Are U.S. Christians talking about armed opposition to the Obama administration?
Retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin said people are asking him if they need to take up arms against the government.
“Everywhere I go people come up and ask me, ‘When do we take up arms?'” said Boykin, speaking in late December at a conference sponsored by MorningStar Publications and Ministries.
“And my answer is always the same,” he continued. “You don’t. You don’t take up arms. You use what our Founding Fathers gave us, the constitutional rights they gave us.”
MorningStar Publications and Ministries was founded in 1985 by Rick and Julie Joyner. The organization is headquartered at Morningstar Fellowship Church in Fort Mill, S.C., and follows in the tradition of biblical prophecy.
“America is at a critical point in our history,” said Boykin, who identifies himself as both an ordained minister and a “watchman” similar to the one referenced in the biblical book of Ezekiel.
“We are in a greater crisis today than we ever were in the Cold War,” said Boykin. “We are at a point where either America is going to disintegrate altogether or we’re going to move forward and reap a great harvest. It is really up to us… Nothing else can save America but the church.”
Boykin, the former deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, said that Islam had already taken over England and the entire European continent, implying that the United States was at similar risk.
“We are losing our identity,” said Boykin. “We are losing our identity and that identity is the Judeo-Christian base upon which America was founded.”
The U.S. Department of Defense found in 2004 that Boykin had violated its policies when he told church groups the war against terrorism was a conflict between Judeo-Christian values and Satan. Boykin spoke to 23 church groups over a two-year period.
“Why do they hate us? Why do they hate us so much?” Boykin asked an Oregon congregation about Islamic terrorists in June 2003. “Ladies and gentlemen, the answer to that is because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian.”
He also spoke at First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., where he said his God was the real God and bigger than Allah, an idol, which explained why he was able to capture an Islamic warlord.
Bobby Welch, the church’s pastor and a president of the Southern Baptist Convention, accused Boykin’s critics of backstabbing a “brave, good man.”
Boykin has more recently accused the Obama administration of being part of a Marxist insurgency. He gave a video presentation, titled “Marxism in America,” on MorningStarTV.com on Oct. 24, 2010.
“I’m a Special Forces officer, I’m a Green Beret,” said Boykin. “And I’ve studied Marxist insurgency. It was part of my training. And the things that I know that have been done in every Marxist insurgency are being done in America today.”
He identified the financial bailouts, health care reform, gun control by the United Nations and hate-crime legislation targeted at pastors as evidence of a Marxist insurgency.
“I’ve never been so angry with my government as when the Department of Homeland Security memorandum went around to law enforcement … saying that the future threats to America were right-wing Christian groups, pro-life groups, second amendment groups and returning veterans. I’m still angry about that. But it never said Islamic terrorists,” said Boykin.
He identified such a memorandum as another example of Marxist insurgency, a tactic to discredit their opposition.
“Prior to the election, the president stood up and said that if elected he would have a national civilian security force that would be as large as and as well equipped as the United States military,” said the retired general, noting that another sign of a Marxist insurgency was a force to control the population.
Boykin asked if there was evidence for a takeover of America. “Well, the truth is yes,” he answered.
“If you read the health care legislation … it is actually in the health care legislation,” said Boykin. “There are paragraphs in the health care legislation that talk about the commissioning of officers in time of a national crisis to work directly for the president. It’s laying the groundwork for constabulary force that will control the population in America … This is happening in America … It fits the model … when societies moved to Marxism.”
And in a February presentation on MorningStarTV.com, Boykin linked Marxism and Islam.
Boykin said the formerly Christian nation – Egypt – had been taken over by Muslims and that Islam and Marxism share a similar theology.
“Marxism and Islam run parallel up to a point,” said Boykin. “They have essentially the same theology.”
“Would a Marxist Islamic government be better than what they have in Egypt today?” asked Boykin. “In my mind, it would not.”