ISIS

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.

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.

Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/The-Vagabond

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:

Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstockphotos.com

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.

On Friday, Authorities in New Zealand fatally shot a suspected Islamic terrorist after he stabbed six people in an Auckland supermarket.

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.

At least 20 were injured on Sunday when two suicide bombers detonated explosives outside of a Cathedral in Indonesia.

ISIS terror group reportedly released a statement this week telling all healthy members of the Islamic State to leave Europe in order to avoid the coronavirus. Those already infected with COVID-19, however, are being instructed to stay in Europe in order to spread the disease further.

ISIS leaders released a video on Monday declaring war on Israel and the Jewish people.

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.