This devotion is about how the Christian church and individual Christians should view and treat immigrants in their country according to the Bible. I am not proposing any public policy or endorsing any legislation in the kingdom of man. 

This is about the Kingdom of God.

Scripture speaks for itself in the passages quoted here. If you have any questions, I would encourage you to reply to this email.

Please read this knowing that most undocumented immigrants came here with good motives, some fleeing violence and gang oppression, others were hired to work in the food and other industries that exist by the cheaper labor. All of us benefit from them. A few are criminals, but still remain humans created in God’s image.

A few things to note before we read these verses:

• A good majority of the immigrants are Christians. 

• Crossing the border is a misdemeanor equivalent to speeding, reckless driving, minor drug possession, trespassing, cheating on taxes, etc.

• Until the last few weeks, our society as a whole has treated these issues with much more understanding. Now we have a big division. 

• Don’t get your cues from the world. Get them from God.

The following are all

COMMANDS of God.

To disobey them is to disobey God.

1.) Treat the immigrant like your neighbor and brother. Treat them like a native born (Kingdom of Men), and love them as yourself (Kingdom of God), FOR YOU were strangers.

• “When a stranger [immigrant] sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Lev. 19:33-34 

2.) Do no wrong to immigrants. For example no military style raids designed to terrorize them. No locking them in detention centers without due process, no treating them as sub-human.

• “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Exodus 22:21
• “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 23:9

3.) Do not oppress poor and needy workers, even if they are undocumented immigrants. If you do, you are guilty of sin.

• “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin." Deut. 24:14-15, 17 

4.) Give justice to the immigrant just like you would a citizen. The one who oppresses the immigrant is under God’s CURSE. Our response to God’s curse upon the oppressive class is AMEN! (according to the following verses, the current administration and ICE officers would be cursed for perverting justice to the immigrant.)

• “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge,"
• “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’" Deut. 27:19
• “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you." Lev. 25:35-37

5.) Those who thrust aside the immigrant will face God’s judgment in this life and the next.

• “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 3:5

6.) Entertain and show hospitality to immigrants. Sometimes God’s angels appear to us as the immigrant outsider.

• "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2

7.) To welcome immigrants is to welcome Jesus himself, to reject them and mistreat them is to reject and mistreat Jesus Christ the Son of God. Those who rebel against Jesus way of mercy and hospitality to immigrants will go away into eternal punishment.

• "…I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Matthew 25:35
• "…I was a stranger and you did not welcome me." Matthew 25:43
• "These [who mistreat immigrants] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous [those who live by faith in God about the immigrant] into eternal life." Matthew 25:46

Ok. So the hard thing about all of these verses is that they are contrary to what is actually happening in our country right now. I know this is a lot to think through. I was even shocked this week by some of these verses.

Again, I would encourage you to reply to this email if you have any questions.

As for All Souls Church, let's lean into loving the sojourner, standing for justice and speaking for those who are poorly treated because really, that's what Jesus would do.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Harvey