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ALBUQUERQUE — Thousands who turned out and tuned in this past weekend to a Calvary of Albuquerque “Alert!” conference heard a former terrorist and retired Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin warn in stark terms of what they described as the impending danger of radical Islam and jihadists “from within” the United States.
Back-to-back talks by Boykin and trained-terrorist-turned-Christian evangelist Kamal Saleem complemented and reinforced each other, with the Army combat veteran urging Christians not to sit back as observers of the “end times,” but to get involved –- both politically and spiritually.
While not saying for whom congregants should vote, Boykin advised, “Start by registering and going down and getting involved in this election. This election matters.
“Radical Islam … is the greatest threat we’ve ever faced and it can destroy this nation.”
Rose Chavez, administrative assistant to Assistant Pastor Chip Lusko, told NMI an estimated 3,000 people attended the conference, which was also broadcast over KNKT 107.1, one of the church’s two radio stations. Calvary’s ministry reaches more than 14,000 adults and their children, according to church literature.
The near-day-long event, entitled “Alert! Prophecy Update,” was open to the public and also featured American Idol singer/songwriter Chris Sligh and Tim LaHaye, author of the enormously popular “Left Behind” book series, among others.
“Alert! The fulfillment of biblical prophecies is imminent. How will you respond?” the advance flier for the event asked with a sense of urgency.
Calvary Senior Pastor Skip Heitzig told congregants the church decided to offer the conference at no charge -– “You need to know what these men have to say” –- and he urged attendees to spread the speakers’ message to others.
It was apparent the event was held as education for the upcoming elections. But no endorsements were made.
The closest Saleem got to discussing politics Saturday was saying that God asks believers, “Who do you trust in your country? Who do you elect? Who do you vote for? It is very important to rise up in our belief. … We cannot be weenies. Jesus was not a weenie.”
Boykin, who is now a professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, also spoke at Legacy Church of Albuquerque last month as part of a “voting Christian values” event that featured actor Stephen Baldwin, but has said in interviews that he will not make endorsements.
He did make positive references Saturday to two Republican figures, Ronald Reagan (for ending the Cold War) and Newt Gingrich (for his comment that when the nuclear holocaust comes Americans will give up their civil liberties willingly and freely).
On the other hand, Saleem’s only reference to political figures could be construed as negative toward the GOP. After offering lengthy background and anecdotes about the violent side of Islam, he singled out President Bush and Condoleezza Rice for having described Islam as the “religion of peace.”
Heitzig prefaced his introduction of Boykin and Saleem by saying many of today’s current events were predicted by prophets. “Jesus said: Beware of the days when Jerusalem is surrounded by enemies,” he said, adding, “No one knows when the next incident will be the trip wire” for massive conflict.
A member of the original Delta Force special operations unit, Boykin’s more than 36-year military career stretches from Vietnam to his last post as deputy assistant secretary of defense, overseeing intelligence gathered in Afghanistan and Iraq. He hunted the drug lord Pablo Escobar in Colombia, helped capture dictator Manuel Noriega in Panama and had roles in Grenada and Somalia, the latter operations of which were immortalized in the book and film “Black Hawk Down.”
He attracted media attention and was publicly criticized in 2003, however, for comments he made before a church congregation in recounting the capture of a Somalian warlord. His comment:
“I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”
Outside the Albuquerque event, Boykin said he wrote his book, “Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom” to explain his side of that dust-up. He said he could not address the media’s claims while still in uniform.
However, he was clear, during his remarks at Calvary, that as a 36-year defender of the Constitution he believes fully in the First Amendment freedoms of religion and speech:
“I believe every Muslim in this country should be allowed to worship as they please –- until they cross the line.”
That line is the crossover to becoming a jihadist and Boykin said, “I will fight those people until I draw my last breath.”
Fifteen years ago, Boykin was in Mogadishu, Somalia, when the bodies of U.S. servicemen were dragged and desecrated; eight Americans killed during the Iran-hostage crisis had been similarly treated in 1980. “What kind of people would do that?” he asked, then answered, “People who are controlled by a demonic spirit.”
As one who tried to rescue hostages taken in Tehran in 1978, Boykin said he is convinced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the hostage-takers. If Ahmadinejad fires a nuclear weapon upon Israel and the United States, even if such devastation is returned, “He wins. He’s been a fanatic since he was 10 years old.”
Both Boykin and Saleem issued dire warnings about the infiltration of radical Islam into America and the rest of the world. “Islam is the only religion in the world that allows killing by law,” said Saleem, a former Muslim who said he was trained to infiltrate Israel as a terrorist at the age of 7 and eventually came to America to gain Muslim converts.
The two men’s talks, while separate, hit on parallel themes:
Saleem said Muslims who immigrate bring with them Islam’s Sharia law, which supersedes any local constitution and “eventually … will take over.” Those who bombed a British subway were British born, Boykin noted. “They don’t identify with England” and “they don’t identify with Pakistan –- they identify with Islam.”
While America drinks (alcohol) and sleeps, “Islam is coming to abrogate our world because they believe they’re the final religion,” Saleem said.
Boykin said more than 100 million of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are jihadists who wake up every day with a desire to destroy infidels. “They’re right here among us, they’re in our cities. I’m not talking about Muslims; I’m talking about jihadists.”
“What I fear the most is our tolerance in the name of multiculturalism,” Boykin said. “Complacency is a dangerous attitude. Jihadists intend to subjugate the entire world to Islam.”
Saleem said the current invasion is also economic. Lobbyists are armed with $30 billion to “advance Islam in the United States,” by buying churches and replacing crosses with crescents facing Mecca, he said. “If they can’t hit our towers any more, they will buy us,” he said, noting that Muslim money has bought landmarks like New York’s Chrysler Building and part ownership of U.S. media like Fox News. “They’re about to purchase your stock exchange,” he said.
Sharia banking, which is practiced outside the world’s normal banking channels according to Islamic law, is expanding its influence. Saleem said someday no one will be able to bank unless they have “the mark” –- “and it will look like 666.”
According to an article published a year ago on the Web site Bankers Online, Islamic financial institutions are a $180-billion-a-day industry worldwide:
In 1975 there was one Islamic bank; today there are over 300 in more than 75 countries. … Many Islamic countries are investing in large infrastructure projects, creating more than a trillion dollars in investments.
According to an article last month by Reuters:
The $1 trillion Islamic finance industry is growing 10-15 percent a year mainly because of a deluge of Middle East oil money.
Boykin said that because of their higher birthrate, Muslims will dominate Europe by mid-century.
Currently, 150 million to 180 million Muslims worldwide believe that those who don’t believe in Allah must die, Saleem said. From “the other side of the world,” Saleem said he looked at Christian Americans “as people I hate and people I wanted to kill.”
Among the half-dozen items he had for sale at Calvary to help spread that message was the Clarion Fund DVD — “Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West” — a one-hour edition of which was distributed across the nation this past week in mailings and as newspaper inserts.
Saleem described how his own transformation from terrorist to Christian resulted when he was seriously injured in a 1985 car wreck and received unfathomable assistance from a series of Christians -– from the man who rescued him from the side of the road to the doctor to the physical therapist and the family that took him in while he recuperated, a family that included Christian children who called him “Uncle Kamal.”
Saleem said he was trained to shoot jets, mix chemicals, invade the world, “to fight every giant –- but this giant of love was so pure he captured me with his little hands.”
Boykin shared his own story by describing the horrors of war and losing fellow servicemen, saying that when he prayed to God for an explanation he heard a voice that said, “If there is no God, there is no Hope.”
To the audience Saturday, he said to thunderous applause that, “If there is a God, He’s the only hope.
“He’s the only one who can save this nation. We are His army.”
Boykin described the threat of these times as a “spiritual war” that can only be fought by “the body of Christ –- the people in this audience today. The body of Christ is going to have to come together as an army to defeat this … using the power we have through the foundation of faith.”
