David Koresh and the Branch Davidians

Religious drift, taking place in an atmosphere of freedom of worship, produced another organization that eventually was trouble for the state. One such organization was the Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh.

David Koresh was born Vernon Wayne Howell. He would claim to be the final prophet and would acquire followers among the Branch Davidians, a breakaway group from Seventh Day Adventists -- the same movement that had an influence on the founding of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Branch Davidians, like the Seventh Day Adventists, believed Biblical prophecy and a coming Armageddon. Koresh, however, handled his belief in Armageddon quite differently from that of the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which led him to a different end.

Vernon Howell had beginnings that were unpromising. He was born out of wedlock to a 14-year-old single mother, Bonnie-Sue. The 20-year-old father, Bobby Howell, had abandoned Bonnie-Sue, and Bonnie Sue began co-habiting with a violent alcoholic. When Vernon was seven his mother was married to a different man, but Vernon was not doing well in school. He is reported to have had poor study habits but, related to the cultural atmosphere, by the age of eleven he had memorized the entire New Testament -- perhaps a wild claim. At any rate, little Vernon had Christianity on his mind. But whatever wisdom he gathered from this, he did not keep to the straight and narrow. At the age of 19 he had an affair with a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant. Then he became a born-again Christian in the Southern Baptist Church, from which he went to his mother's church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was attracted to the pastor's daughter and told him that God wanted him to have the daughter for a wife. The pastor expelled Vernon from the congregation.

In 1981, at the age of 22, Vernon moved to Waco, Texas, and there joined the Branch Davidians. Vernon won the trust of the 78-year-old leader of the group, Lois Roden. She elevated Vernon to the position of a Biblical instructor. As such, Vernon was trouble for the group. He was not a cautious thinker and had the immodesty of the uneducated. His style won for him a following which broke from the others, and Vernon and his group were forced off the Branch Davidian property. Lois Roden died in 1986, and conflict among the Branch Davidians involved a 45-minute shoot out between a few of Vernon's followers and the new leader of the Davidians, George Roden. There were legal proceedings with a jury ruling in Vernon's favor and included the return of all their guns.

In 1989, George Roden murdered Wayman Dale Adair with an axe after Adair claimed that he, Adair, was the True Messiah. Roden was imprisoned in a mental hospital. Vernon raised enough money for his group to buy the Davidian ranch. Elevated to a new status, Vernon began calling himself David Koresh. He is alleged to have advocated polygamy for himself and was married to several of the females among his followers. Hostile former members claimed that Koresh could claim any of the females on the Davidian ranch as his.

The U.S. Department of Justice gathered information from an interview with a former member, Jeannine Bunds, who claimed Koresh to be the father of at least 15 children and that Koresh had had sex with a girl as young as 12. She said she had delivered seven of these children. This was in violation of Texas law. The government sent agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms with a warrant to arrest David Koresh. Koresh and his followers chose to resist. They killed four government agents, and the agents fought back, killing five Davidians before retreating.

The FBI surrounded the Davidian compound and tried to talk Koresh into surrendering. In appealing to Koresh they allowed a recording by Koresh to be broadcast on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Koresh claimed that God had told him to wait. The FBI became concerned that the Davidians would commit mass suicide -- as the followers of the Reverend Jim Jones had in 1978. After 51 days of waiting, the FBI received approval from Attorney General Janet Reno to move against Koresh militarily. Fire erupted inside the compound, and gunshots were heard from within the Davidian compound. Koresh and 75 others died, including 21 children.

A U.S. Army veteran, Timothy McVeigh, saw the federal government's action against Koresh and his followers as a violation of their rights. As retribution, in 1995, he and an accomplice, Terry Nichols, bombed the federal building In Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 8 federal marshals and 19 children.

Followers of Koresh who happened to be away from the Davidian ranch during the first shoot out with government agents had been expecting Koresh to be resurrected in the year 1996. A new group of Davidians, called the Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness, led by Charles J. Pace, began gathering for weekend services in a chapel at the Branch Davidian compound. Pace was opposed by a few Davidians who complained that Pace despised Koresh and was outside Texas during the Koresh-government crisis.

In January 2009, David Koresh's mother, Bonnie Clark Haldeman, 64, was stabbed to death by her sister.