Hearken O Daughter: Three Sisters from New Zealand Travel to Waco. Only Two Return...

By Grace J. Adams, Poia Alpha and Martin King

On April 19 1993, on a remote property called Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, 76 people who were part of the Branch Davidian cult died when their compound caught fire after a 51 day stand off with the FBI. Among the dead was one New Zealander. How did she come to join the group and what events led her to her tragic end?

Hearken O Daughter is written by Grace Adams and Poia Alpha, who were former members of the Branch Davidians and sisters to the New Zealander who died. This is their personal story of their journey in and out of the Branch Davidian cult.

This narrative is unlike other Branch Davidian accounts. It is highly transparent and intentional in purpose with a recovery section that provides help, hope and healing to individuals, families and communities who have been connected or affected by spiritually abusive groups.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543938333

Book preview

(KJV)

PART I

PROLOGUE: BEGINNING OF THE ATF SIEGE

SEPTEMBER 1991

Waco, Texas – Two Years Earlier (Narrated by Grace)

On the day we left the Branch Davidian compound at Mount Carmel, David Koresh gave us all a Bible study. He told us the government was going to come to Mount Carmel with tanks and guns—lots of guns. We needed to be ready.

It was a bittersweet farewell. Koresh said that God had given the go-ahead for my sister Rebecca and I to leave the compound and return to New Zealand. I was happy I was leaving but also sad and confused. It was just over six months since we first arrived, and so much had happened with us during that time. Koresh told me to go back to New Zealand and get myself better, then return and try again.

I looked at the people in the room and cried. Some of them were crying, too, and one by one they came and hugged me and said goodbye.

FEBRUARY 28, 1993

Home in New Zealand (Narrated by Grace)

I was at home in New Zealand when a friend called to say that I should turn on the television. He told me there was a shooting in Texas and he thought that the group I was a member of two years earlier was part of the shoot-out. It was hard to believe that this was happening. Then I remembered the last Bible study Koresh gave just before I had left the Mount Carmel property two years earlier. So, he had said, the government are fixin’ to come here with their tanks and guns. They’re gonna come here and take my kids. Are you ready to defend the message?

I watched the images on the television and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My emotions went from fear to panic. His prophecy had come true.

APRIL 19, 1993

Surrealness (Narrated by Poia)

Numbness is a strange feeling.

Black smoke and flames were engulfing the compound. Tanks rammed the compound’s walls and helicopters hovered overhead, fanning the hungry flames. My numbness was a mix of shock, disbelief, and confusion. Horror, despair, and then anger swelled within me as black smoke convulsed from random pockets of the building and then erupted into a blazing inferno.

An early morning call from a New Zealand television reporter had informed us of the news we had been dreading. As we watched it on live TV, my mind switched to monologue mode: Is this for real? Is this really happening? It was unbelievable! We had been in that same building only three years ago! I know those people in there! I thought. My mind raced to Rebecca. Rebecca! Oh, God, please don’t let her be there, I uttered repeatedly. I tried to block out the possibility of her being there. I tried to justify reasons for why she could not possibly be there. I watched the place quickly transform into a holocaust of flames and clung onto the unlikely hope of Rebecca or anyone in there surviving. It was so surreal. I tried to generate some kind of emotional reaction to the scenes unfolding before me. Nothing came, but numbness.

Surprise Attack! (Narrated by Poia)

How had the attack on the Mount Carmel compound come about? Later, I learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) had received information originating from a United Parcel Service driver that the Branch Davidians were stockpiling a huge supply of weapons. The ATF planned a surprise attack at the compound. Prior to the assault, however, a news cameraman with KWTX-Waco, Dan Maloney, who was assigned to film the event, had lost his way to the compound and ran into the local mailman whom he asked for directions. Dan informed the mailman that the ATF was planning to raid the compound that day. Ironically, the mailman was Koresh’s brother-in-law, David Jones.

By the time ATF arrived at the compound, Jones had informed the Branch Davidians of the upcoming attack, and the Branch Davidians were ready and waiting for them. An exchange of gunfire ensued and resulted in four ATF agents being killed and sixteen agents being wounded. Six Branch Davidians were killed and some were wounded. The ATF called for a ceasefire while their dead and wounded were attended to. This was followed by a standoff that lasted fifty one days. During the siege, the FBI began negotiations with Koresh. On the fourteenth day of the siege, twenty-one children and several adults were released in exchange for providing Koresh an opportunity to air his apocalyptic message through a local radio station.

I continued to watch with sadness as I recognized some of the faces of children who had played with my two-year-old son when we visited the group and stayed for four months in 1986–1987. Some of those children I had also seen at our last visit to Waco in 1990. My heart grieved for them. My six-year-old niece, Joann, was among the twenty-one children who had been released during the siege. I silently prayed for the children and thanked God that my own children were spared any involvement with the group.

Below: The three photos of the compound were taken from photos inside the chapel at Mount Carmel, Waco: April 19, 2018.

Photo 1:

Mount Carmel compound before the raid.

Photo 2:

Mount Carmel compound on fire.

Photo 3:

Mount Carmel compound after the fire.

Our Family Upbringing (Narrated by Grace)

So how does someone living in New Zealand end up joining the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas?

Our parents migrated to New Zealand in the early 1960s. Poia and I, along with two other siblings, were born in Samoa. Four other siblings were born in New Zealand. Our parents did not speak English, so we spoke Samoan at home. We did not learn English until we attended school.

In the Samoan culture, God and family are very important, and our father took the lead in modeling the importance of God-centered living. This meant attending church regularly and saying family prayers daily; we usually recited our prayers two times a day—or three times a day, if it was a Saturday or a Sunday.

Although our parents did what they could to help us understand the value of a God-centered lifestyle, I had not fully grasped the significance of family prayers, reading the Bible, or attending church. For me, there were only two good things about Sunday: eating Samoan chop suey and watching Big Time Wrestling on television before going to church. Years later, when I moved out of the family home, I had already decided that God was not relevant.

Seven Years Earlier: The Waco Connection (Narrated by Poia)

In early 1986, my husband, Leslie, received phone calls from his older brother. Neil resided in Hawaii with his wife, Margarida, and their five-month-old daughter, Joann. Neil was excited to share his newfound faith in a message that he believed was for all those who were ready and willing to listen. His excitement revolved around the bearer of this message—a living prophet, known as Vernon Howell, who lived in Texas. Neil’s family and other families from their Seventh-Day Adventist church in Hawaii had recently been recruited into the group. Over the course of seven months, Neil spent long hours in phone conversations with Leslie, trying to explain highlights of this prophet’s teachings. Consequently, in September, Neil extended an invitation to us as a family to go listen to the prophet for ourselves. Two months later, we were on a plane destined for Hawaii and then continued on to California to meet the