The Christian Case Against Illegal Immigration

The modern world has fed lies to Western (and only Western) peoples on the supposed necessity of mass immigration. This propaganda has even penetrated the church. Traditionally conservative churches are turning to the new theology of accepting mass immigration, claiming that Christians must accept immigrants from the Third World—legal and illegal—because Jesus is said to “accept everybody.” The Southern Baptist Convention was the latest to capitulate and encourage mass immigration. It is more important now than ever that Christians disavow this heresy that Christians have some duty to defend criminals and to turn their countries into multicultural hodgepodges.

The recent endorsements of multiculturalism by the Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics are nothing but symptoms of a rogue movement of liberal clergy to debase and divide the Christian church. These clergy are not in any way adhering to Christian doctrine. These same advocates of Western dispossession generally endorse other apostate ideas by proclaiming the legitimacy of homosexual clergy and suggesting that Genesis is really the story of evolution. The move towards Christian acceptance of multiculturalism in the church is nothing more than a usurpation of Christian doctrine by radicals.

The fact that the most ancient of Christian creeds declares that the church is One, holy and Apostolic, does not mean that the national, ethnic and spiritual distinctions that exist naturally or that God established in the Old Testament are somehow abrogated by the New Testament. Jesus makes very strong distinctions between Jews and Gentiles on a social and cultural level (c.f. St. John 4:3-42) and he never tells people that when they accept Him as Lord and Savior, all of a sudden cultural and ethnic boundaries disappear. In fact, Jesus perhaps does the opposite and works through and within nations, ethnicities and races for the glory of His kingdom: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” Psalm 33:12.

Additionally, in the entire pantheon of Christian theologians from the Apostles to the Reformation, of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant varieties, it has never been claimed that “race” or “cultural” neutrality is essential to the teachings of Jesus. This is a relatively new phenomenon of the last 20 years and it is a doctrine only held by a small portion of the modern catholic (not Roman Catholic) Church. Most Christians understand the necessity of preserving national identity and cultural pride.

Central to Christianity theology is the inherent spiritual equality of all peoples. This does not imply that all peoples are “one family” and that mankind must strive to become one people and break down all social barriers. Christianity does not erase peoples’ God-given earthly identities, but rather, after spiritual regeneration, it empowers humans’ earthly abilities, gifts, and talents. Christians are to be salt and light to enhance the “flavor” of the world for Jesus Christ. That does not come about by destroying who we are, it comes about by eliminating sin in our lives.

Christians must remember that God divided the nations after the Tower of Babel; He did not bring them together. The divisions He created are natural and exist by his sanction. Christians should not attempt to defy God’s natural and desired system in attempts to gain approval from anti-Christian Leftists.

Christians are told they should be compassionate toward illegal immigrants on account of their poor and dire condition when they arrive in the United States. A true Christian would never separate a family or forego a chance to help the poor, after all. If Christians would just follow the Sermon on the Mount, surely they would be “pro-illegal immigrant.” But Christian doctrine cannot be formed by isolating one verse and forming an entire doctrine around it.

Christianity is a religion of love and of laws. In Christian doctrine, the concept of love is inseparable from justice. Theologically speaking, love and justice are the same. One cannot exercise love without justice and justice cannot exist without love. This is in concordance with what St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans in chapter 13: followers of Christ are to submit to the laws of the land.

No matter how it is viewed, illegal immigration is a crime and illegal immigrants are criminals. There are both federal and state laws that restrict and sanction illegal immigrants for their crime. Christians, no matter how sincere they may be, cannot be obedient to God (their first love and loyalty) and yet break the laws of the government that He established. God instructs Christians to obey the laws of the land so that we become the pillars that uphold structure, order, virtue and justice in a society where there may be nothing but anarchy and decadence. It should be clear that there is no biblical justification for individuals breaking the laws that do not violate God’s laws, nor for groups of people to do the same—even if that group consists of 20 million people.

Christians are encouraged not only to obey laws, but to create laws that uphold justice, liberty and security, which is why SB 1070 and the other anti-illegal immigration bills running throughout the states ought to be supported by Christians. SB 1070 and the other related bills support property rights and uphold the laws of the states and the federal Constitution.

To sanction illegal immigration is to repudiate the Ten Commandments, which form the foundation of American law and are also a basic expression of God’s law. For Christians to say illegal immigrations should claim welfare benefits they are not entitled to is to say that it is OK for illegal immigrants to steal. Furthermore, by coming into America without heeding the law, illegal aliens are guilty of coveting. They covet jobs, money, land, citizenship and a whole host of other benefits they are not entitled to. If Christians applaud illegal immigration, they applaud God’s law being broken.

Jesus never said the law was compassionate nor that Christians were to be exclusively compassionate. Rather, law can be a sword used to curb man’s sinful behavior. Christians are commanded to uphold the law and enact just laws and to thereby have a strong, unyielding love for justice and the enforcement of the law. With respect to illegal immigration, Christians are to have an unyielding devotion for the preservation of national, state and local sovereignty and, consequently, national identity.

The trend of radical thought in the church is nothing more than a dark plot to not only weaken, but to discredit and divide the church. The church is being abused by elites who crave mass immigration and who twist the Christian gospel to advance a very un-Christian agenda. St. Timothy was prescient: “For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts.” II Timothy 4:3. Christians must resist such teachings and practices and counter to the Leftist, anti-Christian mantra of multiculturalism.