Koresh all perished in the fire.

Despite the fact that the authorities attempted to get children released during the siege through negotiations, a total of 28 children (26 in the fire, 2 during the shootout) died due to the conflict between the Branch Davidians and the U.S. government, along with a total of 82 Branch Davidians and four federal agents.

But who was David Koresh? How did he become the leader of the Branch Davidians? Did Koresh have a violent past?

Image: YouTube, ABC News

David Koresh is the most famous leader of the Branch Davidians, but by no means was he the one to start the group.  Benjamin Roden started the splinter sect in 1955 after the original Davidian founder Victor T. Houteff died. The Davidians were a branch off group of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

According to History.com, Benjamin Roden's splinter sect was called the Branch Davidians and they were based at the Mount Carmel Center. Later it was led by his wife Lois until her passing in 1986.

The story of how David Koresh became the leader of the Branch Davidians says a lot about Koresh's nature.

According to Wikipedia, Koresh was born as Vernon Wayne Howell in 1959 and joined the sect at the age of 22 in 1981. Prior to joining Koresh was a high school drop out who was just a drifter. Pictured: David with his mother.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

An archived article from The New York Times from 1996 explains how once David Koresh joined the group used his relationship with the widowed Lois Roden to rise to the top of Branch Davidian leadership.

Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4614102

According to the NYT article, when Koresh arrived at Mount Carmel when he was in his 20s, he began a "romantic" relationship with Lois, who was in her late 60s at the time.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

Unsurprisingly, after Lois's death in 1986, Koresh challenged Lois' son George Roden (pictured) for leadership of the group.

Image: By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the photograph. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36291911

Unsurprisingly, George Roden was unhappy about David Koresh's attempt to usurp him and spoke out. According to the NYT article from 1996, George accused Koresh of violating and brainwashing his mother. He commanded that David perform a miracle to prove he was the one meant to lead the group.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

The conflict led to David Koresh and seven of his followers becoming exiled from the rest of the group until Koresh could perform said miracle.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

Eventually (possibly due to his inability to perform miracles), Koresh and his seven "disciples" snuck back onto the Mount Carmel compound in theory to document George Roden's abuse of corpses to bring to the police. According to the New York Times, George had stolen decades-old corpses from a cemetery in an attempt to resurrect them.

Image: Dangerousminds.net

To make a strange story even stranger, when Koresh and his followers returned to the compound to document George Roden's crimes, they failed to bring cameras...but they did not forget to dress in camouflage and come armed, according to the NYT, with "five .223-caliber semi-automatic assault rifles, two .22-caliber rifles and two 12-gauge shotguns with almost 400 rounds of ammunition."

Image: YouTube, 60 Minutes Australia

David Koresh's return to the compound led to a shootout between the Branch Davidians following George Roden and Koresh and his followers. Roden was injured, and Koresh won the conflict and was granted control over Mount Carmel and the Branch Davidians.

Image: YouTube, johnnystatacca

The conflict caught the attention of authorities, and the weapons were confiscated following the shootout. According to the Times, Koresh was charged with attempted murder for his attack on Roden but was later acquitted. Undoubtedly it helped that Koresh's lawyers brought Roden's exhumed coffin, skeleton and all with a pink bow on its neck, to court as evidence.

Image: Screenshot of 1993 New York Times article

Once Koresh became the leader of the Branch Davidians, he soon declared he was a prophet and that his arrival would lead to the second coming of Christ. David also claimed that the apocalypse was imminent, as foretold in the Book of Revelations.

Koresh also claimed he had a divine vision that he would be the father of 24 children who would play a key role when the end of days arrived.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

This vision led to a bizarre ruling that his male followers were not very happy about. David ordered the men of the community to become celibate regardless of their marital status, and then he kept these other men's wives for himself.

Image: YouTube, 60 Minutes Australia

According to the 1993 article from The New York Times, Koresh even had "brides" as young as twelve years of age, and in various children, survivors have reported widespread abuse by Koresh on the compound.

Image: YouTube, ABC News

Soon, Koresh began to claim that he was the Messiah and that the only way to Heaven for his followers and his resurrection would be through a "bloody confrontation with nonbelievers", according to the NYT. The rest is history.

Photo By United States Government - Retrieved from the Texas Ranger Evidence Locker at Austin, Texas, by Mike McNulty, and published to the blog https://copsproductions.wordpress.com/ in 2012., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128115493