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HISTORY 1976 - Ellison bought a 220 acre farm from Campus Crusade for Christ in Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas. The community was named Zarephath (the city to which God ordered Elijah to move for testing)-Horeb (the mountain to which Moses moved during the exodus from Egypt). 1978 - Ellison had a vision of the collapse of the American economic system and social devastation. 1978 – Already located in a remote area, the group began to isolate itself, "Coming Out of Babylon” 1982 - Group size was reduced to from 100 to 70. 1982 - Ellison proclaimed himself "King James of the Ozarks" 1982 - CSA issued its "Declaration of Non-Surrender" 1983 – 1985 CSA began a series of violent activities. 1985 (March) - The FBI suspected that several federal fugitives had taken refuge at the CSA (including one who had killed a police officer). 1985 (April 20) – 200 FBI, BATF, and state/local law enforcement officers raided the CSA community and seized weapons and potassium cyanide (which was intended to poison drinking water in several cities to expedite the return of the Messiah). After protracted negotiations over four days, CSA members surrendered peacefully. 1985 (September) – CSA leaders were convicted of weapons and RICO (racketeering) charges and sentenced to long federal prison. 1995 – Ellison was released from prison in return for court testimony against members of the Aryan Brotherhood. He moved to Elohim City (A Christian Identity community formed by Robert Millar in 1973) and married Millar's granddaughter, 26 year-old Angie who was pregnant with his child. 1995 (April 19) – Snell was executed hours after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City and on the 1993 anniversary date of the federal raid on the Branch Davidians. Snell's remains were turned over to Elohim City. MYTH • Belief in the oneness of God Faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God • Belief in the "Born Again" experience, including the Pentecostal gifts of healing and speaking in tongues • Faith that God is about to visit a wrathful judgment on the earth in these, the Last Days. Christian Identity Background • Christian Identity traces to 17th century America. Puritans saw themselves as the New Israel confronting the wilderness just as the Israelites had. They understood themselves as destined to realized God's design for humanity. • Anglo-Israelism (British-Israelism) is a theological belief that the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Scandinavian, Germanic and associated cultures are the racial descendants of the tribes of Israel. Americans and Canadians therefore are the descendants of the ancient Israelites of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). • British Israelism emerged in the mid-19th century. It ultimately attracted about 5,000 proponents. • British Israelism became more popular in the U.S. as the Identity Christian Movement Christian Identity Doctrine Two-seedline adherents believe that Jews are genetically compelled by their Satanic ancestry to carry on a conspiracy against the Adamic seedline and today have achieved almost complete control of the earth through their illegitimate claim to the white race's status as God's chosen people. • “Two-seedliner Theory” - The biblical book of Genesis records two creations • Blacks and other non-whites are pre-Adamite peoples. They are servant races, halfway between apes and humans Christian Identity Millennialism • The world is going to end of the world and will be followed by the Second Coming of Christ. • The Endtime events are part of a cleansing process that is needed before Christ's kingdom can be established on earth. • The Jewish people are descendants of Satan. • During the Endtime, Jews and their allies will attempt to destroy whites. There will be a violent struggle between God's forces, the white race, and the forces of evil, the Jews and nonwhites. Millions will die. • Armageddon and they will be the last line of defense for the white race and Christian America. • It is important to follow the Mosaic law of the Old Testament (e.g. dietary restrictions, the Saturday Sabbath, certain annual festivals such as Passover.) and to use the original Hebrew names when referring to God (Yahweh) and Jesus Christ (Yahshua). • The U.S. (ZOG, for Zionist Occupied Government) is completely corrupt and is nearing economic collapse, famine, riots, and war. • The Messiah's return can be hastened by killing sinners, "mud people" and Jews. James Ellison's 1978 vision of impending devastation • There would be a great tribulation (fire, famine, earthquakes, pestilence) • Parent would eat their own children • Gangs from cities would invade the countryside • Millions would die • CSA's mission was to establish an "Ark for God's people" (whites) as a refuge in the imminent race war. The 1982 "Declaration of Non-Surrender" • Statements of belief in the Bible as the "inspired (though not necessarily perfect) Word of God" • Belief in the oneness of God • Faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God • Faith that "the white race" is the Israel race of God and is the superior race on this earth" • Belief in the "Born Again" experience, including the Pentecostal gifts of healing and speaking in tongues • Belief that God is actively saving a remnant of the (White) nations, or, in Identity parlance, the nations or tribes of Biblical Israel • Faith that God is about to visit a wrathful judgment on the earth in these, the Last Days
Significance of the group's name: CSA was loosely affiliated with Aryan Nations, The Order, and the Militia of Montana. CSA supported the American Christian Patriot Movement. CSA was administered by James Ellison, Kerry Noble, and a Council of Elders. Ellison expanded his prophetic authority in 1982, declaring himself the reincarnation of King David and that he was sinless and invincible. He became "King James of the Ozarks." Ellison took a second wife (Annie) in addition to Ollie Ellison who had born six children. Robert Millar, founder of Elohim City (1973), served as a spiritual advisor to James Ellison. To prepare for impending Endtime events, CSA engaged in survivalist and paramilitary training, storing foodstuffs and supplies, raisin its own vegetables and animals for food, creating its own water and electrical supplies, and caching weapons and ammunition. CSA produced grenades, silencers, and other firearm accessories for sale at gun shows. It also operated a saw mill and salvage business CSA also accumulated a large cache of weapons, including a variety of military weapons. Weapons sales were held under the auspices of the National Rifle Association CSA constructed Silhousette City, modeled after the FBI's training center at Quantico, Virginia. Followers tend to be involved in political movements opposing gun control, equal rights to gays and lesbians, and militia movements. CSA operated the Endtime Overcomer Survival Training School, which offered instruction in urban warfare, weapons use, and military tactics. After it was established, CSA began targeting local and federal agents. CSA assassins would monitor the homes of their targets and actually practice mock assassinations of the targets with scoped rifles and practiced attacks in a mock community, “ Silhouette City.” The group progressively withdrew from conventional society and radicalized (1980-1985) 1980 - The Identity and Racial Elect ideas were incorporated. 1983 - Ellison delivered the closing address at the Aryan World Congress (Annual Summer Conference and Nigger Shoot) and announced that the death of tax protestor Gordon Kahl at the hands of the FBI was a call to arms. 1982 - CSA acquired cyanide to be place in urban reservoirs to poison residents at judgment time. 1983 - Criminal activity commenced and was intended to encourage revolution and establishment of an all-white state.. 1983 -Following an Aryan Nations conference, CSA leaders set fires/explosions at an Bloomington, Indiana synagogue (minor damage) and a Metropolitan Community Church in Springfield, Missouri church (failed) as well as attempting to bomb a natural gas pipeline in Arkansas (failed), developed a plan to blow up the Oklahoma City Federal Building.. 1983 - Plundering Egypt took the form of shoplifting, auto theft, and planning robberies 1983 - CSA member Richard Snell killed the proprietor of a pawnshop in Texarkana on the assumption he was Jewish Several CSA members developed a plan to assassinate the judge, U.S. Attorney, and federal law enforcement agent who prosecuted associates of Gordon Kahl. A snowstorm derailed the plot. 1984 – CSA member Richard Snell shot and killed an African-American Arkansas state trooper, Louis Bryant, after a traffic stop and was charged with murder. Snell was also linked to the murder of a Jewish pawn shop owner in 1981. CSA members attempted to kill FBI special agent Jack Knox, the lead agent assigned to investigate the group, as well a federal prosecutor and federal judge who led the investigation of Gordon Kahl, a tax protester and member of The Posse Comitatus.
Most Christian denominations and organizations denounce Christian Identity as heresy and condemn the use of the Christian Bible as a basis for promoting anti-Semitism. The Jewish community denounced CSA over its overt anti-Semitism. The U.S. government regarded CSA as a threat to law and order and as engaged in criminal and subversive activity.
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