Word: koresh
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...equip his flock psychologically for the battles to come, Koresh reportedly played and replayed videos of his favorite movies about the Vietnam War: Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Hamburger Hill. His followers prepared themselves physically with weight training, military-style drills and obstacle-course runs. To acquaint them with the experience of famine, their vegetarian diet was strictly rationed. Daily life was a harsh mix of work and Bible study. Men labored at construction around the compound, while modestly dressed women did household chores and schooled the children, who were rarely taken off the grounds. Television was forbidden, and children...
...Step by step, you give up 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...
...Koresh had stricter rules for his flock than for 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...
Allegations surfaced that Koresh physically abused the children with frequent harsh beatings for infractions as minor as crying after a nap. But child-welfare authorities who investigated last year found no evidence at the time to support those charges. By 1991 Koresh was also traveling to La Verne, California, where in a gated house he established what police called a "women's dormitory" for 18 "wives." When neighbors reported that one of them was 12 years old, police launched a child-molestation investigation against Koresh that is still open...
Paul G. Fatta, a resident of the compound who was out of town on the morning of the raid, told the New York Times last week that firearms were kept there merely to defend against potential attack by disaffected members who have left the group. He also said that Koresh's followers regarded his polygamy as a Biblical trial for the rest of them. "Do not judge a person by his actions, but by the message that he has," Fatta insisted...