The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord
| Formation | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Extinction | 1985 |
| Type | White nationalism, Christian Identity |
| Location | |
|
Key people
|
James Ellison |
| Affiliations | The Order |
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (initialized CSA) was a far right political organization dedicated to Christian Identity and survivalism that was active in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s. The CSA developed from a Baptist congregation called the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church, founded in 1971 in the small community of Elijah in southern Missouri. Over time, Zarephath-Horeb evolved into an extremist paramilitary organization and was rechristened CSA, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified in 1985 as the second-most dangerous domestic terrorist organization at the time. CSA operated a large compound in northern Arkansas called the Farm. In April 1985, law enforcement officers investigating the group for weapons violations and terrorist acts carried out a siege against the compound. After a peaceful resolution, officers arrested and convicted CSA's top leaders, and the organization soon dissolved.
The founder of the CSA was James Ellison, who was jailed for a period of time in federal prison along with his 'high priest' Kerry Noble. Robert G. Millar became one of Ellison's spiritual advisers, and he was also the founder of Elohim City. Ellison was also mentored by Richard Girnt Butler, founder of the Aryan Nations and Robert E. Miles, founder of the Mountain Church in Cohoctah, Michigan. Both extreme right-wing leaders taught and practiced the theology of Christian Identity, a belief system which the FBI includes on its watch list as an 'extremist religion.' Ellison had very close ties to the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations, based in Hayden Lake, Idaho, and led by Richard Girnt Butler, who was described as "the glue of the Aryan Nations movement in the Northwest, if not the country" by the supervisor of the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force. Miles had a very active prison ministry and newsletter, relating mostly to the violent white Aryan groups, of which there are many, most notably, the Aryan Brotherhood. After Ellison was released from prison, he moved to Elohim City, where he married Millar's granddaughter.
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