Last week I mentioned that the expulsion of ISIS from their self-styled capital in Raqqa, Syria would lead to an increase in lone wolf attacks in the West. I had hoped the next event would not occur so soon. But it did.

So on behalf of all those affected by Tuesday’s attack in lower Manhattan, I tell you this: if we don’t go to Muslims with the good news of the gospel, they will come to us with the bad news of Islamic jihad.

If We Don’t Go, They Will Come

We see this principle in the Old Testament where God wanted His people to reach out to other nations and be a witness to them. But they (the Israelites) did not do it. He even sent Jonah by force to show His love for the nations. But then because Israel did not go to the Assyrians and Babylonians, those nations came, attacked them, killed them, and took them to captivity.

This same consequence is what is happening today to America and much of the Western world. For centuries the Church has ignored the Middle East and Muslims. Only 3 percent of the Church’s mission budget is spent to reach out to 1.6 billion Muslims. Because we did not go to them with the love of Christ, they are coming to us with the hatred of Allah.

Terrorists coming with the hatred of Allah is exactly what happened on 9/11, and it is what is happening now. So the same OT principle is still valid: If we don’t go, they will come—and it will not be pretty. If we continue to disregard reaching out to Muslims of the Middle East, they will continue to come to us with violence and acts of terrorism.

It Is Impossible to Monitor All Terrorist Threats

Government officials feel helpless to stop it. Representative Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) said yesterday that stopping terrorism in the USA is impossible. Terrorism is impossible to stop completely because an act of terrorism easily could happen on any street corner, any movie theater, any stadium, any concert, or in any shopping mall in the US.

A few months ago, after my presentation at a conference about reaching out to Muslims with the love of Christ, I talked to a top homeland security officer. He said, “We are on the defensive in America, and that is a weak position. It is impossible to monitor all potential terrorists and stop them before they do their acts of terrorism.” He then continued, “There are many threats that Homeland Security thwarts before they happen, but unfortunately it takes only one person that we miss to bring terrorism to the US.”

Moving to the Offensive

Being on the defensive is a weak position. Jesus commands us to go (Matthew 28:19). We must be on the offensive with the gospel and love of Christ towards Muslims. We must go. The gospel is powerful but only if it is shared (Romans 1:16). Perfect love casts out the Islamic spirit of fear only if it is expressed (1 John 4:18).

Living on the defensive, in constant fear, or in search of ways to protect ourselves against inevitable attacks is not the answer to Islam. Neither is it the answerto return violence with violence. The only response with long-term impact is to aggressively love Muslims and share the gospel with them.

The good news is that God has done His part by opening the hearts of millions of Muslims towards the gospel already. The bad news is that the Church is pretty much asleep and is not doing its job. And yet the worst news is that, as a result, terrorism will increase in the USA. The news we get in the future will be based on the choices we make and the actions we take now.

We can be fearful of Islam.

We can be indifferent to Islam.

Or we can proactively obey Christ
and go share the gospel with Muslims.

Please join me in going on the offensive.

Related articles:

Henney, Megan. “New York, Terrorist Attacks ‘impossible to Stop’: Rep. Collins.” FOXBusiness, October 31, 2017.

Shariat, Hormoz. “Defeating ISIS—Quenching the Flames of Jihad.”

Photo: Copyright: paktaotik2 / 123RF Stock Photo