It appears the last glimmer of hope for the return of Nigeria’s kidnapped girls has now been snuffed out.

When the Nigerian government announced a truce deal with Boko Haram terrorists October 17, it raised the prospects that the 276 girls kidnapped by the Islamists in April would soon be returned to their families. “A batch of them will be released shortly, and this will be followed by further actions from Boko Haram,” a government spokesman assured. Apparently, the Nigerian government negotiated with a different Boko Haram. The real leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, poignantly set the record straight.

“If you knew the state your daughters are in today,” Shekau taunted in a video released October 31, “it might lead some of you … to die from grief.” He explained that “the issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off.” The captive girls, he added, “have now memorized two chapters of the Quran.”

When the truce deal to release the girls and end the fighting in Boko Haram’s stronghold in northern Nigeria was announced, many commentators hoped for the best. Sadly, reality has since dictated otherwise.

Think tank Stratfor observed on October 18 that “a sustainable peace agreement between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram is unrealistic.” Until Shekau’s video, Boko Haram remained silent about the supposed truce with the Nigerian government. During those two weeks, the terrorists let their weapons do the talking instead, as cnn noted the day after the “truce.” Over the weekend of the sham deal, Boko Haram launched six attacks in which it kidnapped 40 women, killed dozens of civilians, and beheaded six people.

As harrowing as Shekau’s video was, it was not surprising. The name “Boko Haram” means “Western education is forbidden.” The terrorist group’s purpose for existing is to stamp out Western influence and establish Nigeria as an Islamic state, or “caliphate.” Boko Haram’s leader explained in the video, “You people should understand that we only obey Allah; we tread the path of the prophet. We hope to die on this path …. Our goal is the garden of eternal bliss.” Boko Haram, he continued, cares only for “battle, hitting, striking and killing with the gun, which we look forward to like a tasty meal.”

How many problems could be averted if people understood that Islamist groups like Boko Haram, which “only obey Allah,” cannot be reasoned with? Negotiating with hardened murderers and engaging hashtag diplomacy to #BringBackOurGirls is futile and foolish. If anything, it distracts world leaders from real solutions to terrorism while bolstering the Islamists.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s desire for re-election next year may have pushed him to make imprudent decisions regarding Boko Haram. It appears he has run out of luck.

What will stop Boko Haram? Will it be the small team of intelligence and negotiating experts that the United States sent to Nigeria in May? Or U.S. airstrikes on Boko Haram with no boots on the ground, as is the case in Iraq and Syria? Perhaps airdrops of weapons to the Nigerian Army similar to what the United States conducted in Kobani, Syria? After all, at least 40 Nigerian soldiers refused to deploy against Boko Haram in August until they received better armaments.

Boko Haram (and other Muslim terrorist groups) can be stopped only by people who understand that terrorists cannot be reasoned with.

The Bible reveals who those people will be. In Daniel 11:40, God foretells of a “king of the north” so incensed by a “king of the south” that he resorts to an all-out whirlwind attack. As our free literature explains, radical Islam led by Iran is the “king of the south,” and a united, federal Europe led by Germany is the “king of the north.”

In Boko Haram’s video, Abubakr Shekau taunted Europe: “Don’t you know we are still holding your German hostage [who is] always crying?” He was referring to a German development worker kidnapped at gunpoint in July. “If we want, we will hack him or slaughter him or shoot him.”

Bible prophecy reveals that radical Islam will not be subdued by negotiation, hashtag activism or anything short of decisive action. To understand this Daniel 11:40 clash and the positive outcome that will result, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “The Whirlwind Prophecy.”