DO 2854 3/93

Prayer for the Branch Davidians!

1. LORD, WE PRAY FOR THOSE PEOPLE in that compound in Texas that the U.S. government gunners have attacked. They've already killed several of them. And in trying to defend themselves, the Branch Davidians have killed some agents of the System‚ who attacked them suddenly & without any provocation. We're not saying the Branch Davidians are right in every respect, Lord‚ but we know how the Enemy & the System & the media lie in their stories about these things. These people may be perfectly good people. We know how they lie about us, so how can we believe everything they're saying about them.

2. We don't think they should have had guns & defended themselves that way‚ Lord—although it's obvious they certainly needed some defense when the government came in after them with what seemed like a whole army! So they were certainly right in believing that the government was going to attack'm. In these Last Days the Antichrist forces are not hesitant to attack with guns, & some people believe they should have guns to fight back. Well, we don't quite believe that, Lord. We do believe that we would be justified in defending ourselves & our loved ones in some cases, but not on such a scale.

3. These people may have really been teaching some good doctrine for all we know. They call themselves "Davidians," & we're sure the Devil & the AC media are playing up that name & that word because it sounds like us. So Lord, do help those poor people in some way to come out of that mess. Deliver them & all those children there.

4. Lord, we know how they lie about us, so we wouldn't be surprised if everything they've said about them is also just lies, lies, & more lies‚ especially coming from the anti-Christ media. We just ask You to help those poor people‚ even though we're sure they're not perfect. They've probably made lots of mistakes, but hasn't everyone? They apparently believe in You & they're trying to do something they think is right, so help them & deliver them!

Talk to the Family About the Waco Situation

5. I've been praying for poor David Koresh & his people, & I hope you have too, because I know how they lie about us & how they persecute us. Those agents of the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms) made a literally unprovoked, armed assault on that compound, & God knows how many they killed inside! It seems like the government ended up getting the worst end of it, though, with four of their men killed & 16 wounded. (Editor: It has now been announced that six people were killed inside the compound.) So they really got taught a lesson, & reaped the violence & destruction they sowed. Even if it is an armed camp, you don't go in there with your guns blazing when there are about 40-some women & 40-some children & all these other people in there who were keeping the peace, being perfectly peaceful & not doing anybody any harm. Imagine, they attacked them with helicopters & 100 heavily-armed men!

6. The authorities have been giving all kinds of excuses for why they did it. Their first excuse was because the Davidians had stockpiled arms. Goodnight, nearly everybody in the U.S. nowadays is stockpiling arms to protect themselves from the unsafe conditions of the streets, & even home invasions now, where gangs invade people's homes using a woman as a front to knock at the door. Especially in Texas, you can hardly find a home that doesn't have a gun or guns, & if you put that many homes & people together—over 100 men, women & children—they're bound to have a lot of guns.—Especially if they want to protect themselves from known enemies. The ridiculous thing is that instead of blaming the government for how careless they are in letting guns be sold so freely & not cracking down on it, they blame the people who've gotten the guns! They blame people for buying them, when they're the ones that are selling them!

7. So the government's first excuse was that they were stockpiling arms. That was their excuse for attacking them in a shooting war! So what could they expect when they were blazing away at the people inside? That's what those people had been stockpiling arms for‚ to defend themselves against an attack, & they did! They probably thought they needed to have arms to protect themselves from criminals as the days got worse, but it turned out the government attacked them instead! Well, the government got the worst end of it. In fact‚ the raid is now being criticised as a big mistake, a big boo-boo. (Editor: One writer said the issue isn't that Koresh has claimed to be Jesus, but that the Federal Government thinks it's God!—Ha! Civil libertarians are protesting the government's attack on freedom of religion, gun owners are saying the weapons charges are fabricated, & criticism of the government has been mounting as the Federal siege of the compound continues.)

8. And did you hear the latest excuse the BATF cooked up about why they decided to attack them? (Fam: Because they thought that they were all going to commit mass suicide?) Yes. But they never said a word about this until six days after they made their first attack. They found out they had to come up with a better excuse to go in there shooting than just the fact the group was stockpiling arms. So on the sixth day after the fact they said‚ "Well, the reason we really attacked was because we wanted to try to save all those men, women & children from committing mass suicide like Jonestown." And of course it's come out from the Davidians that they had no idea of committing mass suicide!

9. We know what lies & persecution are like‚ & how wild & vicious our enemies are. They'll use the press to get the public so hyped up & so fearful that they'll believe almost any lie against us. It's the Devil that breeds fear in them. Just because we're not just like them, they're afraid. But thank God we're not like them & their children! They've got enough to be afraid of with their own children! They wonder why they're turning out all these criminals!—Wondering why ten-year–old boys are slaughtering two-year-olds, & now why there's terrible crime right in the school yard, kids killing each other!—And the ghettos ruled by gangs that are mowing each other down every night! They wonder‚ "Why are we having all this crime?" Well, they kicked out God & the Bible & everything Christian, so what do they expect? They sowed the wind & they've reaped the whirlwind!—Hos.8:7.

10. But despite their own violence, the Devil's got to divert their attention somehow toward the cults!—And of course this situation with the Davidians will be just another big diversion & another excuse to put out all kinds of bad news about cults & rear again the ugly "fear-of-cults" monster in the media. The ACs love that! They just love to accuse Christians of being cults. But since this is the Devil's name for new religious groups, I'm not going to call them cults any more. I don't like it when they call us a cult‚ because we're not one. The respected sociologists refer to new groups as New Religious Movements (NRMs), so I'm going to refer to them as NRMs & get away from the evil connotation that the Devil & his crowd has given to the word "cults."

11. And guess who's there in Waco advising the FBI & counselling them on how to handle the Davidians?—CAN, the Cult Awareness Network!—Which is AC-run & financed & anti-Christ as it can be! They're supposed to be telling them how to handle cults?—They're probably telling them to go in & mow'm all down!

12. Well‚ I hope you've been praying for those poor people, & those poor little kids in the compound. I sure have. And maybe we need to pray even harder for the children that came out, because they'll probably never see their parents again. (Maria: One lone word of a social service worker managed to get out before the authorities squelched it, that the children were found in very good shape emotionally & physically.) Yes, the children were in great shape. They weren't starving, they weren't committing suicide, they weren't in bad shape emotionally. They were probably more emotional because of having to leave their parents behind than anything else. And now they'll go into foster homes & state "care." It's like being put in jail for the kids, & of course the parents will all be put in jail if they ever come out.

13. It's funny that this group should be called the Davidians. I think that must have been a trick of the Devil to remind people around the World of us. Thank God we didn't get called that. And one of David Koresh's big mistakes is that he's flying a huge Jewish star on their flag! He got on the wrong side right away, not realising that they're probably his biggest enemies!

14. So I hope you feel sorry for them, & I hope you're praying for them, because it's a really pitiful case. As long as Koresh is alive, I don't know whether they would ever surrender or not. If they do, they'll all go to jail, so it's kind of a no-win situation. Of course, if Koresh stays there & fights it out, they'll be held responsible by the general public & judged guilty of all the things they've been accused of, & there will be much greater loss of life.

15. He says he's waiting to hear from God, so let's pray he will hear & will make the right decision.—And about the only peaceful one he can make is to surrender.—Which probably means jail for all of them, & all the parents considered "unfit" for having the kids at all.

16. So please pray for those poor people. We know what it's like to be persecuted & lied about as they have been. Of course, we haven't been persecuted quite that much yet, but the day may come when we will be. I wouldn't go out shooting, although I might feel like it! There have been times that I have said if I'd had a machine gun & been there I would have felt like it, considering what some of our enemies have done to us, but such violence doesn't usually solve anything.

17. The only thing that really solves anything is for you to be a faithful witness & show what you're really like‚ like we're doing now in these court cases & in our marching down the streets & showing them that we're pacifists, so to speak‚ & only attacking the Devil & his lies!—And dying as martyrs! Don't you think that would be a much greater testimony to the World outside? If you die shooting down policemen, that's certainly not going to be a very good testimony.—Especially to shoot down the poor cops who are being deceived by their own leaders & just going in because they're ordered to, like soldiers. Those police probably didn't want to go in any more than the Davidians wanted them in there! (Editor: Journalists are now saying that some of the 16 Federal agents wounded in the attack on the compound may have been shot by other Federal agents!—So-called "friendly fire!")

18. But when you're in the military—which is the police—let me tell you‚ you're taught from the word go that you've got to obey, no matter what! That's one of the main purposes of hours & hours of close order drill‚ to learn instant obedience! You learn to obey without even thinking about it! On the moment of an order to change step, change direction, you instantly obey! Of course, that didn't do the poor soldiers of Germany in World War II very much good when they claimed that they were just obeying their superiors, but I could sympathise with them when I heard about it because I was in the army & I know what it's like.

19. They used to read us the "Articles of War" every night, which made it quite clear that if you didn't obey in wartime, they had a right to shoot you on the spot. And if you fled the scene of battle, they were entitled to shoot you in the back as you retreated or fled. Capital punishment, death by firing squad, was still the law in the army when I was in it. If you deserted or went over the hill, disappeared & didn't come back in wartime, if they caught you they could shoot you. That was military law in the days of World War II.

20. So it's a pretty rough World & a pretty rough System‚ & if you have to die‚ about the best way is to die for the Lord. And I would expect that nearly every one of us here tonight should be prepared to die for the Lord, because you probably will. Just hope & pray that it'll be quick when it's the Lord's time for you. I can't see much profit in spending years & years in prison. I don't think there's that much time left anyhow. Even if you have to go to jail, I don't think you're going to have to spend that much time there, because the Lord's going to be coming pretty soon. Just pray that it doesn't have to be too painful & agonising.

21. Of course, it all depends on what the Lord wants you to do & how He wants you to die. But we're all potential martyrs & should be expecting to die for the Lord. And as Paul says, we're literally dying daily as we sacrifice & give our lives for the Lord by living for Him every day. (See 1Cor.15:31.) I've found lately when I've been so sick that it's sometimes harder to live than it is to die!

22. Frankly, what was the point in Koresh releasing so many of the children? What does that mean? (Fam: It means the police are probably going to go in shooting.) Yes, they may go in shooting everybody. I think we should really pray for those children who are now in the hands of Social Services. The Davidians don't know how those characters in the Social Services treat children! If they think they're saving their children by letting them go, they don't realise they're getting them into something even worse! We've experienced some of their so-called "care" of our children.

23. I would say that it would virtually be hell for our children if they had to stay in community care and in ungodly foster homes, foster homes that are much more wicked than they accuse us of being! It would be agony if they had to stay separated from their parents forever. In the case of these Branch Davidians, the continued presence of some of their kids has kept the police from raiding the place and been a much greater deterrent. The public would never forgive the police for raiding the place as long as there are still children in there, & I think Koresh has finally come to that conclusion & kept the rest of the children in. So keep praying for them!

24. Would someone like to close in prayer for those poor people? (Family: Lord, we do pray for the Branch Davidians, the group of people who are still in their compound. We pray for Your miraculous help & intervention for them. And we pray for those children that are out....) Comfort their little hearts, Lord. Be with them & comfort them! (Fam: Amen, do comfort them‚ Jesus, keep them in Thy care. You promised You'd care for Your Own, so we do pray for them‚ in Jesus' name.) Amen. And shall we pray our little family prayer?

25. Thank You Jesus for this day & for our home so fair. You helped us, Lord, to do some good & kept us in Your care, & blessed our loved ones everywhere. Now bless & keep & help us sleep, in Jesus' name. Amen.

More Comments on the Branch Davidians

26. I dreamed last night that I wanted to go to the Branch Davidians & be a mediator & go in there & comfort them. It was like I did in the Spirit. I went in there & comforted them & told them we're praying for them, & that we knew what it was like to be persecuted. Lord bless & help them.

27. The authorities are trying to cover for their failed attempt to flush out the Branch Davidians. They thought they were going to get them so easily, so now they're humiliated & are trying to make this group sound even worse. They have to really make them sound bad to try to justify their own poor judgement in attacking them.

28. They arrested two women in their 70's that came out & charged them with murder, if that isn't ridiculous!—As though those two old ladies were in there shooting guns! (Editor: One of these women was legally blind! Murder charges were later dropped, & the authorities are now holding both women as "material witnesses."—Which means they don't have anything to charge them with, but don't want to let them go yet.) The authorities are just so frustrated & so mad, they wanted to get revenge! I'll tell you, the System is like a cornered beast when it's frustrated, it'll strike out at anything. They're expending their frustration on the people they can get ahold of. God knows what they'll do to the children who've come out—it's a wonder they don't charge them with murder. That's the way the System is, anything to cover up its own mistakes.

29. Those people weren't causing any trouble, why didn't the BATF just leave them alone? Just because they have guns was not a good enough reason to attack them. The U.S. Constitution says that you cannot forbid the right of the citizen to carry arms. (Maria: Yes, but they say they have all those illegal high-powered weapons, and they apparently do have some laws in different places that forbid that.) They've got laws in lots of places that are completely contrary to the Constitution! Like the sheriff said in one town we were passing through in the '60s, "We don't care what the U.S. Supreme Court says, this is our law here!"

30. The U.S. is supposed to be such a democratic society. You're supposed to be able to say what you want, believe what you want & have religious liberty. But then some people don't have any liberty at all, depending on what they believe & what they say! The fact that the Davidians had guns was just an excuse. Most everybody has guns in the U.S., & when you get that many people together‚ you probably get quite a few guns together too. (Maria: I think Koresh admitted that they stockpiled them & would use them if they ever needed to, but he hoped they'd never have to use them.) The authorities used it just as an excuse to attack another bunch of what they consider religious fanatics. Well‚ they sure paid for it! The BATF made a fool out of themselves to have that many men killed or wounded in one ridiculous mistaken attack. (Editor: It's now been revealed that Koresh has a class 3 Federal firearms license, which allows him to legally possess weapons as large as a machine gun!)

31. They're publicising that group & his name & its name, & trying to imply that there's a resemblance to us, or even some connection. And they're of course implying that every New Religious Movement (NRM) is dangerous & this is what can happen with any of them. You can hardly get a square deal on the media anywhere today, the ACs control it.—Especially in the U.S.

32. The devilish little ACs are on the job! They use all these things as much as they can for all they're worth to smear all Christians & NRMs.

33. (Maria: Even if Koresh and his group are a little bit odd, there are a lot of odd people in the World who have some followers. But people get so up in arms and outraged over people who are different, they think they've got to "rescue" them from their differences. But when it comes to rescuing people from crime & all kinds of other things‚ they don't get so up in arms about it; just when it comes to "rescuing them from a cult!") It's just the Devil using that as an excuse to attack the Lord's children. It appears that the Davidians love the Lord. Koresh is glorifying the name of Jesus‚ & glorifying God too. He says he's waiting to hear from God.

34. They try to get away from the System & the System won't leave them alone! Bless those poor people, Lord, & help them! Get them out of that mess somehow. You can even make the persecution a blessing as You have for us.

35. To attack people who were just living there minding their own business & going about their own religion is worse than the Nazis or the Communists! This whole thing is showing the foolishness of the System & what fools they made of themselves in going about it in such a foolish, cruel way, when they knew there were all those guns inside. They thought they were going to become heroes & "save" all these people & grab their guns, but they had the tables turned on them. To shoot their way into a situation like that, where they knew there were all those women & children, was absolutely ridiculous! The Federal authorities have made such fools of themselves over this incident that now they've got to do something to justify themselves.

36. Just last year the local authorities came to investigate the Davidians for alleged abuse of children. They took David Koresh off to the police station to question him, & they went in & examined the children, & decided that the adults were not guilty of child abuse, so they couldn't get them on that count. So they had to cook up another excuse to try to get them: Because they were stockpiling weapons. (Maria: Those people must be accomplishing something good to get all the Devil's people up in arms against them like this!) Yes, & now it's arousing a lot of people who sympathise with them.

37. From all we've heard‚ they seem to be good, sincere people‚ but apparently they're misled on some things. It seems David Koresh had a very violent bent for a long time. The story that's told about his background is that he split off from the Branch Davidians 8 or 9 years ago to head a different faction. (And the Davidians themselves had split off from the Seventh-day Adventists about 60 years ago.) Then there was some rivalry between Koresh's faction & the main group of Davidians, culminating in a shoot-out between the opposing factions. They say that David shot the other guy & he & some of his friends were taken to court, but that it was all finally dismissed. He may have pleaded self-defense or something like that. So it looks like that group's been used to guns for quite awhile.

38. He may refuse to be taken alive! I don't think it was very wise of Koresh to be so impudent & challenge the FBI to come & get him. Of course, you don't really know if the FBI and the media are telling the truth or not! We don't know what he's really saying.

39. The World is believing what it wants to believe, & there are plenty of people like CAN & the ACs & our enemies who are very happy to feed them all the lies they want to believe. Out of the mouth of the dragon there is pouring a flood of propaganda, & the earth is sure swallowing it! But somehow the Church is going to be able to hide in some kind of a wilderness. (See Rev.12:13-16.) The Lord Himself was pretty specific. He said, "Don't even go down from the housetops to get your things, but flee for the hills when the Tribulation begins!" (See Mat.24:15-21.) The hills have always been a refuge for rebels & they've managed to survive that way.

40. What I would hate to see is if those FBI guys decide to go in there & shoot it out & have a real slaughter! I can understand how David Koresh feels, considering he is for violent defense. They're probably not going to commit suicide, but he probably figures he might as well die fighting. Obviously they won't let him speak to the press. If you ask me, that's denial of free speech!

41. Think of all the real criminals there are running around loose, & here they're tying up hundreds of Federal agents surrounding those poor innocent people who wouldn't have shot anybody if they hadn't been attacked! But that's the American government & the American people for you—violence is always the answer to everything. They've conducted horrible wars in which millions have been killed. What do you bet if they hadn't had those women & children in there, the Feds would have wiped them out already?

42. (After the FBI cut off their electricity:) Lord help those poor Davidians in the dark! The children must be frightened. No doubt the Enemy is planning to sneak up on them in the dark. Help David Koresh & his people to solve the situation somehow‚ in the best way possible. (After this they took two further methods of harassment by playing loud music all night, not letting them sleep, & by shining bright lights into their compound. Two 60–ton tanks rumble through their yard continually, & helicopters buzz overhead on a regular basis. This is real torture, if you ask me!)

43. (Editor: With the siege of the Branch Davidian compound entering its sixth week, there's been little progress. Although 36 Davidians have now surrendered—15 adults & 21 children—96 people remain inside, including 17 children. Those who've surrendered so far have been put in leg irons & manacles & are being held incommunicado by the authorities—despite their pleas that they want to tell their side of the story to the press. In fact, for a while the FBI shut off all communications with Koresh. The only way the compound could communicate with the World was to hang a sheet out the window with the words, "God help us, we want the press."

44. (The FBI has recently permitted two lawyers representing some of the Davidians to enter the compound & negotiate with those inside. They say Koresh & his people may surrender soon, perhaps after Passover. Negotiations have been slow, as Koresh was shot two times in the initial assault on the compound & tires easily. The FBI has refused to allow any doctors in, saying the Davidians have to come out if they want any medical treatment. Meanwhile, the FBI & BATF have continued to come up with reasons to justify their initial assault, saying that the Davidians had a drug lab inside the compound, were making hand grenades & bombs, etc.! Please pray for a peaceful resolution for the crisis, & that the Truth will come out!) (God bless us all!—D.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family