What monotheism offers:

Anxiety (YIKES!) > World-Building Activities (Defense!) > Plausibility Structures (Make sense!) > Stability (Ahhh!).

Anxiety > World-Building Activities > Plausibility Structures > Stability.

Stability = (Legitimated and established by) Revelation + Law + Restoration.

Cults and extremist groups, as we've seen, appear more radical (but also more fundamental) in their positions because they are further outside the mainstream than their dominant monotheistic counterparts.

Historical background:

• Cold War (1945-92)
• Civil Rights Movement (approx. 1950-68)
• Vietnam War (1955-75)
• John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s assassination (Nov. 22, 1963)
• Robert F. Kennedy assassinated (1968)
• Watergate (1972, members of the Nixon administration bugged and wiretapped political opponents and those deemed "suspicious")

• Jones (1931-78) started the People's Temple Full Gospel Church in Indianapolis (1955).

The following are direct quotations of J. Jones. He was speaking to his interracial church in Indianapolis, IN.

[You] Say, “I’m not a nigger.” Settin’ back there, you’re right. Oh, yes, you’re a nigger. I’m a nigger. I’m a nigger until everybody is free, till everybody that’s treated niggardly is free, I am a nigger. I don’t care if you’re an Italian nigger, or you’re Jewish or an Indian (claps hands once), the only people that’re getting anything in this country are the people that got the money, baby. That’s the only one. They’re the only ones not niggers in this country. (Jones, Sermon Transcript Q124)

Watergates. You don’t— Did [former Vice President Spiro] Agnew go to jail? Nah. [Did] [Former President Richard] Nixon go to jail? Never never. But if a black takes a piece of bread, he’ll go to jail. (Congregation: Cheers and applause) Jones: Peace. Look at ’em go. Just look at ’em go. (Pause) The pity of it is, is they’re young. Young. I’ve got people, ninety, that’re sitting here quietly. And young people. You say it, don’t look around. I’ve got white family over here that know they’re niggers like I am. They’re sitting. And look at these young blacks, floating out of here. You don’t think we’re in trouble? We’re in trouble. We’re in trouble, if people don’t listen to God on earth, and build the kingdom on earth, and read the scripture, “The Kingdom suffereth violence, and the violence must take it by force,” if we don’t turn the world upside-down (Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”), if we don’t share the wealth, if we don’t establish a decent order here, in an economics and social order, if we don’t do it, the Man’s gonna throttle our neck, and lead us right into the concentration camps. (Jones, Sermon Transcript Q124).

Brief History

• The Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists broke away from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (1930).
  • Tended to emphasize symbolic prophecy and legalistic/fundamental interpretations more so than SDA.
  • Emphasized the importance of building the "kingdom"
• The Branch Davidians are an offshoot of the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists (1955).
  • Started by Benjamin and Lois Roden
  • Power struggle between son George Roden and Vernon Howell (David Koresh)
  • David Koresh: indicated his belief that he was a messianic figure.
  • Emphasized the fulfillment of Revelation as imminent.

Davidian SDA Statements

The name, Davidian, deriving from the name of the king of Ancient Israel, accrues to this Association by reason of its following aspects: First, it is dedicated to the work of announcing and bringing forth the restoration (as predicted in Hosea 1:11; 3:5) of David's kingdom in antitype, upon the throne of which Christ, "the son of David," is to sit.

Second, it purports itself to be the first of the first fruits of the living, the vanguard from among the present-day descendants of those Jews who composed the Early Christian Church. With the emergence of this vanguard and its army, the first fruits, from which are elected the 12,000 out of each of the twelve tribes of Jacob, "the 144,000" (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8) who stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1; 7:2-8), the reign of antitypical David begins. (Shepherd's Rod)

Are the following quotations consistent with our theory, especially that constructing a stabilized order is one goal of monotheism?

God is a God of order. Everything connected with heaven is in perfect order; subjection and thorough discipline mark the movements of the angelic host. Success can only attend order and harmonious action. God requires order and system in His work now no less than in the days of Israel. All who are working for Him are to labor intelligently, not in a careless, haphazard manner. He would have His work done with faith and exactness, that He may place the seal of His approval upon it. -- Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 376.

'God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.' He requires that order and system be observed in the conduct of church affairs today, no less than in the days of old. He desires His work to be carried forward with thoroughness and exactness, so that He may place upon it the seal of His approval. Christian is to be united with Christian, church with church, the human instrumentality co-operating with the divine, every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all combined in giving to the world the good tidings of the grace of God. -- The Acts of the Apostles, p. 96.

Branch Davidians

David Koresh practiced "spiritual marriages."

• Some wives were underage.
• Some were previously married.
• He had 24 children in total.

Recall our assertion that cultic leaders used "radical" acts to confirm allegiance (outside of any stable, regulating law or institution).