Militia's rapture, Bible scriptures simply don't jibe

04-16-2011 • Anchorage Daily News

The godfather of Alaska's growing militia movement is Commander-Pastor Norman Olson of Nikiski. Olson is pastor of the Freedom Baptist Church and a commander in the Alaska Citizens Militia. Formerly, he founded the Michigan Militia infamous because Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, attended at least a few of its meetings and Olson reportedly counseled McVeigh before he was executed. So when Fairbanks militia members including Shaeffer Cox were indicted on weapons charges and two others on conspiracy to murder a judge and two state troopers, it was natural I would invite Olson and his lieutenant, Ray Southwell, to speak to my anthropology of religion class at Kenai Peninsula College to try to figure out what makes the militia tick. Their message is that the world is in trouble bordering on chaos. They target two problems: corporate power supported by a complicit government.