Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. -- Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
There is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border. Certain countries in Central America have become so dangerous to raise a family that their citizens have decided to trek thousands of miles through blistering heat to see if they can claim asylum in the United States. Unfortunately for them, the current president is a hard liner on immigration. They are often turned away at legal points of entry and denied the ability to seek asylum, leading many to try and enter illegally. No one is for open borders beloved. Do not buy the political hype. Some however are in favor of dealing with this humanely and others do not care what levels we stoop to in order to enforce our laws. Somehow, the people who fancy themselves Christians have sided with the latter. They cite two verses from Romans that do indeed state that we should obey the law. What they neglect is found later in the context of the same chapter, which is that love should conquer all. Love thy neighbor as thyself and thus fulfill the law.
With that as the backdrop realize I have tried to stay out of this as politics is so divisive. Even when I take no side, I am accused of all sorts of offense for daring to not tow the NAR company line. The NAR believes in conquering seven cultural mountains including our government. They have turned this country into an idol for the church to bow down to. When they need to, they send pastors down to the border to prop up the un-Christian arguments that perpetuate this crisis. One such emissary has been Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, who heads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC). He has visited the border before and came back glowing about the president and playing partisan politics with the lives of so many poor people. He was at it again recently and the link above is to two statements put out by himself and the Executive Vice President of the NHCLC just this week. One telling thing is that the current visit was co-sponsored by Rod Parsley, one of the most egregious and voracious wolves on the planet. Let us reason once more through these statements from Rodriguez and Suarez:
Rodriguez says:' "The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference has facilitated three border visits in the last four weeks, and we will continue to do so. We thank the Department of Homeland Security and our dedicated border agents for continuing to make it possible for us to observe with our own eyes the scale of this humanitarian crisis, the actual facts surrounding the crisis, and the overall conditions of our overcrowded facilities. While it is true that every presidential administration--this one or the previous one, notwithstanding--can (and must) do more, it is ultimately only members of Congress who can fix the broken system they created. Republican and Democratic members of Congress must stop deflecting their responsibility to the White House, and they need to do something, yesterday. This, by the way, includes members of Congress who are neglecting their legislative responsibilities in order to run for president. Congress has created an immoral, dysfunctional system that incentivizes human trafficking and denies dignity to those who deserve it the most. It is an outrage."' -- Sammy Rodriguez
What is an outrage Sam is the lengths of deception you are willing to stoop to for your carnal politics. You do realize that people can use Google today to debunk such obvious talking points, right? Yet you do this with the tag of Christian in your organization title and Pastor around your neck. Do you think lying helps the cause of Christ? Let us start with what you expected. What did you expect when you organize your visits through the government? Through the government that needs you to side with them in pretending there is nothing wrong at the border caused by the government. Second you parrot the president's stale talking point about how this is really something Congress must do. As if he has no sway whatsoever with Congress. As if he does not have the most influential bully pulpit in the world. You also never address that it is the GOP led Senate that stalls all legislation. That Majority Leader McConnell refuses to even let the Senate vote, calling himself the Grim Reaper. Then to make matters worse, you act as if the democrat candidates for president are the first in history to campaign and do their day job. They are not neglecting anything Sammy so stop whoring yourself out for a political party. You are doing real damage to the cause of Christ because people certainly will not listen to you regarding Christ if you are willing to lie so casually about carnal politics. You are right that this is an outrage and both parties share the blame but you are clearly trying to protect the one man who should be able to bring both sides together on a deal. You exonerate him as if his racist division sowing, family separation, and build that wall garbage has nothing to do with where we find ourselves today. What about the people who have died under federal protection Sammy? Did God love them? Did they count or are they discarded because of two verses in Romans? There is still time to get on the right side of this Sammy. To divorce yourself from the NAR dominionism you now are beholden to. The Gospel is right where you left it.
'Suarez says: "I'm back at the border--this is at least the 12th time I have visited the border--and you know what? The humanitarian disaster continues. The only thing that is different is that while this humanitarian crisis continues, Congress is on recess. They get summer vacation. Border Patrol agents are not on summer vacation. The president of the United States isn't on summer vacation. But Congress and Senate is on recess, while pointing their fingers at the White House, which is still working. The crisis is significant enough to be the daily obsession of every partisan pundit in America but not significant enough for Congress to do what needs to be done to solve the problem. We are not surprised. Because as it relates to immigration, the truth is that Congress has been on recess for three decades. There has not been legislation passed on immigration for over three decades. Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States the last time Congress did something on immigration. This is not Donald Trump's fault, this is not Barack Obama's fault--this is a failed Congress and Senate that fails to act, yet they use this issue to be elected into office every single election, and then while in office they do absolutely nothing. We The People that have elected them to be our surrogates, to be our voices, need to hold them accountable. It is time that if they will not respect and reflect the values of We The People, then they should no longer serve We The People."'
I see that you guys coordinated your outrage talking points but it is so transparent. Yes Mr. Suarez, Congress is on vacation but you seem to grant a pass to the president by claiming he is not. No mention of the 211 days he has spent golfing to the tune of $109,000,000 to the country. Now, I do not begrudge the president these trips because it is a hard job and he is technically always working or should be. Congress is the same. When they are home is when they meet with constituents to hear what the people who elected them have to say. As for your notion that border agents not having summer vacation you are wrong again. Border agents get 2-4 weeks paid vacation depending on their years of service. Can you stop using them for your political talking point falsehoods? I am not exonerating Congress but the reality is what it is. The president can always do something Tony. He can stop splitting families apart. He can stop criminalizing desperation. You do remember that you are Christian Tony, don't you? Is this the jesus you preach? The militant, border protecting, gun toting, barbed wire jesus? Who lets no one in unless they have proper paperwork?
When I read the Gospels, I see a Jesus who is willing to talk to Samaritans, who were reviled by the Jewish people. One of the chief complaints of the Pharisees was that He ate with sinners all the time. I see a Jesus who said to turn the other cheek, go beyond what is merely asked of you, and who emphasized the reason and spirit of the law, not the fine print. If your donkey falls in a ditch will you not save him on the sabbath? If a child crosses into our country illegally, will you not hear him out? Reasonable people can always disagree reasonably, but this issue confounds me. If all you have are a handful of verses from Romans about the law, then you have no true biblical argument. Beloved there are so many compromised Christian leaders who however well intended they may be have succumbed to the NAR teaching about this country. They idolize and worship it. They rewrite American history to twist the Founding Fathers into evangelicals. They then twist the bible to fit their politics into it. Suddenly Jesus hates lawbreaking immigrants and would have no problem separating families who dared to try and escape the violence in their own country. You can add Sammy Rodriguez and Tony Suarez to that list of NAR adherents who have abandoned Christ for their dreams of a political utopia where only Republicans are Christian. You can also add The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), who they were there representing. If you want to support this president and this administration, fine. We have that right. Just stop pretending he is Christian. Stop mangling the bible to try and shoehorn him in. Stop writing garbage chastising Congress for being on vacation during a weekend when the president was golfing. The world can see straight through this hypocrisy.
Lastly, and most importantly, this is not a tacit endorsement of "the other side" or any carnal political operative. I serve the cause of Jesus Christ and recognize that neither party cares for that cause. I will not sacrifice the truth for any sliver of political desire. I am a citizen of heaven and God does not allow dual citizenship. This world is the Titanic and we have already struck the iceberg. The ship is going down and I do not care who captain's it into the icy grave. I care only about the lifeboat and pointing people to Him. Long after this president, and congress are in the ground, God will still be God. He is all I will have to answer to and here is today's deep theology for you. He is all you will have to answer to as well. I hope that brings you some comfort or dire concern. Whichever you truly need.
Rev. Anthony
