A Real & True Hero - Part 2

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This is the Truth Network. Once a world champion wrestler, now a champion for Christ. Once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare. And your tag team partner, Nikita Kolov. It's time to man up. Well, I want to welcome you back, Nikita Kolov, the Russian nightmare. No, no, no, no.

The devil's nightmare. Welcome back to It's Time to Man Up. Back for another week, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. I mean a remarkable military career.

We just didn't have enough time to tell his whole story. Distinguished award winner of Purple Heart, Bronze Star. I mean the list of awards goes on and on through his military career. A man's man, a man of God.

I mean he travels and speaks. I've shared the platform with him, speaking to men. You will not want to miss part two today as we talk about some of the books he's written and just more of his military career, his personal life. Join me today on It's Time to Man Up with Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. General, let me just say welcome back. Well, thank you very much. I assume that since I'm back on the program, you didn't get any bad feedback last week.

In fact, the numbers went through the roof. They're like, hey, can we hear more about his story? And so we're like, we got to have him back. So I want to tell, I want to open up with this because, and for the listeners who maybe didn't catch part one, be sure to go back and download on your podcast platform It's Time to Man Up. But let's just open up with this.

We kind of ended the show last week talking about the difference between religion and relationship and how your mom just greatly impacted your heart and helping you understand. You know what? The Lord loves you. You've confessed. You've repented. You've received him into your life.

He's not rejecting you. And you talked as well, which I thought was astounding. It was, you mentioned, you know, how you had broke down during one of your military, what would we call it? Operations.

Operations, thank you. I was at a, drawing a blank there, and how you're like, you know, there's no God. And God said, no, if there's no God, there's no hope. And that just brought you to a new place, I would say a deeper level of your faith when that happened as well, right?

Yes, it absolutely did. And you know, you never know how God's going to use the things that occur in your life. And of course, that was such a difficult situation for me there to see my men did.

I lost 16 men over there, you know, and to have my faith tested and rattled like that. But in doing that and allowing that to happen, allowing me to go through that, God has given me a testimony now that I share with other men that I think in many ways brings them hope because they are thinking of the things that they've been through and the times that they've questioned whether God really exists or not. And I think at some point, every man has questioned that. At least if he hadn't questioned God's existence, he's questioning whether God hears him, God cares about him. The answer is yes, he does.

Yeah, I would 100% agree with that. God, where are you or where were you? And for those who pursue that, you know, he certainly, it's been my experience, reveals himself, whether it's been in my own life, part of my testimony or other men's stories and testimonies that I've heard. And you bring up a very valid point, General, where there's, I'd like to say it this way, we've all heard it I think before, but where there's no test, there's no testimony.

And so you are right. We are going to be tested. Whether it's, you know, you in this particular case in a military career or, you know, just that person who's out there in the marketplace or, you know, raising a family or, you know, nobody's immune to it, right? Like you said, we're all going to be tested to some degree and then it's a matter of how we handle those tests, right?

Yes, it is indeed. And remember, I mean, you said it earlier, you know, we're in a spiritual battle. We are in an absolute spiritual battle. We need to understand that. We need to understand that when you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, you've got a target on you. But you don't have to be afraid of it.

What you have to do is submit yourself to the authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and then expect that the enemy is going to target you, but don't be afraid of that. Go back every day. It's like putting on the whole armor of God was really about two things when Paul wrote that. And if you go back and look at it, you can piece this together. It was about two things. It was about having a prayer life where you're constantly communicating with the Lord Jesus Christ and then knowing the Word.

And you're constantly reading the Word and absorbing what it means. And if you do those two things, spiritual warfare, you're going to walk through it with your head high and you're going to be victorious. That's great advice. I hope our listeners are really dialed in on that one or will listen to that again. That's some of the best advice that any of us could receive. Because again, the reality is, if anyone knows about warfare, you know about it 36 and a half years in the military and then translate that from what you experienced in the physical into the realm of the spiritual and knowing that there isn't any one of us that isn't subject to the spiritual warfare. Especially once, as you said, you surrender your life to Jesus and then the target is on your back and here we go.

In a sense, if you want to say it's game on. General, let me ask you something. People ask me all the time, what are my favorite memories from wrestling? What are some of the highlights from wrestling? And I mention that to say this, in no way, in no way am I trying to even try to compare my wrestling career with your military career.

But in a sense, that'd be like comparing apples to oranges. But I'm guessing that there are some parts of your military career I'm thinking that would really stand out. I know on the last show we were talking about the Black Hawk Down movie and how that illustrated one of the operations. But let me ask you, because I know you're a very decorated, really in my eyes, war hero. Everything from Purple Heart to Bronze Star. Are there some of those awards or some things from your military career that really just kind of stand out for you? People ask me, what was the most rewarding operation that you've ever run?

And it is not at all what people are expecting. In 1983, I was sent into Sudan to rescue five missionaries that were being held captive by a rebel bunch that came out of Ethiopia into Sudan. And I got over there and started helping the Sudanese special operations people, which I had worked with before, to put together a plan to rescue these missionaries. And when we got it together and we gave them the weather and we gave them the intelligence and we rehearsed them and all that, we said, you're ready to go, now go get them. And they said to me, well, you are going with us, aren't you? And of course, I had no authority to go on the operation. I could only prepare them, but I said, yes, I'm going.

So, you know, what are you saying in a case like that? So I went with them. We hit the top of that mountain where these missionaries were being held. And by the way, they were up there evangelizing literally a loincloth primitive tribe up there. And I will tell you that we hit the top of that mountain and the first Sudanese off the helicopter was killed.

And after that, we owned it. And I think we killed 17 of them, 18 of them. But we got the five missionaries out of there. And I looked at how those people were living. I looked at the primitive way that they were living on top of that mountain. And by the way, they had their children up there. They were not there at the time. They were on home leave because it was in July. They were on home leave, but their children were being homeschooled on top of that mountain by their parents. And it was no running water, no electricity, you know, just no plumbing, nothing.

Just a corrugated, I guess you would call it a hut, is how they were living up there. And I literally was thinking, God, don't ever call me for this. You know, I mean, sadly, I was saying, God, please don't call me for this kind of thing. But we got off the top of that mountain. We got them back to Juba. We flew them back into what is today the capital of South Sudan. We flew them into Juba and got them back to their base down there. And then I got a call that said, get out of there as quickly as you can.

The media is on the way, and we don't want them to know that there were any Americans involved in this. So they sent a plane down to the airfield there out of the embassy. And I got down there, and I was getting on the plane, and I saw this cloud of dust coming down the road. And I thought, oh, it's too late.

They got me. And then I saw an arm out the side waving. So I stopped. I climbed back down, and I walked over to the fence. And when I got to the fence, I could see it was a land rover, and it pulled up.

This land rover pulled up and stopped. And the five missionaries got out, and they were all weeping. And I walked out through the gate, and I said, what's the matter? And they said, sir, you left before we had an opportunity to thank you for resting. And I looked at them, and I said, you know, the look on your faces is all the thanks I need.

There's nothing that will give me greater joy than just looking into your faces. And they said, well, we don't have anything to give you. But this. And they handed me a Bible, and all five of them had signed. Oh, that Bible is a precious thing.

I had to run out of the house in a fire. I'd grab my grandmother's Bible, my grandfather's watch, and that Bible. It's that meaningful to me. So it's not at all what people would think would be my most rewarding operation, but that was it. Well, that sounds like a real treasure. You still have that with their five signatures in it.

That's amazing. I mean, we could fill probably ten shows with just some of your stories. And I know, as you're mentioning that one particular story, there's others you've shared with me. Of course, one on a personal level, but then others, you know, even from a platform.

And I'm serious. I know we could fill ten plus shows just with some of the remarkable stories. Some of the ones you would tell, people would know the names, and they would. But that one is remarkable.

In a sense, five unnamed missionaries that nobody other than Jesus probably recognizes their names, right? And yourself. But, wow. I mean, that's just remarkable.

Let me ask you. You mentioned the Sudan. That was 1983. If we were to fast forward to today, there's some real remarkable things going on in the Middle East, right, in terms of peace treaties with Israel. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Sudan being one of them. But there's some remarkable things going on right now in the Middle East, right, in regards to peace treaties. Yeah, I mean, it's not anything that I expected to see in my lifetime now that we have the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. And soon to come will be Sudan, which have all signed peace agreements with Israel. And, you know, it was brokered by Donald Trump and the U.S. administration.

But we're going to see more of this. We're going to see countries like possibly Morocco, possibly Saudi Arabia. And this is an incredible thing, given that they have been literally at war with Israel so many times and for so long, and now I think that they are recognizing sort of the old Middle East saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and they're recognizing the truth in that now, because their common enemy really is Iran. Iran's the common enemy there. Because Iran, they're the Shias, they're also the Persians, they're not Arabs.

And they see the growing threat of Iran in that area, in that part of the world against Islam and against Arabs. So they are aligning themselves with the most powerful military in all of the Middle East, and obviously that's Israel. Yeah, I think what's phenomenal for those who aren't aware of, if you consider the, I guess if you want to say the size of Israel versus the size of many of the other Middle Eastern nations, and yet how God has just sovereignly had his hand on the nation that he loves, on Israel. And for them, you even mentioned the military, to be able to hold off some of the attackers over the years is just nothing short of just God, just miraculous and just God. It can't be explained in any other terms, especially when you dig into the details of, for example, just the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and you realize how outnumbered the Israelis actually were, yet they won, they won the battle. And it can be explained in no other terms than spiritual terms that God, these are his chosen people, God has his hands on them. And he has promised them that when they were recreated, when the nation of Israel was recreated on the 14th of May at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in Tel Aviv in 1948, they'd never be defeated again.

And that's exactly what has happened. They've never been defeated, even though they've fought against overwhelming odds. And you know, God bless America, because the reason that I think that we've been the nation that we've been is because we've honored Israel. And it was Harry Truman that, against all advice from all of his cabinet, he was the first to recognize Israel as a sovereign state. And that's because he went back to his Southern Baptist roots, remembering from his Sunday School lessons that the Jews are God's chosen people, and that their nation would be recreated. And he knew that he was playing a part in history when he recognized them. That's remarkable. And of course, biblically, for our listeners, if they're not familiar, I mean, Scripture's pretty clear, those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed, and I for one, and I know you do too, certainly want to err on the side of, I want to be on the side of the blessing, I don't want to be on the side of the cursing, right?

That's exactly right. Well, let me ask you that, I know I mentioned some of, of course, we didn't really talk about it, because I just know your level of humility, I mean, with all that you've accomplished and all that you have done in your lifetime, and mentioning some of the different awards, the distinguished awards that you've received, and you haven't even really referenced them, and I get it, that's just a part of your humility, but I do want to get to this in our time remaining today. You're an author, and I know you've written a number of books, I just wrote down three, and maybe if you want to pick out one of those and or talk about one of those, but here's the three I picked out, Never Surrender, A Soldier's Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom, Man to Man, Rediscovering Masculinity in a Challenging World, these are great titles by the way, General, The Warrior's Soul, Five Powerful Principles to Make You a Stronger Man of God, and so, any one of those three stand out for you, or which one would you like to talk about? Yeah, Never Surrender is my autobiography, and much of what you and I have talked about in the last two days, on these last two programs, is captured in Never Surrender, but my latest book is Man to Man, and that book was written with a growing passion that I have for men in America, because Nikita, as you and I have discussed, and I think as you recognize probably as much as anybody in ministry today, men are being decimated, masculinity is being denigrated, men are confused as to what they're supposed to be, and the whole idea behind the Man to Man book is to just lay out sort of five things that I believe God has called a man to be, and while it is biblically based, I wrote this book to speak to men that aren't necessarily biblically literate, that maybe they are new in Christ and they just haven't really learned the Bible yet, so I talk a lot, it's very direct, in fact my publisher said, look, you know you're going to get your backside kicked by the left over this book, don't you?

And I said, yeah, I know, that's right where I want to be. So it is very direct, it is not politically correct, I talk about stuff in there that the left is just going crazy over, but I talk about it in practical terms, in terms that men will understand. Look, I talk about the fact that the Bible does not say thou shalt not kill, it says thou shalt not murder, and there are times when, especially in my career, when you have to make a decision as to whether you're going to take a life or not, and that is the real world that our first responders, our police live in today. And also just every citizen, when your family is threatened, when your life is threatened, somebody breaks into your house, and I talk about those things from a biblical perspective, but from a practical perspective. What I'm trying to do is get men to understand that, look, you came out of the womb meant to be a warrior, now you need to saddle up, you need to get your armor on, and you need to be what God's called you to be. That is not a passive guy that has no standards or no transcendent cause. You have a transcendent cause if you have a family, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have a transcendent cause.

It's greater than you, and you need to be willing to serve for it, you need to be willing to sacrifice for it, and God forbid, but you may even be called upon to die for it one day. Just remember that the disciples, they gave it all. They literally sacrificed their lives for the man that they were following, the man of Galilee. So I just want men to get back to being men and understand that toxic, the word toxic, should never be combined with masculinity. Toxic is one thing, and some men are toxic, no question about it, but it is not because of their masculinity.

It's because they're thugs, it's because they're outside of God's will. Well, and yeah, and I've heard you speak, and one of the things really I love about you is that you are very direct, and you're not dancing around the subjects or the topics, you're speaking your heart, and I know your heart, I feel I know your heart and how much you not only love the Lord, but just love to call men out, and you're very bold in the things you say. And you're right, we are on, again, a relatable page there, a path there in that one, this show, It's Time to Man Up, just the name of this show. And so I wanted to have you on the show because, as I said, you're a man's man. So I love that title, Man to Man, Rediscovery, Masculinity in a Challenging World. And then, of course, Lex Luger and I running a camp called Man Camp, just calling men to be men and to step into their godly roles as husbands and fathers and out in the marketplace.

And then, of course, I do a one-day conference called Man Up Conference, and so we're really relatable there. And I'm guessing that people can find your books on Amazon and those different places, right? Absolutely, they're on Amazon or any of the bookstores.

You can get them in Barnes and Noble, but you can go to Amazon or you can go to Books a Million, which seems to generally have a better supply of books than Amazon does. Okay, so for our listeners out there, I would really encourage you, order a copy for the ladies that are listening, order a copy of this for your man. You won't be disappointed when he reads it.

General Boykin has some very powerful words in these books, and we'll really bless your man and bless the family. We've just got a couple minutes left here, General, but I do want to make a reference to this. I know you sit on the Family Research Council, Executive Vice President.

And for people that, because we don't have enough time, I guess maybe we're going to have to have you back again sometime. But for those who maybe aren't familiar with Family Research Council, is there a website, or can people go somewhere to find out more about that, General? Yes, go to FRC.org. That stands for Family Research Council, FRC.org. And you'll find out what we are, who we are, and what we do.

And there's a lot of good stuff on that road that will help you in your life, in your spiritual life, and just in being a good American. Yeah, and that's, I know you got the opportunity to meet, I guess about a year ago, plus or minus Tony Perkins, right? Yeah. Who kind of spearheads that.

He's our president. Yep, and your whole, kind of that whole group there as they spoke at a summit here in the Greensboro-Winston-Salem area. And so, Matt, it has been, gosh, the time just flies by. Like I said, your story just never ceases to amaze me every time we talk. And I can't thank you enough for joining us these last couple of weeks and just sharing some of your stories. And I'm excited for people that pick up a copy of your book. And I look forward to the next time that we cross paths and spend some time face-to-face, more so in person than behind the scenes than on a platform, General. Well, thank you very much. And it's such a privilege being with you, and thanks for what you're doing.

You are knocking it out of the park. Well, we are, if you want to say, tag-teaming for Jesus to put a wrestling terminology to it. And so, for our listeners out there, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, a man's man, and thank you for tuning in today.

And we look forward to bringing you another great program next week. God bless you. Hey, give your heart to Jesus if you've yet to do that. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands, and godly fathers. That appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to koloff.org and email me. Remember this, it's time to man up. This is the Truth Network.