Loving and Welcoming

You may be familiar with Micah 6:8, a verse that can point us in the right direction regarding how to
respond to the needs of others. We can read:
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Because God has been merciful to us, we are called to show mercy to others. We deserved justice - which would have been eternal punishment, separated from Almighty God; but Jesus paid the penalty we deserved and calls us to love justice with compassion. That is a justice that unites, rather than what is commonly called "social justice" today, which divides people by various physical and personal traits.  We are called to be people who make things right in Christ and to love to see restoration,

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In the book of Deuteronomy, we find a listing of blessings and curses - these illustrate some of the
qualities of the heart of God and certainly can be instructive for us in the way we respond to Him and to others. In chapter 27, we read:
18 'Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!'
19 'Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!'

I am very thankful that you have men of God, such as Mike Pence, our Vice-President, and Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, in positions of influence in our government.  And, as we pray for our leaders, we can pray for those who call on the name of Christ to allow their faith perspective to guide their decision-making.

Pompeo made an announcement last week that was sure to rankle some of those in the pro-immigration lobby.  According to The Christian Post, the Secretary announced a 30,000-refugee cap for the upcoming year in the Refugee Resettlement Program.  The article states:

In announcing the 30,000-refugee cap, Pompeo justified his decision by blaming a backlog of around 800,000 pending asylum cases of people already inside the U.S. that presents a "daunting operational reality" for the U.S. government. Pompeo also assured that the U.S. government would process 280,000 asylum cases of those inside the U.S. in fiscal year 2019.

"These expansive figures continue the United States' long standing record of the most generous nation in the world when it comes to protection-based immigration and assistance," Pompeo told reporters on Monday.

Pompeo assured that the U.S. is "working to assist refugees and other displaced people as close to their home countries as possible."

Pompeo pointed out that, "The United States is steadfast in prioritizing a course of action that enables the safe and voluntary return of refugees to their home countries if and when conditions permit – a solution that most refugees prefer..."  He also mentioned that there are some defects in the screening process for refugees.

This announcement was met with scorn from some of those in the religious community who have characteristically been outspoken against the immigration policies of the Trump Administration. World Relief, which receives taxpayer money to resettle refugees and has seen a decline in funding over the past two years was quick to respond.  The Post article states:

"This decision contradicts the administration's declared commitment to helping persecuted Christian and religious minorities in dangerous and oppressive countries," World Relief President Scott Arbeiter said in a statement. "Evangelicals should be concerned by this assault against our call to support 'the least of these.'"

However, when the President announced that he wanted to prioritize Christian refugees last year, that was met with opposition from World Relief.  And, that situation involving the percentage of Christian refugees has actually improved.  The website, Axios, reports: "The Trump administration has again cut the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., and the overwhelming majority of the small group of refugees who were admitted this past year are Christians." 

This story stated:

Between the lines: The Trump administration has vowed to protect persecuted Christians around the world.

• Vice President Mike Pence even pressured the United States Agency for International Development to specifically allocate millions of dollars for groups that help persecuted communities in Iraq.

• But Christian refugees have faced increased rejection due to President Trump's lowering of the refugee cap.

• The number of Christian refugees admitted to the U.S. dropped by more than 40% over the last year. One group of Iranian Christians who have been stranded in Austria have sued the administration as religious minorities.

So, all in all, Pompeo seems to have made a reasonable decisions - after all, it takes government money, taxpayer dollars, to resettle people in America.  Many would, as he rightly pointed out, would rather stay closer to home.

But, there are some in the religious community that have trouble accepting these dynamics.  The Evangelical Immigration Table, which is a subsidiary of the National Immigration Forum, which has ties to the globalist, open borders advocate George Soros, is generally outspoken about such matters.  The head of one of the entities in the Table, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Russell Moore spoke out forcefully against the announcement.

"Seeing yet another drop in refugee numbers should be a shock to the conscience of all Americans," Moore, an author and former dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, said in his statement. "One day we will be ashamed that we as a nation turned inward, and away from our great tradition of serving as a beacon of liberty to those fleeing for their lives."

The 46-year-old Moore admits that it would be nearly impossible for the U.S. to take "unlimited numbers of refugees" but asserted that the "increasingly lower number" of refugees being resettled to the U.S. "is far below the level where America could and should be in leading the world in compassion for those in peril."

Kelly Marie Kullberg of the American Association of Evangelicals and Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration, a recent signer of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, is quoted on The Minnesota Sun website.  She points out that there are "left wing activist organizations" that “demand that Americans ‘welcome the stranger,’ but rarely do they teach, or likely even know, the whole counsel of biblical teaching on migration and citizenship.”  She adds:

“You’ll likely never hear them talking about the story of Nehemiah and Ezra, helping Israel rebuild its faith, culture and walls – with both weapons of protection and tools of construction. They won’t quote Isaiah 1:7, in which aggressive migration is seen as a curse, ‘Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers,’ ” she adds.

“There are four Hebrew words for ‘foreigner.’ The ‘ger’ are resident aliens like Ruth and Rahab, who come lawfully, as converts to the faith of the Hebrew people and are to be embraced as citizens. Two words indicate temporary guest workers or visitors, to be treated hospitably. One word, the ‘nekhar,’ is someone who does not come lawfully as a blessing and to assimilate, and that person is not be welcomed,” Kullberg notes.

The article notes that "Professor of Old Testament, Dr. James Hoffmeier, wrote on this subject in his recent book, The Immigration Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens & the Bible."  Kullberg states: "Interfaith liberals conflate these four words into one, the one meaning they want. Imagine where this leads over the course of twenty or thirty years. It’s unwise and unloving to Minnesotans and to all Americans..." She adds, "In the Bible, we do not find the teaching of open borders, sanctuary cities as currently defined and illegal migration. In the Bible, we find respect of borders, nations, laws and customs – we find wise welcome."

So how do we welcome Biblically?  Well for one thing, we can love those who come.  Jim Garlow of The Garlow Perspective on Faith Radio and a recent guest on The Meeting House, who has co-written, This Precarious Moment, wrote in a blog post:

There’s never been a time with more opportunity for expressing God’s love to others than right now. We’re living in a precarious moment, no question. But this could be one of the Church’s finest hours—if we reach out to the immigrants in our midst who don’t know Christ. To help them assimilate into this country, yes but more specifically, to help them assimilate into the family of God through a personal knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I admit the issue of immigration is complex, but I also believe God is a God of order, and that there’s a principled way to work through the chaos—to ask God for solutions that honor justice, truth, righteousness and order.

But we can also consider whether or not we are called to demand that more refugees are brought to America,  I think it is a Biblical stretch to start demanding how many refugees or immigrants should be brought into our country at taxpayer expense. I would contend that if churches and religious organizations are willing to pay for it, then perhaps that could be a more reasonable possibility.  And, we can continue to be involved in advocacy for those who are facing persecution around the world - that may involve coming to America, or resettling closer to home.  I think welcoming the stranger, according to Matthew 25, ideally involves showing the love of Christ to those who have located in our midst, but not becoming a party to increased immigration, although that may be something you sense an individual call to do - it's just not a Biblical call for everyone.  And, we should always be supportive of our nation's laws, according to Romans 13.

We can be challenged to see what compassion really looks like.  There may be disagreement on this. But, I think a guiding principle is to consider the people to whom God has called us to reach. There are opportunities all around us - there are refugee and immigrant families who are struggling, and we can be sensitive to and identify who they are and perhaps develop strategies to help them. But, it is a prudent thing to make sure that people who are allowed to come into our country, as welcome guests, are given the opportunity to live productive lives and perhaps to encounter the abundant life that is available through Christ.