my mother and my father were seventh day adventists. i was there from the beginning of my life, i was born into it, i was there long before vernon was ever known. i was basically from the age of 5 raised as a branch davidian. unlike my wife, deborah, i was raised in california. so when i graduated high school, i ended up moving to mt. carmel where i met my wife, and that s when i first started living with the group. the full name is branch davidian seventh day adventist. adventist meaning they believe in the second coming of christ. this all comes down to the book of revelation, which is pretty clear there is going to be a final end, the final judgment. so, yeah, it was important stuff for david koresh.
my family life was no fun either. at my birthday party, my mom beat me black and blue in front of everybody. so he grew up in a very unstable situation as a small child. but the one continual influence in his life was the seventh day adventist church. the seventh day adventist movement is from the 19th century. it s, i think, most characterized by its name of adventist. the idea of advent of christ, the return of christ, usually called the second coming. so it s a group that began to believe that the end of time was
announces he s entitled to more than one wife within the group. soon he has four. including david bund s 17-year-old sister, robin. he talked about the house of david, how he s supposed to have all these wives. so the idea was, you know, this appears to be of god. and it technically was illegal. but when you re in a cult and you ve got answering to a higher power, you don t worry about the law so much sometimes. koresh learns that his former mentor, lois roden, is dead. and her son, george, is in a state psychiatric hospital. with the property up for grabs, he takes back mt. carmel and continues to recruit around the world. he drew people from england, australia and from the west indies as well as americans. it was a multiracial and
17-year-old sister, robin. he talked about the house of david, how he s supposed to have all these wives. so the idea was, you know, this appears to be of god. and it technically was illegal. but when you re in a cult and you ve got answering to a higher power, you don t worry about the law so much sometimes. koresh learns that his former mentor, lois roden, is dead. and her son, george, is in a state psychiatric hospital. with the property up for grabs, he takes back mt. carmel and continues to recruit around the world. he drew people from england, australia and from the west indies as well as americans. it was a multiracial and multiethnic setting. why did you come here? because i heard there was
texas cult standoff flickers, then fades. members of an armed cult near waco, texas, are observing passover and continuing their standoff with federal agents. after days of failed negotiations with david koresh, the fbi struggles to maintain control. he says that he did not fulfill his promise to leave immediately with his followers because god told him to wait. i felt embarrassed. i felt angry. i felt let down. i felt concerned over the welfare of the people inside that compound. we are going through a very frustrating and disappointing period in the negotiation process. in my opinion, david koresh didn t come out because federal officers had been killed. he knew that he faced criminal charges. probable incarceration. and he could not stand the idea