Since March 1, there has been a wave of threats and terrorist attacks on our homeland. As Christians, we should not let this violence cause us to embrace fear or hatred. But we must understand what motivates these attacks.

One attack was by Ndiaga Diagne, a naturalized US citizen from Senegal, who opened fire at a popular entertainment spot in Austin, Texas. Three people were killed and thirteen were wounded.

On March 7, Ibrahim Kayumi and Emir Balat attacked a peaceful demonstration in New York City. Their parents came to the US legally from Afghanistan and Turkey.

On March 12, there were two more radical Islamist attacks. One was carried out by Mahomed Jollah, a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, who attacked students on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Jollah walked into a classroom and asked, “Is this ROTC?” (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). When the professor, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, said yes, Jollah yelled, “Allahu Akbar,” and immediately opened fire. Lt. Col. Shah was killed, just months from his retirement. Two cadets were wounded.

We still don’t know all the details that followed, but we know how it ended: The ROTC cadets in that room, thankfully, overcame Jollah before he could kill anyone else. He was pronounced dead when police arrived. These future military officers engaged in combat and eliminated the enemy.

Later in the day, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized US citizen from Lebanon, crashed his truck into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The Jewish Sabbath falls on a Saturday. Why did Ghazali strike on a Thursday? The answer is clear.

There is a kindergarten in the synagogue complex. This was an attempt to massacre Jewish children. It failed because two brave security guards rose to the occasion. One was wounded when the truck rammed the building; the other stood his ground and took down the attacker.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun said Ghazali had family members who were killed recently in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike against Hezbollah. The mayor and some in the media seemed to be suggesting that this justified the antisemitic attack at the synagogue.

Israel has been engaged in a battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon for years. But when his relatives were killed 6,300 miles away, Ghazali’s Islamist mindset was to massacre Jewish children. That is a perfect example of raw antisemitism. We have since learned that the brother in Lebanon was a commander in a missile unit that had fired repeatedly at civilian targets in Israel.

All of this shows us how radical Islamists view the war—not as a war between nation-states or as a nation battling a terrorist organization, but as a religious war they are obligated to wage against Jews, Christians, and other “infidels.”

These attacks are evil. But I am encouraged by the heroic actions against this evil by our fellow citizens. In the New York City attack, two police officers responded instantly and courageously. Without hesitation, they pursued the Islamists who threw bombs at innocent bystanders and tackled them. The officers reacted without any thought for their own safety.

In the Texas incident, police arrived on the scene of the bar shooting in less than a minute. They immediately engaged the attacker and eliminated him. At Old Dominion University, the ROTC cadets fought back and saved lives. And in Michigan, a well-trained good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun, sparing the lives of many innocent Jewish children.

Sadly, we must brace ourselves for what will likely be more jihadi attacks. This confrontation has been going on for decades. This year, we will mark the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US on 9/11. But there is also a new America emerging, one that contradicts everything the radical, secular Left says about our country.

The Left in America is doing everything it can to undermine our effort to destroy the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. But average Americans—who may or may not completely agree with the decision to confront Iran—are doing exactly what we hope every American will do: waking up each morning prepared to risk their lives to protect their country and their fellow citizens, praying for our men and women in uniform, and hoping we succeed in stopping the mullahs of Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

President Ronald Reagan had to confront the dangers from radical Islam many times. He rescued the US hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran in 1980. In 1988, he ordered the sinking of most of Iran’s navy. His worldview was very clear. He said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”¹

1. Ronald Reagan, speech to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Phoenix, AZ, March 30, 1961.