The Waco Siege Ended on This Day 21 Years Ago, Leaving 79 Dead

[bonnie]

The Waco Siege Ended on This Day 21 Years Ago, Leaving 79 Dead

The Branch Davidians was a sect that separated from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1955 and were led by David Koresh .

Flames engulf the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

Source: AP/Press Association Images

THE SIEGE OF the Waco compound belonging to the religious group Branch Davidians by the US military and police took place between 28 February and 19 April 1993.

The Branch Davidians was a sect that separated from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1955 and were led by David Koresh.

In the run up to the siege, a local newspaper had printed a series of stories about the cult’s leader Koresh, stating that he had physically abused children in the compound and had committed statutory rape by taking multiple underage brides.

Koresh, an advocate for polygamy was married to several women from the cult’s community. It was also believed that the cult was stockpiling weapons.

Bill Clinton

Action was taken against in Waco after the newly-appointed Attorney-General Janet Reno made the decision to begin the operation to raid the compound. She made her case to the then President of the United States Bill Clinton.

He later said: ”Finally, I told her that if she thought it was the right thing to do, she could go ahead.”

President Bill Clinton gave an advance warning of the assault on the compound.

On 19 April, the dawn raid began.

Tear gas canisters and stun grenades were fired into the cult’s compound and an armoured vehicle moved in to demolish the walls.

The White House later said the blaze that took hold of the building had been started deliberately by those inside after the FBI began a dawn assault.

The FBI were later criticised for what some said were heavy-handed tactics.

The cult’s leader, Koresh was killed in the attack. Just 11 people from the compound survived.

[phkrause]

It seems like just yesterday!

[Tom Wetmore]

That was my reaction too.

[phkrause]

Time just goes bye, sometimes that seems pretty scary! Other times you just have to sit back and wonder how things will end on this planet.

[CoAspen]

Brief History

A typical cult pattern, repeated over and over.

[Naomi]

I was living very close to the Dravidian's compound at the time of the Siege by the Feds. For quite sometime there was a lady on C/A who said she escaped during the raid.

Side note: I only learned of the Dravidian connection to the Sheppard Rods after/during all the stuff happened, or was happening, at Waco. I don't know about other areas of the country but during at least the 50 & 60ties the Sheppard Rods were a major pain to Adventist in Oklahoma & Texas. They would block cars which were attempting to enter camp grounds, churches or other meetings, would stuff tons of literature into peoples pockets, hands, windows, etc. Try to share their version of doctrine v.s. SDA's teachings. Such a disgusting mess!!! I have often wondered if Sheppard's Chapel in Arkansas is connected to the Sheppard Rods ... does anyone here know if there is a connection?

I do have a few issues with how it was all handled: 1) It is reported by numerous sources that Koresh jogged outside the compound every day. 2) He drove his prized sports car into town daily.

I have worked with Police Dept(s) and the court system, it is not normal SOP to serve a search warrant on a Sunday morning with armored cars, tons of TV reporters, camera crews, etc.

Why not just arrest him when he was out of the compound?

Something was rotten about the entire situation ... people in the area (and perhaps other places in the world) said from the get-go that the majority of the Davidians would never be allowed to leave the compound except in body bags. A token few were allowed to escape.

The place was private property ... it was their homes just as your home is your home. Do you have guns inside your home? Many people do. Were they the only group in this country who practiced polygamy? Are there not groups right here and now who take underage brides and practice polygamy?

In no way am I justifying the Davidians or David Koresh. The whole thing was disgusting; more over it made our denomination appear connected ... the first reports were that it was a group of Seventh-day Adventist. What I am saying is that IMHO there was a lot more to the story then we will ever know. It seems to me that Janet Reno had her own agenda. Remember this was during the same time frame as Ruby Ridge.

79 people were killed ... was it necessary? What if the Feds came to your home? Additionally, the horrific manner in which it was carried out triggered Terry McVey's unbalanced view of the world and expediting moral justice which on the eve of Waco resulted in the Oklahoma City bombing. Evil begets evil.

Amazing ... only 21 years ... to me it feels like a long lifetime has passed.

[Gail]

Herb Larsen Jr. here was BC's media spokesman. He lost a cousin. I remember watching him on the news watching the fire.

They are still active in this area; an ex-colleague has a son who has been caught up in it.

[Naomi]

SAD ... living so close to it we had it on the news 24/7...bad day at black rock!

I haven't kept up with them, didn't realize that they are still active. For a while there were a few that stayed at the burnt out compound and gave tours. Didn't go see, didn't want to.

[Aliensanctuary]

I lived near Waco while attending Texas State Technical Institute. I took off on the motorcycle one day looking for the place after getting some of their literature. I never did find it, lucky me.

When we decide to trust someone to tell us what to do, we put ourselves at risk for being manipulated into believing all sorts of religious garbage.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

The place was private property ... it was their homes just as your home is your home. Do you have guns inside your home? Many people do. Were they the only group in this country who practiced polygamy? Are there not groups right here and now who take underage brides and practice polygamy?

All interesting questions, often unanswerable until we're put in that position. My understanding from the news at the time was the feds held off many days while waiting for a response to the offer to allow the Davidians to come out willingly as ordered. Since it was known that the Davidians, had deadly weapons and were obviously willing to use them, it would have been foolhardy for the Feds to walk up to the door and knock politely, expecting them to come out.

My answer to that scenario, if submitted to the Holy Spirit, would be couched in this Word below. It would not have been contrary to God's commands, to yield peacefully even if the charges against them were unjustified. However if you've already been deceitfully convinced by satan you're the Messiah, no amount of reasoning could convince you, someone else had more authority than yourself.

As I remember, David Koresh defined himself as the sinful Messiah.

"And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him."

Mark 12:17 KJV

Jesus/God saves!

[Gail]

Just a clarification-

I meant to say that the Shepherd's Rod are active here, not the Branch Davidians.

[Naomi]

Please understand that I am not debating any of that ... my statement is the same as most people living in the area at the time ... why not arrest him on any given day of the week when he went outside of the compound? Then deal with the remainder of the peeps based on their response. And, do you invite all of the news media to travel with you to a somewhat remote location to serve an arrest warrant? Also, from all that the locals heard the local authorities were never contacted. It was a goat roping!! Interesting, wouldn't you say??

[Naomi]

Just a clarification-

I meant to say that the Shepherd's Rod are active here, not the Branch Davidians.

Do the Shepherd's Rod members come into our churches and disrupt the meetings, etc.? I would hope that they have relaxed their missionary zeal a bit.

[Aliensanctuary]

We have a friend who comes over from time to time, and occasionally she shares some of her spiritual insights. My wife and I both listen politely to her complicated interpretations of prophecy. She has ties with Shepherd's Rod, but I don't know what their main teachings are, since I avoid involvement with religions nowadays.

I figure that at the End of Time, all of the world's religions will be bagged up and tossed into the garbage can of Earth's history. I do realize that Christian religions attempt to carry out the teachings of Christ...sort of...but dress-up church is not for everyone.

Now YHVH, and his Kingdom of 12 Stars, that's really interesting to me...

I do recall seeing Branch Davidian literature at Keene, TX, before the days of David "Koresh". (Koresh is "Cyrus" in Persian, a name that Vernon Howell affected.) Some old guy seemed to be running the group, and I was only mildly interested. I am very grateful today that I didn't find their compound and hook up with them.

[LifeHiscost]

Since I have a somewhat cynical view of humankind in general, and the political scenario in particular, I really don't trust myself to come to any answer that would/could have made a more

acceptable outcome, the attitude I take of which I'm working on, especially when taking into consideration this thought below as a follower of Christ, I do find it hard to believe that law enforcement individuals would put their lives on the line for a plan that was ill conceived although considering the fact that recent conclusions from the media seems to indicate we (the U.S.) went to war with the wrong country perceived as our enemy for something like 10 years or more.

"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person..."1 Cor 13:7 AMP

God cares! Jesus saves!

[Gail]

Originally Posted By: Gail

Just a clarification-

I meant to say that the Shepherd's Rod are active here, not the Branch Davidians.

Do the Shepherd's Rod members come into our churches and disrupt the meetings, etc.? I would hope that they have relaxed their missionary zeal a bit.

Sometimes they give our friend who is a SS teacher a hard time.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

We had a Shepherd's Rod lady here at my church. About the most annoying thing she did was send all the names and addresses from the Church Directory into her .org and we all got bombarded with unwanted mail...

[Sojourner]

This is a question I would like to pose, - There are various anti SDA sites online, one of their claims is that the ATF asked the leadership of the SDA to speak with the people inside the compound during this crisis to help persuade them to leave. Its suggested that the SDA admin at that time wanted nothing to do with it and its then implied that more lives could have been saved if that were the case. Is that actually true that such a request was made from the ATF to the SDA?

[CoAspen]

Quote:

There are various anti SDA sites online,......

Quote:

Is that actually true that such a request was made from the ATF to the SDA?

You posted your own answer, don't you think?