THE TRUTH FOR AMERICA - IMMIGRATION
May 2010
By Dr. David R. Wood
We of Eastern Gate Ministries International Incorporated extend greetings
to our partners and friends in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. This month I will tackle the timely issue of immigration. As you
are most likely aware the state of Arizona has passed an immigration law.
This new law makes it illegal to be in this country, specifically in
Arizona, if you are not a citizen of the United States or have the proper
papers defining your status. If a police officer in Arizona encounters a
person concerning another legal issue and the question of citizenship arises
then the individual is required to prove they are here legally. This has
provoked a firestorm of protest. This firestorm is not coming from the
legal immigrants, the native citizens of Arizona or even the majority of
Americans but from the far left, labor unions and can you believe it illegal
immigrants. At the heart of the issue on the part of Arizona is the failure
of the Federal Government to take proper actions under the Constitution to
secure the borders of the nation to protect the property and promote the
safety of the citizenry. Many are saying that this is a racial issue and
that Arizona will be profiling persons and harassing people. While the vast
majority of immigrants in Arizona are Mexican, there are immigrants from a
variety of countries.
This is a rather complex issue with many facets. On the economic side, it
is estimated that the cost of illegal immigrants in Arizona alone is some
three billion dollars. This cost is in social services like schools,
hospitals and law enforcement. According to an article by Newt Gingrich,
15% of the state prisoners in Arizona are illegal immigrants. Glenn Beck
reported that Phoenix has become the number two kidnap capital of the
world. Two Phoenix officers have been killed by illegal immigrants and
recently a deputy sheriff was wounded in a shootout with drug smugglers from
Mexico. An Arizona rancher was recently killed by drug smugglers from
Mexico. Another aspect of this problem is security. This includes security
for the people living along the border, the border state itself and the
security of the nation at large. Believe it or not there are people south
of our borders and elsewhere that want to seriously injure and bring America
down. Unfortunately there are many within our borders that have the same
goal. Those who want to fundamentally transform American, those that want
to redistribute the wealth. These people are protesting in Arizona and
criticizing the State of Arizona for wanting a secure environment for her
citizens and others there by legal means. Of course the State and local
governments have a responsibility in these areas but one Constitutional role
of the Federal Government is to provide secure borders for its citizens.
The Constitution of the United States of America under Article one, section
eight states; “The Congress shall have Power ‘To establish an uniform Rule
of Naturalization,’” The process of naturalization confers upon an alien
the rights and privileges of a citizen. Of course, there are other
circumstances where an alien may be in the country legally with proper
papers such as for education, work or vacation.
Hopefully I have framed the issue at least in part from the secular or
natural prospective. However as Christians what we “think” is not the
deciding factor but what does the Word of God say about the issue.
Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)
12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.
Having said all of this let me remind you that we are all the product of
immigrants. From a physical prospective our forefathers were immigrants
unless you are 100% native Indian. From a spiritual prospective we are
currently aliens, not citizens of this world but of Heaven.
Philippians 3:20 (AMP)
20 But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland)
which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await
[the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior,
It is said that our founding fathers were deists. The following is a
definition of a deist taken from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of
the English Language. A deist is one who believes in the existence of a
God, but denies revealed religion; one who professes no form of religion,
but follows the light of nature and reason, as his only guides in doctrine
and practice; a freethinker. Wow, does that sound familiar at all? Like
any other time in history I am sure there may have been deists but most
believed in a real live God that was involved in the formation of this
nation. Patrick Henry said that deism is “but another name for vice and
depravity.” Meditate on the following verse and see if the Apostle Paul is
not talking about deists.
2
Timothy 3:5 (KJV)
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away.
Remember the god of the deist is natural reason.
Proverbs 16:25 (KJV)
25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.
Noah Webster in the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language said
that “deism implies infidelity or a disbelief in the divine origin of the
Scriptures.” Space will not allow in this article but the founders of this
nation believed wholeheartedly in a divine creator, that He was the
originator of our rights and said so in the Declaration of Independence.
Just a very modest amount of research into the original writings of the
founders will reveal an abundance of information supporting the fact that
these men relied heavily on the hand of Providence. Patrick Henry said; “It
can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was
founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on
the gospel of Jesus Christ!” Can it be any clearer? Listen to Benjamin
Rush a signer of the Declaration of Independence and first Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court. “I do not believe that the Constitution was the
offspring of [Divine] inspiration, but I am as perfectly satisfied that the
Union of the States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a Divine
Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.”
Sounds like a real heathen? No these were men of God, moved by God “to form
a more perfect union” called the United States of America.
My whole point here as it has been in preceding articles is that we are
indeed a Christian nation founded squarely on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That gospel, the Word of God will also furnish the answer to immigration.
This was not a big issue for the founders since they were all immigrants or
colonists. Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell authors of America’s
Providential History point out on pages 254 and 255 that we have arrived in
part where we are through the process of “universal public education” in the
public schools. They have separated our patriotism from our Christian
convictions. These two went hand in hand at the time of the Revolutionary
War. In addition the clergy of the nation have failed to engage their
congregations in the politics of the time. The Pastors and other religious
leaders have failed to speak of the evidence of God’s hand in America. They
have failed to speak of the connection of what is being discussed in the
public square and what the Bible has to say on the subject. What have you
heard at Church lately about the recently passed Health Insurance Reform
bill, Cap and Trade or Immigration? I would venture to say zero. Pastors
wake up before you wake up in the gulag (prison, internment camp, etc).
In the early days of this nation the tithe supported the church, church
schools, colleges and a variety of social needs. Between 1795 and 1845
Salem Massachusetts was inundated by immigrants yet they handled it with
ease. Charity was at the local level. The citizens of Salem met the needs
of the immigrants as well as their own. They provided for the poor,
provided education, job-training, children’s education, Bible courses and
taught the immigrants English. They did it because people tithed! What a
concept. The Bible commands us to meet the needs of the people through the
tithe (Deut. 14:27-29) and other means. According to the writers of
America’s Providential History the social needs of this nation were met for
over 300 years through the tithe and other charitable means. It was not
until FDR showed up with the “New Deal” and sowed the seeds that led to the
development of the enormity of government we have today and still the social
needs of the people are met poorly and with a lack of equal justice (not
social justice). They go on to say that Church-going Christians only give
about 2% of their incomes to the Church. The Church abdicated their
responsibility concerning the alien, the stranger, the immigrant and even
the orphans and widows within their own congregations. I know of no Church
that deals with the problems of their community on any kind of meaningful
level. We, the Church, the Ekklesia [the called out ones], used too meet
those needs why did we allow Satan to deceive us?
Immigration is not a Republican or Democrat issue but a Biblical and moral
issue. Let us speak up and get away from partisan politics and take the
high ground. The current controversy is all about power and greed. We need
people who will honor (fear) God.
Exodus 18:21 (KJV)
21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men,
such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such
over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds,
rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
So what does God say about immigrants?
1. He says we are to have one law that applies to citizens and immigrants
alike.
Exodus 12:49 (KJV)
49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the
stranger that sojourneth among you.
2. God says we are not to oppress the immigrant (stranger).
Exodus 23:9 (KJV)
9
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye
know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
3. He says we are not to work the immigrant seven days a week.
Exodus 23:12 (KJV)
12
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh
day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son
of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
4. God says to make provision for the immigrant.
Leviticus 19:10
(KJV)
10
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt
thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for
the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
5. He says you are to love the immigrant (stranger or alien) as a citizen.
Leviticus 19:34
(KJV)
34
But the stranger that dwelleth with you
shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself;
for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
6. God says the immigrant is to adopt the law and manner of the citizen.
Numbers 15:16 (KJV)
16
One law and one manner shall be for you, and for
the stranger that sojourneth with you.
This one gets to the idea of language. It is important that all citizens
speak English. When you have multiple languages there is a breakdown in the
cohesiveness of society. That does not mean that citizens can not also
speak another language or native language. Remember the account of Babel
and how the confusion of language caused them to have a huge decline in what
they could accomplish.
Genesis 11:6-7 (KJV)
6
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing
will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their
language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
7. He says the immigrant is entitled to equal justice.
Deuteronomy
27:19 (KJV)
19
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of
the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
8. God says we are not to turn the immigrant away.
Malachi 3:5 (KJV)
5
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I
will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in
his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the
stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Now let us take the high ground and honor the stranger or the immigrant. We
have no command to honor the drug smugglers, criminals or terrorists. We
have an obligation to protect the citizen and the stranger that is here
legally and therefore we must close our boarders in this evil time. When we
honor God, He will honor us which includes providing for our safety. There
is still a remnant in America that honors God that is why hundreds were not
killed in the air on Christmas Day or on the ground recently in New York
City with a failed car bomb.
1 Samuel 2:30 (KJV)
30
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed
that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me
for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour
me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
We honor God by loving our neighbor.
Until next month, my prayer for you;
Ephesians
1:16-23 (KJV)
16
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of
you in my prayers;
17
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him:
18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that
ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19
And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from
the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in
that which is to come:
22
And hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all
in all.
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