Dear John,
In the section on your web site titled "The Personality of David Koresh" you sight the following incident as an example of a Koresh personality problem from the Shower Head tape:
"You tell her to sit down and eat every last bit of it. You tell her to sit down and eat every last bit of it. You tell her to sit down and eat every last bit of it because she was told not to buy anything anymore. That doesn't make any difference. She was still given her commandments from God and if she can't follow them that's too bad. That's beside the point. God has told her before not to do such things and she continues to do it. You sit her - tell her to sit down and eat every last bit of it. Bye."
You state that the purpose of this section is "to separate the personality of David Koresh from his teachings and Biblical work." The problem with this is that the very example that you use to show how Koresh had personality problems, is a very good example of a primary part of his "teachings and bible work" as you say. I was in the "message" so to speak for five years. I heard this kind of thing out of Koresh's mouth countless times. As far as Koresh was concerned it was not a "personality problem." He would have considered this to be a prime example of his inspiration. He taught that he had a message from God and that he was a prophet. He also taught from scripture "that God would direct all his ways." Notice his language in the example you site: "She was...given her commandments from God...God has told her before not to do such things..." It is clear from this that as far as Koresh was concerned, when he commanded someone not to eat something it was as good as God commanding it.
Believe me, Koresh was deadly serious about this kind of thing. I too was commanded to do and not do certain things and I disobeyed I was punished.
Let me restate my primary contention. Part of David Koresh's message was that he was inspired of God to command his followers in any and all areas of their life, period. If you consider it a personality problem then either you do not understand his message, or you are dividing it up into sections. The kind of thing that is recorded in the tape happened every day, several times a day. It was preached from the pulpit regularly and I was disfellowshipped for disobeying this "counsel of god." This was the message: That there is a prophet in our midst who speaks for God and you had better follow His will or you will go to hell. period.
I hope this clarifies things for you.
Sincerely,
David Bunds
Koresh Home