Roden, Amo Paul Bishop 1943-

The religious sect known as the Branch Davidians was the product of a reform movement within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Problems began when a group of Adventists, led by Bulgarian immigrant Victor Houteff, began to challenge the traditional hierarchy of the denomination. Houteff claimed to have received personal revelations from God and published his controversial views in a book entitled The Shepherd's Rod (1932). Houteff and his followers believed that the spiritual gift of prophecy was necessary for effective leadership so that King David's earthly kingdom could be re-established on earth prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. After the leaders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church excommunicated his sect, Houteff moved to Waco, Texas, and continued to preach until his death in 1955.

Upon Houteff's death, the mantle of leadership fell to Benjamin Roden and his wife Lois. This couple led the Branch Davidians well into the 1980s. Some of their work including sermons, pamphlets, and personal correspondence are found in the Mark Swett Collection.

The 1980s brought about division within the Branch Davidian sect. A newcomer named Vernon Howell had joined the Branch in 1981. Three years later, a schism occurred within the Branch Davidians, with Howell leading his own group of followers to a new site in Palestine, Texas. Through a series of confrontations between Howell and George Roden, the son of Ben and Lois Roden, control of the Branch Davidians' headquarters in Waco passed to Howell who legally changed his name to David Koresh in 1990. Rumors concerning polygamy, abuse, and arms dealing within the Branch Davidian group aroused the suspicions of the federal government. Thus, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives began to monitor the group.

In response to a stockpiling of illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives secured a search warrant for the investigation of the Branch Davidians' compound near Waco, Texas. From1993 February 28th until April 19th, Branch Davidians under the leadership of David Koresh resisted federal agents' attempts to storm their Mount Carmel Center. The fifty-day siege ended when the compound erupted in flames, killing David Koresh and most of his followers.

Branch Davidian Amo Paul Bishop married George Roden in 1987 October. A month later, the infamous shootout between George Roden and Vernon Howell over leadership of the sect resulted in the expulsion of the Rodens from the Mount Carmel property. After her husband was convicted of murder in 1989 and sent to a mental institution, Amo divorced George but used her marriage in an effort to claim the mantle of spiritual leadership within the Davidian sect following the death of David Koresh. She moved into the rubble of Mount Carmel months after the siege took place and began collecting materials to defend the Davidians' theology and explain their point of view concerning the events of 1993. Many of these writings were donated to The Texas Collection. For autobiographical material concerning her life as a Branch Davidian, see Roden's work entitled The Second Standoff.