Is this the End for ISIS?

It looks like ISIS may be coming to an end. There have been massive numbers of surrenders by ISIS fighters over the last few days.

Since the Trump administration has begun managing the war, we have seen a crumbling of this organization. Even though I am not sure we will see the end of everything with ISIS, but it is possible that the end is in sight. ISIS has spread itself over the world. It is in Europe, and there are many other groups that have pledged loyalty to the caliphate so there will still be some continuation to a degree. It does look like ISIS as we know it today may be near its end.

With ISIS fighters surrendering en mass to Kurdish Iraqi forces, how can ISIS continue much longer. The last stronghold was in Hawija. Mosel was the big turning point in the war. When Mosel fell, many ISIS soldiers fled, and instead of fighting as they had vowed to die as a martyr, saying they loved death more than life, they have chosen life.

The ISIS fighters are starving because their supplies have been cut off. Without supplies, they are no longer able to keep up the fight.

There is an investigation in the country to determine which of these men were really serious fighters for ISIS, and how many of them were forced into the organization to fill support roles.


What do we really know about ISIS?

Why was ISIS such an attraction to Muslims around the world? Al-Baghdadi did something the other terrorist organizations did not do. He appealed to the Muslim youth to reestablish the caliphate. This is the dream of every Muslim in the Islamic world.

The caliphate is the government of Islam and it is the the goal of Islam to being everyone under this government. Islam wants to be the only governing power in the world, and to have Islam the only acceptable religion.

The division between the Sunni and the Shi’ite Muslims is over the caliphate. The Sunni represent the largest part of the Islamic world (85%), and the Shi’ite Muslims are comparatively very small in number (10%). Most of the Shi’ite Muslims live in Iran, many are also in Lebanon and Yemen. They are just as vicious in their fighting as the Sunni Muslims.

The Sunni Muslims believe that the caliph is whoever Allah wills him to be. The Shi’ite Muslims believe that the caliph must be a blood descendant of Muhammad. Since the Shi’ite Muslims believe that the caliph must be a descendant of Muhammad, those who believe they are in that line where a black turban.

Both believe that the caliph rules as a totalitarian dictator. Although they would never say he was like god, they believe that he rules almost as if he were god. The caliph’s word if final.

The Islamic world knows no form of government other than a dictatorship. They have no understanding of democracy. The closest they come to the people ruling is when the mob rises up to throw out the present dictator, only to replace him with another. This is the only kind of government Allah has established.

The first three caliphs were Sunni Muslims. The Shi’ites assassinated the third caliph to put in a relative of Muhammad. The Sunni later assassinated him. The Muslims have been fighting about this ever since.

The success of ISIS was based upon the rebirth of the caliphate. Al-Baghdadi was the self-proclaimed caliph. We are not sure if he is still alive today. It has been reported that he was killed eight times, but he is still allegedly the leader of ISIS.


The Shooting In Las Vegas

I want you to listen carefully to what I am going to say about this. I have told you that ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack. I said that is was too early to tell for sure. I am still on the fence on this issue. However, I am hearing from some very credible sources that this may have been an Islamic attack.

Some are asking if it was  possible for one man to have pulled off this shooting. He seems to have had training. It was a very sophisticated attack. It was well planned.

I have been waiting to hear if he went to the Middle East. This has been a common thread in most of the terrorist attacks. One of the critical things I am hearing comes from my friend John Guandolo. He wrote the first counter terrorism course for the FBI. He is still involved in training and he is still called upon to give briefings on Capital Hill.

John Guandolo is suggesting that this may have been an ISIS attack. He said:

“There is no record of the Islamic state ever claiming responsibility of an operation that did not turn out to be a jihadi attack.”

ISIS does not claim responsibility for things for which they are not responsible. It has always turned out that everything they claimed to be involved in, they were. ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack three times since it happened. Although I am still on the fence, at this point I think it is possible that we may find this was an attack by ISIS.

It is not important for me to be first with the information. At Fortress of Faith we want to be accurate. We want to give answers from a Christian perspective.

Why is all of this happening? Well, the enemy of God has raised up an institution that is the greatest threat that America has ever faced. It is more dangerous than Hitler’s Nazism, more dangerous than Stalin’s Communism, more dangerous than Secular Humanism, and it is Islam. This ideology is bent on the destruction of our country and our faith. We must resist it.