Never Surrender, Become 'Kingdom Warriors'

Never Surrender, Become 'Kingdom Warriors'
General William G. "Jerry" Boykin, a retired three-star General, speaks out about his journey to the crossroads of faith and freedom and his views about the 'End Times'

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

INDIAN WELLS. CA (ANS) -- 1978, Jerry Boykin joined what would become the world's premier Special Operations unit, Delta Force. The only promise he was given at the time was "A medal and a body bag."

Jerry Boykin (Photo by Dan Wooding)

What followed, according to his book, Never Surrender (written with Lynn Vincent), "was a .50 caliber in the chest and a life spent with America's elite forces bringing down warlords and war criminals, despots and dictators."

In Colombia, his task force hunted down the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. In Panama, he helped capture the brutal dictator Manuel Noriega.

In October 1993, Boykin was in command of the Delta Force tracking down militia leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Somalia, during which time the infamous Battle of Mogadishu took place. Boykin recalled seeing a truck pull up to the US base near Mogadishu airport filled with bodies: "I watched that tailgate open and I watched the blood of my soldiers pour out of that truck like water," he said.

Manuel Noriega after his capture

Wikipedia reports, "Shortly after, Boykin was wounded in a mortar attack on the compound. The Hollywood movie 'Black Hawk Down,' which depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, inexplicably omits Boykin's role as mission commander."

Boykin eventually became commander of all U.S. Army Special Forces and after 36 years of service, which included a period with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), he retired in 2007, serving his last four years as the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.

So with a background like that, the last place I expected to see this warrior was on the opening night of the Festival of Life Coachella Valley (Friday, April 9, 2010) where he was to give his testimony before Pastor Mike MacIntosh preached.

So, in an exclusive interview, I asked him why he agreed to speak at the festival and he replied, "I came here to be with Mike MacIntosh and to speak for a few minutes about the importance of putting our trust in Jesus Christ through all situations and all times."

He went on to say, "I am one of those people who, my years in the military, has lived through some very difficult circumstances during. I've been shot; I've been hit with a mortar; I've seen men die, and through all of that, my faith has actually been strengthened, not weakened, and I have learned that in the most difficult of times there is only one way to go and that is to turn towards Christ for strength, for comfort, and for revival."

I then asked Boykin, as a student of world history, did he believe that we are getting closer to the "End Times" when Jesus will return to this earth.

Dan Wooding interviews the General

"Yes, Dan, unquestionably we are getting closer to the 'End times.' There are a couple of things that we ought to focus on. One is Christ told his disciples that during this time when we would see wars and rumors of wars and great pestilences and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom. He also said 'and before all of this, you'll be taken before kings and rulers and you'll be persecuted in my name', and I think we all realize that Christians are persecuted today in America at an unprecedented level.

"The second thing we need to recognize is that, as we look at the events that are described in Ezekiel thirty-eight and thirty-nine as well as the book of Revelation, we are seeing the alliances starting to form like Russia and Iran and we're seeing things like Turkey coming back into an alliance with Iran and all of those things portend that the end is coming soon.

"I would say that this is a time when we, as the Body of Christ [The Church], needs to be doing all we can to prepare ourselves, and everyone that we come in contact with, for a time when the skies will split and the trumpet will sound and Jesus will be here."

Did he believer that the Russians will eventually invade Israel?

"I don't think there's any question that they'll eventually invade Israel," he said firmly. "That is scriptural. They will be in the valley of Megiddo and they will be part of a coalition there where they will ultimately be destroyed."

Book cover

I then shared with the General that back in the early 90s, I was working as a writer with Billy Graham for his historic Moscow crusade, and a Russian General, who had recently given his life to Christ, kept asking Mr. Graham the same question which was, "The Bible says that 'thou shalt not kill' so how can I, as a soldier continue, if I have to kill people?"

I asked Boykin how he would have responded to that question.

"I would have said, 'You need to read the Bible, first of all, in the language it was written in and the Hebrew translation is 'thou shalt not murder'. There is a major difference between the concept of killing and the concept of murdering."

He then said, "Now the second point that I would make is this: as Jesus was about to go to Calvary, and knowing that He would no longer be with these eleven men that he had discipled, Jesus said to them, 'As I've sent you out without a script, without a cloak, have you ever wanted for anything?' And they said, 'No Lord, nothing'. And He said in essence, 'Now that I am going to leave you and you're going to be here to build my Church now, I say to you if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'

"That was not a metaphor. What Jesus was saying was not that you will build my Kingdom, but you will build my Church with the sword.. What I believe that He was saying was in 'building My Kingdom, you will be attacked you will have to fight physical battles at times'. And remember, eleven of those disciples were martyred for their faith."

The General continued by saying, "So I believe that God created America to be a beacon of light in a dark world and I don't believe that He gave Christians believers in Jesus Christ a pass on defending this nation. I believe that he gave us a task to help defend this nation and war always means death."

General Boykin then spoke about his ministry today.

Mike MacIntosh greets the General backstage at the Festival of Life

"My ministry is called Kingdom Warriors and you can find it at http://kingdomwarriors.net," he said. "Our focus is to help believers in Christ to understand the concept of spiritual warfare understand that we're in a spiritual battle every single day and we wish to help equip them to fight this spiritual war that we're in."

With that, the General headed off to the main event at the festival and was soon sharing his testimony with the enrapt audience of some 9,000 people. After he had spoken and Mike MacIntosh had preached a Gospel message, there was an amazing response with 200 mainly young people running to the front of the stage to pray the sinner's prayer with the preacher.

And now the General is hoping that each one of them will become "Kingdom Warriors" - like himself.

Note: I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press thi s link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released "God's Ambassadors in Japan" which is available at amazon.com.

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