Terror...Conflict We Can Not Avoid

Warning: This devo may offend the sensitive.

Sometimes people have irresolvable conflict. There are conflicts where one or both are just unreasonable. For others it’s just a genuine difference of opinion and no way to compromise. Occasionally it’s a matter of politics or religion. For them there is no compromise and it’s the other who's unreasonable. There never can be comprimise for the fanatical. I see this in the war on terror. How can one compromise with an organization like the Muslim Brotherhood genuinely believes the great Satan (USA) needs to be destroyed? On a smaller level marriages get into problems that are difficult to resolve and often devolve into violence. They bubble to the top and that’s when the police become involved. E.S.D. a place where unreasonable people congregate, find each other and fall in love. Love that turns to violence.

Bill and Tom were co-habitants. As they often do they began to drink heavily which made them more unreasonable than usual. Neighbors began calling the police to intervene in the latest dispute. A police response can take time in this part of the city on a weekend night when calls are “stacked”. Communications triages the calls to send out robberies in progress, gang fights and sexual assaults. A family disturbance where there is no violence has to wait. Tom reached the boiling point, picked up a large glass sex tool, broke it over the head of Bill. It sliced him deep and blood profusely poured out of the veins that run close to the surface of the face and scalp. Someone called 911 and the fight escalated. A two officer team rolled, along with a K-9 and sergeant. As the officers moved closer to the scene more 911 calls poured in.

As the first officers arrived the victim came running out of the house past them… “He’s got a knife. Do something.” Dispassionately, “831Z have the next unit bring less lethal munitions and we’ll need the K-9 out.” They can see in the house as Tom stripped naked and ran around the house gashing at his wrists and neck with the knife and broken glass. If they enter he will force a lethal confrontation. If they wait he will hurt himself further. “Expedite the assets and a supervisor.” Emergency tone blares over the radio and units scream to the scene. An ad hock team is assembled and they quickly formulae a plan of action. As they enter the building Tom set the house on fire. Not only would he kill himself but the cops as well. Officer one fires the 50,000 volt tazer. Direct hit to Tom’s torso. No affect! Officer two steps up as #1 reloads a new cartridge. He fires and Tom again fights it off. Officer #1 fires again. Tom is a resistant bugger. The sergeant calls up the shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds. All four rounds are direct center mass hits…no effect. Smoke fills the house as the officers gasp for air. Get the firefighters up here to extinguish the flames! Negative, not until its safe came the depressing retort over the radio. The K-9 barks his warning but releasing him is dangerous in this confined smoke filled environment. They just want to bite something, doesn’t really matter who. You have a bleeding naked man with barbs hanging out, glass and a knife and a worsening fire. The dog is released and runs through the smoke and flames using his 100 pounds of muscle and teeth to take an unreasonable man to the ground where a group of plastic gloved officers slosh through the blood and sweat to drag the naked and now profusely bleeding man outside into the front yard as firefighters quickly knock down the flames. He’ll have to save his unreasonableness for another day. Swift and violent action helped him stop his unreasonable ways.

As a country we face an unreasonable foe. Groups such as Al Qaeda, Hamas or Hezbollah, Al Shabbab and Lashkar-e-Taiba have recruited radicalized prison inmates, college students and American citizens to strike the homeland. Many are educated, “normal” families. They do not and will not understand reason. There is no negotiating with them. They must understand our resolve to defeat them at all cost. This is however nothing new. It is debased humanity at its worst, just ask Mexico. They are living a life of terror. Whether it’s a religious, political or financial ideology it’s all the same.

Ancient Israel fought this problem long ago. Look at Nehemiah 4 (read the whole book). The Jewish people tried to rebuild Jerusalem and the surround communities mocked them (what are these feeble Jews doing?) and made plans to attack them. A Nehemiah lead team rebuilt the wall with a “spear in one hand and a troll in the other.” “They worked at it with all their hearts.” Zabbi zealously repaired another section”. We need to zealously repair and defend our country. It lies in ruins and is a shame to the world. It started with the leadership of Nehemiah. A man ordained by God to rebuild His kingdom. He understood and took the threat seriously.

There are three things I am going to do:

1. Pray to the God of heaven to save, preserve and protect this great nation of fabulous people that has fallen into disrepair.
2. Pray to the God of heaven for the leadership in Washington (especially the President) to take the threats of Islamic extremist seriously. I think reality is setting in and they need to find a way to release the power of our intelligence and military communities. So far the President and Congress has hamstrung it by increasing intelligence requirements.
3. Work diligently and zealously to protect and defend our SD community from those would harm it. It is all of our responsibilities. Some of us just do it full time.

To quote Martin Luther King Jr. “When evil men plot, good men must plan.”