Shepherd's Rod / Davidian History - Temcat's House

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Shepherd’s Rod and the Davidians " 'He was the only one allowed to eat meat,' Breault said. 'Then he was the only one allowed to drink Coke. Then he was the only one allowed to drink beer. The thing I noticed about Vernon was that whatever he was tempted with, eventually God would get around to saying it was all right for him to do.' "-Waco Tribune-Herald, March 1, 1983. Rick Ross, a cult deprogrammer who works in Phoenix, Arizona, has deprogrammed one Waco cult member, and has spoken with several others. In the process, he learned quite a bit about Howell, his teachings and methods. "He controls everything and everyone in that compound, period." Ross has been involved in more than 200 destructive cult cases, and he compares the Mount Carmel group with Jonestown, a settlement of American cultists in South America's Guyana led by Jim Jones. On November 18, 1978, more than 900 people killed themselves by drinking cyanide or were murdered by Jones' men. Ross believes that Howell practices mind control, and does it by breaking them down to the point where they have little or no sense of self-worth or individuality. He conditions them to be passive and obedient. Ross says that Howell transfers their trust in God into a total trust in him. By the time they discover things that they know are not right, they no longer have confidence in their own ability to make correct judgments. In order to further weaken their decision-making ability, Ross learned that Howell would severely restrict their diets at times. Sometimes they would labor all day on an empty stomach. "A former member, Robert Scott of Colorado, said Howell's group could recruit anyone. 'I don't care who you are, you could be the strongest person in the world,' Scott said. 'I don't care who you are because all they need is a foothold.' "Scott said Howell freely admitted the group was a cult. But Scott said he never perceived the use of mind control. 'Does the spider ever say to the fly, he's going to eat him?' he asked."-Waco Tribune- Herald, March 1, 1993. Many of Howell's followers were highly educated. Wayne Martin was an attorney. Don Bunds, a design engineer; his wife Jeannine, a nurse. Marc Breault earned a master's degree in religion in 1988. Yet they, along with so many others, fell under the masterful power of this man who offered them the moon. Australian James Tom recalls Howell asking him one day, "How far are you prepared to go?" When Tom looked puzzled, Howell asked, "Which of your two children are you prepared to sacrifice?" TRIP TO AUSTRALIA Marc Breault left the cult in 1989, and in May asked for a visa to immigrate to Australia. Once there, he began working on Howell's followers there, and gradually showed them from the Bible the foolishness of Howell's teachings. Howell traveled to Australia early in 1990 in an effort to reclaim his group there. Each night he would hold meetings which would last until all was weary, for they had worked all day, but Howell was fresh since he slept in every morning. One afternoon, Howell, through an intermediary, challenged Marc Breault to a verbal showdown at the home of James Tom. Breault, knowing what a dangerous man Howell could be, before leaving that evening to keep the appointment, asked his brother-in-law to call the police if he and his wife, Elizabeth, were not home by 10 p.m. During the face-off, Howell said he, himself, was the man on the white horse in Revelation. He said he was also the lion of the tribe of Judah because he was born in the month of the constellation Leo (an astrological symbol which, of course, has nothing to do with the Bible). www.remnant-prophecy.com ~ www.temcat.com 22
Shepherd’s Rod and the Davidians In response, Breault ridiculed his claim, for, said he, since Howell also claimed to be the man on the black horse with a pair of scales in his hand, did that also mean he was a Libra? Very angry at this, Howell began talking as if he were not merely the sinful messiah of today, but also the pure Jesus of the New Testament! Breault and his wife were so disgusted, they left. Shortly afterward, there was a knock at the door. It was past 10 p.m. A voice said the police were coming. (It was merely Marc's brother-in-law announcing that he had fulfilled Breault's request.) Howell, who had just claimed to be the incarnation of Christ, turned ghastly pale, ran out the backdoor, grabbed a nearby bicycle, and began pedaling away. The next day, without stopping to talk to anyone, he hurriedly took a flight back to America. The entire experience cost Howell nearly all his Australian following. HOWELL BECOMES KORESH In 1990, Vernon Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh, the name we will hereafter call him by. (He told the court he was doing it "for publicity and business purposes.") In Isaiah 45:1, he found that the Hebrew word for "Cyrus" was "Koresh. " So that was the name he took. And, of course, he selected "David" as the first name. Was he not the head of the Davidians, and the new King David? Cyrus in ancient times had been a Persian king who allowed the people of God to return to Israel after their captivity in Babylon. Over a hundred years before Cyrus' birth, Isaiah had predicted that Cyrus would conquer Babylon and free God's people (Isaiah 45). Like his chosen namesake, Koresh promised his followers that he too would lead the last-day people of God to Jerusalem, where they would be able to rule the world for a millennium. This, of course, was merely a retake of Houteff's theory, developed back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. But, even before changing his name, Koresh decided it was time to switch over to a different Jerusalem theory. In the early 1980s, he had actually gone to Israel, visited Jerusalem, and looked the situation over. Deciding that it was not the place for him, he restructured Houteff's theory: Instead of traveling to old Jerusalem, he declared to his followers that they were to stay in Texas; the Waco property was to be their "Jerusalem" until the end of the world. Here they would await the coming of the enemy. When he arrived, they would meet him in battle. During that battle, God would step in by sending the Second Advent. The victorious Davidians would then-and not before-journey to old Jerusalem, where they would begin their millennial rule. Well, that may sound fine. But it does not work too well when the enemy turns out to be U.S. Government agents, determined to collect a stockpile of illegal weapons. INVESTIGATIONS BEGIN By mid-1992 federal agents in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) were beginning to quietly amass evidence about Koresh' activities. They began tracking frequent shipments of firepower, that they say amounted to 8,000 pounds of ammunition and enough parts to assemble hundreds of automatic and semiautomatic weapons. In the fall of 1992, a package addressed to the compound split open before it could be delivered by the United Parcel Service. The contents were hand grenades. In June 1992, the Waco Tribune-Herald had begun its own investigation. Apparently, for a time, neither investigative team knew the other was also ferreting information. But their efforts would suddenly bump into each other on a cold, dreary weekend near the end of February 1993. The Tribune-Herald investigation involved numerous interviews with more than 20 former Mount Carmel cult members, as well as a review of court records and statements by law enforcement officials. www.remnant-prophecy.com ~ www.temcat.com 23
Page 1 and 2: The Shepherd's Rod & Davidians of W
Page 3 and 4: Shepherd’s Rod and the Davidians
Page 21: Shepherd’s Rod and the Davidians
Page 35 and 36: THE SHOOT-OUT Shepherd’s Rod and
Page 37 and 38: THE HOSPITAL CRISIS Shepherd’s Ro

Shepherd's Rod / Davidian History - Temcat's House

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?