Evil

As I went to bed last night, the death toll in Nice had reached 73 and expected to continue climbing.  The assault weapon was a truck, not one filled with explosives, just a truck.  Guns, explosives, planes, whatever they can think of to cause death and destruction.

It isn't because they have access to destructive or deadly things, it is that these Jihadist nut jobs dream of ways to kill and then find, buy or steal what they need to carry out their evil plan.  I am reminded of what God said about mankinds in the days of Noah just before he destroyed them: "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time" (Gen 6:5).

These people are evil.  Passing additional restrictions on guns or knives or explosives or motor vehicles or whatever, is not going to detour them.  Being nice to them is not going to incite them to play nice with us either.  Waging a war on poverty in the Middle East is not going to stop the war they are waging against infidels like us.

They aren't driven by fear or need or social/political stressors, they are driven by an ideology that is steeped in radical Islamic theology and fuel by a radicalized hatred that is nothing less than evil personified.  They are motivated by evil, they want to force the world to accepted their demented form of religion at penalty of death.  And, it is clear that killing rather than converting suits them just fine.

The battle to be waged requires that governments take decisive and deadly action to destroy the evil Islamic Jihadists, but that will not be enough.  They will have to win the battle against the evil ideology itself.  If they can break the back of the caliphate and then uproot the ideology, the governments will be successful in turning the tide.

But that will not be the end entirely, the evil itself will continue in one form or another "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12).

The physical destruction of Islamic Jihadists will not end the struggle with evil.  As Christians we must be forever watchful of evil as it manifests itself and engage it on the spiritual battlefield or prayer and righteousness.  It is not the government's of the citizens of the world that will ultimately overcome evil but the godliness of the Christians.

As Christians, we need to take our faith very seriously, realizing that we are in a battle, a battle in which, as I have previously shared, "the gates of hell shall not overcome" (Matt 16:18).  The god they follow is not God, but rather a demon that wishes nothing other than death and destruction.

Our job?  Take the battle to a higher plane: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt 5:44).  As children of God we are to win the world with a radical love that issues from the Spirit of God within.  Everyone will not be won over but everyone that will be won over will have been won over by the love of God.  Jus' Say'n.