The Covenant, the Sword, the Arm of the Lord was an organization active in the United States during the 70s & 80's. They had formed out of a church congregation, becoming a reclusive survivalist community and leading to the activities that one expects form sure a group. They eventually stopped paying the mortgage on the property they were occupying, leading to them conducting armed patrols to delay eviction.
After a string of activities that brought the attention of the Federal Government, the CSA's compound was surrounded and on 19 April 1985 was subject to a siege in a style that would be similar to the now infamous 1995 Waco siege.
According to Kery Noble, a former member of the CSA, they believed that other groups would arrive to give them support and that they would receive some form of divine intervention. When these did not manifest and it became apparent that an open engagement would be futile, the CSA surrendered to the FBI.
We must learn from mistakes of the past, or they will keep being made.
