The Violence Continues; Will It Stop?

This past week the world was preoccupied with the terrorist attacks in Paris.  Two armed men violently attacked the downtown offices of a satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.  Twelve cartoonists and editorialists were murdered.  The gunmen, upon leaving the building returned fire on some police officers, wounding one officer and then, in an execution style, killed him before driving away.  Two days later, law enforcement officers discovered the hideout of the two terrorists and, in the ensuring exchange of gun fire, the two were killed.  At the same time, another armed terrorist had taken hostages at a kosher Jewish food market on the outskirts of Paris.  Before he died, four of the hostages were murdered.  The terrorists had strong connections with AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) - in fact, reports indicate that two of them had been trained in Yemen.  The terrorists had sought to revenge the Prophet Mohammed because of the way the magazine had portrayed him, and the Jewish community was attacked simply because it was Jewish. 


So, who is to blame for the attack.  I listened to a news program on the radio returning from a class I taught last night, and one of the people interviewed, a Senator Murphy from Connecticut, said that the blame for the attack could be laid at the feet of President George W Bush, for after all, it was President Bush who began the occupation of Iraq.  Then, I was reading one of my Jerusalem online sources, and it was reported that former President Jimmy Carter blamed the attack upon the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  The former President, who, by the way, is not a good friend of Israel today in spite of his leading the Camp David Accords back in 1978-1979 that led to peace between Israel and Egypt, said: "Well, one of the origins for it is the Palestinian problem.  And this aggravates people who are affiliated in any way with the Arab people who live in the West Bank and Gaza, what they are doing now - what's being done to them."  According to the article, President Carter when on to say that "the West was seeing 'a new evolutionary development in terrorism,' in which Western Muslims are trained to fight by jihadists in the Middle East before going home and bringing terrorism to their home countries." 


I believe what we are seeing today is an increasing boldness upon the part of radical Islamic terrorists to attack the foundations of Western Civilization.  In Nigeria we have seen the violent assaults of Boko Horam upon schools, churches, and villages that have refused to bend to their radical Islamic ideologies.  Because of the horrors in Paris, few papers reported the massacre of nearly 2,000 people in northeastern Nigeria by this radical group.  And, we are learning, that they are now using young girls as suicide bombers, infiltrating market places in villages and blowing themselves up to cause as many deaths as possible.  The goal of Boko Horam is the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Western Africa.  The Nigerian forces seem almost powerless to stop them.


Then, look at what the Taliban has done in Pakistan.  Recently, terrorists from that group attacked a school for the children of those serving in the Pakistani military, killing dozens of unarmed children.  The reason: these children should not be going to school, especially the young girls.  Education of young children, including young ladies, is a foundation of Western Civilization. 


Look at what ISIS is doing in Syria and northern Iraq.  I was reading this morning an article that instilled horror into me.  You can find the article at: www.insraelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189891.  "A shocking video posted online Tuesday appears to show ISIS using a young child soldier to execute two alleged Russian spies in Syria. ... In the forced confession one of the men, a Kazakh national, says he was ordered to gather intelligence on a particular ISIS leader and use a flash drive to steal sensitive information to pass on to the FSB.  The other alleged spy confesses to having been sent to assassinate a senior ISIS commander.   Although it is unclear whether their confessions were genuine or not (the confessions were clearly made under duress), the video itself does appear to be authentic - as does its grisly end.  After extracting the confessions a burly ISIS fighter previously hidden off-screen appears in the video's final 'scene', standing in a field behind the two kneeling suspects and delivering a speech against 'disbelievers,' a Kalashnikov assault rifle slung across his shoulder.  Standing next to him is a young boy with shoulder-length hair, apparently from the Caucuses.  The boy, who is no more than nine or ten years old, casually brandishes a pistol.  After quoting from the Koran, the adult terrorist adds in Russian: 'Allah has gifted the Islamic State's security agency with the apprehension of these two spies. ... By Allah's grace, they are now in the custody of the lion cubs of the Caliphate.'  At that point the young boy is gently nudged forward, pistol in hand, and calmly shoots the two men repeatedly in the head." 


Friends, what happened in Paris, in northeastern Nigeria, in Pakistan, at Fort Hood several years ago, and even with 9/11 has nothing to do with the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  They have nothing to do with whether American forces went into Iraq or Afghanistan.  No, the reason these attacks are happening, and will continue to happen, is for two reasons, I believe.  First, the Bible tells us that "in the last days, lawlessness will increase and men's hearts will fail them because of fear."  Second, Satan is preparing the world for a one-world order.  Some prophetic scholars believe that an Islamic Caliphate might be that one-world order.  (Read some of the works of Joel Richardson, for example).  Radical Islamists see the need for a one-world system under a radical interpretation of Sharia Law.  The Bible certainly affirms that Satan will devise a one-world governmental system under the Antichrist.  Europe is in disarray today, as is the entire Western World, searching for leadership.  I believe that, standing in the wings today and ready to make his first curtain bow, is that one individual, energized by Satan, and permitted to rule by the authority of God.  The greater the threat from the radical Islamists, the more critical becomes the need for a leader to unite the world.  Who will it be?  I don't know, but I am certainly glad that God is in control.  I trust your confidence is always in Him.  Let Him be your foundation.  Let Him be your daily bread.  Let Him be your daily strength.  Let Him be your guide.  Don't be afraid.  Our God is in control.