The name “ISIS” has been a dominant presence in the news in recent times, but the frequency with which we hear this name does not always equal understanding of it. Johnnie Moore, former campus pastor at Liberty University and author of Defying ISIS, provides insight into five crucial things Christians should know about the terrorist organization so that we can better understand world events.
Pope Francis recently declared 21 Coptic Christians martyred by Islamic State terrorists on a Libyan beach in 2015 saints and added them to the Roman Catholic Church’s calendar.
In 2009, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi walked away from a United States detention camp in Iraq, he warned his former captors: “I’ll see you guys in New York.”
Just five years later, in 2014, this same man became the leader of ISIS.
After Tuesday’s terror attack in New York City, the deadliest since 9/11, al-Baghdadi’s words seem more ominous – and relevant.
This week, CNN noted the resilience of New Yorkers. Yet, we deceive ourselves if we go on with our lives and dismiss Tuesday’s attack as another senseless atrocity carried out by a “lone wolf.” (After all, the alleged attacker wanted to display the ISIS flag in the hospital while he recovered, and the militant group claimed him as a “soldier of the caliphate.”)
What motivates ISIS to commit such carnage? Radical jihadists such as al-Baghdadi are more than psychopaths perverting Islam. ISIS wants to usher in the apocalypse.
Here are four things you need to know about ISIS from the research of Jim Denison, author of Radical Islam: What You Need to Know:
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a recent spate of violence in Christian villages across Mozambique that claimed the lives of eight people in late May.
The details of the suicide bombing attacks that occurred at the Hamid Karzai International Airport and a nearby hotel in Afghanistan on Thursday are still unfolding. But Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. told reporters on Thursday that those responsible for the twin suicide bombings and subsequent barrage of gun fire were “assessed to have been ISIS fighters” and “ISIS gunmen.” Shortly thereafter, ISIS formally claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The Islamic State spokesman, a man poised to become the next terror leader of the group, was killed in Syria by U.S. forces, according to the U.S. State Department.
President Trump made an announcement Sunday morning that has dominated global headlines: “Last night, the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world.”
On July 17, an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 was approaching the departure runway in Miami and powering up its engines. Then the crew got an error message and aborted the takeoff.