Together

The Bible teaches us to discern truth from error, ideas and philosophies that line up with Scripture
from those that don't. 1st Corinthians 2 describes this spiritual exercise:
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

There is an over-availability of principles to be embraced in our culture today.  Some will sound Biblical, but when you take a closer look, they are designed not to exalt God, but to embrace humanity's ideals.  We have to allow the Spirit of God to teach us and to point out areas in which we are vulnerable to missing God's truth.  We hold to the Word of God as our standard and measure other ideas with His principles.

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It is critical that Christian believers exercise discernment, which is called for in order to navigate the variety of philosophies that are embraced today. Philippians 1 states:
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

This past weekend, thousands turned out in hundreds of cities across America to call for an end to family separation with respect to immigration policy.  What is striking about this issue is that it is, to some degree, a position that is embraced by politicians on the left and the right, from the President to Congress.  So, if there is such incredible agreement that children should not be separated from parents who are detained for attempting to cross the border illegally, then why isn't a solution a slam dunk?

One could contend that there are many in America that don't want a solution, they want a talking point, something to be used in an election to secure power.  Two bills dealing with immigration were voted on in the House recently, both going down in defeat.  Sen. Ted Cruz, hardly a champion of liberalism, has proposed a bill that is designed to solve this border problem - but, Congress won't act.  The President, who also declared his opposition to family separation, issued an executive order to address the problem, but that can provide only limited relief.  So, there's something else going on, right?

So, back to these marches over the weekend - this one bore an eerily similar air to the so-called Women's Marches that represented mainly liberal groups who were devoted to issues that really didn't deal with women.  You find that to be the case here.  For instance, one of the four leading sponsors, according to the website, FamiliesBelongTogether.org, is MoveOn.org, which is a liberal agitating group that has been tied to billionaire George Soros - more on that later.  The ACLU, which has demonstrated hostility to religious freedom, is also a leading sponsor.

Other notable and dubious organizations that are listed as supporters include the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT rights group that has been carrying out a "Southern strategy" for the past few years.  There's the National Abortion Rights Action League.  Hardly organizations that you could say support "the family" or "families staying together," rather to destroy and redefine the family.  Pro-abortion groups supporting children at the border?  That's rather hypocritical, isn't it?

So, in other words, this website presents a laundry list of groups, I would dare say many of which that challenge the traditional Judeo-Christian principles upon which the nation was founded.  Yet, here they are all together on presumably a single issue: immigration.  But, using Biblical discernment, you can see that their values are certainly not in line with what many Christians believe.

But, the Church is certainly not immune from the infiltration of similar viewpoints.  Less than two years ago, The Stream published an article that said:

A coalition of 630 influential Christian leaders, mostly evangelicals, spearheaded by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Dr. Alveda King, has called on “progressive” Christians to “repent.” It asks them to atone for “work that often advances a destructive liberal political agenda.” That agenda, the appeal’s writers suggest, is allied with and partly funded by billionaire secular leftist George Soros, who uses the profits of his past currency speculation to promote radical causes around the world.

The authors note:

As recent leaked documents confirm, and as Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners eventually admitted, wealthy, anti-Christian foundations, following the lead of billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, fund and “rent” Christian ministers as “mascots” serving as surprising validators for their causes. The consequent realities include injury to countless people, the Church, the family, nation and the global Church including many martyrs.

The article goes on to call out organizations that are pursuing this agenda:

At a time when many Christian ministries are struggling, a few of the Soros network “faith” and “interfaith” grantees are Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Richard Cizik’s New Evangelical Partnership, Telos, J Street to malign Israel, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Faithful America and Gamaliel. Faith in Public Life has worked to “counter” Christians and the Tea Party in the media and, with PICO, advocate for amnesty, mass Islamic migration, even seeking to influence the visit and priorities of Pope Francis himself. Billions of additional dollars to “Christian VOLAGs” for large scale “refugee” and migrant resettlement comes from the Obama administration.

You'll find some of these organizations or like-minded groups, yes, on the list of sponsors of Families Belong Together.

So, what do we do with this information?  Well, for one thing, we have to be vigilant to not adopt the viewpoint of the world.  There are people, even in the faith community, that have tilted the balance between border security and compassion to a point in which the only "compassionate" or "Biblical" thing to do is to allow more people into the country and to enable those that want to circumvent our laws in order to come to America.  The Attorney General is to be applauded for trying to enforce laws at the border, and even though there have been some unintended consequences, which are being addressed, still we are a nation of laws and we welcome those who are attempting to come to America - legally.

Rather than taking to the streets in a non-defined protest, rather than embracing agitation, Christian leaders have taken action on the recent border crisis.  Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, stated in a Religion News Service article:

Our relationship with the administration means that we have the opportunity to communicate our concerns, which we have done and continue to do. In a meeting last week between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a small group of evangelical leaders and pastors, including me, the message was clear: We support the rule of law, the “zero-tolerance” policy, but we also want to see a compassionate response to the families attempting to cross the border illegally.

Perkins pointed out the sheer numbers of immigrants seeking to come across the border illegally, as well as the growth of human trafficking. He states, "being compassionate and upholding the rule of law are not competing and incompatible ideals; to the contrary, justice and mercy are cornerstones of civil society."

So, we can opt for reasoned, Biblical action rather than agitation.  And, we have to exercise discernment so that we do not fall prey to the fear that has been fanned into flame, using the current situation as an accelerant.  We can also make sure that we are not expecting instant results.  Lack of enforcement has been a contributing factor to the current situation at the border, and it will not be reversed overnight.  We can continue to pray for our leaders as they exercise their duties to protect our nation and to preserve its order and principles.