Word: cult
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...dressed women did household chores and schooled the children, who were rarely taken off the grounds. Television was forbidden, and children's birthdays were never celebrated. In caustic monologues, Koresh would lead his zealots through the Scripture in sessions that could last far into the night. To cover expenses, cult members donated their paychecks if they worked outside. Older members chipped in their Social Security checks and food stamps...
...everything in your life," says Lisa Gent, an Australian whose son Peter and daughter Nicole are believed to be with Koresh, as well as Nicole's two children who were fathered by Koresh. "You begin to live for a pat on the head," adds Lisa's husband Bruce. Ex-cult members warn that some Davidians would do anything for their leader. Australian James Thom recalls Koresh asking him one day, "How far are you prepared to go?" When Thom looked puzzled, Koresh asked, "Which of your two children are you prepared to sacrifice...
...himself. Beer, meat, air conditioning and MTV, taboo for others, were available to him. So were any of the female members, though the other men were quartered separately from the women and sworn to celibacy. Some of the women whom Koresh termed his wives were already married to male cult members. Others were perhaps as young as 11 or 12. "He was fixated with sex and with a taste for younger girls," says Marc Breault, who belonged to the group in 1988 and 1989. "He began to teach that all the women in the world belonged to him and only...
Planning for last week's raid began months ago, when federal and state law- enforcement officials concluded that cult members were stockpiling guns and preparing to make legal semiautomatics into illegal automatic weapons. ATF agents acquired a house near the compound, pretending to be neighbors and potential recruits. Search warrant in hand, more than 100 agents charged the buildings early Sunday morning, only to be met by an explosion of gunfire. "From the moment we stepped out of the trailer we were under fire from everywhere," says one agent who was pinned to the ground for 45 minutes...
...capabilities in a bid for the media spotlight. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, whose department includes the bureau, promised a full inquiry. ATF officials claim that the raid failed largely because Koresh was tipped off. About 45 minutes before the shooting began, an agent who had infiltrated the cult's worship services saw Koresh get a phone call that he believes warned him that attackers were on their...