In 1978 james ellison had another vision he was

In 1978, James Ellison had another vision. He was convinced the American economy
and the government would soon collapse and chaos reign across the country. Ellison
relayed this message to the community, and soon the compound began stockpiling for the
Apocalypse, including weapons, ammunition, supplies, and, eventually, a five-year
supply of food and water.
From August 1978 to December 1979, the church spent $52,000 on weapons,
ammunition, and military equipment. Members began military training. Weapons of
choice included 9mm, .38- and .45-caliber pistols; Ruger-10 .22-caliber rifles; Mini-14
God told him “to establish
a
some 40 miles from the nearest town. He called his Pentecostal church community
Zarephath-Horeb, a biblical reference to the Prophet Elijah’s place of refuge during
Terrorism Research Center in Fulbright College
21

University of Arkansas
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wrote in his book, Tabernacle of Hate: Why They Bombed Oklahoma
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Kerry Noble
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erneath. Those that didn’t usually had a foxhole bunker nearby. We aggressively
began to store ammunition, food and clothing.”
The community embraced the Christian Identity movement. In meetings and
conferences with other religious communities and right-wing lecturers, the Zarephath
Horeb church found a completely new direction to lead them (See Christian Identity
movement in Appendix 1. Zarephath adopted this right-wing religious ideology, and
their daily activities changed; members all but ceased their church services and Bible
studies, instead going to gun show
Under Ellison’s direction, the church needed to prepare for the inevitable war
would occur between survivalist Christian Identity groups like their own and the
American government, a government that would ultimately subvert the basic inherent
rights in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Soon thereafter, Ellison decided their church should have a name that would
symbolize their paramilitary function. The church community known as Zarephath-
Horeb became the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. According to Ellison:
“The Covenant speaks of all the covenants of God from Adam to Christ and
especially of the covenants He has made with us in this last hour…The Sword speaks of
all judgments of God from the time of the Garden, but especially of the coming judgment
upon America. The Arm is those people whom (sic) God will use to administer the final
end-time judgment. And we are part of that people.”
The Zarephath-Horeb Church, once a small, tight-knit community of Christians
embraced the ideas of returning America to its Christian roots, to “hasten the return of
Messiah by ‘carrying out God’s judgments’ against unrepentant sinners,” to overthrow