A wave of people trying to unlawfully enter the United States is crashing against our shores. These people are ridden with diseases, lice and suffer from malnourishment, they've been assaulted and raped, and in their trek to America they left a trail of bodies of the weak and sick. As a history buff the sins of the past come to mind. One of the main components of Nazi Germany's Blitzkreig was to drive refugees before them overwhelming the defenders with noncombatants. Is this wave of refugees being driven toward us as part of a larger invasion?
Although they're invaders, they're still people, they have both physical and spiritual needs, both of which the Obama administration refuses to allow Christians to provide for as Fox News' Todd Starnes reports:
Pastors and churches have been banned from helping the thousands of
illegal immigrant children housed in border detention facilities run by
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, clergy in Texas and Arizona tell me.
“Border Patrol told us pastors and churches are not allowed to
visit,” said Kyle Coffin, the pastor of CrossRoads Church in Tucson,
Arizona. “It’s pretty heartbreaking that they don’t let anybody in there
-- even credentialed pastors.”
A public affairs officer for the Border Patrol confirmed that
ministers and church groups have been banned from the Nogales Placement
Center.
“Due to the unique operational and security challenges of the Nogales
Placement Center, religious services provided by outside faith leaders
are not possible at this time,” the Border Patrol told me in a
statement.
“However, CBP’s chaplaincy program is supporting the
spiritual needs of the minors for the limited time they are at the
center.”
Coffin and a group of pastors from the Tucson area were hoping to
provide spiritual encouragement and friendship to the hundreds of
illegal immigrant children housed in a detention center in Nogales.
“It’s pretty ugly down there,” he told me. “They’re packed in there like sardines.”
Coffin said he was having lunch with four other ministers when they
started tossing out ideas – ways their churches might be able to be an
encouragement to the children being held.
One of the other ministers placed a telephone call to Border Patrol
and was turned away. So Coffin decided to make a telephone call, too –
and what he was told was startling.
“They flat-out said no,” he said.
What about just a pastoral visit to encourage the children?
“They said no,” he said.
What about allowing pastors to pray with the children?
“There was an immediate no,” he replied.
The message was clear – men and women of the cloth were not welcome at the border.
“That frustrates me to no end, to be honest with you,” Coffin told
me. “It drives me absolutely nuts that our government would turn us
away.”
He said churches are not even allowed bring soccer balls or play ping pong with the illegal immigrant children.
Pastor Coffin even asked if they could provide the children with
toys, blankets and food. But the federal government’s response was the
same – no donations allowed.
“We just wanted to go down there and have a presence because we care
about people,” he said. “That’s all we wanted to do. For the church to
be available sends a message that the church cares.”
Religious folks in San Antonio had a similar experience. One
professional counselor at a camp run by BCFS, an organization previously
known as Baptist Child and Family Services, said there were no clergy
at all.
“The clergy needed to be involved with the children,” my source told
me. “The children were very spiritual and their spiritual needs were not
being cared for.”
My source said a group of counselors urged BCFS to consider bringing in a priest or minister.
“We were turned down,” my source said.
“We had suggested they bring in a priest on Sunday,” the counselor
said. “Instead, they had a girl playing a cassette tape of Christian
songs. They denied those kids the opportunity to be with a minister.”
The counselor said during her entire tenure working at the Lackland Air Force Base camp, she never saw a single minister.
“It was heartbreaking,” the counselor said. “The church needs to
become involved. The spiritual needs of these children need to be tended
to.”
BCFS tells me they now provide religious services for the children at
Lackland. They also said boys and girls are provided a Spanish-language
Bible should they desire one.
Back in Tucson, Pastor Coffin said churches have a responsibility to help the children.
“We have a heart to treat immigrants, whether legal or not, with
respect,” he said. “It’s not our job to judge whether they came here for
legitimate reasons.”
Coffin describes CrossRoads Church as a conservative congregation that has a “huge heart for the poor in our community.”
“I don’t politicize,” he said. “I just teach the Bible.”
That being said, Pastor Coffin believes the government has
overstepped its constitutional authority – and is trying to do the work
of the church.
“Back in the day, if you were in trouble and poor, the first thing
you thought of was going to the church,” he said. “Whether it was for
food, clothing, shelter or helping pay bills – the church was the front
line. Now, it’s the government who is the front line.”
Pastor Coffin believes it’s time for the church to take back what the government took away.
“We’re not anti-government at all,” he said. “We think the government
is equipped to do what they were constitutionally created to do – and
not do the church’s job.”
But I’m afraid under this administration, the government believes
they are church and President Obama is the deity. Heaven help us all.
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