If anything

was learned from World War II, it was that evil must be utterly and totally

eliminated.

Evil cannot

be accommodated and evil cannot be tolerated. Evil cannot be bargained

with and it cannot be ignored. The nature of evil is to destroy and to

spread.

Eventually,

the evil spawned by Japan ended in total surrender on the battleship Missouri

and the evil of Adolf Hitler was pursued into the capital city of Berlin

and to the madman's bunker door before it was finally put down like a

rabid dog.

Evil was at

work this week in the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack

on the Pentagon. Evil is unrelenting and unrepentant, as was seen months

ago prior to the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh

saw the Federal Building as a "target" and the dead children

killed in the nursery as "collateral damage." To the end, a

remorseless McVeigh was defiant, smug, and belligerent.

Evil cannot

be understood. It can only be hunted down and destroyed before it destroys

everything around it.

It is past

time to target the evil of terrorism, search it out, hunt it down, and

eliminate it. The Book of Ecclesiastes declares that there is both a "time

for peace and a time for war." Although the United States prefers

to be at peace, it is clear that there are those evil men in the world

that are themselves at war with this country.

Four airplanes,

full of innocent people, were turned into instruments of destruction and

death by evil men. Evil filled the skies and rained down hatred on America

last Tuesday.

Estimates on

Tuesday evening surmised that between 100 and 800 people in the Pentagon

perished in the flames of evil. The mayor of New York indicated that 200

firefighters and nearly 80 police officers died trying to rescue the people

attacked by this evil.

No one was

willing to even speculate how many hundreds, or thousands, of innocent

people met their deaths in a ball of flame, or in the crushing collapse

of the buildings, or by throwing themselves over 80 stories to their deaths

to escape the hellish inferno.

All over America,

citizens were shocked, stunned, and horrified as they watched planeloads

of doomed people plow into buildings. In the streets of Palestine, as

Americans watched on television, people danced for joy. It is difficult

for most Americans to comprehend that their nation is hated by many people

in far off lands.

Evil is fueled

world. But evil must be dealt with at its source.

Just as the

Allies took the battle to the homelands of Japan, Italy, and Germany a

generation ago, those who would defeat the evil of terrorism must seek,

locate, and destroy, at the foundation, those who would inflict suffering

and death on innocent people.

President George

W. Bush has declared that those nations that harbor terrorists are to

receive the same wrath of the United States as will the terrorists themselves.

Rogue nations who overtly or covertly endorse or allow terrorists groups

to live or operate within its borders should be given one week to rid

themselves of such organizations.

After that,

if these nations refuse to oust these purveyors of evil, then the full

force and might of the U. S. military should be unleashed, in all its

fury, upon these noncompliant nations.

It is said

that the Masai tribe of Kenya never starts a war or a conflict. Yet, the

Masai are feared by other tribes because of the proven ferocity of the

Masai.

A Masai warrior

once explained, "We never start a war. We do not seek nor desire

war. Yet, if we are attacked, we will respond with an unbridled fury and

totally destroy any tribe that dares to attempt to do us harm." Hence,

the Masai live in peace. No one dares to challenge them because the price

they will have to pay is too great.

It is time

to recognize the wisdom of the Masai approach and root out forever the

threat and evil of terrorism. The United States has the most powerful

military force in all of human history at its disposal.

The President

and all others who serve the nation have sworn to protect the United States

against all "enemies foreign and domestic." Unleash the power

and defend the nation.

Some will moan

and wring their hands and say, "The Christian response is to turn

the other cheek." Yet, the same Jesus also instructed his disciples

to purchase a sword, if they did not have one.

Scriptures

are full of the stories of heroes, such as David, who fought and defeated

powerful enemies and saved their nation. There is a time for peace and

a time for war.

Evil men have

determined that this present moment is a time for war. They cannot be

allowed to prevail.

[David Epps

is Rector of Christ the King Church. He may be contacted at [email protected] .

He served with the U. S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam era.]