Much of the discussion surrounding the Waco tragedy is political in nature. This ministry will not engage in that aspect of the discussion. However, there are factors relating to the tragedy on which Watchman does have insight. The Branch Davidians were an apocalyptic cult with the usual us vs. them paranoia of such groups. They had been taught for some time that the government would eventually confront them and it would be a battle between good and evil. When the BATF conducted their raid dressed in full combat gear and in large numbers they provoked a defensive response that any of us in the discernment ministries could have predicted.
When the FBI began to blast the compound with loud music, the sounds of animals being slaughtered, and bright klieg lights throughout the nights the outcome seemed certain to this observer. Paranoid, apocalyptic cultists will see surrender to an enemy they consider evil as turning their back on God. Given the options they believed were theirs they chose what they considered in their darkened minds was righteous, death rather than surrender.
A similar mindset is evident in both recent and ancient history. In recent history we have the example of the People’s Temple mass suicide in Guyana because Jim Jones thought the government was coming to destroy them. In ancient history we have the example of the Jewish Zealots who holed up on Masada, the mountaintop fortress built by Herod. Rather than be killed by their Roman enemy when the wall was finally breached they chose to die at their own hands.
During the Branch Davidian siege the news media swarmed over our Watchman Fellowship staff for insights into the Branch Davidians and cultic thinking. But, we were never contacted by anyone from the government to gain understanding about what they were dealing with. Nor to our knowledge was any other discernment ministry.
Federal law enforcement did learn some good lessons as a result of the Waco tragedy. When another standoff occurred with the Freemen of Montana the FBI kept their distance and did not do anything to provoke them. They simply isolated them and waited them out. It ended peacefully.
Watchman published several articles during that time outlining the theology of the Branch Davidians and the issues involved in the confrontation with the government. Was the BATF looking for a spectacular success to boost their image before the next Federal budget proposal? Was the warrant improperly obtained and the evidence justifying it outdated? Who shot first? Did the BATF have any legal jurisdiction over child abuse problems?
By David Henke
