Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin - Liberty University Convocation

thank you all thank you very much thank you thank you all very much god bless you thank you thank you god bless you and I want to thank your Chancellor for giving me the opportunity to be here with you and as well as the board and it's a wonderful honor and pleasure to be with you today particularly on this very special time when we we remember our veterans the men and women that have served this nation in uniform and by the way I see we have a Marine over here so since tomorrow is the marine birthday happy birthday to the Marine Corps ok and I just want to let you know that when I saw you over there in uniform I immediately went back and took all the big words out of my presentation okay alright I'm a I'm a special forces guy and I must tell you that the only people that have a reputation for not being too bright are the Marines and the Special Forces so I'm going to tell you a story about the special forces guy we had this Special Forces noncommissioned officer that wanted to go to OCS so he went to see his captain his captain said yeah go study all weekend when you come back in on Monday I'll give you a test to see if you can get into the Officer Candidate School so he got all his Special Forces team mates together and they all started studying and they studied hard all weekend and his team mates were coaching them at all and he brought him in Monday morning and the captain really liked this guy and he really wanted him to go to the Officer Candidate School so he thought I'll make it easy on him so he says he says to him listen I said I'm gonna give you one word to spell here and that's gonna be the only thing I'm gonna do on the test and he said oh wow Spelling's not really my strongest suit but go okay go ahead and all his buddies came in and gathered around the walls and the captain thought I'm gonna really make this easy he said spell army oh he started sweating bullets a are he's looking at his buddy and they're going come on come on come on em why and all his buddies looked at the captain and said I'll give him another chance folks I'm going to talk to you today not as students of liberal University and by the way dr. Rodin Heiser it's good to see you again and I think first time I came here was with one of these groups that you brought down here from the DC area so spread is good to see you I'm not gonna talk to you as students at Liberty University and this is a wonderful place I love it here but I'm gonna talk to you about people of faith I'm going to talk to you about as people who have made a commitment to Jesus Christ because I believe today that as we look at our nation and we look at what's happening in our nation the only hope for America is that people of faith will rise up and become the salt and light that God created this nation to be I will tell you that I don't I'm sure I don't have to tell this audience that America is in trouble you see you're all here with great expectations and aspirations for the future but unless we make some substantial changes in America there will be no future certainly not the future that I and these veterans that you've seen around here today have grown up with it is up to us people of faith to rise up like a mighty army to put our faith into action now let me say to you there's probably nobody in this place that has been more criticized by the media than me I'm don't like that I don't I don't wear it as a badge of honor but I also will say that to tell you that there used to be a sign out here and it may still be here which says the politically incorrect University is that still out there but but this is still a politically incorrect University and I am NOT into political correctness so I hope that you will bear with me today and the things that I say yes because they come from the heart they come from what I really believe and my wife and I have decided that because we have six grandchildren that we will spend the rest of our lives trying to ensure that the liberties that we've grown up with our preserves for our grandchildren now I want to remind all of you veterans all of you veterans I want you to stand up all you veterans and active duty people stand up very quickly now this I don't want you to applaud form this what I want you to do I want you to repeat this after me I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion so help me God while you are standing let me remind you that the documents you signed when you've took that obligation when you took that oath there was no expiration date on it and you are expected to continue to support and defend the Constitution of the United States so my charge to you is don't forget your oath god bless you you may be seated ladies and gentlemen I am very concerned about the direction of this nation but my punchline is if we as a nation of believers if we as Christians if we as people who have committed our lives to Jesus Christ will rise up and come together we have nothing to fear in the future there is nothing that can stop us as the Church of Jesus Christ the problem is that in America today we have compromised the gospel of Jesus Christ and if when I talk about having compromised the gospel and I talk about the body of Christ I'm not talking about Liberty University but I'm talking about the church in America the body of Christ in America we have so compromised a gospel let me remind you of this there is only one God there is only one gospel and there is only one way to eternity with God and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ the only hope for America is that we rise up as a mighty army an army of God don't give up on America America will be saved because I believe that Christians are waking up I believe that people of faith are waking up all over this nation but I will tell you it has been slowing company and I think that people are starting to realize that the only hope for America is the Christian Church you have an obligation as a Christian you also have an obligation as an American to stand for your faith you have an obligation to get involved in what's going on in this nation you can't sit on the sidelines anymore too many Christians have set on the church pews and decided that they would let someone else determine the future of this nation you can't do that anymore now you have to put your faith into action and you have to be part of the solution the question is when you leave this university what will you do it's fairly clear what you're going to do while you're here but when you leave this university what are you going to do what are you going to do with your life how you're gonna live your life to make a difference in America these veterans all these people have stood up these that are serving today these that stood up that said I'm a veteran they've committed their lives to service to the nation they've served proudly and they will continue to serve but what about all the rest we have an obligation as Christians to stand in the gap for this nation you know the Bible says seek the welfare of the nation in which God has put you that means that we as Christians have an obligation to get involved in what's going on in this nation do you realize that the liberties that were articulated in the constitution of the United States every one of those liberties came out of a sermon that was preached in the thirteen colonies every one of them the gospel of Jesus Christ had the most important impact on the founding of this nation and today we see a compromise of that gospel all over our nation in 1773 the British coined the term that you're probably familiar with called the black-robe regiment because of the men and black robes that continually influenced the founding fathers of America and those men in black robes were pastors he realized that the Bible was referenced four times more than any other document in the Constitution of the United States or there are people today that are trying to rob us of that identity the identity of the judeo-christian base upon which we were founded but it's a historic fact America was founded on judeo-christian principles and all the historians that try to change that are absolutely wrong do you know that the 56 men that signed that declaration of independence were all men of faith when they walked into Philadelphia on the 2nd of July 1776 and signed their names and drew big targets on their own chests knowing that they would ultimately be executed if they were not successful they would be executed as traitors to the crown of England we were founded on judeo-christian principles and it is important that we keep reminding ourselves of that this was founded by men that believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ the church was the conscience of our society when this nation was founded remember it was the church that brought about the second great awakening that brought an end to slavery it cost us thousands of lives but it was the church that ultimately drove America to rise up against this great evil in our country today we've got Christians that are afraid of being persecuted or criticized by the media by their friends or something else let me tell you something to all of you you better get over that you better get beyond that you've got to get to the point where you understand that you ultimately answer to God not to man not to the media not to the leadership of this nation you answer to God and it is important that we reflect on the fact that we will stand before him one day and give an account it is a time of political correctness that is destroying this nation we worry more about offending someone than we do about spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in America you see these veterans they never went into battle where they didn't respect the enemy but also they never went into battle where they didn't expect to win and I'm saying to you all today we need to all be veterans we need to be veterans in God's army we need to be veterans in an army that is larger than the US Army that is larger than the US military and that's God's army churches today in America concerned about their 501c3 status well let me tell you something that you may not be aware of first of all churches don't need 501c3 and your law school here mat Staver is one that is trying to explain that to churches and pastors all over the nation you don't have to have a 501c3 to begin with and when you look at the history of where that came from what you realize is it was a very nefarious act by a guy named Lyndon Johnson who wanted to punish the church for not supporting him in 1948 when he created this 501c3 and then the church has all jumped on the bandwagon only to realize that there was a fine print there was some fine print that they hadn't read upfront churches are not in need of a 501c3 today the church has lost its a moral authority the church has ceded its authority to the ACLU in code pink and moveon.org an acorn and even today the Occupy Wall Street has anybody in here yet figured out what they want is there anybody that can explain to me what they want I can't figure it out but the church has ceded its authority to these other organizations where the church ought to be the most fundamental influence in America because of political correctness we've seeded that authority to these other organizations it's time for us to come back and take over our country and become the salt and light that God's called us to be as they were as a congress was working through the whole issue of the Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal which would allow homosexuals to serve in our military very openly the guy that led the fight was a guy named John McCain and John McCain kept going to tony perkins at the Family Research Council and saying Tony where's the church where are the spiritual leaders why won't they come along beside me and work with me on this and stand up and speak out on this issue the church has compromised itself so America is losing its identity let me tell you what can happen when this nation loses its identity look at Europe if you look at what's happening in Europe today that all the experts will tell you that by the middle of this century Europe will be an Islamic continent do you realize that Europe will be an Islamic continent and why the reason is because made the same decisions 20 years ago that we're making today in this nation but more importantly Europe lost its identity and that identity was the judeo-christian base upon which those nations were founded if you look at Greece today all the things that are going on in Greece all the riots all the upheaval the fact of the matter is that Gospels were written in Greek because Greece was such an important nation and the language was so important for culture and trade and arts and then all of a sudden the Greeks decided it was not fashionable it was not politically correct to identify themselves as Christians and today less than 8% of the people in Greece identify themselves as regular churchgoers they lost their identity and England has exactly the same problem and if you look at England and all the revivals that came out of England and all the great ministers that came from England and you realise that today in the city of London there are areas that you don't go into unless you're a Muslim they're called Sharia zones well you can't go unless you're a Muslim there are places in France 787 no-go zones in France today where the police and the firefighters don't go because they're controlled by the Imams and what happened in England what happened in England was that they lost their identity because they walked away from their faith because it was no longer fashionable or politically correct to be a Christian and less than 10% of the people in England today are Christians or are professing Christians that go to church on a regular basis you know the same thing is happening in America it's time for us to step up and put our faith into action in fact this whole issue of separation of church and state has been so misconstrued and turned upside down do you realize that there was a man named Hugo black that was a Supreme Court justice that was a member of the Ku Klux Klan who made a ruling in name 18:47 that turned the whole issue of separation of church and state upside down there is no such thing in our constitution as you're well aware but Hugo black wanting to punish the church made this ruling in 1947 the First Amendment was written to protect the church from the government and in 1947 Hugo black turned it upside down and it became a matter of protecting the government from the church we need to get back to our basics today we've got this feel-good gospel all over America we stand up and you smile and you say everything's okay I'm okay you're okay everything's gonna be good God wants you to have the very best of everything you know what God wants you to have God wants you to have a promise of eternity with him if you've committed your life to Jesus Christ but go preach that gospel in Africa where there's a great revival going on but they're just trying to feed their families preach it to the underground church in China where people are coming to Christ in the numbers of about thirty thousand a day if it doesn't hold up in those places then it's not the gospel of Jesus Christ we've got others that have come up with this concept called chrislam how many of you have heard of chrislam it's where pastors are now saying that we all worship the same God so Christianity and Islam worship the same God and they come together and they worship together and they read from the Quran and I read from the Bible and these are big churches and in many cases well-known pastors under this thing they call an interfaith dialog let me tell you something we don't all worship the same God we don't worship the same God at all my my god my god already paid the price for me that I might have the promise of eternity if I accept him the God of Islam is a harsh and brutal God and only Allah can determine where you spend eternity that's not the same God my Jesus was not a prophet my Jesus was the Messiah my Jesus came as the Son of God and now we have churches that are performing same-sex marriage and churches that are supporting abortion and these are supposed to be Christian churches I don't understand how you find any support for that in the gospel of Jesus Christ anywhere in God's Word I don't see where there's any justification for supporting that folks Christians have to rise up in America people of faith have to rise up we're the only hope I want you to think about the fact that Exodus 15:3 says the Lord is what the Lord is a warrior the Lord is his name and in Revelation 19 it says that when Jesus returns he's coming back as a mighty warrior riding on a white horse with a blood-stained robe leading a mighty army Exodus 15:3 the Lord is a warrior revelation 19 he's coming back as a warrior is there not some expectation that we as Christians in the body of Christ will be the Warriors in God's kingdom until he returns we have to be warrior spiritual warriors I'm not talking about taking up arms against our nation every time somebody comes to me and says when do we take up arms I want to knock them out and test my sanctification Chancellor I wanna knock them out you don't take up arms against your own nation but as Christians as the body of Christ we rise up like a mighty army if we begin to be the salt and light that God called us to be God created civil government people say Jesus never got involved in politics so neither will I well let me tell you something Jesus challenged every law of the land Jesus was a warrior Jesus went into the to Jerusalem and challenged everything that they believed there and this nonsense about Christians shouldn't get involved in politics is just that it's nonsense Christians should be taken the lead in politics Christians should be the foundations of our politics because those men that founded this nation were men of faith they were men that believed that Jesus was the Messiah and they were men that believed that God had a purpose and a mission for this new nation that they were created he realised pastors pastors were the dominant influence in the early days how many of you have ever heard of John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg right up here in Woodstock Virginia go up the highway 81 and stop in Woodstock and see his little church he was a man that graduated from his primary education and went to Europe and he spent two years in Europe getting a theological degree he was named John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg because he was the son and the grandson of pastors of theologians of men of the word of God and when he finished his theological degree came back and founded this church in Woodstock Virginia it was the 21st of January 1776 and pastor Muhlenberg went in his church about two hours early all he had was his Bible he sat down in his little office there and he began to read the Word of God and he began to pray and he began to say God what would you have me do and he would read the scripture God what would you have me do and as it came time for the service start pastor Muhlenberg heard a loud noise out in the auditorium there he got up and he put on his robe and he walked out with his Bible in his hand and he walked up to the pulpit and he laid his Bible down and he looked and the place was packed 21st of January 1776 and pastor Muhlenberg saw people standing all around the walls every Pew was filled the pastor Muhlenberg in fact the back doors were open and people were standing outside listening to what pastor Muhlenberg was going to say pastor Muhlenberg opened his Bible to Ecclesiastes 3 and he began to preach there's a season for all things as he came near the end of his sermon he said there's a time for peace and there's a time for war and then he looked up at his audience and pastor Muhlenberg said this he said the Bible tells us there's a time to preach and a time to pray well the time for me to preach has gone away sound the drums and the drummer began to beat the drum out in the back of his church there and it was the drum role of a recruiter for the Continental Army and then pastor Muhlenberg removed his robe to reveal the uniform of a colonel of the 8th Virginia regiment he walked out through the back door and he mounted his horse and he looked at the assembled men there and he said and who among you will fight with me in this cause of Liberty he led 330 men through the Revolutionary War achieving the rank of major-general he was a theologian but he understood that there were times when we had to fight and I am telling you that now is a time that we have to fight not with physical weapons that's the duty of these veterans these active duty people but as Christians we have to fight to save this nation we have to rise it we have to put our faith into action and I'll just tell you if you're not quite there yet in terms of your faith think about it think about it pray about it seek God's will in your life because now is the time when this nation needs you more than ever since the creation of America in 1776 seek the welfare of the nation in which God has put you that means we've got to get off the pews it means we've got to get out and get in the action and we start by doing this we start by praying for America you say well yeah it seems pretty obvious no do you realize how many Christians don't pray for this nation every great revival in America has come out of a prayer of repentance right over here at Hamptons Sidney college there were two boys in the mid-1800s that were out in the woods praying and as the weather got bad they moved into the dormitory and they were making so much noise as they prayed and as they worship God as they sang songs and they sought God's will in their lives the other students went to him and said you got to knock that off in here and they said we're not going to we're seeking God we're seeking God's will in their lives they took him to the Chancellor and said these boys are making noises of disturbing all the other students the Chancellor had brought them in and they said knock it off you've got to stop doing that and they said you can fire us you can kick us out of school but we will not stop seeking the Lord Chancellor didn't know what to do with him so he sent them back to their dormitory and said just tone it down they continued praying and seeking God and finally other students began to go in and listen in to what was happening in their room and then they began to join them and in a great revival broke out right here at Hampton Sidney college a great revival broke out on that campus remember at one time it was a Presbyterian seminary a great revival broke out and people were coming to know Christ as their personal Savior all over that campus because these two young men would not be silenced because they said we are going to continue seeking God and then those young men when they graduated they bought mules and they took their Bibles and they went across the Appalachian Mountains and those two young men became part of the foundation of what we know is the Second Great Awakening as the church began to rise up and there was a great revival in America that as I said earlier ultimately brought in the slavery we need to come before the Lord every day asking that God would forgive us as a nation that God would lead us out of the morass that we've gotten ourselves into and I promise you if America will come together and pray for God to guide and lead this country there is no force in heaven that will stand against us there is no force on earth that will stand against us but God will come behind us and move us forward as a nation the second thing is we need to vote if you don't vote don't ever complain about anything in America I went down yesterday you ought to every one of these veterans has fought that's served to defend this country you owe it to them to get out there and vote and vote for leaders that share your values you need to go out and help get people registered to vote I'm not telling you what candidates to vote vote your conscience but it'll be pretty clear if you'll come before the Lord you got to pray for people that demonstrate Christian values get behind candidates help them and by the way some of you get out and run for office when you get out of this institution get out and run for office get involved say to the Lord as Isaiah 6:8 says here am I send me but get out and get involved and run for office if that's what you're called to do you need to call write and email your leaders you know my wife this my beautiful wife I might add she writes calls and emails our congressional leaders almost every day they are so tired of hearing from her and the other day at one of the football games over at Hampton Sydney the staff assistant for our representative was there at the game and he sought her out and he said mrs. Boykin we get the message we get it what he was saying was would you stop writing would you stop calling would you stop pestering us she does it every day and don't think that it doesn't make a difference or we got to get involved with organizations that are trying to do something get involved with veterans organizations that are trying to help our veterans get involved with organizations that are trying to help our active-duty military get involved with organizations that are trying to push traditional Christian values in this nation and there are many that are doing just that get involved in what's going on in America I'm going to finish with this many of you I'm sure are aware that I was a commander of the Delta Force during the events that we now know as Black Hawk Down and the morning after we had that terrible firefight that firefight occurred on the 3rd of October 1993 and the next morning as I sat on my bunk pondering the fact that we had just lost 15 of our soldiers and there were 72 more men wounded I was pondering it with a very heavy heart and my sergeant major walked up to me and he said sir are you ready I looked up at him and I nodded I'm ready I put my cap on and I followed him across the airfield there on the sands of Mogadishu and we got to the other side down the beach and there was a tent there in that tent had a sign across the top of it and it said mortuary affairs it was a morgue and I my sergeant major walked up and he pulled a flap back and he looked at me and he said let's go with a very heavy heart and a lump in my throat I walked in through that flap and a young Staff Sergeant met me and said sir would you follow me I followed her she walked over to a big plastic bag it was a body bag and she unzipped that body bag and I looked into the cold ashen face of a soldier that only 24 hours earlier I'd been laughing and joking with and playing volleyball with as she walked down the line and she unzipped 15 of those bags and each time I looked into those bags I asked myself this question I said did I do everything I could did I do everything I could to make sure this man came home to make sure he was prepared to make sure that he heard the gospel of Jesus Christ before he went into a turn did I do everything I could folks let me tell you something we're looking at a nation right now and if we don't do the right things if we as the body of Christ don't rise up and become a mighty army and put our faith into action we're going to be doing exactly what I was doing on that airfield that day we're gonna be looking in a body bag and that body bag is gonna be the body bag of America and then it's gonna be too late to say did I do everything I good did I do everything I could for this nation it's a wonderful time of the year that we recognize and honor our veterans I thank you all for your service I thank you all for your attention today may God bless you and may God bless america thank you

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 19,011

Rating: 4.7961783 out of 5

Keywords: Convocation, Liberty University, Lieutenant General, College, Student, School, Liberty, LU, Education, Campus, Community, convo, Christian, Jerry Boykin, US Army Delta Force, delta, force, special operations unit, values, judeo-Christian, military, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom Warriors, author, speaker

Id: DSQ669btg60

Length: 34min 7sec (2047 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 17 2012