9 Things Jesus Might Do About Immigration
By Kelly Monroe Kullberg Published on May 16, 2019
https://stream.org/9-things-jesus-might-immigration/
Columnist Esther Cepeda has raised the question,
"What Would Jesus Do About Immigration Issues?" In her article, Ms. Cepeda and journalist Michael Gerson
seem to feel that the Bible teaches only the "welcome" aspect of migration. That it calls for porous if not open borders. Anything other than this is "hypocrisy" and "inhumane." Those who disagree are in "far-right, anti-immigrant camps."
I agree with their sensibility of kindness.
But I'd like to let the Bible speak for itself. Because in it, God has a great deal to say about wise immigration and citizenship. I will also speak from data and personal experience.
As a missionary in Guatemala, Peru and El Salvador, I wondered about the need for borders.
Years later, curious about the many well-funded faith groups for open borders and amnesty,
I began to study the Bible on this question....
...The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) is funded by pro-abortion National Immigration Forum (NIF) of Soros's Open Society, Ford and Rockefeller foundations. The EIT helped lead the fight for the Schumer-Rubio Bill amnesty efforts. It did so with
a partial verse from Matthew 25, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Here, Jesus judges us by how we treated the hungry, the prisoner and "these brothers of mine." It is a powerful passage not to be taken lightly.
But Jesus wasn't a spin-doctor. He didn't think in slogans, or little snippets of scripture. He knew and came to fulfill the whole of His father's law. That means we must read His words in their entire biblical context. We try to do that in the e-book
Wise Welcome, free for download at
AmericanEvangelicals.com.)
In it we find three crucial, scriptural guidestones on understanding the morals of migration.
https://americanevangelicals.com/
https://www.golifa.com/wp-content/up...come-Final.pdf
Three Little Words: "Ger," "Zar," and "Nekhar"
"Ger" means
"resident alien." In the Bible, God teaches hospitality to foreign persons who come lawfully, with permission, as blessings — the word in Hebrew is "ger." It is close to the word 'convert.' They are to be welcomed as "resident aliens." They are also held to the same laws as citizens. Such assimilation is seen in the life of Ruth. That young Moabite said to her grieving mother-in-law, Naomi, "Your God shall be my God, and your people shall be my people." God honored Ruth's faith. She married a Hebrew elder, Boaz, and they became ancestral forebears of Jesus himself.
"Zar" and
"nekhar" are "
foreigners" and "
strangers": God
warns against citizenship for foreigners who do not come lawfully, to bless a nation – the words in Hebrew are the zar and nekhar. This category includes those who come illegally as squatters, travelers, temporary workers and enemies.
Progressive Christians wrongly suggest that all foreigners are the "ger." They smoosh together, as the Word of God does not, legal immigrants with illegal, and conflate patriotic newcomers who assimilate with anti-American squatters. This is unkind to millions of Americans who suffer the consequences illegal immigration: crime, drugs and loss of work.
God loves American poor people too.
Further, the God of the Bible laments lawlessness (this would include today's misnamed "sanctuary cities,") and the ascension of foreign laws and faiths that corrupt the character of a people and nation once dedicated to him....