Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303130047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MITCHELL LANDSBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WACO, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
OVER 2 WEEKS OF CHATS, FBI, KORESH FOCUSING ON RELIGION
Hour after hour, day after day, FBI negotiators sit in their temporary command center near here and talk to David Koresh, his top aide and his followers. They talk about many things - childhood and death, milk deliveries and funerals, guns and the law.As much as anything, it seems, they talk about God.
FBI negotiators spoke briefly Thursday evening with Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian religious sect. "We didn't get into the long Bible studies we frequently do," FBI spokesman Dick Swensen said.
But over nearly two weeks of negotiating, agents have been forced to become instant experts on the Bible and to converse at tortuous length on such topics as the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelations, which form the core of Koresh's apocalyptic vision, and the Book of Isaiah, from which Koresh takes his name.
"We do have Bible study hour," said another FBI spokesman, Bob Ricks.
So far, these theological seminars have produced little progress. Koresh has said he is waiting for a message from God before he surrenders. Twenty-one children and three adults have left the Branch Davidians' fortress-like compound, including a woman on Friday; Koresh has said that 17 children and roughly 90 adults remain.
From the sketchy accounts of federal authorities, it appears that negotiations in recent days have focused more on mechanical details - cult members' leaving, their legal predicament, Koresh's health - than on biblical ones. But it is also clear that theology remains central to Koresh's mission.
"He loves this attention," Ricks said. "He wants to put out his message and as long as he feels that he is able to capture the attention nationwide of the media . . . we believe he will continue to hold out."
The FBI has said it is consulting biblical scholars and former cult members to help with its negotiations in Waco, but that the outsiders are not taking a direct role in the talks.
Some former cult members have warned that Koresh might lead his followers into mass suicide, but the FBI has said it believes that goes against his religious beliefs.
The agency is worried, however, about another aspect of Koresh's theology.
"As part of his religious philosophy, it's our belief that he believes that his prophecies will be fulfilled when the government engages in an all-out firefight with him in which he is executed," Ricks has said.
Robert Sloan, a professor of religion at Baylor University, said Koresh appears to read the Bible with a sense that it applies directly to him and describes modern-day events, including the Apocalypse.
"How you psychologically deal with somebody like that, I don't know," Sloan said.
"My thought," offered Dr. Robert A. Pyne, assistant professor of systematic theology at the Dallas Theological Seminary, "is that they ought to play `Achy Breaky Heart' over and over again."