Late in the evening before his death, David Koresh dictated his interpretation of the first of the Seven Seals foretelling the end of the world.
The cult leader had promised the FBI four days earlier that he and his armed followers would come out peacefully after he finished the tract.But the FBI considered it just another delaying tactic and attacked the compound near Waco, Texas, with tear gas the next morning. As the place went up in flames and 85 men, women and children died, one Koresh follower jumped from a second-floor window, escaping with a computer disk carrying Koresh's final words.
A 12-page transcription of the last testament of David Koresh, released to The Associated Press on Monday, shows he was seriously at work on the translation, and some passages indicate he was planning to end the standoff peacefully, say his attorney and two religion scholars.
Koresh's last written words were these: "Should we not eagerly ourselves be ready to accept this truth and come out of our closet and be revealed to the world as those who love Christ in truth and in righteousness?"
Bill Carter, an FBI spokesman, said the agency could not comment on the tract because of pending cases against 11 Branch Davidians accused of murdering four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents Feb. 28 during a raid to arrest the 33-year-old Koresh on weapons charges. An ATF spokesman said his agency was under similar constraints.
Meanwhile, Justice Department officials are completing an internal investigation of the April 19 assault.
But Dick DeGuerin, Koresh's lawyer, and James Tabor and Phillip Arnold, two religion scholars who communicated with both Koresh and the FBI during the siege, said the tract proves Koresh was serious about keeping his promise.