A Look Back at the Waco Siege 30 Years Later

Cult leader? ‘Sinful Messiah’? 25 years after Waco, interest in David Koresh still strong

Fire engulfs the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993.
RON HEFLIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOBBY ROSS JR. | RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

2:02 pm EDT April 16, 2018


WACO, Texas (RNS) — The curious keep coming.

They turn onto a gravel road 10 miles east of Waco and pass through a black gate leading to a rural complex where David Koresh — leader of an apocalyptic religious sect known as the Branch Davidians — and 75 followers perished in a firestorm on April 19, 1993.

That came after six Branch Davidians and four federal agents earlier died amid a flurry of gunfire in the government’s initial Feb. 28, 1993, raid on the 77-acre Mount Carmel property.

“I was just really curious about seeing this memorial and seeing what’s out here,” said Eric Williams, a Seattle film producer who made it a point to visit the site during a leisure trip to Texas.

Nearby, a woman snapped a picture of a monument listing the names of Koresh and the other 81 Branch Davidians — including 18 children ages 10 or younger — who lost their lives in the 51-day federal standoff that ended in a nationally televised inferno.

Twenty-five years after the siege, interest in what happened outside Waco — and who’s to blame — remains immense.

Evidence of that can be seen in the spate of recent television specials coinciding with the anniversary — from ABC’s Truth and Lies: Waco to the Paramount Network’s six-part miniseries Waco to the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary Waco: The Longest Siege.

Behind the Door Pt. 10: Waco, 1993 - Pastor Bill Hughes

7th-Day Adventist Church--an Ironic Hollywood Landmark

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.roadarch.com/modarch/cachurchla2.html

April 22, 1993|AARON BETSKY | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES; Aaron Betsky teaches and writes about architecture




Hollywood was founded by temperance-minded religious pioneers who dreamed of a city of churches, not saloons. Ironically, it became the sin center of Los Angeles, filled with worldly entertainment ranging from raunchy sex to rock 'n' roll.

There are only a few churches left, and those that exist must adapt themselves to a hostile environment. A case in point is the Seventh-day Adventist Church at Hollywood Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue. Its sanctuary is hidden by a formidable bunker of concrete block, while its nave offers itself as a freeway equivalent to the cathedral of Chartres, rising up above the road to mark the place of devotion.

The church is a landmark: It marks the place where the Hollywood Freeway bisects Hollywood and starts its sweeping ascent through the Cahuenga Pass. Depending on your perspective, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is shaped either like a boat of faith riding out onto this river of passing humanity or like a spindle for this movement. Its thin spire rises out of a circle of steel fins that look like the gear for the curved apse that confronts the boulevard and then comes apart into four fins facing north.

The image that comes to mind is that of a car engine, and it would be easy to see this building (as one rather irreverent critic put it) as God's Own Gas Station, but architect Robert Burman claims that the form is just an expression of the triangular site and the tradition of modern places of worship. Burman moved to Los Angeles in 1959 from Seattle to design this church, which opened in 1962. Since then he has graced the Southland with dozens of ecclesiastical structures. His churches are plays of folded white planes that stretch over the interior spaces in overlapping geometries that allow light to seep in between their structural members.


That certainly is the case in the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church. Walk into the nave, and you see nothing but planes held up by high-strength, thin steel tubes. Between the splayed planes, Burman placed glass that is invisible from the main space but lets a sequence of yellow, pink, blue and green light wash around the structure. A rounded apse of folded planes leading to randomly placed panes of glass ends the whole space, while a large chandelier and pulpit mirror the finned steeple outside, giving you the sense that the whole building is revolving into religious mystery around that one, sharp point.

The reality of mundane concerns and the passing of time unfortunately dull the impact of this gesture. On the outside, the main nave is covered with a glittering Venetian glass tile that, with the years and the application of weatherproofing, has turned into a rather undignified pinkish purple. The various offices and classrooms that surround the sanctuary are bland and uninspired, though functional.

The worst part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is its attitude toward the city; from the street level, its great curving gesture remains hidden behind a deep and tall wall of textured concrete block. This helps keep the street noise and violence out but also manages to project a sense of animosity toward Hollywood. Even worse, you enter the building through a giant parking lot at the rear of the structure.

Burman had plans for a more open structure that included courtyards and a friendlier texture to the walls, but budget restrictions and an increase in the needs of the church led to the current bunker configuration. Like many modernist architects, Burman is fascinated with such basic elements of building as structure and light, perhaps at the expense of a concern for how the building fits into the neighborhood. The result is a modern structure, isolated in its purpose and its design. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a great building to drive by, but I am not sure I would want to live near it.

Seventh-day Adventist Church: 1711 N. Van Ness Ave., at Hollywood Boulevard

Architect: Robert Burman

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What Has NAFTA Done In Its Twenty Years?

Photo by Jill Replogle / KPBS

Above: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is now two decades old.


Monday, December 16, 2013

By Jill Replogle


Twenty years ago, on Dec. 8, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law.

At the time, it was an unprecedented idea: Eliminating nearly all tariffs and trade barriers between two developed countries, Canada and the U.S., and another, Mexico, that was struggling with very high levels of poverty and weak infrastructure.

As we’ve reported, trade between the U.S and Mexico has quintupled since NAFTA took effect, on Jan. 1, 1994. And yet lines to cross the border are longer than ever, thanks to concerns over terrorism, drugs and illegal immigration, and insufficient border infrastructure.

NAFTA’s failure to address the movement of people across borders largely is responsible, some say, for mass illegal immigration to the U.S., one of the most contentious national issues of our time. And despite a major attempt by the U.S. Senate and Obama administration to address the problem this year, compromise seems far away.

On NAFTA’s 20th anniversary, many are lauding its accomplishments in boosting commerce and setting a template for free trade around the world.

Trade among the three countries has reached more than $1 trillion a year. And jobs in manufacturing and auxiliary industries have helped lift millions of Mexicans out of poverty.

Still almost half of Mexico’s population lives in poverty. And entire villages are terrorized into silence and inactivity by drug lords.

While Mexico’s economy shows healthy growth, returning migrants — either deported or moving back on their own, often struggle to find jobs. Many focus all their efforts on getting back to the U.S.

In a recent op-ed, the Wall Street Journal calls for “NAFTA 2.0,” saying North America has lost competitiveness and needs a new boost.

As the U.S. moves through negotiations on new trade pacts, notably the Trans-Pacific Partnership, NAFTA’s legacy surely will play a role.

JILL REPLOGLE, Fronteras Reporter


Related Content
U.S. Commerce Secretary Looks At 20 Years Of NAFTA | October 28, 2013
Arizona Versus Texas For Border Trade? Not Even A Contest | October 8, 2013
In Wake Of NAFTA, States Eye Global Supply Chain With Envy | October 29, 2012



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The Jesuit Infiltration of the Supreme Court~Bob Trefz & David Mould

 MrPioneerlight2011



Published on May 13, 2013


DAVID MOULD OF LAYMEN FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

AND

ELDER BOB TREFZ OF BIBLICAL STUDIES INSTITUTE

TOPICS COVERED AND TOUCHED UPON IN THIS POWERFUL EXPOSE:


FREEDOM OF RELIGION

THE ISSUES OF REVELATION 13

A LOOK AT STATEMENTS BY ELLEN G. WHITE REGARDING THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONSTITUTION

THE JESUITS INVOLVEMENT IN BRINGING THIS ABOUT

LOOK INTO EUROPEAN HISTORY AND THE DETAILS OF CANON LAW VS. COMMON LAW

COMMON LAW BECAME AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
BILL OF RIGHTS

POLITICAL THOUGHT OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS

PROTESTANT POLITICAL CONCEPTS

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SEEKING TO RE-WRITE HISTORY AND CHANGE THE TEXTBOOKS

A LOOK INTO EX-JESUIT MALACHI MARTIN'S BOOK "THE KEYS OF THIS BLOOD"

ROMAN CATHOLIC RE-CONSTRUCTIONISM TO BRING THE WORLD BACK TO THE DARK AGES AS IT WAS BEFORE THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

WW II NAZI WAR CRIMINALS WERE HELPED BY THE VATICAN RATLINES TO ESCAPE TO SOUTH AMERICA

HITLER/FRANCO/MUSSOLINI WERE ALL ROMAN CATHOLIC

MODERN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COURT CASES
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTRICTION ACT

VARIOUS OTHER COURT CASES REGARDING SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

INQUISITIONAL LAW

ROE V. WADE

ETC...
For More Information Please See Our Website: www.Exposingdeceptions.org


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