VICKSBURG — A former extremist Muslim who once trained others to kill Jews and Christians defied his own possible death on Saturday night by charging the Quran’s reasoning as hopeless and its commands as hateful and immoral.

Muslims and non-Muslims risk death by speaking out against Islam, said Dr. Daniel Shayestah, a key leader in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Yet he did, and also admonishes Christians to wake up and take a stand for their faith, based on the one true God of love and grace.

“It’s important to know Islam personally,” Shayestah told a group of about 120 people inside Christian Community Church in Vicksburg.

America’s weakness, he said, is that it continues to listen to the lies propagated by Muslims about their religion.

“They don’t understand Islam,” he said, calling Americans “fully ignorant.”

“Islam is not the Islam you learn in America,” Shayestah said. “There is not a single word of peace (in the Quran), yet they call Islam a peaceful religion.”

Shayestah referred to President Barack Obama as “blind,” saying he speaks of Islam more than he does Christianity.

And the Christians are losing ground on the fight.

“This is a great country,” he said, “but unfortunately, Christians are sleeping and are losing their country.”

“Day after day,” he added, “the evil politicians will take over if you do not wake up.”

Shayestah recited an array of verses from the Quran, which say Allah — whom Shayestah calls a manmade god — planned from the beginning to destroy all people in eternity, is the giver of pain, and brought man into the world in “toil and trouble.”

“Why should people follow Allah if he is the giver of pain and is not loving?” he asked.

In addition, he displayed verses from the Quran that encourage Muslims to lie to befriend non-Muslims until Muslims obtain power and rule.

The ends justify the means for Muslims following these commands, he said.

“Lying has become like drinking water in the Middle East,” he said.

He warned of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Muslim cleric behind the plans for the mosque at ground zero. He may seem peaceful now, he said, but what if he gets fully established and later says of his peaceful days, “Well, that was that time. Now it’s our time?” Shayestah asked.

In stark contrast, the Bible speaks of God creating humanity in His own image, capable of loving, being holy, just and righteous, Shayestah said.

“The Bible gives power to people,” he said.

While some verses in the Quran call Jesus the Christ and anointed one of God, the word of God, and the spirit of God, Muslims are taught to kill all — especially non-Muslims — who believe Jesus is the Son of God.

The Quran also teaches to kill all blacks, and for husbands to beat their wives. Women are clearly inferior, the Quran says, as Allah has only given enough to men to fulfill his purposes, Shayestah said. Women are forced to walk with their heads down, and be fully covered, and if they speak against the covering, they must be killed.

“I’m not here to encourage you to be angry,” Shayestah assured the crowd. “I’m here to encourage you to understand Islam.

“If you’re compassionate, you will pray for them. God may save some of them and bring them out of the darkness like He did for me.”

The reason why moderate Muslims are so silent about what the Quran really says, and about the actions of what the world calls “extremist” Muslims, is fear, Shayestah said.

Fear is “the gateway of Islam,” he said.

Muslims and non-Muslims are threatened and killed for speaking out, he said.

Shayestah has not been able to return to his country to see his mother for the past 23 years because of speaking against Islam.

But the fact is, he is threatened by Muslims in America, too.

“But I am not afraid,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Through his organization, “Exodus from Darkness,” Shayestah travels the world sharing his testimony and exposing the heart of Islam compared to the truth and light of Christianity.

“If you’re afraid, Islam wins,” he said.

Shayestah’s life now is completely different from what it once was.

Raised a Muslim, he later became an extremist Islamic leader and teacher, helping to exile the king of Iran and put Ayatollah Khomeini in power, installing the Islamic Fundamentalist Government there about 30 years ago.

He and his wife trained people to go to Israel and kill Jews and Christians, he said.

That is every committed Muslim’s job, he said — to kill Jews and Christians. Hundreds of verses in the Quran demand it.

But he soon fell out of favor with his political group and was put in prison, waiting on death row with four of his friends. His friends were all killed, but he escaped.

“I’m here,” he said, “by the grace of God.”

He later fled to Turkey, where he came to know Christ.

Now he knows, the solution to all problems in the world, he said, is to “Love the Lord so dearly.”

Sharing verses from the Bible that speak of equality among all people and of God being love, he could not read them without pausing to gather himself emotionally and to thank the Lord for such great truths.

“Which one do you want to follow?” he asked the people — God or Allah?

As for him, he said, “My heart is full of the Lord Jesus. It’s an honor for me to die for Him. If I die for Him, millions of Muslims will come to Him.”