FBI Hoping for a Passover Prophecy to End Cult Siege

Cult leader David Koresh says he has received prophecies during his sect’s Passover holidays in past years, and federal agents hope he will receive one this week to help end the siege of his Branch Davidian cult.

“It’s a time of transition; David has received many different prophecies during the time of Passover,” FBI agent Bob Ricks said at a news briefing Saturday.

Koresh said the Branch Davidian cult’s holiday would coincide with the Jewish Passover that begins at sunset Monday, Ricks said. It is uncertain how long the holiday will last, but it could be three to eight days, Ricks said.

Koresh says the holiday is significant because it symbolizes the beginning of the leading of Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, Ricks said.

“It is a period of transition where oftentimes his (Koresh) status with his people has changed, changed from being just a teacher to perhaps into a heightened level,” Ricks said.

Koresh first announced he received divine guidance and was supposed to take additional wives during Passover and followed up by taking more wives during other Passover periods, Ricks said.

Ricks also gave more details of a videotape previously released from the compound on which the children inside were asked: “Do you love David?” and they all said they loved Koresh.

They were asked what is God going to do to the people outside, and responded, “Primarily God is going to kill everybody out there or God is going to smite them,” Ricks said.

The standoff started Feb. 28 when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents stormed the compound to serve arrest and search warrants for weapons violations.

In a sworn statement to Texas Rangers, who are investigating the deaths of four ATF agents and at least two cult members in the failed raid, an undercover agent said he told his superiors that Koresh knew on Feb. 28 that a raid on his heavily armed compound was imminent, high-ranking federal sources said.

The agent’s statement to Texas investigators is at odds with assertions by ATF officials that they would not have launched the raid if they had known the element of surprise had been lost.

Negotiators spoke to several cult members Friday night. Judy Schneider, 41, whose finger was infected from a wound received during the shootout, said she cured the wound with garlic, Ricks said.