they were pretty stable for a while. they were known as a somewhat bizarre benign religious group that pretty much kept to themselves. the davidians bought property east of town, named their sanctuary mt. carmel, after the biblical site. but in the 1980s, a new person would appear, who changed everything. handsome and magnetic, he convinced his followers he would one day be reborn as the messiah, church members worshipped him as the conquerer of babylon. he began to present the ideas he had, and i would say 99% of the leadership of the church that were living at mt. carmel accepted him as having a message from god.