The latest number of people murdered in the bombing attacks inflicted on the people of Belgium is now (late morning on Tuesday) 35. The injured number over 100. The Western world is in shock, once again, as the bloody and evil threat of Islamist terrorism has struck Belgium.

Only four days ago, the police in Belgium arrested one of the leaders of the horrific attack in Paris. Salah Abdeslam was charged with terrorist murder. Reports indicate that he had been planning further attacks.

This newest violence comes during a presidential campaign in the United States which has raised, among many other serious issues, the justifiable concern among the American people that our current administration is not doing enough to protect the nation against the escalating possibility that America will suffer such attacks.

Though ISIS has not officially claimed responsibility for this latest evil inflicted on innocent people, social media associated with the group is filled with celebratory postings which rejoice over the bloodshed and link the bombings with a demand to free Abdeslam. It is probably only a matter of time before the connection is formally made.

What They Do to Christians

If we want to understand what ISIS’s designs are for Europe and the West, we need only look to what they are doing to Christians, and other religious minorities, in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. There has been a genocide of Christians and other religious minorities — including other forms of Islam — underway in this Islamist “Caliphate.”

The man who leads ISIS’s reign of terror claims to be a descendant of Mohammed. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, or Caliph Ibrahim, issued an ultimatum in January of 2014 to Christians in that part of the former territory of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon he declared to be the Islamic Caliphate. He demanded that they convert to Islam, face the sword, flee the country or have their property seized and pay the tax levied against dhimmis.

That ultimatum was broadcast from loudspeakers and placed on the internet. It was heard around the whole world: “We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimmi contract, involving payment of Jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword.” It was not an idle threat.

The terrorists of ISIS have beheaded scores of people, crucified former Muslims who freely chose to follow Jesus Christ, destroyed dozens of Christian churches and several of mankind’s ancient treasures, cut off the heads of reporters, burned sacred manuscripts and sacred art, and sent hundreds of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities fleeing for their lives in an ongoing reign of bloodshed and terror in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Christian homes were marked for seizure and destruction. They took an axe to the ancient tomb of Jonah and destroyed it with mad abandon. They ripped down the Sacred Cross from St. Ephrem’s Cathedral and replaced it with their dreaded black flag. They routinely cut off heads and stick them on poles while they shout their slogans, purporting to honor God while they unleash a reign of evil.

Despite the massive amount of evidence, it has taken years for the Obama administration to finally admit that the atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria constitute genocide. That very reluctance exposes the root of the real problem we face in mounting an effective response to ISIS’s continuing reign of terror.

They Hate Christians

They hate Christians. They hate western civilization. They claim a right to the lands where Christians have lived for centuries and are literally hell-bent on driving them out with the sword. They also hate the West, and consider it their mission to subdue and occupy it.

Christian tradition traces the planting of the Christian Church and the Gospel in the land ISIS claims as the Caliphate to the missionary efforts of the Apostle Thomas — long before the invention of Islam. Christians have fundamental human rights which are now routinely and ruthlessly denied by that barbaric movement, including an undeniable claim to live freely on that land and the right to practice their faith, no matter what the regime’s religious commitments.

We face a serious global crisis. What has been happening to our Christian brothers and sisters in ISIS-controlled areas is now beginning to happen in Europe and America through acts of terrorism. The question is: what will be our response? It is bloody Tuesday in Belgium and Jihadist Islam continues westward.