To have the mind of a terrorist you must have

        1. A "two-valued orientation" - which means a penchant to divide the world into just two values i.e. good-bad, right-wrong,true-false, hot-cold, etc.  In addition s/he must deny the existence of any middle ground.

2.  A belief that s/he has the absolute truth for the greatest good of all
mankind.

3.  And have little power.

If a person has both 1 and 2 plus lots of power, that person can become a persecutor.  The people who were part of the Inquisition of the middle ages
had power but also the belief that they were right and saw only two values.
Many Christians, Catholics and Protestants, were killed and tortured then. There are people who profess Christianity who are being put to death even in these modern days when they go to Islamic countries and try to preach Christ.

OLD TESTAMENT THEOCRACY

What would happen if God ruled the world now?  What did happen when God
ruled Israel and was its only King?  Deuteronomy 13:6-9:  "If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (who neither you nor your fathers have known...you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.  But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people" (NAS).

The Bible states that a prophet who speaks presumptuously without a word
from God should be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20).  In ancient during the times
of the kings, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and when the Eternal
answer his prayer he commanded the people to seize the prophets of Baal and
put them to death (1Kings 18:40).

There was NO FREEDOM OF RELIGION in Israel under God's rule.  Why?

Because they might turn the people away from the true God to worship false
gods (Deuteronomy 7:4).  Putting the idolaters to death was done to purge evil (Deuteronomy 17:7).  The idea of the death penalty was to purge evil for promiscuity and adultery too (Deuteronomy 22:21, 24).

In fact, those who carried out the death penalty were praised such as Phinehas (Numbers 25:1-13) and Jehu (2 Kings 10:18-30).

BUT WHAT ABOUT IN JESUS' DAY?

When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman she asked Him about the differences
in their religions.  She wanted to know where people should worship.  The
Samaritans thought that the holy mountain was Mt. Gerizim in Samaria.  The
Jews believed it to be Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.

Jesus ended up saying that the time would come when the true worshippers
would not worship in either mountain but in spirit and truth  (John 4:19-26).  He refused to be a king at that time and when he perceived that they were about to force him to be king, he escaped from their presence (John 6:15).  He told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world otherwise His servants would fight (John 18:36).

Many Jews saw the Roman government as an evil, pagan empire.  We have no
words of Jesus assailing it.  Rather when asked a trick question so they might accuse Him, He told the Jews to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and
give to God what is God's."

When Peter drew his sword to protect Christ Jesus told him to put his sword
away (John 18:10-14; Matthew 26:51-57).

Unlike Muhammad, Jesus did not seek political power or desire to force His religious beliefs on anyone.  Rather, He preached and let people make up their own minds.  He merely presented the truth and backed it up with miracles so people would be persuaded.

JIHAD

Today when many Muslims use the word Jihad, they mean a holy war. Originally, when it was used, it meant to seek political power in order to effect and to force the Islamic religion on others.

Today, there are a number of fundamentalist Christians who feel they must grab political power in order to change the laws and to legislate what they believe is moral behavior.

Jesus never sought political power.  He never enforced laws on anyone.  He did display zeal for God's house and He did have anger against religious hypocrisy and the placing of unnecessary burdens on people.  But He never entered the discussions as to which sect of the Jews was right.

He just preached, sowed the seed of the kingdom, let it fall and take root where it fell.  He told of the parable of the sower and of the tares that grew with the wheat.

WHEN HE COMES AGAIN

But when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords, He will rule and force everyone into only one religion.  In the Kingdom of God there will be no such thing as freedom of religion.  That's because God Himself will be ruling on earth!

But the Zealots, Pharisees, Sadducees, Muslims, Catholics and others throughout history THOUGHT they knew all the truth.  They didn't.  As a result they killed many innocent people and even crucified the Lord of Glory!

In this world today, we must follow Jesus' example of allow people the
freedom of choice - even if it is wrong!