A group of Evangelical Christians, the Evangelical Immigration Table, is pushing the notion that God supports amnesty and that it is unchristian to oppose amnesty. This organization, apparently well-funded, is carrying its message to conservative churches across the country as well as lobbying lawmakers to support amnesty.
Fact Checker: Passages in the Old Testament calls on ancient Israel to welcome strangers (foreigners). Citing these passages, the Evangelical Immigration Table suggests modern America must welcome everyone who wants to come here—regardless of the consequences such a policy might have—including the replacement of our national culture and identity with multicultural chaos.
Such a claim represents a total misreading of the Old Testament, which repeatedly maintains that Israel was to keep her spiritual and national identity. The passages about welcoming the stranger must be read within that context.
Specifically, strangers were required to obey the laws of Israel as long as they remained in the country. They weren’t given latitude to come and change the country to their liking. In point of fact there was little immigration in ancient Israel, as we understand that term today, i.e., foreigners entering a land and eventually becoming full citizens.
The strangers in Israel were mainly of two types: 1) Sojourners, i.e., people passing through, the equivalent of temporary visa holders today. 2) Long-term foreign residents without all the privileges of full citizenship. The laws governing these groups suggest in no way, then or now, that foreign lawbreakers have a divine right to legal status and citizenship.
While advocating amnesty the Evangelical Immigration Table also claims that it upholds the rule of law and secure borders. Such a claim is irresponsible at best and duplicitous at worst. How can one uphold the rule of law when one proposes to reward those who break the law by making them citizens? And how can we have secure borders when we encourage people, by rewarding them, to ignore our borders.
It may be that some of the Table’s key leaders are not solely influenced by the calling of Christian ethics. One is Jim Wallis, a radical leftist who cheered Communist regimes during the Cold War. He identifies the Christian gospel with socialism, and his organization, Sojourners, has received substantial funding from billionaire George Soros. The latter is a globalist who opposes immigration control, evidently as part of his campaign to diminish U.S. sovereignty.
Other leaders are Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Land is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and organization of U.S. elites who are partial to global government. Rodriguez has maintained that “We [Hispanics] have a more complete vision of the gospel.”
The Evangelical Immigration Table seems certain that it speaks for God. Much more likely, it simply speaks for itself.