A dear Jewish friend asked me this question. He asked me to answer the question as a theologian. This is my brief response to a complex issue.

Before we can understand why these people celebrate death, we must first realize that all “gods” are not the same. I know this is not politically correct, but we must have the moral clarity to see things for what they are and the moral courage to “speak the truth in love.” We do not all worship the same deity. While the world uses the word “God” in the generic sense, to Jews and Christians, there is only One True God – the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, has clearly revealed Himself by His name. He has done this, not only to reveal His nature and character, but also to distinguish Himself from other spirit beings that the world also calls “god.” The reality is that the God of the Bible (HASHEM) is different from the “god” of Islam.

The Koran confirms this with these words, “Say: Unbelievers (Jews and Christians), I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I shall never worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. You have your own religion, and I have mine” (Surah 109:1-6).

While the God of the Bible celebrates life (L’ Chayim), the god of Islam is a spirit being that celebrates death. In the Bible, this spirit being is called the Prince of Persia, modern Iran (Daniel 10:13). It was the Moon God in ancient Babylon, modern Iraq, which is why the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam atop every mosque.

This being, now called A-ah, symbolized by the crescent moon, celebrates death because of its hatred of the God of the Bible. Since this being cannot kill the One True God, it manifests its hatred of God primarily towards Jews and Christians as well as professing cultural Muslims who are less observant and do not share the same hatred nor fully understand the nature of their religion.

We are constantly told that most Muslims are peaceful. That may be true, but let’s look at the numbers. There are about one billion Muslims in the world. Surveys indicate that a large number of Muslims believe in forcing Islamic sharia law on Christians and Jews and killing the infidel if they do not convert. While the number is really much larger, let’s say that only twenty per cent of Muslims are radicalized Islamists. This means that only 200 million people want to kill those (you and me) who don’t agree with them. Does this make you feel safer?

When Jews and Christians devote themselves to the God of the Bible, they take on His nature and character which is love and life. When Muslim Fundamentalists devote themselves to the spirit god of Islam, they take on its nature of hate and death. Furthermore, they believe their Mahdi (Messiah) can only be revealed when the world is in great turmoil. So they create the turmoil to prepare the way for the Mahdi and a world-wide Islamic kingdom called the Caliphate. This is the goal of ISIS. They are the “Koran Keeping” Muslims and true spiritual descendants of Mohammed following in his footsteps.

Since this conflict is spiritual in nature, it is impossible to understand the depths of this evil and hatred with our natural, reasoning mind. The politicians, news media and secularists will never understand this. Islamists hatred comes from the spirit being they worship. The more they are devoted to this spirit, the more its hate penetrates their soul to the point that they kill themselves and everyone else in the name of their god.

This celebration of death is an act of worship to A-ah, which is why these people give glory to A-ah (A-ah Akbar) when they kill people. This is not just my opinion. It is the proven reality stated in the Koran and acted out by their deeds. While they constantly deny this, they prove it with their very acts of violence. They deny they are violent by acting violent. Because of the violent spiritual nature of this enemy, you cannot compromise with it, make “nice with it,” or make political concessions to it. The only language it understands is force and strength.

I wish I could say these folk who celebrate death in the name of their god do not represent Islam. Unfortunately this is not true. One only has to read the Koran to discover the source of their hatred. As one example of many, “I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers (Jews and Christians), smite them above their necks (cut off their heads) and smite all their fingertips off them. It was not you who slew them; it was A-ah” (Surah 8: 12,17).

Mohammed set the example early on in the year 627 of our era when he and his followers brutally beheaded nine hundred Jews from Medina because they refused to acknowledge him. At that time, Medina was primarily a Jewish city. Mohammed fled to Medina from Mecca and was accepted as a “refugee” fleeing persecution. When he got strong enough, he took over the city and killed everyone who disagreed with him. This is what Europe and America can expect today from Mohammed’s spiritual descendants.

In the Hadith, Mohammed says, “The last hour will not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of A-ah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him’” (Hadith Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6985). This hatred of the infidels is also seen in the jihad cry, “Today we fight the Saturday people, tomorrow the Sunday people.”

Of course this hatred of Jews, and later Christians, is not new. It is not caused by a few pioneering “settlers” in Israel. It has been around since the Almighty first called Abraham and separated his natural seed through Isaac and Jacob to be His covenant people. The prophet Ezekiel calls it an ancient hatred (Ezekiel 35:5).

But there is hope. The One True God will soon destroy the source of this hatred, at which time He will be acknowledged by the nations (Zechariah 2:8). There will be shalom on the earth and in the hearts of people everywhere. Nations will beat their swords into ploughshares and study war no more.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a covenant-keeping God. He will redeem the world as promised by the prophets of old. Until then, Jews and Christians must stop fighting each other over their differences that only the Almighty can reconcile. We must awaken to this threat and learn, pray and act (do something). We must stand together against our common enemy or we may find ourselves standing alone.