Who Is David Koresh? His Wife, Children And Everything You Should Know

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Let’s ask you this, “Who’s David Koresh”? Wait a minute, don’t answer that. We know you’d assert he was The Sinful Messiah. It’s practically impossible to talk about David Koresh without describing him as such but it shouldn’t just end there for he was much more.

Born Vernon Wayne Howell, Koresh was the famous leader of the Branch Davidian sect – a splinter branch of the Seventh Day Adventist Church founded in 1929 by Victor Houteff. Lots of people claim he was mentally retarded, but as it was never proved medically or clinically, to the trash it goes.

Who Is David Koresh?

In order to know who David Koresh is, we need to first become conversant with his early days. He was born Vernon Wayne Howell on August 17, 1959, to Bobby Wayne Howell and his mother Bonnie Sue Clark who was 14 years of age at the time. He never met his dad as a result of him abandoning them even before he was born. It is highly paramount to note that the first father-figure young David Koresh had in his life was a vicious, violent, hot-headed, and maniacal alcoholic. His time with this father figure was short-lived because, at the age of four, he was carted off to go stay with his grandmother, Earline Clark.

As a kid, David found it hard to study and as a result, had to be put in a special class. He eventually dropped out of high school in his junior year. During his years as a young man, he was plagued with various offences and atrocities which he constantly backed up with reasons, no matter how illogical. A vivid example was when he told the pastor at his mom’s church (Seventh Day Adventist) that God wants him to take his daughter for a wife and cited Isaiah 34:16 as the reason why he thinks so. Another example of such comes in form of a testimony from 21 surviving children of the Branch Davidian Cult, who claim David Koresh had them fight against each other and if they did not fight hard enough to his satisfaction, they had to face the rod. This time, his reason was that he was preparing them for the last days.

The fruits of David Koresh were planted at a young age but whatever he turned out to be can be attributed to 1982 downwards. In 1982, Koresh moved to Waco, Texas where he joined the Branch Davidian. He was very good at singing and sang often in church while playing the guitar. By this time, he was still known as Vernon Howell until 1990 when he filed a petition to legally change his name to David Koresh in California Indeed state superior court and got his petition granted on August 28, 1990.

Without a doubt, it’s obvious that David Koresh was many things: a highly respected religious leader among his followers, an apocalyptical crusader, a father, a son, a singer, guitarist, but a Messiah.

His Wife And Children

There are lots of controversies surrounding the married life of the religious cult leader but it’s paramount to make it clear that his only legal marriage was to Rachel Jones in 1984. She birthed for him three children by the name of Cyrus Howell, Star Howell, and Bobby Wayne Howell.

Nonetheless, there are various sources which claimed he had several other wives and concubines. As speculated, he asked his followers to be celibate, nullifying their marriages and keeping the women for himself. Koresh himself admitted to fathering 12 children with several wives but unconfirmed sources claim it might be a tad more than 12.

 

Other Things You Should Know About Koresh

He’s been dead since April 19, 1993, but everyday springs new revelation we never knew about this high profile religious cult leader. Here are things you should know about David Koresh, the famous leader of the Branch of Dravidian.

1. He named himself Koresh meaning the Messiah. The name was after the biblical Persian king Cyrus The Great, renowned for freeing the Jew’s during their captivity in Babylon. His first name David was taken to symbolize a shared lineage with the great king David of the Bible – thereby professing himself as being a descendant of David sent to oversee a very important divine arrangement.

2. The religious leader wrote a 172-page manuscript which he titled The Shepherds Rod where he called for denominational reform and condemned the teaching of Houteff. He grew so popular to the extent that he was rivalled by George Roden for leadership which eventually led to the death of George when they got into a much-heated gun battle.

3. The allegations levelled against this ‘Messiah’ ranges from him claiming that it’s divined for him to take people’s wives, to his braggings about sleeping with underage girls and abusing children physically. In fact, it is said that he advocated that having sex with him is a prerequisite for any woman who wants to go to heaven.

4. He who lives by the sword will eventually die by the sword. This was not going to change in the case of David Koresh as the leader of the Branch Dravidian died on the 19th of April 1993. Similar to the life he led, his death was also shrouded in mystery. He was said to have died in a shoot-out during a brutal standoff with the FBI but the exact circumstance leading to his death is very much unclear even till this present day. What is known is that he died alongside 75 people at the Waco Siege.

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