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In order to understand how the Waco tragedy affected American society, a brief background examination of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians is warranted. The Branch Davidian sect was the idea of a Hungarian immigrant named Victor Houteff who converted to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church in 1918 and within a few years became one of its major leaders. Believing that his vision of the Bible and the SDA church was the correct one, Houteff took a small group of followers and broke from the main body of the church in 1933, moving to a tract of land outside of Waco, Texas that he christened “Mount Carmel” in reference to the biblical locale in northern Israel. The breakaway sect slowly grew in size until it asserted its own identity when Houteff rebranded the sect as the “Davidian Seventh-day Adventist” church in 1942. The new name, as well as the name of their church’s location, indicated a more militant tone than what was present in the mainline SDA church. King David was the biblical king who enforced god’s will at sword point and Mount Carmel was the place in the Bible where the prophet Elijah was believed to have fought a battle against followers of the Phoenician god Baal. <ref> Reavis, Dick. J. <i>The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation.</i> (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1998), p. 59</ref>
David Koresh was born Vernon Howell in 1959 to an alcoholic mother who left him with her parents and a father he never knew. Anecdotal evidence shows that Howell may have suffered from learning disabilities as a child because he had difficulties reading and in generally in school, but excelled in music, mechanics, and above all – reading scriptures. <ref> Reavis, p. 26</ref> Howell’s mother was a member of the SDA church, but he was eventually drawn to the Branch Davidians, who he believed followed the scriptures more closely. As he immersed himself in life at Mount Carmel, the ever fractious Davidians split once again in 1984, which led to violence and eventually Howell’s assumption of the church’s leadership.
The split that took place in 1984 was the result of a man named George Roden attempting to assume control of the sect, while Howell and his followers objected. Howell was not the average SDA type, though, as he wore his hair long and often gave his sermons in a t-shirt and jeans. Despite recruiting a number of followers to his faction, Howell was forced to flee Mount Carmel until things took a violent turn in November 3, 1987. It was at that time that Roden dug up the body of a former Davidian and challenged Howell to raise her from the dead. Instead of attempting the impossible feat, Howell lead a group of armed commandos to the Mount Carmel compound to photograph the disinterred remains of the former Davidian. The hope was that they would turn the photographs over to the local authorities who would in turn arrest Roden, thereby giving leadership of the Branch Davidians to Howell. Roden and his followers were waiting and a shootout ensued. Although no one was killed, Howell and his six commandos were charged with attempted murder, which they were eventually acquitted of in April 1988. <ref> Reavis, pgs. 77-81</ref> After the acquittal, Howell was proclaimed the sole leader of the Branch Davidians.
During Howell’s exile from Mount Carmel, he visited the Holy Land in 1985, which is where he claimed that he was brought into heaven and given the secrets of the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation that played such an integral role in his theology. It was also at that time when he came up with the name David Koresh – David for King David and Koresh for the Persian King Cyrus who released the Jews from their Babylonian captivity in 539 BC – which he legally changed his name to in 1990. <ref> Reavis, p. 96</ref> Once he was firmly ensconced as the leader of the Branch Davidians, Koresh wasted no time preaching his millennial prophecies of the Seven Seals. Of particular importance to the 1993 events was his interpretation of the Fourth Seal, which he believed allowed him to “kill with the sword.” Concerning this Seal, Koresh once said, “The Bible is a whole book about nothing but killing.” <ref> Reavis, p. 117</ref> Clearly, Koresh favored the Old Testament god of fire and vengeance. Besides preaching his apocalyptic interpretation of the Bible, Koresh also initiated several changes in the day to day lives of the Branch Davidians. He promoted the idea of polygamy for himself, but he ordered celibacy among all the other male members. By the time of the siege, he fathered seventeen children, two with underage girls and others with women already married. He also lifted the ban on alcohol, although members rarely drank afterwards. <ref> Reavis, pgs. 111-16 </ref>
===The Investigation===