In a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan fired up a packed house of true believers. “Calypso Louie”, as the great Rush Limbaugh has nicknamed him, was delivering a message in the Allstate Arena in Rosemont as part of the 81st annual celebration of Saviours’ Day, marking the birth of his faith’s founder, W. Fard Muhammad.

His sermon, titled “God will send saviours,” was the keynote address, ending a weekend of workshops whose topics included health, preparing for natural disasters and unidentified flying objects. Farrakhan and his followers in the Nation of Islam believe in a UFO called “the wheel” or “the Mother Plane.”

Obama’s admiring neighbor from Chicago, Farrakhan, testifies to a 1985 religious experience in which he ascended into a flying saucer and heard the voice of dead Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad predicting historical events that came to pass.

Who was this “Fard” guy and what do Farrakhan and his followers believe?

Per bible.ca:

In the summer of 1930, a peddler made his appearance in the black ghetto of Detroit. He gave the name of Wallace D. Fard. He is believed to have been of Arab descent, but this has not been documented. He went from door to door selling clothing and accessories, as well as artifacts. These, he claimed, were like those the ancestors of the blacks wore and used. As he peddled his goods, he told tales about the blacks of Africa that entranced his customers. This led to informal gatherings in homes in which he told the blacks about their land of origin.

At first, his talks focused on black history, culture and diet. He did not say much about politics or religion, but as time progressed, his focus became more and more politically and religiously oriented. Eventually, his disciples were introduced to the Qur’an. Later, his talks became bitter denunciations of the white race. His audiences became so large that they could no longer meet in homes. A hall was rented and named “The Temple of Islam.” This is how the movement which calls itself “The Nation of Islam” and is called by detractors, “Black Muslims,” came into being.

Fard soon built his following into a tightly knit cult that looked to him as “Ruler of the Universe.” He established a university that was in reality a secondary school which emphasized the teaching of math and astronomy. It also focused on his teaching about “the ending of the spook civilization”.

Fard began a Muslim Girls Training Class that continues to today and still teaches the principles of home economics and how to be proper wives and mothers. He instituted a para-military unit called “Fruit of Islam” (FOI) to teach military tactics and the handling of firearms against the predicted day that whites would not tolerate their growth and prosperity.

He also set up the office of The Minister of Islam which, with the aid of a well trained staff, ultimately ran the whole organization. In three short years Fard has acquired some 8,000 followers. Under the direction of The Minister of Islam and his staff, the Nation of Islam continued to prosper. Fard retired from an openly active role in the direction of The Nation of Islam.

One of Fard’s early disciples, Elijah Poole, was given the Muslim name Elijah Muhammad. He became one of Fard’s favorites, and was ultimately named as the chief Minister of Islam. In June of 1934, only four years after he made his first appearance in Detroit, and shortly after Elijah Muhammad was named Minister of Islam, W. D. Fard completely and mysteriously disappeared.

Back to the present…

In his sermon yesterday, Farrakhan rambled for about 4 hours, on divergent topics, using religious texts to back up his opinions.

Farrakhan extolled the virtues of Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. He also praised its auditing process, which is considered spiritual counseling by its members.

According to Farrakhan:

L. Ron Hubbard is so exceedingly valuable to every Caucasian person on this earth.

… L. Ron Hubbard himself was and is trying to civilize white people and make them better human beings and take away from them their reactive minds … Mr. Hubbard recognized that his people have to be civilized.

…and the crowd cheered.

Calypso Louie went on to predict yesterday that America is on the verge of facing violent uprisings like those we are watching in the Middle East.

What you are looking at in Tunisia, in Egypt … Libya, in Bahrain … what you see happening there … you’d better prepare because it will be coming to your door.

…and the crowd cheered.

He also cautioned President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) to leave these future protesters alone and not to attack these innocent people.

…and the crowd cheered.

Has Calypso Louie been given a heads up by the Muslim Brotherhood?

A NOTE FROM KJ: For more insight into the Rev. Louis Farrakhan, here is a video interview he did in 2007 with CNN.