Bryan Fischer
Evangelicals and their biblical imbalance on immigration
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Russell Moore and other evangelical leaders promote amnesty through their group, the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), a group which has the socialist money of George Soros lubricating its gears.
They frequently cite verses from the Scripture that instruct followers of Yahweh to care for the alien. Moore and others cite these Scriptures as if nobody in America is obeying them, but we are. Our immigration policy already is the most generous, open-handed and open-hearted policy on the planet.
Families and churches in community after community reach out to newcomers who have legally migrated to our shores to welcome them and minister to them in the name of Jesus.
Every year, we invite over 1.1 million aliens to take up legal residence in these United States. We simply ask them to knock and wait to be invited through the front door rather than sneak in the back.
But our pro-amnesty evangelical friends have taken a pair of scissors to much of the rest of the Bible, excising passages which teach us that sovereign borders are by God's design (Acts 17:26) and are to be respected (Numbers 20:14-21). They ignore other passages which teach us that the rule of law is to be followed by everyone, and that lawbreakers are to be disciplined, not rewarded (Leviticus 19:15). They tell their own church members to obey the law while at the same time urging aliens to break it (Romans 13:1-2).
They overlook plain scriptural admonitions that everyone is to be equal under the law, and that those who flout the law are not to get special exemptions denied to those who quietly go about following the law (Proverbs 24:23-25).
And perhaps most striking of all, they ignore verses which talk about the importance of cultural and religious unity.
Now in what I am about to say, I am not advocating for any particular position. I am simply pointing out the selectivity of our evangelical friends, who pick and choose Bible verses they like and ignore the ones they don't as if they did not exist.
A major case in point is found in Numbers 15, a passage which is quite explicitly about immigration but yet is also a passage I do not believe I ever hear the EIT so much as mention.
Numbers 15 is devoted to the practice of offering sacrifices to Yahweh, the true and living God and the God of Israel. Food offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and peace offerings are described and specific how-tos are prescribed.
Moses writes, "Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD" (Nbrs. 15:13). (The word "LORD" all in caps is a specific reference to Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who revealed himself by this name to Moses on Mount Sinai.)
If that was the rule for the native born, what was the rule for immigrants? "If a sojourner wishes to offer a food offering...to the LORD, he shall do as you do" (Nbrs. 15:14).
In other words, when it came to religious practice, the same standards were to apply to everyone, even newcomers. They were instructed to leave their native religion behind and embrace the spiritual values and practices of their newly adopted host country.
They were welcome to come to Israel, but the price of admission was a willingness to adopt the faith of their new nation and leave their own religion, the religion of their native country, at the border.
"For the assembly, there will be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD. One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you" (Nbrs. 15:15-16). (Emphasis mine.)
In other words, if we take our cue from Scripture, spiritual unity is as important to a nation as cultural unity and social unity. In fact, since religion expresses itself in culture and culture in law, unity in matters of religious principle is the most profound and important unity of all.
Now if our evangelical friends were not picking and choosing their immigration texts, they would not only insist that we welcome illegal aliens but would be just as insistent that illegal aliens adopt the Christian faith of our Founders as part of immigration and assimilation process. But they are silent on this salient point.
And meanwhile, in part due to this selective and misguided evangelical fervor, the United States continues to fracture and Balkanize. Maybe the God of Moses knew what he was talking about.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
July 19, 2014
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Russell Moore and other evangelical leaders promote amnesty through their group, the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), a group which has the socialist money of George Soros lubricating its gears.
They frequently cite verses from the Scripture that instruct followers of Yahweh to care for the alien. Moore and others cite these Scriptures as if nobody in America is obeying them, but we are. Our immigration policy already is the most generous, open-handed and open-hearted policy on the planet.
Families and churches in community after community reach out to newcomers who have legally migrated to our shores to welcome them and minister to them in the name of Jesus.
Every year, we invite over 1.1 million aliens to take up legal residence in these United States. We simply ask them to knock and wait to be invited through the front door rather than sneak in the back.
But our pro-amnesty evangelical friends have taken a pair of scissors to much of the rest of the Bible, excising passages which teach us that sovereign borders are by God's design (Acts 17:26) and are to be respected (Numbers 20:14-21). They ignore other passages which teach us that the rule of law is to be followed by everyone, and that lawbreakers are to be disciplined, not rewarded (Leviticus 19:15). They tell their own church members to obey the law while at the same time urging aliens to break it (Romans 13:1-2).
They overlook plain scriptural admonitions that everyone is to be equal under the law, and that those who flout the law are not to get special exemptions denied to those who quietly go about following the law (Proverbs 24:23-25).
And perhaps most striking of all, they ignore verses which talk about the importance of cultural and religious unity.
Now in what I am about to say, I am not advocating for any particular position. I am simply pointing out the selectivity of our evangelical friends, who pick and choose Bible verses they like and ignore the ones they don't as if they did not exist.
A major case in point is found in Numbers 15, a passage which is quite explicitly about immigration but yet is also a passage I do not believe I ever hear the EIT so much as mention.
Numbers 15 is devoted to the practice of offering sacrifices to Yahweh, the true and living God and the God of Israel. Food offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and peace offerings are described and specific how-tos are prescribed.
Moses writes, "Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD" (Nbrs. 15:13). (The word "LORD" all in caps is a specific reference to Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who revealed himself by this name to Moses on Mount Sinai.)
If that was the rule for the native born, what was the rule for immigrants? "If a sojourner wishes to offer a food offering...to the LORD, he shall do as you do" (Nbrs. 15:14).
In other words, when it came to religious practice, the same standards were to apply to everyone, even newcomers. They were instructed to leave their native religion behind and embrace the spiritual values and practices of their newly adopted host country.
They were welcome to come to Israel, but the price of admission was a willingness to adopt the faith of their new nation and leave their own religion, the religion of their native country, at the border.
"For the assembly, there will be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD. One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you" (Nbrs. 15:15-16). (Emphasis mine.)
In other words, if we take our cue from Scripture, spiritual unity is as important to a nation as cultural unity and social unity. In fact, since religion expresses itself in culture and culture in law, unity in matters of religious principle is the most profound and important unity of all.
Now if our evangelical friends were not picking and choosing their immigration texts, they would not only insist that we welcome illegal aliens but would be just as insistent that illegal aliens adopt the Christian faith of our Founders as part of immigration and assimilation process. But they are silent on this salient point.
And meanwhile, in part due to this selective and misguided evangelical fervor, the United States continues to fracture and Balkanize. Maybe the God of Moses knew what he was talking about.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
