The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a survivalist organization active during the 1970s and early 1980s. Its origins date to 1971, when James Ellison founded a Baptist congregation called the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church in Pontiac, Missouri.
In 1976, Ellison purchased a 224-acre property along Bull Shoals Lake in Marion County, Arkansas, from the Campus Crusade for Christ. Members referred to the site as “The Farm,” and it became the center of a growing communal settlement. Over time, the group moved away from its initial identity as a religious congregation and developed into a more militant organization.
During the late 1970s, the group’s theology shifted toward Christian Identity, an ideology rooted in white supremacist beliefs. Ellison drew influence from established figures in the movement including Richard Butler of Aryan Nations and Robert Miles of the Mountain Church of Jesus Christ the Savior. With their guidance, Ellison reorganized the CSA along paramilitary lines in preparation for what members believed would be an impending apocalyptic conflict. The organization viewed the U.S. government as a “Zionist Occupied Government” and believed the compound would function as a refuge for white Christians during the end times.
By June 1982, the CSA had reached its peak membership of about 120 individuals. The compound was reinforced with bunkers, a 95-foot defensive tower, and perimeter markers intended to assist armed sentries. Members were organized into four-person fire teams and trained through the “End Time Overcomer Survival Training School,” which focused on weapons use, urban combat, and survival skills. A select unit used advanced weaponry, including suppressed firearms. To supply these efforts and provide arms to affiliated groups, CSA armorer Kent Yates converted semi-automatic rifles into illegal automatic weapons and produced silencers.
Internal divisions surfaced in 1982 when the group’s military commander Randall Rader left to join the more overtly revolutionary white-supremacist group The Order. His departure followed a disagreement over Ellison’s attempt to take a second wife and led to the exit of nearly 30 members. Despite the loss of personnel and financial difficulties that resulted in a bank foreclosure in 1983, the CSA continued to escalate its activities.
In July 1983, the group issued a manifesto titled “Aryan Tactical Treaty for the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom” (A.T.T.A.C.K.), which declared war on the U.S. government. This was followed by criminal actions, including an unsuccessful attempt by members William Thomas, Richard Wayne Snell, and Steven Scott to destroy a natural gas pipeline in Arkansas.
Law enforcement attention intensified after Snell was arrested for the murders of a Black police officer and a pawn shop owner. Investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the FBI uncovered a substantial weapons cache at the compound, including 94 long guns, C-4 explosives, and a light anti-tank rocket. Authorities also determined that the group had surveilled potential assassination targets and conducted training exercises in a mock residential complex known as “Silhouette City.”
These findings led to a federal operation on April 19, 1985, which would coincidentally be the same day of the year as the 1993 Waco conflagration. Approximately 300 FBI and ATF agents surrounded the compound. During a three-day standoff, Ellison consulted with his spiritual adviser and later met with U.S. Attorney Asa Hutchinson. On the fourth day, the group surrendered without gunfire.
Following the surrender, the CSA ceased to function as an organization. In September 1985, Ellison, Kerry Noble, and other senior members received lengthy prison sentences on racketeering and weapons charges. Ellison was sentenced to 20 years but was released in 1987 after agreeing to testify as a government witness in a federal sedition trial against other white supremacist leaders in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although the defendants were acquitted, the proceedings effectively dismantled the CSA.
After his release, Ellison relocated to Elohim City, a community established by Millar, where he lived until his death in 2021. Richard Wayne Snell was sentenced to death and executed on April 19, 1995, 10 years to the day after the start of the 1985 operation. This was the same day as the Oklahoma City bombing, another coincidence that later drew attention as a symbolic connection between the CSA era and subsequent waves of domestic extremism.
Key Sources:
Froelich, J. (2015, March 18). The “Covenant, sword, and arm of the Lord.” KUAF.com.
Loftis, H. & Raycraft, S. (2025, April 19). Retracing Our Roots: The Rise and fall of the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. KTLO.com.
Ostmeyer, A. (2001, January 5). A new way to hate. The Joplin Globe.
United Press International. (1985, September 5). The leader of the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord…
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