An Adventist Tragedy: The Cultic Dynamics that Created Waco

MICHAEL PURSLEY

Part One:
The Waco Massacre: A Thirty-Year Retrospective

On February 28, 1993, thirty years ago, almost to this very day, one of the worst tragedies to ever occur in American Christian history began to unfold right before our very eyes and right in our own living rooms. It began with people I knew and had previously met, and it all started much earlier in a church that I had once been a part of; the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Some of you remember what happened on that day. Moreover, as I have talked to several of you, some of you were, in fact, even personally involved in what took place. For the rest of you, however, what happened that day and then played out for the next 51 days shook much of American Christianity right down to its very core. 

We call this doomsday scenario event the “Waco Massacre”.

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These people believed, however, through their diligent study, that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was now far too liberal, and they resonated with these ideals.

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The scene occurs at a remote, heavily guarded compound outside Waco, Texas. This compound was called Mount Carmel by its constituents, and it was owned and operated by a group of people who had previously belonged to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. These people believed, however, through their diligent study, that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was now far too liberal, and they resonated with these ideals. This Adventist offshoot group called the Branch Davidians, and they thought (using the paradigm of their Adventist roots) that, like the other Protestant Churches, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was also now a daughter of the “Whore of Babylon”—which they understood to be the Roman Catholic Church, just as their Seventh-day Adventist prophetic legacy from Ellen White had taught them.

So, after rearranging the interpretations of a few key proof texts from their former church while coming up with a few more additional prophecies to add to the ones they had already inherited from the Adventist prophet, Ellen White—then tying them all together with a few warnings from their own prophet and leader known as David Koresh, they came up with their own identifying worldview. 

Koresh consolidated his leadership and expanded the group’s evangelistic activities, for, like their Adventist forebears, they fervently believed that in America, the National Sunday Laws were about to transpire, forcing people to work on Saturday, their Sabbath. This apocalyptic event, they felt,  would cause a national reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church, and since these imminent laws were none other than the prophesied national laws that the Adventist prophet Ellen White had predicted would signal the end of the world, they believed that Jesus would appear on just about any given day. 

The “Sinful Messiah”

Consequently, this group of fervent believers were really nothing more than a bunch of separatist Adventists who found themselves well-provisioned and heavily armed for whenever that fateful day of Catholic invaders should arrive.

In fact, the appearance of their being so well-armed led to that fateful day in 1993—that, and a report which had surfaced. This report had been previously made known but was subsequently made public on February 27, 1993, when the Waco Tribune-Herald began publishing “The Sinful Messiah”, a series of articles by Mark England and Darlene McCormick, who alleged that Koresh was sexually abusing children in the compound and was committing statutory rape by taking multiple underage brides, possibly all the way down to age 11.

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The agents reasoned that there could only be one purpose for them to stockpile weapons: they were organizing themselves to exist in a self-government outside of the law…

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This report, which had in different forms surfaced sometime earlier, had federal officials completely alarmed. They had already put two and two together and felt that this group had a strong interest in guns, arming themselves against any prosecution that might take place against them. When the Koresh group opened a gun store in the area and it became quickly evident that the group was taking in far more weapons than they were actually selling, the federal agents were led to believe that these Adventist separatists were illegally stockpiling weapons in an effort to subvert any government effort to control them. The agents reasoned that there could only be one purpose for them to stockpile weapons: they were organizing themselves to exist in a self-government outside of the law—in fact, from the federal agents’ perspective, it appeared that Koresh and his mesmerized Mt. Carmel-ites were already taking the law into their own hands. 

Based upon this belief, the federal government decided they needed to step in—and step in quickly. Unfortunately, however, as Shakespeare once said, “There is many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.” 

Disaster struck on February 28, 1993, but on that day, the federal government received the worst of it.

Using the affidavit that alleged that Koresh and his people had violated federal law, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained search and arrest warrants for Koresh and specific followers on weapons charges. The ATF attempted to execute their search warrant on Sunday morning, February 28, 1993. Any advantage of surprise they may have had, however, was lost when a KWTX-TV reporter who had been tipped off about the raid a day before it began asked for directions from a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier who was coincidentally Koresh’s brother-in-law. Koresh then told undercover ATF agent Robert Rodriguez that they knew a raid was imminent. You see, Rodriguez had infiltrated Mt. Carmel and was now astonished to find that his cover had been blown. The agent then made an excuse and left the compound.

Final Tragedy

Now begins the final tragedy. The federal agents, knowing that their cover was blown, decided and attempted to make an entrance onto the compound anyway. They were rebuffed, and in that initial firefight, four federal agents died as well as two followers of David Koresh. I don’t know if you recall, but afterward, a standoff ensued between these separatists, these uber-cultic Adventists, and the United States Government that lasted 51 days. Understandably upon the initial firefight, other government agencies were called in, including the FBI, to restore order and to get this raid gone wrong finished and over with. In fact, almost 900 federal agents were eventually called in and were involved in what turned out to be a standoff operation that lasted almost two months.

As the standoff operation wore on, ATF agents established contact with Koresh and others inside the compound after they withdrew. The FBI took command soon after as a result of the deaths of federal agents, placing Jeff Jamar, head of the Bureau’s San Antonio field office, in charge of the siege as Site Commander. The FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) was headed by HRT Commander Richard Rogers, who had previously been criticized for his actions during the Ruby Ridge incident. 

For a while, the FBI believed they had made a breakthrough when they negotiated an agreement with Koresh—an agreement that his group would peacefully leave the compound in return for a message, recorded by Koresh, being broadcast on national radio. The broadcast was made, but Koresh then told negotiators that God had told him to remain in the building and “wait”. Despite Koresh’s stonewalling, negotiators managed to facilitate the release of 19 children ranging in age from five months to 12 years old, without their parents. Ninety-eight people, however, remained in the building. 

The 19 children who had been removed were then interviewed by the FBI and Texas Rangers, some for hours at a time. Allegedly, the children had been physically and sexually abused long before the standoff, and this charge was the key justification offered by the FBI (both to President Bill Clinton and to Attorney General Janet Reno) for launching tear gas attacks to force Koresh’s followers out of the compound.

As the standoff stretched from days into weeks, two factions developed within the FBI. One group believed negotiation to be the answer, the other favored force.

Increasingly aggressive techniques were used to try to force Koresh’s people out (for instance, sleep deprivation of the inhabitants by means of all-night broadcasts of recordings of jet planes, pop music, chanting, and the screams of rabbits being slaughtered). Outside the compound, nine Bradley Fighting Vehicles (carrying M651 CS tear gas grenades and Ferret rounds) and five M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles (obtained from the U.S. Army) began patrolling. The armored vehicles were used to destroy perimeter fencing and outbuildings and to crush cars belonging to the Mt. Carel community.

Koresh’s discussions with the negotiating team became increasingly difficult. He proclaimed that he was the Second Coming of Christ and had been commanded by his father in heaven to remain in the compound. One week prior to the April 19 assault, FBI planners considered using snipers to kill David Koresh and possibly other key leaders of the community. The FBI voiced concern that the compound might commit mass suicide, as had happened in 1978 at Jim Jones’s Jonestown complex. 

Koresh, however, had repeatedly denied any plans for mass suicide when confronted by negotiators during the standoff, and people leaving the compound had not seen any such preparation. Because the Branch Davidians were heavily armed, however, the FBI’s arms included .50 caliber (12.7 mm) rifles and armored Combat Engineering Vehicles (CEV). 

The final assault took place on April 19, 1993. CEVs used explosives to puncture holes in the walls of buildings of the compound so they could pump in CS gas (“tear gas”) and try to flush out the people without harming them. Very early in the morning, the FBI fired two military M651 rounds at the Mt Carmel construction site. Around mid-morning, the FBI began to run low on 40 mm Ferret CS rounds. 

After more than six hours, however, no compound members had left the building, sheltering instead in a concrete block room within the building or using gas masks. The FBI stated that CEVs were used to punch large holes in the building to provide exits for those inside.

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At around noon, three fires broke out almost simultaneously in different parts of the building and spread quickly. The government maintains the fires were deliberately started by Koresh’s people.

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At around noon, three fires broke out almost simultaneously in different parts of the building and spread quickly. The government maintains the fires were deliberately started by Koresh’s people. In 1999, however, it was revealed that some of the tear gas used by the FBI was flammable. Furthermore, many compound survivors maintain that the fires were accidentally or deliberately started by the assault. Only nine people left the building during the fire. The remaining Koresh followers, including some of the children, were either buried alive by rubble, suffocated by the effects of the fire, or shot. Most of the remaining children, however, were ostensibly shot and killed by Koresh’s leaders to keep them from being burned alive; this was the case all the way down to a three-year-old who was stabbed in the heart.

According to the FBI, Steve Schneider—Koresh’s top aide, who “probably realized he was dealing with a fraud”—shot and killed Koresh and then killed himself with the same gun.

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. —Proverbs 14:12

Part Two:
Analyzing Waco As a Former Adventist and a Failed Recruit

In 1979. David Koresh tried to recruit me into his Branch Davidian community. He was on the Notre Dame Campus, not far from Andrews University, so I went over. I really wanted to meet this guy and see what made him tick. After a candid discussion about the particulars and character of his group, he seemed very interested in me and even offered me two more wives if I would join him. 

I told him that I would not be joining him (an easy decision, especially since my new wife was standing with me), politely said goodbye, and left. 

 Ever since that meeting, however, I have been very interested in what make a cult tick. In fact, after that Koresh experience, I quickly realized that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was also a cult, just not one that had yet gone as far down the tracks as Koresh’s branch of Davidians. As I have considered the dynamics of cultic religion, I have identified seven points that mark cultic churches that endeavor to stay just on this side of respectability. I will share them here:

1. A church’s attempts to minister to those in the community are not dedicated to actually helping the poor and the hurting of the community but are instead designed to convert people to the church. In fact, many community efforts are directed preferably to the rich and affluent—or are publicized so that the rich and affluent are impressed. The corollary of a church’s collecting well-placed attention for community service is when a church stops ministering to anybody in the community because it is no longer seen as being “cost effective.”
2. Also, suspect cultic control when a church’s business meetings simply become shredding sessions of the people within the church over all alleged or perceived sins. The members may leave the meetings feeling like they have just “saved the church”, but they have no specified plans to actually help or love the poor sinners themselves.
3. A church might be considered cultic if the members in the congregation are openly critical of the pastor and of the leaders in the church who are preaching much more frequently about the gospel than they do about the law, or morality, or even ethics. A cult mentality also does not preach only, or directly, from the Bible; instead, sermons borrow from the thoughts of some modern-day prophet, church council, a church pioneer, or even a canonized saint.
4. It’s a cultic red flag if any changes seen as necessary to becoming more in line with the biblical gospel and with the teachings of the New Testament are met with anger and resistance.
5. Be wary if the past history, actions, and pioneers of the church are the ultimate heroes of the church and are the guides to its future. Even these heroes’ mistakes suddenly become God’s mistakes, and these people become institutions within themselves. They are seen as never having done anything wrong.
6. Consider cultic control if open discussions about the church’s doctrines are seen as being taboo. Further, be ready to leave if those who dare engage in such discussions—especially from the standpoint of what the Scriptures actually say—are seen as being the identifiable enemies of the church and of Christ. Thus, instead of such discussions becoming an opportunity for believers to become salt and light, the discussions are both shut down and frowned upon.
7. When the pastors and other leaders in the church become discouraged from the constant infighting over the Word of God and withdraw from its effective leadership, it is probably a reaction to the church’s cultic mentality.

Why do people, especially pastors, shut down and withdraw from such dynamics in a church?

They are afraid. They are afraid that the church has seriously strayed from the Gospel and from the Bible. Moreover, they are afraid that they, too, might also be wrong, and now they are too scared to communicate with anyone to see if their thoughts and perspectives can be externally validated and explained. Consequently, they “hunker down” and remain silent.

Of course, this list can be greatly lengthened and expanded, and many of us experienced dynamics such as these during our time as Adventists. Cultic dynamics, however, are not limited only to obviously false religions. They can creep into evangelical Christian churches as well.

People who have cultic dynamics in their past as well as in their own attitudes make it easy for someone to step in with even darker intents to control, as we saw with David Koresh. This is why we are called to embrace the true gospel of Jesus’ death for our sins according to Scripture.

We are asked to believe in Him alone, and we are given the privilege of asking our true Father to hold us in truth and reality by keeping us immersed in His word of truth. The Lord Jesus came to shine His light into our cultic darkness and to transfer us from our natural death into eternal life. 

Trust Him, and let Him transform your fear into freedom. †

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—I am indebted to Wikipedia and to other sources for the details in this piece.

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Michael Pursley has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. He completely and humbly rests upon the fact that God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ who has blotted out all of his sins. Because of Jesus he has hope, peace, and joy, and his prayer is that all who do not know Jesus will trust Him who calls the dead to life. You may contact him at michaelpursley@gmail.com.