CHICAGO—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan threw down the gauntlet during his Saviours’ Day 2023 keynote address Feb. 26 at the Wintrust Arena, calling out the forces of the Synagogue of Satan and vowing to “break the stranglehold” they have on the people of America and the world.

Speaking to more than 10,000 people in the arena and thousands more in an overflow room at the adjacent McCormick Place Convention Center, the 89-year-old Muslim Minister explained, “I have to pay a price for what I have said today, but I want to prove to you that God is with me. My mission is to expose Satan, uncover him so you may fall away from him and come back to God and come back to yourself so you can escape the doom of this world!”

In his nearly three-hour message delivered February 26 titled “The War of Armageddon Has Begun,” Minister Farrakhan asked, why must there be such a war? It is because Satan was given 6,000 years to do his work, and he has done it so well that the scripture says Satan deceived the whole world. But Satan knew the time was coming for his end, the Minister continued, and the end would come from someone courageous enough to tell the truth.

Minister Farrakhan came to the podium still suffering from the effects of more than 200 highly radiated seeds implanted years ago to treat prostate cancer. He was flanked by F.O.I. (Fruit of Islam, the men of the Nation) who escorted him to a carpeted platform and podium where he sat on a raised cushioned chair to address a cheering crowd.  

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Saviours’ Day is an annual Nation of Islam commemoration of the birth of Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi of the Muslims and Messiah of the Christians, who made Himself known in America on July 4, 1930, fulfilling scripture that God Himself would come to free Black people who have been in bondage 400 years. He was born on February 26, 1877, in the holy city of Mecca in Arabia.  

Rarely referring to notes, the Minister described the War of Armageddon as a showdown between the forces of God and the devil. He challenged leaders on stage and members of the audience to overcome their fear of telling the truth. 

“Your rise as a Black man and woman is driving them crazy because they can’t treat you like they did our fathers and grandfathers,” he said. “Truth is the most necessary ingredient for our salvation. Truth is the greatest thing in the universe.

“In this house, there are great spiritual teachers, but most of the preachers don’t talk about the War of Armageddon. I pray that Allah will bless me today to take the fear out of every gospel preacher … out of those who want truth to be told,” he said.

The charge of antisemitism is used by a powerful group of Jews to squash any criticism of Israel and wicked Jewish behavior, the Minister pointed out. Fear of being labeled antisemitic prevents Black leaders from associating with him, Minister Farrakhan said.

At the head of the antisemitism battle cry are the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, groups that have conducted activities to diminish Black power and unity. These organizations label people who criticize Jewish behavior as antisemitic without proof, the Minister said. They have power over the media and other avenues that shape the human mind and just the charge of antisemitism brings public condemnation and isolation.

Labeled by these groups as the world’s top antisemite, the Minister said when somebody has lied so well, when the truth comes and a man is born to tell that truth, the deceiver must hide that man. 

“I have never been an antisemite. If I had them in front of me they could not prove their charge,” he said. “They don’t want you to hear what I have to say.”

The Minister referenced John 8:32 in the Bible where Jesus tells some Jews that the truth would set them free. The Jews responded they had never been in bondage to any man.

You need to be free from the bondage that has gripped the community of Abraham and the human family on the planet, Min. Farrakhan said. But you will never be free until you recognize you are a slave to your own wickedness, he said.

The long list of Black leaders labeled antisemitic includes Martin Luther King Jr., the Honorable Marcus Garvey, James Baldwin, Rosa Parks, Booker T. Washington and even Jay Z, to name a few.

Presidents can’t escape the label

Jewish control of the U.S. government did not escape the attention of former presidents of America, and some of them paid for it with their lives, Minister Farrakhan pointed out.

In the early 1900s, a powerful group of Jewish leaders held a secret meeting on Jekyll Island to set up an American central bank, he explained. Their objective was to take away from the U.S. Congress their “constitutionally commanded right” to print currency, and instead create a Federal Reserve banking system owned mostly by Jewish families, he said.

When that became law, the Federal Reserve controlled the printing of U.S. currency, causing the American debt to explode due to interest paid to borrow money for U.S. wars. Usury is what has made them strong, Minister Farrakhan said.

The ADL was born in 1913, the same year the Federal Reserve was established. Its aim is not to confront people who defame Jews, but to censure anybody who criticizes them, he said.

“When the ADL did that, they became the Synagogue of Satan and the Synagogue of Satan is not just Jewish people,” he said.

President Abraham Lincoln recognized the growing U.S. debt and urged Congress to pass in 1862 the first Legal Tender Act. The Act authorized the issuance of treasury notes that impacted the Federal Reserve’s profits. In 1865, Lincoln was assassinated, Minister Farrakhan explained.

President James Garfield became president in 1881 and advocated for a gold standard. He was killed that same year, the Minister pointed out.  President William McKinley also was an advocate of the gold standard and was assassinated in office, while President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order to issue silver-backed currency that rivaled the paper currency of the Federal Reserve. He was assassinated in office in 1963, the Minister said.

Even Christian pastor Billy Graham and President Richard Nixon had private conversations about a Jewish “stranglehold” on the American government but expressed no ability to break it.

“Four American presidents threatened the international banking system by focusing on the Constitution’s definition of currency or by limiting debt the country owed to private bankers,” Minister Farrakhan explained. “All presidents know they have another power they have to bow to.”

What Graham and Nixon couldn’t do, “an ex-slave, a student of the greatest teacher in the world, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, is standing up offering my life, to lay it down with joy, to break the Synagogue of Satan and release America from the stranglehold of that Synagogue,” he said.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad once told the Minister the enemy stays in power by keeping Black people ignorant. “So he drops you in a barrel of filth,” he said, referencing vulgar acts coming from celebrities on television and social media.

“I hate what Satan has done to us as a people, and God does too. God doesn’t want to hurt you, but God will chastise you in a way that you will know that God is after you,” he said.

The Minister closed by offering those who love God a way out and a warning.

“God has said in the Book of Revelations, that He will make you come and bow down at my feet,” the Minister declared, offering “an invitation” to true Jews to break apart from those whom God is about to destroy.

“There are many good Jews,” he said. “They are not going down with their brothers, but you got to separate from your brothers. You must go back to the Torah, back to the teachings of the prophets,” he said. 

An anointed man of God 

Prior to Minister Farrakhan’s delivery of his Saviours’ Day message, Student Minister Daniel Muhammad opened in prayer and Student Minister Tairah Muhammad passionately spoke about the value and person of Minister Farrakhan as a man of God. 

“The man of God is anointed by God; when he speaks you hear the voice of God. He is the truth of God; he is the mercy and grace of God and the embodiment of love,” she said.

The next speaker who came to the podium was Student Minister Nuri Muhammad, who facilitated the charity part of the program, and inspired the attendees to give from the spirit of love. 

Lastly, the time had come for the introduction of the Minister by his National Assistant Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad. He read a long list of people throughout history who were labeled anti-Semitic by certain members of the Jewish community.

“This false charge of anti-Semitism begins with someone, anyone, who holds a controversial view and speaks or writes about it in the public. And instead of engaging in open and honest public dialog and debate … private interest groups start with the labeling, ‘he’s a hater,’” he said. 

Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad enthusiastically defended Minister Farrakhan as not being an anti-Semite, but rather a divinely anointed man of God. 

Contributing Writer J.A. Salaam contributed to this report.  See page 20 to read excerpts from Minister Farrakhan’s message.