The war in the Middle East is reminding us of the Holy Wars that began there in 1095, except with the crusading Christians unsuccessfully invading the Muslims for two centuries, with the prize being control of Jerusalem.
Now a Muslim group known as ISIS has revealed by its actions a total commitment to the group's interpretation of the vision and commands of the spiritual leader, Muhammad: to carry out "The Day of Judgment," which we would call the apocalypse.
ISIS simply believes today's world is evil, which allows them to justify their indiscriminate killing of innocents, be-headings, terrorism, rape, and other acts of violence. ISIS followers hope the West will engage them in a major battle in the Middle-East, with the more deaths on both sides the better.
To them, their expectation is this holocaust will be followed by the coming of the Mahdi, a spiritual figure who will cleanse and lead the world with Muslim precepts. He will be followed by Jesus Christ, an anti-Christ, who will convert remaining Christians into Muslims.
This is the view and commitment of some tens of thousands of ISIS believers. But while Muslims in general may not support them, how many are really going to oppose a vision that turns Christians into Muslims? To understand this, how many Christians expect the second coming of Christ to support the Muslim religion?
However, I propose the ISIS challenge has nothing to do with Christians and Muslims. To me, the issue is quite simple: Tyranny vs. Humanity.
ISIS represents an outlaw group that reached back 1400 years to find a justification to impose its will on more than seven billion people in this world.
But in 1215, the Magna Carta was established, which forever insured no ruler could impose one's will on an individual. This began the concept of human rights, as well as the concept of democracy. ISIS clearly seeks to wipe out all these centuries of human progress, and take away our individuality.
We should now ask all nations of free people to reaffirm our human rights and put an end to the would-be tyranny of ISIS.
Quite simply, we need a champion who will stand up for the people and defeat this would-be tyrant.