It was an early Tuesday morning 14 years ago – September 11. Our world changed.
It just happened again. This time it didn’t happen in New York or DC. They didn’t use airplanes. It happened in France, one of our allies – one we like to ridicule.
A few moments ago they arrested one of the men who said he was with ISIS that this was a coordinated attack. Who knows what the truth is? As was true on September 11, the truth will not be known for days and even weeks, and maybe longer. It will take time to sort all of this out. Yesterday our forces attacked in Syria. Today ISIS struck back in a much more dramatic way in one of the West’s great cities. Paris. This is unlike anything that has ever happened in our history.
We may find out that this is a coordinated ISIS operation. Maybe it was just some sympathizers willing to die in the name of ISIS. Time will tell the tale. I would make the following observations – preliminary and perhaps premature.
1. The world just changed.
The war on terror isn’t something happening in Syria, Iraq, or other Third World States anymore. They are bringing the battle to us. They don’t have to coordinate their attacks; all they need is some lone rangers willing to kill or die in the name of radical Islam. ISIS, and whatever the next iteration of evil might be, will not be content to sit in the deserts and behead a few people waiting for our drones to strike. They are going to bring the battle to us.
2. We have to face the truth.
Politicians have often showed a lack of willingness to look this thing in the eye and call it what it is. We are at war with radical Islamic terrorists. We cannot continue to pretend that this is the “JV” or that we do not have to put all our resources behind this. Radical Islam is the enemy.
3. Campaign 2016 is a whole new ballgame now.
We’ve been discussing a whole bunch of issues in the 2016 presidential debate. All of that just faded into the background as national security and the war on terror just jumped to the front of the stage again. Whether a candidate can handle global terror is going to be the decisive issue.
4. What we have been doing hasn’t been working.
Pretty clear there. We have gone over and fought wars in the Middle East, then the pendulum has swung toward the isolationist side and we’ve left nations we’ve conquered to descend into chaos. This swinging pendulum – from Bush’s aggressive nation-building to Obama’s waffling and retreat – we’ve not articulated a clear and consistent policy, we’ve left a power vacuum that the radicals have filled, we’ve chosen the wrong horse in the race several times, and we have made very little progress in 25 years since the first Gulf War.
5. This is one of those moments when the way forward is unclear.
Will there be more attacks? Here? Other European nations? How will we respond? Will America come together again or will we continue to play partisan games?
6. This is NOT a Jesus Juke….
In a world like this, we cannot…we cannot….WE CANNOT… We absolute cannot allow the International Missions retreat of the SBC to continue. Yesterday, the word is that we ended the evil of Jihadi John with one of our drones. Killed. Dead. Gone. But that doesn’t really end the problem. There’s going to be another guy who will step forward with a knife to take his place. The problem isn’t going to be solved by drones. But the gospel is still the power of God for the salvation of anyone who believes – Jew, Gentile, and Muslim!
I am going to use my vote carefully this coming year, in hopes that we will elect someone who can handle these evil men. I’ve been stating my support for Marco Rubio, but as of this moment, I’m uncommitted again. Who can handle this issue?
But ultimately the answer is Jesus. We cannot retreat. We need to lay aside our internecine and petty wars, reorganize as we need to, and get our world missions effort back on track. We are moving back under 4000. That needs to change. We need to get up above 5000, 6000, 10,000. Because it is not a Jesus Juke to say that our Savior can do in the Middle East what politicians, armies and aid workers cannot.
7. Pray for France. Pray for the Gospel Work in this world.
This world sucks. Sin does that. It is an awful place. Maranatha. In the meantime, let us pray for the people dealing with this, the families affected by it, the governments who will respond to it, and those who will carry the gospel to the ends of the world to fix the root cause!
It is WAY TOO EARLY to write anything definitive about what is going on in Paris. But this is big and it is life-changing. This is nearly at the 9/11 level in terms of import.
When I get upset, when I get bent out of shape, when I get stressed, I like to write. So, I sat here and wrote.
In a couple of days, I’ll probably be embarrassed about this, but whatever!
Dave,
How did I know that you would turn this into a political issue? Lucky guess? I don’t think so.
Christianity is not kill, kill, kill, Jesus said if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, but my kingdom is not of this world.
I do realize we must protect ourselves, but I think it’s up to our leaders to decide how.
You used the term “waffling”, toward our current administration, and basically praised George Bush. May I remind you that we lost the World Trade Towers under George Bush, and then attacked the wrong country for taking so many American lives. Iraq didn’t attack America, Afghanistan did. Russia fought in Afghanistan for ten years, and we have fought there for fifteen years making a total of twenty five years of war.
A religious war can never be won. The more people we kill over there the more people will take their place. I think the current administration is doing the right thing with the drones.
Maybe after we get President’s Bush’s war paid for then we might think of another war.
I would rather vote for Al Bundy than any of the GOP candidates.
Jess
“A religious war can never be won.”
You don’t know your history very well.
I can post many wars between religious factions that were won. A simple google search will educate you. Try “religious wars” in your search engine. Additionally no strategist in any military think that drones alone or air power alone will win a war. If you don’t have a plan to win, why fight in the first place.
John K.
How long has Christianity been fought? What about Islam? What about Judaism? John, you need to check your history.
First of all my prayers go out to all that have been directly affected by another horrific attack of evil.
I hope to point some of you to a website that has been on top of this for over a year. It is run by ex Special Operators and identifies issues along with solutions. The main reason I think this may be of value at this time is it identifies who ISIS really is, and it may surprise you it is not what we have been told. These folks were laughed at a year ago. It is time we understand truths if we hope to defeat this enemy. This is not a conspiracy site. These guys know facts of what they speak of.
http://sofrep.com/
If we do not understand who this enemy is, how can we expect to defeat them and how would we ever be able to identify a politician that can run our nation in these times?
Praying for the people of France this morning.
God WILL get mankind’s attention. We have, once again, been reminded.
I just googled France, its death rate and population.
About 9 per 1000 people die each year in France and its population is around 65 million. That means that about 600,000 people die each year in France.
The terror attack was despicable, cowardly, and demonic.
But we all DIE.
What this kind of terror does is that it strips the blinders off regular people and makes them face death, and specifically, their own mortality in a personal way that terrifies them. Normally, people avoid thinking about death. They prefer to avoid the topic.
But the reality is that almost 2000 people a day, on average, die in France. Just. As. Dead.
And in the reality that is life, we have a great opportunity to give people the ONLY answer to death: the Only One who has conquered death, and that through faith and trust in Jesus the Lord of all, that they can also conquer death.
Meanwhile, the ‘civilized world lives in fear but a suppressed fear, that they seek to ignore [and what does that do to their psyche?] and it takes specific acts of evil to make them look at reality.
So the leaders of the free world declare they will stand together and defeat ISIS and other terrorists. But meanwhile, death just keeps on happening, its toll barely upped by the terrible deeds Friday night in Paris.
Seneca: Is this really the right time for that kind of response?
Bill,
How many people died in France in Friday?
Surely hundreds more than the 127. They are just as dead.
Death is the result of sin and evil.
And despite what President Obama said, these adults that died were not innocent. The ones who were not saved were enemies of God. They all died at the appointed time set by God.
If the people turn to the Lord, then death is not a shock weapon of terrorism and they lose the power to cause fear and anxiety.
Fear and anxiety is there because their lives are but on sinking sand and they prefer to ignore their precarious situation.
As to France, where more people attend Mosques than go to Bible believing churches every Sunday, what can wake them up and turn them to God? To Jesus?
As to the West, where God has been declared dead and evil only a social disorder, what can wake them up to see that evil exists and is there with them and that there is hope unless we with the hope do not proclaim the truth?
Thousands died in France Friday and thousands more today but let us declare mourning only for 127 people. Why? Because we can blame those deaths on ISIS evil but the other deaths we prefer to sweep under the rug?
Was it not the will of God that the OT foreign armies sweep in and kill many Israelites and take captive others?
But lets mourn today and forget the true cause of the Paris tragedy: the sin of the people and their turning away from the One True God and His Son Jesus the Lord.
Mike: These were people’s sons, daughters, husbands and wives. These were people loved by God and made in the image of God. I will not “comfort” their loved ones by pointing out how evil they were. When I hear directly from God that He sent ISIS to teach those French a lesson, then I’ll consider your approach. Yes, other people in the world died yesterday, but I don’t know about them. I know about this attack, so I’ll pray for those left behind, and I’ll pray for those who labor among them as a result of this, both secular and Christian.
Bill,
What about the other 1000 or more that died in France that day’?
Why focus on these certain ones?
Besides, I didn’t say I would confront the mourning with those words.
My point is why do we focus on these deaths and practically ignore most others?
As I said, I don’t know anyone in France. I don’t know who died there the day before yesterday, and I don’t know who died there today. I do know that over 100 people were brutally murdered yesterday, so that’s what I focus on. You’re words are coming across as if this is no big deal because more people die in other ways.
Lots of people die in the U.S. everyday. Over 6000 a day last year. Does that mean 9-11 wasn’t a big deal? Besides the thousands of people who died that day, it plunged us into two badly executed wars, destabilized the middle east, escalated tension between Christians and Muslims to the breaking point, and raised travel paranoia to epic levels. Don’t be surprised if yesterday has far reaching repurcussions beyond the deaths of the victims.
Bill,
You assume what I did not imply.
I never said it was no big deal.
There isn aspect of terror of death because of those brutally murdered, and it is there because such death opens the blinders people wear that shield them their own destiny.
The reality is that such a terror of death should always be there since death is all around us and no one escapes it. But because people ignore it, when it is blasted into their senses by these despicable demonic acts, then such deaths are elevated in their eyes.
Now they are more united in fighting the evil that caused those deaths. But HELLO, what about the evil that is causing 6000 deaths a day in the USA? To fight that evil would make them think about God, and their own sinfulness.
So the outrage is there for a moment and then over time it fades away and every goes back to dying their slow [for the most part] death.
Instead, isn’t it possible that this shock that removed blinders be an opportunity for the Church to point out these very things and ask the hard questions about death and life while we also provide the only answer?
Bill,
In your second paragraph, you make some very good points.
You point out the folly of making too much of an incident. And what did all those wars, escalated tensions, and travel anxiety solve?
More righteousness? No.
Repentance toward God? No.
More death and fear? yes.
And i agree with you, Friday in Paris will also cause far reaching repercussions that will not bring the people of the world closer to God, if the same paths taken before are trod once again.
Bill Mac
yep
DL,yep to your yep to Bill.
My point is why do we focus on these deaths and practically ignore most others?
Right now Mike? Yes, we focus on these deaths and not compare it with others. Good grief.
Dave writes “We are at war with radical Islamic terrorists … Radical Islam is the enemy.”
Earlier this year, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said the following on the “CBS This Morning” show:
“The reality is that Al-Qaeda and ISIS believe they are religious warriors. They believe that they are fighting on behalf of their religion for their religion. It’s not rhetoric on their part. They really believe it.”
Radical Islamic terrorists are passionate about their cause – they are driven by their faith. They truly believe that they are end-time servants of God to usher in the Islamic messiah and must war with all that is non-Muslim to do that. It makes no difference if the Christian world un-declares war on them, they have declared war on us forever.
This is truly a horrible day for the people of France and my prayers go out to them.
It is a reminder that any country that isn’t paying attention to immigration and who is immigrating is asking for trouble. Our country is not paying attention to immigration. We are even considering taking in refugees, no questions asked, and without a means to discern the danger they might bring. We are thinking about this because we are a compassionate people, but we have to be responsible as well.
Europe is only a foreshadowing of what will happen elsewhere should we as a nation, or any other, not take the protection of our borders seriously.
Nate,
Do you think there will come a time when the people of a country will trade liberty for life under sharia law due to the pressure?
If I’m understanding your question correctly, then I would say yes. There are rumors of certain cities in Europe that are essentially ruled by Muslims, although the reports haven’t been fully confirmed. In the United States there have already been court cases regarding conflicts between civil law and Sharia Law, so I think yes if things continue to proceed as they have been.
Groups and movements, whether they be political or religious, whose agenda is to bring everything under their control, will always begin with subtle removals of liberty, in the name of fairness, etc., until they gain enough control to ultimately force their ways on others.
Europe essentially ceded their sovereignty when the EU was formed and there are now many in the various countries questioning whether this has destroyed their distinct nationalities. This attack will almost certainly escalate the discussions in the various European countries over limiting or ending immigration from Muslim countries.
And the Millennial generation in this country, in my opinion, have been raised under the propaganda of ceding their liberties to the “greater good” and therefore they are more prone to fall prey to the aforementioned agendas. Big Brother is alive and well and this generation doesn’t seem to mind at all.
In my humble (but accurate) opinion, your last paragraph is spot on. It only takes a generation to change the world (and church) for better or worse.
I wonder about the state of church when we see people who seem little moved by such deep human tragedy and suffering but only seem to see it as fodder for whatever political point they are trying to make.
Me too Dave, me too.
When Jesus saw the crowds he was moved with compassion. He didn’t look at them and say, “See, that proves my point!”
Common humanity, let alone Christian compassion demand a different response than looking at this tragedy simply to buttress a political position.
Dave Miller,
If you have ever made an accurate observation, you have made one here. What has happened in Paris should move all who name the name of Jesus as Lord and King to approach the throne of grace this day asking for God’s generous mercy, grace, love, and revelation of the gospel to be upon France today.
Dave,
I don’t know if you are referring to me with your post.
But if you are, you are off base.
No matter how one’s friend or loved one dies, it is painful and possibly crushing. No matter, even it is by cancer, murder, terrorist attack, car accident, or whatever, we should have compassion and sympathy for those suffering, to weep with those who are weeping.
Don’t you agree?
I would think that you do, but I would point out that you also seem to think that because I point out that these who had loved ones who died in this tragic brutal attack are countrymen and women to on average 1500 or so other French citizens who also died, just as dead, and just as painful and sorrowful to their loved ones, that I have a political motive for pointing out that truth.
Could it be [and I am asking] that you have no compassion for all the relatives and friends of all the other people who died in France on that fateful Friday? Since they died in obscurity without great fanfare, do their deaths count for as much? Or do you not think that their loved ones are not also in great pain of heart?
Of course you think that those loved ones are hurting. Of course you think that the other deaths are just as traumatic in their lives. But they are not in the news…
The world focuses on the tragedy because it points to their inability to control life. But we know that God alone is in control of life. The world has its fears ramped up by these uncontrollable [by them] events that threaten the very nature of their governmental and social fabrics. So of course to them, these deaths mean so much more.
But to the loved ones of David R. Marshall passed away November 13, 2015 at his home in Hartford, Iowa, who would be among others: his children; Sherri Marshall, Jake Marshall, Leon Scott and Michele Scott; his parents; Richard “Dick” Marshall and Violet Wittkowski; brother, Rich Marshall and his sister Susan Kempenaar and 12 grandchildren, David Marshall’s death is as least as tragic if not more. [Info from the Des Moines Register].
My point is not that we shouldn’t show compassion to those who are mourning, but that we shouldn’t elevate their lives [deaths] above a multitude of others simply because of the worldly political ramifications as if we, like the rest of the world, did not have a great and powerful God working all things to His plan.
Or as we read this sentence from Ephesians 1:
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
I haven’t really read any of your comments, but this one seems to be making an argument that makes no sense to me. I have no idea who David Marshall is or how he anything to do with this. I can’t make sense of the argument you are making, and it doesn’t really interest me – it seems to be demeaning the suffering or importance of the Paris attacks. Again, I haven’t read your arguments and do not plan to – based on this. I cannot figure out why anyone would even argue that what happened in Paris is not substantively different than the norm.
I’m sure you have a logic to what you are saying, but it baffles me.
To be honest, I HOPE that I am misunderstanding you, because if I am understanding you, it is one of the coldest, most inhumane, unfeeling arguments I’ve ever heard.
Again, I hope I’m not understanding you correctly.
Google Pierre Rehov. He has been documenting France’s political correctness toward Islam since VHS.
Welcome to Pravda, Lydia.
Thank you, Comrade.
I so wish there was a simple “like” button.
Yes, the world changed, but it may not have changed in the way many of us think. The common narrative is that evil people have now come out of the woodwork and have attacked good, innocent people. What changed in this narrative is uncertain, but we have an event that will necessitate some change in civil policy, and we know that good people will have to stand up to the evil people.
The problem with this narrative is that we know that there are no good people. Unless we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are living lives in sanctification according to this truth, we would be prone to commit those kinds of acts according to our situation. What generally holds people at bay is the rule of law and the threat of civil punishment.
But i also know that that’s a hard fact to swallow. After all, we can see a difference between an evil person who cheats on their taxes or stands by and lets someone beat the snot out of someone else without just cause. Those things might be distasteful, but they aren’t committing acts of mass murder. We fail to realize that we often abuse the rule of comparison to justify our own lesser acts of evil.
The other problem is that we tend to treat history like it was a nice story. We can recite death tolls of wars and talk about how the Revolutionary war and ignore the fact that a lot of people killed and died for the independence of the survivors. We can talk about how many people Samson killed with the jawbone of a donkey because we are so far removed from it. It doesn’t seem real. Things are different today and it just doesn’t relate.
But things really aren’t any different today. Substitute the jawbone of a donkey for any modern weapon and place the setting in a modern city and you have the makings of a modern news story that promises to rock the world. Hitler killed how many people again? Stalin killed how many people? We have had Koni in Uganda, the drug cartels and organ harvests in Latin America, the sex slave trade in Southeast Asia, and abortion in the United States. Even once you get past birth in the US, we have child abuse, school shootings, and careless drivers killing thousands of people a year on the roads. On top of that we have wars against possibly carcinogenic foods and changing weather patterns. How many people are those really killing? Who knows.
What’s any different about radical Islam? It’s no less preventable and still yields the same result. The only difference is that it just happens to be enough of a different kind of death-dealing from what we are used to that it shocks us. As Christians it should remind us of the imperative to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are perishing before they perish. So Dave, your conclusion is on the money. We need to find every way possible to send as many as we can, and even go ourselves, even if it is across the street, to get the Gospel to all people before it is too late for them. We can’t afford to be comfortably numb anymore, as though we could before.
This is how I predict the Paris attack will/may change the world.
1. France will retaliate against ISIS. This is already happening, and ISIS may end up regretting this.
2. Relations between France and the US may improve in solidarity over the attack.
3. Avenues for middle east refugees will be cut off. Perceived safety will always trump compassion.
4. Muslim / non-muslim tensions will escalate. This is a major goal of ISIS (and frankly, some Christians) and they are succeeding very effectively. The large majority of non-muslims and muslims who don’t hate each other is anathema both to ISIS and to rabid anti-muslims. Look for a shift out of the rational middle to the irrational extremes.
5. The US may well get into bed with some very bad people (Putin/Assad/?) to fight ISIS and as we always do, we’ll end up regretting it.
6. Anti-immigrant rhetoric will ratchet up. After all, they’re all brown, right? If we can’t tell them apart, better to keep them all out.
7. Ground forces to battle ISIS may now be inevitable.
To the point of Dave’s article, what should the Christian response be?
Perhaps America should stop worrying about setting up a democracy in other countries. Seems if you set up a democracy in a Muslim country, the radical Muslims take over every time. And they end up worse than before.
Perhaps America should sometimes set up or permit a dictatorship that will:
Allow a reasonable amount of justice and freedom.
Allow true religious liberty.
Be friendly toward the USA and the West.
Protect their people, and us, from the radicals.
Just a thought.
David R. Brumbelow
Agreed. Can anyone say Iraq and the world wouldn’t be better off with Hussein still in power?
No one knows how the world would look like with Uday or Qusay Hussein in control of Iraq except for God. And He allowed them to be vaporized. Saddam’s days were numbered no matter what with those 2 sons.
To David’s point, we allowed South Korea to be run as a mostly authoritarian dictatorships till 1988 after the Korean war.
Iraq was doomed when the US elected someone who believes it is possible to actually lead from behind. George Bush declared what would happen if we withdrew the troops from Iraq 5 months before Pres O was elected. He described what would happen to the letter.
Has anyone seen the prophecy George Bush made in 2007 about what would happen if we did exactly what Obama did (essentially capitulate for political expediency)? It is chillingly accurate.
Dave,
Prophecy???
He accurately predicts the future.
Bill Mac,
Who on earth is qualified to make that decision. Would the world be better off without those who are 65 years old and up? What about the orphans. the blind, the crippled? Surely the world would be better off without these.
I disagree with many of Obama’s decisions in the middle east. I would have probably handled the withdrawal from Iraq differently and I would have been more aggressive against ISIS earlier. But to imply Bush had any idea how to handle it better contradicts his record in Iraq. In 2008 while Bush was president the American and Iraqi governments signed an agreement sought by the Bush administration setting a date of 30 June 2009 for American forces to be withdrawn from Iraqi cities and by 31 December 2011 for a complete withdrawal from Iraqi territory. In December 2008 just a few weeks before he left office President Bush went to Iraq and signed a security agreement for this 2011 withdrawal. He appeared in a televised news conference with Iraqi prime minister Maliki to celebrate the agreement. This is the same date Obama followed through with. To say Bush has shown wisdom at any point in his time as president on Iraq is questionable. One reason that Iraq has fallen into such a terrible condition is the foolish and corrupt reign of prime minister Maliki. General Petraeus and other intelligence officials urged President Bush to withdraw support for Maliki but Bush said he had confidence in his leadership. That was another tragic mistake for US Policy in Iraq. Obama has made mistakes in his policies in the Middle East but we cannot pretend that Bush was in any way successful or would have been successful in his policies. Most military leaders describe Bush’s invasion of Iraq as the biggest strategic mistake in US military policy in recent memory.
All true but important caveat – bush plan for 2011 withdrawal was dependent on ground conditions and benchmarks and considered what was going on on the ground – Obama never enforced the benchmarks, ignored realities – including ISIS – and set a date certain.
Bush did some things wrong sure.