In 1993, a human tragedy occurred in the small town of Waco, Texas, USA. On a farm outside town, there is a building known as the center of Mount Carmel, where the "Branch Davidians" sect lived first exchanged fire with law enforcement officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms who came to search for prohibited weapons, killing and injuring each other, and then confronted the FBI for fifty-one days. On April 19, the FBI ordered an end to the standoff and stormed with tear gas in an attempt to force the believers out. However, there were suddenly many fires in the building, and seventy-four people were buried in the sea of fire, including twenty children.
This incident brought the originally unknown sect of the "Davidian Miao" to widespread attention. A big reason for the FBI's involvement was that the sect was classified as a "cult, and its leader, David Koresh (formerly Known as Vernon Howell), claimed to be a Messiah and practiced polygamy, even with underage girls. Of the twenty children who lost their lives in the fire, most were children born to him and many "wives." For a time, Koresh was called "cult leader", "antichrist", "false prophet", and many people thought that he deserved it, but only affected those who were deceived by him and innocent children. But in fact, this "cult" was not created by a delusional person, but had its origins. We need to understand the history of the "Davidian Miao" sect and the specifics of the siege in order to make a more objective assessment of the whole incident.
Heresy also has a common thread
Let's first look at the teachings of Koresh's inheritance and development. The position of many Christian scholars has always been that orthodoxy has an old tradition, and heresy is blindly innovating. The orthodox church has an apostolic rule, an ecumenical council, a church history, and heresies are all born out of nowhere, with no real foundation. But this is not entirely the case. Koresh's theology, including extreme apocalypticism and eschatology, the authoritarianism of contemporary prophets, dissociative literal exegesis, and "exegesis of scriptures," all have sources. We can enumerate his forerunners, which will help us to sort out Koresh's ideas and ideas.
(i) "Great Disappointment"
In 1818, William Miller, a farmer in New York State, through extensive Bible reading and calculation, decided that Christ would soon return. He began preaching the end times and calling on true believers to follow his teachings, and those who did not want to greet Christ were the sinful "Babylon" of Revelation. Later, he further accurately defined the time of Christ's Return to between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. On February 27, 1843, an astronomical scene of a comet grazing the sun appeared, and many believed that this was a sign of doom. A large number of believers abandoned their homes and businesses to follow Miller, waiting for Christ to come down from heaven. But March 21, 1844, passed as blandly as any other day, and Christ did not come. They were not discouraged, but believed that the previous calculations had been wrong, and that Yom Kippur was the right day on October 22, 1844. On this day, tens of thousands of believers ran to the countryside with a wide view and waited, but Christ still did not come. The incident was dubbed the "Great Disappointment". But afterwards, believers such as Joseph Bates explained that Miller was right in his calculations, but that what happened that day was not earthly, but heavenly. On that day, Christ entered the heavenly temple and prepared to perform judgment.
(ii) "Prophetesses"
The Bates faction was influential, and before Miller's death in 1849, they were already large and had their own methods of exegesis: strong eschatology, a focus on the revelation of scriptures; a belief that scriptures were largely prophecies that were to be used "by scripture" to point them to the reality in which they lay in the present; and contemporary prophets who were constantly inspired to understand biblical prophecies and to fulfill them personally in anticipation of the Return of Christ. Not only that, but contemporary prophets also set the norms for believers. Mrs. Ellen G. White is one such contemporary prophet who is regarded as the founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She and her husband first claimed to have been inspired to restore the Sabbath on Saturday and abandon the remnants of the "paganism" who spent the Sabbath on Sunday. Later, she advocated a revival of the Kosher tradition in the Old Testament, especially what could and could not be eaten in Leviticus 11.
(iii) "Shepherd's Staff"
Born in Bulgaria in 1886, Victor Houteff immigrated to the United States in 1907 and was baptized as a Sabbath believer in 1919. In 1930, he founded The Shepherd's Rod and began preaching the extreme message that the "fourteen thousand" voters in Revelation 7 had far exceeded the number of Sabbath believers, meaning that most people had apostatized and that only those who followed him were true voters. But the mainstream Sabbath would not accept these views and expelled him. Hutf renamed his sect the "Adventist Adventist Church of David," emphasizing that Christ would reign in heaven and that the descendants of David would be kings on earth and would establish a new kingdom in Palestine. He would take true believers to Palestine (then under the English Mandate) and there he would welcome the Second Coming. In 1935, Hutf bought a plot of land outside Waco, Texas, built the "Mount Carmel" center, issued his own currency, banned intermarriage, and continued to preach to Sabbath believers. When Hutfe died in 1955, his wife Florence Houteff took over, sold the property, and bought land not far away to build a new "Mount Carmel" center. Like Miller, she prophesied the end of The World on April 22, 1959, and the believers left their homes and businesses to wait for the end times, but nothing happened.
(4) "David Miao"
At the low point of this sect, Ben Roden and Lois Roden took ownership of the center of Mount Carmel. Born into a Jewish family, bin Rodden converted to the Sabbath Church, which retains the most Jewish traditions, and later joined the "Shepherd's Staff" movement. He renamed the denomination "David Hmong" and declared himself to be the Hmong of David prophesied in the Bible (Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, Zechariah 3:8, 6:12), the Vicegerent of the Most High God, who would lead believers to Israel to rebuild the temple in preparation for the Kingdom of The Thousand Years of Blessing. After Ben Roden's death in 1978, Lois took over and made herself "Bishop". She claimed to have received a new revelation in a vision: the Spirit of God was feminine, and the Messiah had a feminine side. She repeatedly emphasized that both the Hebrew word for "spirit" ruach and the shekhinah referring to God's presence are both feminine terms. She also claimed that since Genesis records that God "made men and women in our image," there must be both men and women in God's person; Adam symbolizes Christ and Eve symbolizes the Holy Spirit.
(v) "The Sinful Messiah"
In 1981, Warren Howell joined the "David Hmong" sect from the mainstream Sabbath. He developed a close relationship with Lois, who was forty-three years older than him, and became the quasi-heir of the sect. He is said to have an amazing memory, was able to recite most of the New Testament at the age of thirteen, and had insights into scriptures that the average person could not see. After Lois' death, Howell went through a leadership struggle to establish his absolute authority.
Howell's teachings were, to a large extent, from Miller to Lois. Every time a "prophet" and a new teaching appears, it creates sectarian divisions. So when he came to Howell, he was already a very small sect after many divisions, but he believed that he was adhering to the most authentic and true tradition, inheriting the six pioneers, who were the six angels mentioned in the book of Revelation, and he himself was the seventh, and he was also the sealed prophet.
Howell argues that the end is approaching (from Miller to Ben Roden) and that to connect the scriptures to "exegesis" (Bates) is to know that he is the "Davidian Miao" (Ben Roden) promised in the Bible, to lead true believers against all "Babylon" (Miller) who opposes them, and to establish a new kingdom in Israel (Hutef) in the future. Believers are expected to observe the Saturday Sabbath and some traditional Jewish festivals and eat kosher (Lady White), following howell, the contemporary prophet (from Lady White to Lois). Thus, we can see that a large part of his message comes from his pioneers, not his originals.
Howell and his assistants traveled extensively to attract people to the church, and he was very eloquent, clear-minded, and fruitful. Almost all of the people who joined the "David Hmong" sect were from The Sabbathic background, including Jamaicans, Jews, Japanese and other ethnic groups, from Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Hawaii, Hong Kong and other places to the center of "Mount Carmel" in the backwoods of Texas. They were all impressed by Howell's preaching, believing that the Bible had become clear and understandable under his interpretation. This is actually a red flag: simple and explicit is not the same as orthodox and correct. They thought they were listening to the truth, but in reality it was Howell who listened.
One result of Howell's one-sided, literal, and distorted prophetic interpretation is that he believes that since the biblical "Christ" and "Messiah" literally mean "anointed," and that israel's ancestors, kings, prophets, and priests are all anointed, then he is also an anointed as the king, prophet, and priest of the last days. In other words, although he is not Jesus, he is still the Messiah. In an effort to "complete" is isaiah 45:1 in the verse "I am Cyrus anointed by the Lord," he even changed his name, and Vernon Howell became David Koresh. The Hebrew word for "Cyrus" is Koresh, and he wants to identify himself as a Hmong of David, the Messiah today, the conqueror of "Babylon."
Not only that, Koresh declares that while tradition holds that Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of Jesus, it is actually a prophecy about Himself, because 53:13 "He will see the descendants" does not apply to Jesus, who had no descendants. David, who was "very sinful" in Psalm forty, also refers to him. Jesus was the sinless Messiah and could not understand human suffering, but Koresh could because He was the sinful Messiah. Moreover, since the end times have come, people should not marry or marry as they did in the first creation. He declared that all marriages in the denomination would be dissolved, that all men would remain celibate, and that all women would belong to him, with whom all women would belong, and that these twenty-four children would be the twenty-four elders who would sit on the throne of heaven in revelation chapter 4.
Although a few male believers could not accept Koresh's "New Light," the vast majority did so. Koresh gives this explanation: Yes, we are "cults", but every religion is "cult" in the beginning. Yes, we keep celibacy, but we are united to Christ. Koresh also inherited The Doctrine of Lois that the Messiah has a feminine side, so male believers are united with the female side of the Messiah. As for female believers... It was literally united with Koresh.
"Mount Carmel" on the Texas Plains
How the tragedy happened
Around 1992, the "David Hmong" sect began buying and selling firearms and other weapons. Although in Texas, it is normal to own guns and ammunition, and only need to pay thirty dollars to register a license for the gun trade, and even if they own a fully automatic gun, they only need to pay two hundred dollars and register, but a batch of weapons they bought was damaged, grenades fell out, and the separation of the shell shell from gunpowder attracted the attention of the shipping driver. He suspected that the sect had refitted its weapons without permission, so he informed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Upon receiving the report, the Authority decided to intervene and on February 25 signed a search warrant to force entry into Mount Carmel.
Newspapers report on the "Sinful Messiah"
On Feb. 27, a local newspaper, waco Tribune-Herald, reported on the "guilty Messiah" in full page, accusing Coresh of bigamy, child abuse, and self-reliance. This made the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms more suspicious that Koresh was assembling an unregistered fully automatic rifle without permission, and decided to raid Mount Carmel the next day. At 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, twenty-six armed law enforcement officers set out, but the camera crew that was preparing to report on the incident got lost in the farmland. They asked a local for directions, but the local happened to be a "David Hmong" believer, so they immediately informed Koresh. Insiders installed in the sect reported the leak to law enforcement officers, but they still decided to proceed as planned. At nine o'clock law enforcement officers arrived at "Mount Carmel" and the assault began. The members of the sect immediately called the police on 911, saying that there were women and children in the house, please stop shooting immediately. This is true, for there were about one hundred and thirty people in the house at this time, forty-three of whom were children. However, the firing did not stop until noon the officers of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Authority ran out of ammunition and were forced to retreat.
The result of this round of attacks was that four law enforcement officers of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Authority were killed and twenty were injured. Six members of the "David Hmong" sect died. David Koresh was hit by bullets on his ribs and wrists. His injuries are highly religiously symbolic.
Because of the casualties of law enforcement officers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms notified the FBI, and FBI officials immediately took over and appointed a "hostage rescue team". From 1 March the following day, the objective of the operation shifted from investigating the unauthorized modification of firearms to the rescue of hostages.
However, the characterization of "hostage rescue" may not be in line with the actual situation. Koresh did not take people to ransom, and believers were free to leave. Unfortunately, the two sides have not been able to communicate effectively. Koresh was desperate to convey his message to the outside world, but for him, the religious message was crucial. The FBI has no knowledge of the sect and is not interested in its religious information. Their aim was to clear out all the people in the building in order to free the women and children in it. One is a religious appeal, the other is a law enforcement appeal, and neither is on the same channel.
This miscommunication lasted from the first day of the confrontation to the last day. On the evening of Feb. 28, KRLD, a local Radio station in Dallas, spoke to Corresh on the night of Feb. 28. The radio director persuaded Koresh to surrender, heal his wounds, and let the children out. Koresh spoke at length about the Bible to them. After that, Koresh also made many phone calls or videos, but each time he was talking about the Bible. He quoted the rather ancient chinese version of the Bible, which lasted for two or three hours without stopping. The FBI couldn't understand why Koresh was speaking the Bible, believing him to be talking gibberish and trying to delay.
Koresh's repeated remarks on the night of February 28 were the "Seven Seals" of the New Testament Revelation, which he claimed was in the era of the "Fifth Seal", and that the Federal Agent was "Babylon". At first glance, the words are very obscure and confusing. But if we open the book of Revelation, we can see this verse: "When the fifth seal was revealed, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed, who were the Word of God and who had been testified, crying out, 'Holy and true Lord, how long will it be before you judge those who dwell on earth to give us bloodshed?' So there was white robes for each of them, and another word said to them, 'When there is a sabbatical, the brothers who are waiting for the servants and their fellow servants will be killed as they were, and the number will be satisfied.' (6:9-11) This is a visually striking scene, and Koresh believes that this prophecy is fulfilled before his eyes: the people who were killed were the six believers who died during the siege of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and if the siege continues, the sect will all die. But he overestimated the FBI agents' familiarity with the Bible.
In the eyes of the FBI, Koresh is a cunning charlatan who has hoodwinked more than a hundred people and now needs to rescue them, especially women and children. But Koresh has emphasized the importance of religious messages throughout, persevering in wounded conditions and allowing believers to leave— thirty-five during the standoff. This shows that the believers are not hostages, and that Koresh really believes what he is saying, and that the believers who stay behind are voluntary.
On March 2, Koresh first said he was going to come out, and then he changed his mind, saying that he was waiting for God's will, and if God let him out, he would naturally come out. On March 7, Koresh released a videotape of him and several of his "wives" and children on camera, including children born to the photographer's wife. The FBI was deeply shocked and decided to take further action. On March 12, the building was cut off, and strong searchlights were used at night to illuminate the house, and high-decibel music, Tibetan Buddhist chanting, and the screams of slaughtering rabbits were used to exert pressure.
On March 7, two religious studies professors, Phillip Arnold of the Reunion Institute in Houston and James Tabor of the University of North Carolina, asked to cooperate with the FBI. On March 23, some members of the sect left "Mount Carmel" and were immediately arrested. The two professors spoke on the phone with the arrested members to find out correshi's theological position. Between March 29 and April 4, they tried several times to communicate with Koresh, who expressed a desire to discuss the Bible with the two professors. But what they didn't know was that the FBI had set a hard line and no longer took the time to listen to Koresh's nervous bible talk.
On April 14, the "David Hmong" sect spent eight days of Passover under siege. On the same day, Koresh sent a letter saying that he would complete a manuscript explaining the unveiling of the Seven Seals and hand it over to two religious professors. Unfortunately, the FBI did not do so, but instead sent the letter to Murray Miron, a counterterrorism expert at Syracuse University, for evaluation. Mirren could not understand the religious letter, believing that Koresh had written it not to discuss the Bible but to delay time. This further convinced the FBI that Koresh would not voluntarily surrender and that extraordinary measures would be needed to resolve the issue.
On April 19, the offensive began. At six o'clock in the morning, two combat engineering vehicles took their place and began to chisel through the walls and inject tear gas into the house; at the same time, a loud broadcast was made calling for the surrender of the people inside the house. The FBI was well aware that child gas masks did not exist, so it wanted to use this tactic to force parents to bring their toddlers out. Unexpectedly, however, the sect transferred all the toddlers to school buses in underground garages (what the FBI called "underground bunkers"). From 6:00 to 11:40, a total of six rounds of tear gas were injected. At eleven forty-five, one of the back walls of the building collapsed, and at twelve and three o'clock, the construction vehicle lifted the corner of the first floor. But no one ever came out.
At twelve o'clock and seven o'clock, the building suddenly caught fire in many places. Because the previous construction vehicle injected tear gas to destroy the wall at the end of the corridor, so the air flowed in large quantities, the fire spread to the entire building in an instant, and the wall quickly collapsed, blocking the escape passage. At twelve thirty-three, the fire brigade received an alarm, and at twelve thirty-four, the fire truck arrived at the scene, and at twelve forty-one, the firefighters began to rescue, but by this time there was very little left of the building. Only nine people escaped the fire, and everyone else was killed. Some died of suffocation burns, and some — especially young children — had marks of being stabbed and shot, which others must have done to save them from the burning. Koresh himself was shot in the head, and none of his dozen children survived. As for why the fire started, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed reports that members of the sect used liquid fuel to set fire to the building, and FBI agents did not fire a single shot that day.
The fire leveled Mount Carmel to the ground
How to understand the Waco affair
On 28 February, four Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Authority law enforcement officers died and six members of the "David Hmong" sect died. On 19 April, seventy-four members of the "David Hmong" sect died, including twenty children. These children, who were supposed to be rescued, were not rescued. Afterwards, Stephen Higgins, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and five other officials in charge resigned.
The Waco massacre was undoubtedly a historic event that shocked the nation. In the eyes of many, this is the first time that the federal government has targeted ordinary citizens. Afterwards, militias and gun sales soared, and Waco became a sign of armed resistance to the federal government. On April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the Waco massacre, a bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killed at least one hundred and sixty-eighty people and injured six hundred and eighty others. The main culprit, Timothy McVeigh, claimed that it was revenge for the victims of the Waco massacre. McVeigh had been to Waco as early as fifty-one days of standoff and said citizens had the right to possess firearms and that the federal government had no right to infringe upon them.
McVeigh at the scene of the Waco standoff
While McVeigh's extreme anti-government behavior is a case in the wake of the Waco massacre, militia distrust of the federal government and violent resistance to law enforcement officials have emerged in the wake of the Waco massacre. The 2014 Bundy standoff is one example. Cliven Bundy, a Rancher in Nevada, has been herding cattle for years to the immediate pasture, which is owned by the federal government. The Bureau of Land Management sued Bundy, who was fined more than a million dollars and more than four hundred cattle crossing the line to offset the fine. Bundy turned to several militia groups for help, and armed militias massed for Bundy Ranch to confront land authority law enforcement officers and forcibly release the seized cattle. One of the slogans of the armed militias is "not allowed to repeat the Waco massacre". In their view, although it is wrong for Bundy to use grassland that does not belong to them privately, the federal government cannot abuse its law enforcement power, and they must use guns to warn the federal government. The end result: Bundy continued to herd cattle on the federal government's pastures, while some militiamen were jailed for assaulting police and obstructing justice.
Bundy speaks to the militia
Since the Waco massacre, the main criticism has been that law enforcement officials have mishandled it: the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms should not insist on a strong attack even when it knows that the other party has been mentally prepared, has a large number of guns and ammunition, and there are women and children in the house, resulting in mutual shooting between the two sides, and the situation escalates; the FBI should not use intimidation methods such as strong light and strong noise, and should not immediately arrest sect members when they take the initiative to leave, which will cause strong resentment among the people in the house and are even more reluctant to come out; and Tear gas, which is bound to cause harm to children, should not be released. They should continue to confront each other until the other side surrenders, or temporarily lift the siege and capture Koresh when he is out. Their considerations are reasonable, but like law enforcement officers, they ignore the religious dimension of the "Davidian Hmong" sect. The standoff ended in failure, in large part because Koresh was unable to hold out. But why would he rather choose to die and his children all over come out?
Of the nine people who escaped the fire, one was Ruth Riddle. On the night of April 18, Coresh spent four hours dictating to her, "The Decoded Message of the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation," which she was responsible for entering. When the fire began on 19 April, the manuscript had not yet been completed, and Riddle escaped with a disc containing the manuscript' contents. So we can now read Koresh's exegesis and understand his specific thoughts at the time.
The manuscript begins with a poem titled "From Eden to Eden". This is very much in line with the characteristics of apocalyptic literature: how it began and how it ended. Two "love birds" are mentioned in the poem, Adam and Eve. The hunters tried to catch them, but to no avail. At the end of the world, there is a feast for the king to marry his relatives, and the "love bird" is invited. Apparently, he believed that God had given him a special status as the "King of the Last Days" among all mankind, and that all the forces that suppressed him would fail.
Then, in "Introduction," Koresh says that in terms of redemption, "unveiling the Seven Seals" is more important than any gospel message. In the first chapter, "The First Seal," he goes on to emphasize that salvation is rare without attention to the First Seal. In his view, the "seven seals" of the six chapters of Revelation are the key to faith. He analyzed that the king of Psalm 45 was "marching by car and invincible" and was anointed with "the oil of joy." Thus this king is the one revealed in the first seal: "There was a white horse, and he rode on a horse with a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out and won and won." Since only Koresh could interpret these verses, he was the Lamb who opened the first seal, and the king, the anointed, and the one who rode the crown were also him. It was a reconfirmation of his identity and mission. In his view, he is the Messiah, and he will be victorious, and those who persecute them will be judged.
He goes on to list verses throughout the Bible, juxtaposing Matthew 22, "The Feast of Marriage," and Revelation 19, "The Wedding Feast of the Lamb," as well as Isaiah chapter 33, "The Glory of the King," Chapter 55,"I will make an eternal covenant with you, that I promise David's reliable grace," chapter 66 ,"As the bride wears a crown and like a bride," Jeremiah chapter 23 "I will raise up a righteous Seed for David, and he will reign over the king," and chapter 33. I will make the righteous seed of David grow," and so on. At this point, his line of exegesis became clearer: he wanted the whole world to know that he was the Biblically promised Descendant of David Miao, that his reign was about to begin, and that only true believers who followed him could participate in the event.
At the end of this chapter, Koresh quotes Joel chapter 2, "Gather the people, make the congregation self-purifying, and gather the old, the children, and the suckling." Get the bridegroom out of the cave and the bride out of the inner chamber. As we have seen, Koresh has been seeing his present situation as an accomplishment of scripture prophecy and using contextual passages to determine his specific actions. The same is true here. He thought he and the members of the sect would "come out" and leave "Mount Carmel," but not now, but after he had completed the Seven Seals. That's what he said about the FBI. But this "out" has a double meaning, it may be to leave the building, or it may be to leave the world. In fact, he chose the latter, and his work conveys a supernatural, eschatological message.
Unfortunately, the religious message that Koresh has been trying to convey has not been taken seriously and understood by the FBI. His identification with his Messianic identity was seen as a "hallucination of the cult leader." He expressed that "as soon as God instructs us, we will come out" and "come out after writing the Seven Seals Declassification" are seen as dishonest means of delay. The FBI's intimidation and arrests instead convinced sect members that it was "evil Babylon" who besieged them, not those who came to their rescue. In this sense, the confrontation instead reinforces Koresh's doctrine of revelation and leads sect members to believe that Koresh's exegesis is correct. In the FBI recording, Koresh and sect members repeatedly quoted the second chapter of the Psalms as "Why are the Gentiles quarreling?" Why do the nations plot to do false things? The kings of the world rose together, and the lords consulted together to oppose the Lord and his anointed ones." They see Biblical verses as enlightened prophecies, and everything they are experiencing right now is fulfilling those prophecies.
Koresh's apocalypticism deserves our deep consideration. He always believed that God was providing him with new revelation in the Bible. Since God is the God of the whole universe, God's message to him is not only given to himself, but also to the whole world. In his view, his sect, though small, was closely related to the salvation of the entire human race. He is the anointed, the Messiah, who can be saved by listening to His teachings, and whoever opposes Him is the enemy of God and will be punished immediately.
Although this way of thinking is extreme, it also reflects some typical characteristics of apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature tends to hold a binary opposing position, with the battle between light and darkness being a common theme. This is true both in the traditional Jewish apocalypse (Daniel), the Jewish apocalypse of the Second Temple period (parts of the Four Books of Ezra and the Dead Sea Scrolls), or the Christian apocalypse (parts of the Book of Revelation and the Gospels). Apocalyptic literature emphasizes that the course of history has been determined and that the arrival of major events is inevitable, and requires the audience to choose their own position: either brother or enemy.
Eschatology and apocalypticism are often closely linked. Eschatology is an integral part of religious canons and theological systems, but overemphasizing eschatology, even to the point that the present is the end of the world, can have very dangerous consequences. If the end times are coming, then all the rules, morals, and values of the traditions of human society can be suspended and give way to "God's plan." This subverts the existing order and replaces it with a new order. Koresh made the members of the sect celibate, but they themselves were bigamous and even violated underage girls, and many members of the sect accepted this arrangement, and when they were under siege, they also sided with Koresh, expecting direct guidance from God, which was related to Koresh's eschatology. Moreover, even this new order is temporary, giving way to the "heavenly" order it is typified. Extreme eschatology emphasizes the beauty and power of the other world, and it is well worth it for the "electors" or "martyrs" to lose the lives of this shore world, because life on this shore is short and limited, and the shore world will soon end, and they will return to the higher places where they belong.
This is a theology that glorifies violence and death, and the "Davidian Hmong" denomination has traditionally had this tendency. Hutf believed that God would destroy his enemies with fire, and that true believers would be baptized with "the Holy Spirit and Fire," which would make them purer. Lois also says that in the last days, God will baptize true believers with fire, and believers will enter the new kingdom. In the midst of the confrontation, Koresh also kept quoting verses related to fire and darkness, such as Joel 2, "The day of the Lord will come... It was a dark, dark, dark day... They burn out like fire in front of them, and burn out like flames in the back", and Isaiah 13 "The day of the Lord is approaching... They ached like women in labor. They looked at each other in amazement, their faces like flames. All the stars in the sky do not shine. As soon as the sun rises, it becomes dark, and the moon does not shine." In a conversation with Radio Dallas, he quotes a similar verse from Matthew 24, "The sun is dark, the moon is not shining, the stars are going to fall from the sky, and the heavens are shaking." He goes on to quote the next verse, but with ominous omens: "They will see the Son of Man, the power, the great glory, the coming of the clouds of heaven." "Koresh believed that he would be able to rise again after death and return again, when he would establish a kingdom, when true believers would come to his wedding feast, and whoever was his enemy would be judged. As the FBI kept hitting through walls with construction vehicles, he thought the time had come. In this way, a sect with an extreme apocalyptic and eschatological tradition, under the leadership of a constant "revelation" that believes that biblical verses point to his own "Messiah," has chosen to set fire, hoping to live forever.
Although the "Davidian Hmong" denomination kept quoting the Bible, we cannot conclude that their doctrine was derived from the Bible and was an inevitable product of Christianity. Although the Christian tradition has an apocalyptic side, it regards the return of Christ and the execution of judgment as a future at an unknown time, and human beings are in the "since-un-existence" where Christ is already present but not the ultimate presence. An inappropriate emphasis on eschatology weakens God's compassionate and later angry side of the world, and it also weakens humanity's free will to determine future events. In the early days of Christianity, church thinkers had extensive discussions about how to understand the apocalyptic text of the Bible, and many church fathers such as Origen and Augustine tended to interpret history, allegory rather than literal. The "Davidians" denomination runs counter to the Christian tradition, placing great emphasis on literal, ongoing revelation: revelation is not over, it is the end of the world, the prophets still exist today, and an authoritarian "prophet of the last days" can largely determine how the Bible is interpreted, how believers live, and how they die. Although this was also a feature of the early Sabbaths, the Sabbaths of the twentieth century rejected some of the more extreme, self-enclosed claims and gradually became accepted by the Christian mainstream. Hutef, Ben Rodden, and Koresh were all expelled from the Sabbath, and almost all members of the "David Hmong" sect were from the Sabbath. They see themselves as rooted in this sect, and they preach primarily to this sect. In their eyes, the mainstream Sabbath had deviated, and Koresh wanted to get it back on track and go further. In fact, this "right track" is the left road, and Koresh is going farther and farther on this left road.
Koresh had no higher education and no knowledge of religion. All he knew was the sectarian tradition from Miller to Lois, including what he thought of as "God Constantly Revealing His Last Prophets Himself." This narrow perspective made him overconfident and planted the roots of tragedy. Max Müller, the founder of comparative religion, once stressed the importance of understanding the traditions of different faiths: "Know only one, know nothing." Matthew Arnold, a prominent nineteenth-century British cultural critic, had a similar argument to exhort anti-intellectuals who read only the Bible and ignored cultural traditions: "Those who know only the Bible do not know the Bible." (No man, who knows nothing else, knows even his Bible)) Open vision can help people understand different faith traditions without concluding which doctrine is the most superior, much less indicating which person is the embodiment of truth. Unfortunately, the leader of the Davidian Hmong sect, Koresh, stubbornly claimed to be the Messiah prophesied by the Bible, and the second-in-command, Steve Schneider, although he had a background in comparative religion, believed that the purpose of studying religion was to seek the ultimate truth, and the ultimate truth was in Koresh's hands. He did not hesitate to dedicate his wife, Judy Schneider, to Coresh, with whom he had a daughter, and none of the four survived. They "waited for judgment and the fire that burned the enemies," but it was they themselves who were burned.
Although history does not assume, we still can't help but speculate that if the FBI had reused two professors, Philip Arnold and James Tabor, to discuss exegesis face-to-face with Koresh, the outcome might have been different. Even if Koresh had the slightest common sense in the study of the New Testament, he would not have written in the Seven Seals that the Book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, and the Book of Hebrews was written by the apostle Paul, and would not even quote the King James version with the problematic base. He knew almost nothing about the textual identification, historical background, or purpose of the Biblical scriptures. Koresh once expressed a willingness to talk deeply with the two professors about the Bible, but this wish was not fulfilled. This is not to say, of course, that by giving him a few Bible lessons, the two professors would be able to abandon his claim to be a "Messiah" and willingly lead the crowd to surrender. But at least they can understand his position, and after understanding his extreme apocalypticism, eschatology, and obsession with "death and resurrection," they can suggest that the FBI temporarily not adopt a hard-line policy but other means to ensure the safety of women and children in buildings. However, in the FBI's view, "cults" are all the way: an arrogant cult leader brainwashes ignorant believers. They are not interested in knowing exactly where the faith of the current sect comes from, they are incapable of organizing productive dialogue, and their "rescue" ends in heavy casualties.
Today's "Mount Carmel"
After the Waco massacre, "Mount Carmel" changed hands several times, and the current owner is named Charles Pace. He was a fundamentalist of Hutev and had a deep hostility towards the Koresh faction. In order to build a road across the estate, he insisted on cutting down many ziwei trees, which were originally planted to commemorate the victims. The annual meeting place for the survivors of the Waco massacre was originally at "Mount Carmel", but because of their constant disputes with Pace, the 2019 party was changed to Waco City.
At present, the center of "Mount Carmel" has not been fully rebuilt, but the chapel has been rebuilt on the original site. When entering the chapel, it is difficult to imagine that Koresh was preaching here, claiming to be a "Davidian" and a "sinful Messiah", but now the chapel is hanging propaganda posters criticizing Koresh.
A rebuilt chapel on the original site
Propaganda posters criticizing Koresh
Many of the sect's children were trapped in an underground garage by fire and tragically lost their lives. Now the traces of the underground garage were no longer visible, only a patch of cold smoke and fading grass, inconspicuous on the vast Texas plains. If you don't know that history, who would have thought that a human tragedy had been staged here more than twenty years ago.
Once an underground garage
At the entrance to the center of "Mount Carmel" are three monuments inscribed with the names of all the victims, including two fetuses who had not yet arrived before they had died. The smaller one in the middle is a newly erected monument, built with donations from local Texas militias, whose position is clear that citizens have the right to arm against the federal government. The inscription reads: "The David Hmong Church was attacked by the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Administration and the FBI, and the members of the church and their leader, David Koresh, stood tall for fifty-one days. He was paid "Major Dan Powell, militia commander in northwest Texas."
monument
The "David Miao" sect is a "cult" reported by the mass media, but it is a "hero" in the hearts of the militia organization. The two opinions differ widely, and both labels are oversimplified to examine the origins, beliefs, and practices of the denomination, nor to provide a reflection on why the FBI mishandled the tragedy. What we need to do is to look at history, not to see it as merely a "heretic" or "thug" that is not worth investigating, but to understand where their beliefs come from, to think about how it would be more effective to deal with it, and to avoid the recurrence of such deadly events. After all, those who claim to be prophets, messians, and even Gods will always appear. Even the "sinful Messiah" Koresh himself, though buried in the fire, still has his followers today who believe that he is only temporarily away and will come back on horseback.
(I would like to thank Professor J. Gordon Melton of the Institute of Religious Studies at Baylor University for taking me to the "Mount Carmel" center and providing a series of important information, and to fellow Professor Robert T. Ptaszek of the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland for taking some of the photographs.) ）