Subject: The Orlando Massacre: Where America’s Hatred Should be Targeted

Proverbs 6:16-18 “These…things the Lord hates… hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil.”

In a press conference this week, Attorney General Loretta Lynch explained what is America’s most effective response to the Orlando terrorist attack: “…our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love.” Should we respond to Islamic terrorist Omar Mateen’s massacre of 49 innocent people at a gay nightclub in Orlando with, as Lynch advises, “compassion, unity and love”?

I was recently invited to speak at a gathering of about 100 teenagers in a question-and-answer open forum on the validity of the Christian worldview. During the exchange, one of the teens asked me if the God of the Bible is different than the God of Islam when it comes to condoning violence. In my response, I explained what the Navy Seals did to Osama bin Ladan at 1:00am on May 2, 2011. The Seals not only illegally landed inside bin Ladan’s compound, but broke into his home, shot his brother dead, captured his family and then shot bin Ladan dead in his own bedroom. I then asked if they saw anything wrong with what the Navy Seals did, and would the God of the Bible see this as an immoral act of violence against bin Ladan.

I was shocked to learn how many of these teenagers thought the Seals’ actions were immoral, coming just short of calling it murder. Many of them have a very similar worldview as our Attorney General. They said we should have tried much harder to show compassion and love to the 9/11 terrorists, in the hopes that maybe we could combat hate with love. I reminded them that bin Ladan was the mastermind behind the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans in New York City. That made no difference to them.

I explained this week’s verse, Proverbs 6:16-18, to the teens. God hates those who are intent on shedding innocent blood. We often overemphasize God’s love for people, but shy away from explaining God’s hatred for those who are hell-bent on violating God’s justice. In fact, Psalm 11:7 says “God is a just Judge, and He is angry with the wicked everyday.” God is the definition of what real love is, as the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, says. But we should be very thankful that He is just, and demands justice for those who commit such horrible atrocities as those being committed over and over again by Islamic terrorists.

We as a culture have so removed ourselves from the biblical values we once held that we can’t even endorse the just response of destroying ISIS terrorists who have not just made it public record that they intend to invade our homeland and murder as many of us infidels as they can, but have actually been doing this. Here are two recent examples that most of us have most likely forgotten.

“I wasn’t insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this Act… [It was] justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion. Jihad to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.” This was how Abdulhakim Muhammad explained why he gunned down an unarmed soldier outside a recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas back on June 1, 2009. He told the police that he intended to “kill as many Army personal as possible.” Not only was he charged with murder, but also 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act. Later, he wrote to the sentencing judge in his case that he was sent on the attacks by Al-Qaeda.

“I did not act out of hatred for Americans, but love for Allah instead. I live only to serve Allah by obeying all of Allah’s commandments, of which I am aware by reading and learning the contents of the Koran.” This was how Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar explained the “reasons for premeditating and attempting to murder citizens and residents of the United States of America.” Back in March 2006, as a University of North Carolina student Taheri-Azar drove an SUV into 9 students standing in the campus square. Why? He told campus officials that he wanted to “avenge the deaths of Muslims” around the world.

How did the students at North Carolina respond? When student Stephen Mann and several others handed out American flags at the scene of the SUV attack and denounced the act as a terrorist attack, they were confronted by a group of counter-demonstrators who argued that calling this a terrorist attack was insensitive and “wasn’t helping to heal wounds”. With over 100 people and a number of news reporters surrounding him, Mann asked everyone a simple question: “If we don’t call it terrorism, what do we call it?”

We can first begin with our government leaders calling these attacks on American soil Islamic terrorism. Once we acknowledge this truth, we must demand justice and target Islamic terrorists for destruction.