An Implacable Enemy

by Rolaant McKenzie

In The Terminator (1984), an American science fiction action film, an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Skynet was incorporated into the U.S. defense network. As it grew more intelligent and extended its control of the network, it saw humans as a threat to its existence, so it initiated a nuclear holocaust to destroy humanity. In the aftermath, Skynet built machines to round up surviving humans into concentration camps for experimentation and extermination. It also constructed automated factories to build Terminator cyborgs to wage war against the humans.

A man named John Connor arose who brought hope to the scattered humans not yet captured by Skynet. They rallied around his leadership as he taught them to fight and overcome the Terminators and save prisoners from the camps. Eventually, Connor led this human resistance to victory against the powerfully sophisticated robotic forces of Skynet.

But Skynet, apparently anticipating defeat, had built a time machine and sent a Terminator assassin back to 1984 to find Sarah Connor, the mother of John Connor, and kill her before John is born. However, the human resistance also was able to use the time machine to send back Kyle Reese to protect Sarah Connor.

Sarah worked at a family restaurant while attending West Los Angeles Junior College. Kyle was able to grab her before the Terminator could kill her. While on the run, Kyle tells a frightened Sarah about her situation and about the Terminator pursuing them:

"That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with; it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

The Terminator relentlessly pursued Sarah and Kyle, killing anyone or destroying anything that got in its way. In the end, Kyle's efforts led to the destruction of the Terminator, but it cost him his life. Sarah escaped and later had a son who she named John.

The cyborg assassin in The Terminator is an illustration of an implacable enemy that nothing can dissuade or divert from seeking the destruction of his target. On a greater scale, this is a good description of the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of the majority of the Arab residents of Gaza in relation to Israel and the Jewish people.

During the 1967 Six-Day War, where Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt and administered its population of Jews and Arabs. Seeking peace with its Arab neighbors, particularly in Gaza, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and ceded control to its Arab residents. All the Jewish residents were removed by the Israeli government, even the Jewish graves.

The Islamic political and military organization called Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Founded in 1987, the purpose of its existence is the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. The motivation for this purpose can be seen in Article 7 of its 1988 Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, where it references a saying of Muhammad that says:

"The last hour would 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 Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews."

With control of all government institutions in Gaza, Hamas has taught children from the womb to hate the Jews and seek their extermination. The billions of dollars in aid Gaza has received from Western and Arab countries have been mostly devoted not to improving the standard of life for its residents but to gathering weapons, building rockets to launch into Israel, and constructing a vast network of tunnels to support their military operations against Israel.

Though Israel has been pressured by many countries in the international community to make peace with Hamas and its main sponsors, Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran, most Israelis have come to the realization that they cannot make a covenant of peace with an implacable enemy that seeks their destruction no matter what. This belief was further solidified after the brutal genocidal attack on Jews in southern Israel by Hamas and other Arab civilians of Gaza on October 7, 2023, where approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, the greatest number of Jews killed since the Holocaust of the World War II period (1939-1945).

Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, cannot bargain with those who seek its destruction but should maintain a strong and vigilant defense. Most importantly, they need "Yeshua ha Meshiach" (Jesus the Christ), who, when they cry out to Him, is the only One who can bring permanent salvation from their implacable enemies and a peace that will never end (Psalm 2; Zechariah 12-14; Luke 13:34-35; Revelation 19:11-21).

When sin and death entered the world through Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, God made the promise that the Seed of the woman would come to redeem the human race (Genesis 3:15). This was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34-35).

Skynet sent a Terminator to destroy Sarah Conner, the woman who would bear a son that would save humanity from total annihilation. But Kyle Reese was sent to protect her so that the child would be born and fulfill his destiny.

In a similar fashion, Satan, in a vain attempt to thwart God's plan, sent his servant King Herod to kill Jesus by slaughtering all the male children two years old and younger in Bethlehem and its surrounding area. But God sent Joseph into the life of Mary to be her husband and protector, and they escaped to Egypt and remained there until the "Terminator" was terminated. They returned to Israel afterward, and Jesus went on to fulfill His destiny to save humanity by His sinless life, His death on the cross to pay in full our sin debt, and His defeat of death by rising from the dead on the third day so that anyone who trusts in Him will be reconciled to God and receive the gift of eternal life (Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Jesus said:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:7-11)

Bargain not with the devil, the father of lies, for he is your implacable enemy who seeks your destruction no matter what (John 8:44). Any supposed benefit the dragon grants to you is temporary at best and is meant to steal from you the true life of God and send you to the lake of fire where he is destined to be forever (Revelation 20).

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ instead, the One who laid down His life for sinners like you and me, and receive the gift of deliverance from destruction and eternal life reconciled and at peace with God (John 3:14-18).