Cult Leader Who Told Men To Be Celibate While Bonking Their Wives Exposed In New Netflix Doc Waco: American Apocalypse

David Koresh was also an alleged child abuser Image: Publicity Picture

The head of a religious cult in the United States that engaged in an armed siege with their own government had previously slept with the spouses of other followers despite having instructed the men to maintain celibacy.

One of the most shocking incidents in recent American history was the ultimate demise of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, which resulted in 86 deaths after the compound the cult was residing in was destroyed by fire.

The US Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agency obtained a search warrant to access the Mount Carmel Center in Texas, close to the town of Waco, which is where the whole thing began.

Credit: Netflix

What would transpire became known as the Waco Siege, and the story is being told once again in a new documentary.

When Koresh was born Vernon Wayne Howell in 1959, he had to deal with a difficult upbringing that included a teenage mother, a father who was missing, and his mother's violent lover.

He spent some time living with his grandma and was enrolled in special education classes at school.

Before being expelled from his own church for claiming that God had instructed him to be with the pastor's daughter, Koresh had an illicit relationship with a 15-year-old girl when he was just 19 years old.

Credit: Netflix

That brought him to the Branch Davidians, where he rapidly rose to the top of the group while claiming to be able to predict the future.

One of those prophecies stated that the end of the world was near and that the sect needed to arm itself for a bloody battle by gathering supplies and manufacturing weapons.

Incidentally, this turned out to be fairly accurate.

Koresh was accused of statutory rape, sexual abuse of a number of children, arranging marriages with married women, and other crimes during his tenure as the sect's head.

Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Koresh prohibited husbands from engaging in sexual activities, including masturbation, while he himself had sexual relations with their wives.

He even asked the husbands if they felt envious of him. Despite this behavior, his followers considered him a divine figure and allowed these actions to persist.

A young David Koresh with his wife Rachel and their son (he later married many more times) Image: Sygma via Getty Images

One of Koresh's adherents documented these events in a book: “It was about not just the single women [among the Branch Davidians] being his, but all the wives, all the women.”

She explained: “He gave me a personal Bible study.”

“The feeling was so comforting, [like] my God speaking directly to me.”

“Sex was just part of it.”

“The sermon made every touch not feel like sex at all, just a culmination of my relationship with God that I’d had all my life.”

A fire consuming the cult compound Image: The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett

One former male follower reported that Koresh informed the husbands the following: “We’re all God’s guinea pigs here. My lot is to procreate, yours is to tolerate. I’d swap with you any day.”

However, he also said: “I get all the women. Aren’t you all jealous?”

Before a warrant was obtained to search the Mount Carmel Center and arrest Koresh and several other church members, he eventually fathered 17 children by the 11 women in the group.

The 51 day siege ended when a fire engulfed the building killing men, women and children Image: MCT via Getty Images

A 51-day siege of the compound began when they used a huge arsenal of weapons to deter arrest attempts.

In the event, the compound caught fire on February 28, 1993.

No one is entirely sure what happened, but scores of people perished, including 28 children and Koresh himself, who perished either from burn injuries or a gunshot wound.

One of the worst disasters in American history, it is still regarded as such.

Netflix will begin streaming the three-part documentary Waco: American Apocalypse on March 22.