Who was David Koresh

Interviews with surviving Davidians state that David Koresh was intimately versed in the Bible and "knew it like he wrote it". Koresh taught that the US government was the enemy of the Davidians, and that they would have to defend themselves. He also professed that the apocalypse foretold in the Book of Revelation was upon them.

In a video made by the Davidians and released during the siege, Koresh stated that he had been told by God to procreate with the women in the groups to establish a "House of David", his "Special People".

This involved married couples in the group dissolving their marriages and agreeing that only Koresh could have sexual relations with the wives. On the tape, Koresh is also shown with several minors who claimed to have had babies fathered by Koresh. In total, Koresh had fourteen young children, who stayed with him in the compound.

A video clip of an interview between Koresh and an Australian television station notes that he was accused of impregnating the aged widow of the founder of Branch Davidianism. He sarcastically said that if the charges were true, if he had "made an 82 year-old woman pregnant... I do miracles, I'm God!" Frequently, only the last two words were seen in news coverage.

On February 27, 1993 the Waco Tribune-Herald began what it called the “Sinful Messiah” series of articles. It alleged that Koresh had physically abused children in the compound and had taken underage brides, even raping one of them. Koresh was also said to advocate polygamy for himself, and declared himself married to several female residents of the small community.

According to the paper, Koresh declared that he was entitled to at least 140 wives, that he was entitled to claim any of the females in the group as his, that he had fathered at least a dozen children by the harem and that some of these mothers became brides as young as twelve or thirteen years old.

Reports from Joyce Sparks, an investigator from the Texas agency responsible for protective services, stated that she had found no evidence that the allegations were true in any of several visits to the Mount Carmel site over a period of months, but said that she was not permitted to speak with the children alone, nor was she permitted to inspect all areas of the site. She noted that safety concerns over construction sites at Mount Carmel were immediately addressed and corrected. Carol Moore, author of the 1994 "The Massacre Of The Branch Davidians—A Study Of Government Violations Of Rights, Excessive Force And Cover Up", published by The Committee For Waco Justice, writes:

(Rick) Ross told the Houston Chronicle that Koresh is "your stock cult leader. They're all the same. Meet one and you've met them all. They're deeply disturbed, have a borderline personality and lack any type of conscience...No one willingly enters into a relationship like this. So you're talking about deception and manipulation (by the leader), people being coached in ever so slight increments, pulled in deeper and deeper without knowing where it's going or seeing the total picture."