Cult News

David Koresh fathered most of the 25 children that died in the suicidal fire set by the Davidians ten years ago today.

But three Koresh children did not perish. All boys, they are now teenagers.

Two brothers live in Hawaii, while another resides in Southern California.

The tenth anniversary of the Waco Davidian standoff has generated some curiosity and press coverage. Reporters for interviews located the three boys and their families.

The Hawaiian boys are the sons of Dana Okimoto, who was one of Koresh’s “20 wives.” Okimoto now sees her Davidian involvement as “another life,” apart from her current existence. Her sons never knew their father, reports Hawaii Channel.com.

Koresh’s son in California was taken out of the compound as a baby before the standoff began and brought back to his mother Robyn Bunds. She still suffers psychologically from abuse experienced while a Davidian, reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Bunds and her son would not speak with reporters, but her father did. He said his grandson also never knew his father. And added, “I didn’t like Koresh. He was too arrogant for me.”

This seems like an accurate appraisal of the man who once claimed he was both the savior of humanity and the “Lamb of God.”

Okimoto seems disillusioned with organized religion and says she no longer attends church. “I was young and idealistic and I had a very black-and-white view of the world,” she explained.

Some have observed that this Davidian “black-and-white” mindset was the result of “brainwashing.” Okimoto says her subsequent work as a psychiatric nurse helped her alleviate the after-effects.

Very few of Koresh’s former followers that survived the standoff remain faithful. Some still cling to the notion that the dead leader will somehow return to fulfill his failed prophecies. But only a mere handful ever meet for religious services.

Like so many cults historically, without the personality that drove and defined their group, they have fallen apart.

David Koresh’s once dreamt of re-establishing the “Throne of David” through a dynasty carried forward by his many children.

But the few that remain don’t consider that delusion seriously and have no memories of their father.

To his remaining children the cult leader’s legacy is something strange and approached with mixed emotions.

One son in Hawaii said, “Sometimes I think he’s this nice guy and sometimes I think he’s this big freak. My mind keeps shifting on images of him.”

However, history’s view of David Koresh is far less ambivalent. The apparent psychopath, who led his followers to destruction and death, carved out a distinct niche for himself historically.

But it is not amongst a pantheon biblical heroes.

Instead, it is alongside a cult villains such as Jim Jones and Charles Manson.

No doubt his progeny will struggle with that image for a lifetime.