How Little Is Known Of The Bible

I suppose this is a continuation of my rant from last week. I can't believe that Christians would use the word of God loudly, incorrectly, publicly, out of context, to protest something that's perfectly legal and entirely biblical. 

Yes, I'm talking about the temporary emigration restriction for seven countries whose major export is terror. As I've mentioned in the past, this temporary restriction is perfectly legal under the Constitution of the United States (Article IV, Section 4) and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. I'm not going to go into the background of the restriction, nor am I going to explore the ignorance of calling it a "Muslim ban". We need to look at the Christian reaction to this executive order.

The Christian reaction has ranged from relief that our government is finally taking steps to protect us from terrorists, to outrage that the government is finally taking steps to protect us from terrorists. This is normal because everyone paints an executive decision with their own bias, but many Christians who oppose this temporary restriction for whatever reason are attempting to use biblical quotes to support their political argument. Quite often it becomes abundantly clear that they don't fully understand the quotes they use, or they take them completely out of context. Are they doing this to spread God's word? If you study what they are doing it appears to be that instead of using God's word to enlighten the masses and save a few souls on the way, the Holy Scriptures are being used to advance a personal political agenda.

Let's start with 'vetting'. Vetting is the act of making a careful and critical examination of something. Remember the uproar over vetting Sarah Palin when she was selected as a candidate for Vice President? All we heard from the press was that she wasn't vetted properly and in the end she was more thoroughly vetted by the press than the rest of the candidates combined including the one that won an 8 year golf vacation  the presidency.

Fast forward to December 2, 2015 when two Daesh operatives shot up a Christmas party murdering 14 and severely injuring 22 friends and co-workers. The female murderer, Tashfeen Malik, was supposedly vetted and passed supposedly comprehensive background checks, none of which noticed Tashfeen's jihadist rantings and terror threats that she often posted on social media. This was a complete vetting failure and this is what the temporary emigration restriction is trying to prevent.

God uses extreme vetting; we human beings are subject to the most severe vetting and the strictest immigration laws in existance. Our ancestral home is the Garden of Eden, but we are banned from entering:

23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:23-24)

We are blocked from returning to the Garden of Eden by one of the most powerful armed guards in existance. Will we be able to visit it when we reach our fellowship with God in heaven? The Bible doesn't mention this, maybe we're banned from admission for all eternity. And speaking of heaven, everyone here on earth just can't stroll past the "pearly gates" and request a two bedroom apartment in New Jerusalem. We have some serious vetting to go through first 

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  (Matthew 7:21)

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

And there's more, but it boils down to one thing - Jesus is the key to heaven. Ignore the made up doctrine of false teachers like Rob Bell,  you're not getting in unless you have Jesus

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)

Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, but every man woman and child who followed Moses, with only Joshua and Caleb being very special exceptions, was denied entry. 

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." (Numbers 20:12)

Even Moses was denied entry, he died within sight of the promised land but was not allowed in due to his sin. 

4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 34:4-5)

That was a seriously tough immigration policy, but it was God's immigration policy. Are there any Canaanites on record protesting God's treatment of His chosen people? No, Was Moses a refugee? No. He was chosen to lead God's people out of Egypt, he was a messenger from God. They weren't driven out, they chose to leave, that makes them immigrants not refugees. Yeah, yeah, I can hear the "Christian" left complaining "Moses was a refugee when he fled to Midian" No he wasn't, he was a murderer, a member of the Egyptian court who murdered an Egyptian overseer and was fleeing from Egyptian justice, that's not a refugee, that's a fugitive. It's living proof that God can tae the low and the broken sinners and put them to His good use.

The "Christian" left also calls Abraham a refugee - how did they come to that conclusion? God told Abram to go and Abram got up and went. God gave him a new name, Abraham, gave him a son, and made him the father of God's chosen people. Abraham was not a refugee, he was an example of obedience to God. 

The "Christian" left calls David a refugee - which only proves that the "Christian" left either has no idea what David was up to, or they have no idea what a refugee is. David had a price on his head, he was fleeing the wrath of Saul. He wasn't driven out, Saul didn't say "Get out of here" Saul was trying to murder David. David found it was best to not be there when it happened. David was a fugitive. 

The "Christian" left calls Jesus a refugee. I'm guessing they're talking about leaving Judah and their flight into Egypt when Herod was in the business of killing boys and in this case they would be right, but they emigrated in a wave of three, not tens of thousands. If the "Christian" left studied their bible, for millenia Egypt was a place that the Jews went to quite often when things got hot in Israel. As I mentioned last week, Judah was a Roman state. Egypt was a Roman state. It was the legal, moral, and physical equivalent of fleeing from Ohio to Indiana. And when their reason for fleeing ended, THEY WENT BACK. When my job in New York dried up I fled to Colorado to avoid economic persecution - is the "Christian" left weeping and gnashing their teeth for me too?

People everywhere on the left are suddenly very religious when it comes to immigration; "Christ calls us to care for everyone, regardless of who they are and where they come from," said Jenny Yang the senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, a part of the National Associations of Evangelicals.

Yes He did call us to care for everyone, but did He say to drive yourself into bankruptcy doing it? Did he say to put your wife and children on the street begging when strangers take over your house? And speaking of houses, how many immigrants is Jenny Yang going to put up in her own home? Do they get the spare room or do they get the basement?

I turned to Relevant Magazine, a "Christian" left magazine which focuses on pop culture, it was  founded by Cameron Strang, son of Charisma Magazine publisher and Strang Communications CEO Stephen Strang. In reading Relevant magazine you will see that the apple does not fall far from the tree; entertainment and hyperventilation are the order of the day in both reads. In Relevant I found an article about what the bible says about how to treat refugees and it looks like a list of what the "Christian" left is saying out on the street, or it may be the source of what they are preaching. 

Their first verse is an interesting one

33 ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

Of course they used the NIV which puts a softer spin on this, but the message is the same. Author Jesse Carey concentrates on "you shall love him as yourself" but misses the most important part of the verse "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you". This is a requirement for the Foreigner to submit themselves to Judaic law. Israel was a theocracy so this verse requires the foreigner to submit to God as the Israelis did. They were expected to perform temple sacrifices and follow Jewish customs and laws including the punishment of being stoned to death for Blasphemy against Yahweh. There were no Asherah poles allowed, no temple prostitutes, no Baal worship, no child sacrifices to Moloch. This, of course, was the downfall of Israel when Solomon started allowing these things to happen to appease his foreign wives.

The modern refugee, mostly Islamic men between 20 and 35 (fighting age) escaping what ever it is they're escaping are doing it without wives and children. When they arrive at their new countries they're expecting to be allowed to bring all of their modern Baal worship with them as well as their own version of law; Shariah. Leviticus does not allow this and neither should we. Refugees to this land should expect the same treatment any other person here should expect: immigration law, green cards, passport checks, and taxes. They're also expecting free meals, which brings us to Relevant's very next verse:

9 ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10)

These verses prove the superiority of the One True God over other false gods. Here is the worlds first welfare system. Actually it's work fare. The law is for the farmers to leave the grain and fruit that is lost during the harvest process for the needy and the strangers. As now, back then Israel was the richest, most fertile land in the middle east. This grain and fruit wasn't much but it allowed the widows and orphans and strangers the opportunity to get food. Read the book of Ruth for an account of how this worked. This was not a free meal, the foreigners were expected to work for their food, why shouldn't we expect the same

The next verse, Ezekiel 16:49, is used out of context, let's see it with the next verse attached

49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

Taken in context this is not just about being arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned. Anyone who has read the book of Genesis knows full well that the abominations God mentions, and that the sins of Sodom was: homosexual rape. Ok, good tip: don't sodomize foreigners on your land. But the liberals seem to be ok with immigrants raping our women and children. Once upon a time the men of Europe would have reacted violently to this, now they stand by impassively while foreigners assault their daughters. I do not think this is what Jesus had in mind when he said to turn the other cheek.

Yes, many of the verses are nice sounding, and there's some good advice in there on how to treat our fellow man, but the bible can't be cherry-picked for the verse or partial verse that suits you while ignoring verses like these:

1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. (Titus 3:1-2)

This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, And bestows it on whom He wishes And sets over it the lowliest of men. (Daniel 4:17)

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. (1 Peter 2:13 - 15)

1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7)