The Branch Davidians (also known as "The Branch") is a deeply religious cult that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists ("Davidians"), a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church ("Adventists") around 1930. The majority of those who accepted the reform message have been Excommunicated due to the Adventist church rejecting it. The Branch Davidians have many theological beliefs in common with Messianic Judaism
From its inception in 1930, the reform movement inherited Adventism's apocalypticism, in that they believed themselves to be living in a time when Bible prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass as a prelude to Christ's second coming. The name "Branch Davidian" is most widely known for the Waco Siege of 1993 on their property (known as the Mount Carmel Center) near Waco, Texas, by the ATF, FBI, and Texas National Guard, which resulted in the deaths of their leader, David Koresh, as well as 82 other Branch Davidians and four ATF agents. The siege lasted 51 days.
Read more about Branch Davidians: History, Doctrines, Vernon Howell's (David Koresh's) Affiliation With The Branch, Lois Roden's Successor Dispute, Koresh Group Name Controversy, Land Dispute and Status of The Church Today
Famous quotes containing the word branch:
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)