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Norm Olson's store in Alanson, Michigan, sells two items: guns and King James Bibles. The 48-year-old father of three has been removed as head of the Michigan Militia and pastor of Calvary Baptist Church because of views he expressed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing April 19. Yet Olson is still involved in the militia and the pulpit. He recently preached in an auction barn in Wolverine, Michigan, to 30 militia members wearing fatigues and sitting in folding chairs. "Hey, they need the Lord Jesus Christ," he told CHRISTIANITY TODAY. "One young man received the Lord that day."

As with many state militia members, Olson, who calls himself a "pistol-packin' preacher," defies easy stereotyping. His grandmother was Jewish; he is a dispensational, Calvinistic evangelist and former pastor in the General Association of General Baptists. He served in the U.S. Air Force, then worked as a Christian school principal. But two details are clear: "I am a military man, and God raised me up as a warrior for the Lord," Olson boasts.

The combining of biblical injunctions with this sort of militancy has created widespread concerns and oversimplifications about the religious base of militia organizations. While some militia members subscribe to a twisted, racist gospel (one newsletter suggested bumper stickers to read "Ethnic Cleansing-The Only Way!" and "Speak English or Die"), others appear to embrace a genuine evangelicalism.

As far apart as mainstream evangelicals see themselves from some of the more fanatical elements within the militia, the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing-which occurred on the anniversary of the 1993 Waco conflagration-illustrates that the line between evangelical Armageddon symbolism and that of millennial views distorted by conspiracy and racist theories has been frighteningly blurred.

Timothy McVeigh, charged in the bombing that killed 167 people in Oklahoma City, fits the profile of a right-wing extremist. He had served in the U.S. Army, become familiar with citizen militia groups, and been angered by the federal raid on Waco that left more than 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious sect dead.

FAITH AND FIREPOWER: The mixing of faith with firepower has a long history. Olson notes that some Christian preachers served as members of America's first militias, which helped overthrow British rule during the American revolution.

Michael Barkun, professor of political science at Syracuse University in New York and an authority on right-wing millennial groups, says that a significant proportion of today's militia groups use "religious symbols." He says there are religious underpinnings in many cases, but not a universally held belief system.

Randy Bytwerk, an expert on propaganda who is a communications professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says manipulation of religious symbols in militias "allows members to feel like they are still holding on to the Christian faith, but the content is no longer Christian. It sounds like they are saying the same thing." For outsiders, it can be difficult to tell the difference between orthodox Christian teachings and the militias' belief systems.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that the groups themselves may hold some beliefs in common, but they may dramatically disagree on other beliefs.

Among the subgroups are:

* Christian Identity and Aryan Nations. These are white supremacist groups tracing their origins to British Israelism's doctrine that whites are the true Israelites who migrated to North America, the new Promised Land. They advocate armed provocation against a government now seen as satanic.

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June 19 1995, Vol. 39, No. 7