After Paris, What’s Next? What to do?

The savage attacks on civilians in Paris on Nov. 13, by some accounts, constituted a game changer in the attitudes of Western governments. French President Francois Hollande described them as “…an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army.” Thus this appears to represent an end to the notion that this state of war is something which is going to go away without our and the West’s full commitment to bring it to closure.
As for ourselves here in the U.S., it is time, perhaps past time, for us, the American people, and for our national government, to be honest with ourselves about whom we are fighting, why the terrorists hate us so much, and why they are willing to die for their cause. Without this understanding, our response will continue to be ineffective, and we will not defeat this enemy.
This will result in an even greater threat over time, as terrorists infiltrate our cities, and that is not as bad as it can become in the next phase, because Iran is building missiles and atomic bombs.  Per Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “I want to make it clear to you, Iran is not building these ICBMs to hit Israel. They already have missiles that can hit Israel everywhere. They are building these ICBMs to hit you. To hit the United States,” he said. “You are the Great Satan. We are just a small Satan.”
The reality is, many in the world are questing after a deeper meaning for life, and are not giving way to “modern” ideas, including materialism, the marginalization of religion’s role in living a fulfilled life.
Devotion to their religion drives the extreme, militant adherents of Islam from around the world to join the Islamic State. Further, if they die in the quest, they believe they are guaranteed entry into Heaven. They believe the Islamic State is ordained by Allah, and that the West, by attacking the Islamic State, is fighting against Allah, whom they battle to defend.
Dr. Albert Mohler chided world leaders Nov. 16 in his Briefing for failing to know history. “The struggle between Islam and the West is not new. It goes back centuries and history will record there never has been a time in which there has not been some element of conflict between Islam and the West. What makes the situation radically different now is the increased ability of Islamic groups from the Middle East to export their war and terror to the United States and Europe, as was seen on the streets of Paris on Friday night.
”One of the refrains heard over and over again by analysts trying to explain this is the argument that what is really at stake in terms of the crisis in Islam is Islam’s confrontation with modernity as if that is a new 21st century phenomenon. That is actually part and parcel of the engagement between Islam and modernity going back to the late 19th century and all throughout the 20th century. The Middle East for the better part of the last 200 years has been a continuous bloodbath…not just between Muslims and the rest of the world, but between Muslims and fellow Muslims, especially between the Shia and the Sunnis.
“We have to note that as seared as these images in Paris now are on our minds and as much as the headlines are now continually talking about attacks in Paris, the reality is that the Western mind will soon go on to something else. The modern secular West, for the better part of the last 200 years, but especially in the last period since World War II, has been undermining the very ideals that made Western civilization possible and has been making itself increasingly vulnerable to the kind of attacks we saw on Friday night in Paris. Having unilaterally disarmed itself against understanding any theological argument, because it has been at war with any kind of theological authority, the modern secular West now faces a theological enemy that it cannot understand. But the saddest thing in terms of the carnage in Paris is that the truth is right there before us.”
The fact is, even if large segments of America returned to traditional moral behavior, there is no reason to believe this would cause the jihadists to forego their goal of the black Muslim flag flying over the White House one day. The overwhelming majority of our immigrants were from Christian cultures, and those who were not, were not hostile to our culture.  While an estimated 99 percent of Muslims are also not hostile, the 1 percent that are can well turn America into a police state in order to deal with them (France is now considering changing their constitution in just this fashion).  
Art Hall
From the Bible: From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4