Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

128 • THE COVENANT, THE SWORD, AND THE ARM OF THE LORDand intended to shelter its members through the tribulations of theapocalyptic end times, which they believed were at hand. In 1976the commune relocated near Bull Shoals, Arkansas, and in 1978 Ellisonembraced the Identity Christianity creed and affiliated his groupwith the Aryan Nations. The commune created its own militia, TheCovenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, set up an automaticweaponsshop, and ran a survivalist-commando training camp usedby survivalists and members of groups affiliated with the AryanNations. The gun shop supplied the modified MAC-10 machine gunlater used by The Order to assassinate Denver radio talk-show hostAlan Berg. The commune also ran a press that marketed IdentityChristianity literature.In August 1983 CSA members firebombed the Metropolitan CommunityChurch in Springfield, Missouri, and a Jewish communitycenter in Bloomington, Indiana. In November 1983, CSA membersrobbing a Texarkana pawnshop murdered the owner, believing himto be Jewish. In June 1984 a CSA member, Richard W. Snell, killeda black Arkansas state highway patrolman. Later Snell was convictedfor the murders of the Texarkana pawnbroker and the Arkansas highwaypatrolman and sentenced to death. Apparently his execution on19 April 1995 was one of the reasons that Timothy McVeigh plannedto bomb the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City the verysame day. Following the crackdown by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) on The Order in December 1984, the FBI capturedDavid Tate, an Order member, en route to the CSA compound. On23 April 1985 a combined force of FBI commandos, Missouri andArkansas state police, and National Guardsmen stormed the CSAcompound. After two days of negotiations, CSA members besiegedwithin the compound surrendered themselves along with the wantedOrder members Randall Evans and Thomas Bentley. Jim Ellison wasarrested and convicted on racketeering charges and also for conspiracyto manufacture, possess, and distribute illegal firearms.When raided by the FBI, Zarephath-Horeb held around 200 men,women, and children. Since 1982 the commune had gone into decline.As the commune proved unable to support itself economically, Ellisonhad sanctioned car thefts and robberies to make mortgage paymentson the commune property. Claiming to obey special divine revelations,Ellison also began to practice polygamy, taking followers’ wives to behis own. These practices disgusted many members who left Ellison