America: A House for All Peoples

Article by Ched Myers,
Guest Columnist 

     There have always been two Americas: that of rich and poor, of inclusion and exclusion. The America of inclusion found expression in the ideal of "liberty and justice for all," and has been embodied whenever Indian treaties were honored, and in the embrace of civil rights, women's suffrage, or child labor laws. The America of exclusion, on the other hand, was articulated in a Constitution that originally enfranchised only white landed males and has been realized in land grabs, Jim Crow segregation, Gilded Age economic stratification, and restrictive housing covenants. 

      These two visions of America continually compete for our hearts and minds, not least in our churches. On one side are the voices of Emma Lazarus in her poem "The New Colossus" ("Give me your tired, your poor..."), and Martin Luther King Jr. when he preached "I Have a Dream." On the other side are those of American imperial politics and pious evangelicals.

      Perhaps the most consistent battleground between the two Americas, from inception to the present, has concerned immigration. Where our churches locate themselves on this political and theological terrain is profoundly consequential. 

      All social groups establish boundaries-whether physical impediments, such as fences or borders, or symbolic and cultural lines, such as language or dietary laws. Such boundaries can be a good thing, especially when they help protect weaker people from domination by stronger people. More often, however, boundaries function in the opposite manner: to shore up the privileges of the strong against the needs of the weak. It is this latter kind of boundary that characterizes the current U.S. immigration debate and that the Bible consistently challenges. 

      Torah warns the people not to discriminate against economic or political refugees, since in God's eyes even Israelites are "but aliens and tenants" in the land (Leviticus 25:23). Instead they are to stand in solidarity with the "sojourners in our midst" (Deuteronomy 24:14). This is later reiterated in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Matthew 25:35). I want to go beyond these well-known exhortations, however, and examine one text from each Testament that together makes a powerful case that the very health of our body politic depends upon our embrace of "outsiders." 

      ISAIAH 56:1-8 is the opening stanza of the prophetic oracle sometimes referred to as "Third Isaiah." The parts of the book of Isaiah known as second Isaiah (chapters 40-55) and Third Isaiah (chapters 56-66) represent the work of prophetic successors to the great eighth century prophet himself: the former during the exile to Babylon, the latter during the "reconstruction" period following the return. These writings arose out of prophetic "schools" (see for example 2 Kings 4:38), in which disciples recontextualized the word and work of their teachers in another historical moment. This is, of course, what all preachers do every time we try to proclaim the Word in the midst of a given social situation. 

      Isaiah 56:1-8 is his "invocation," setting a tone of radical inclusion, envisioning a time when people from all over the world, including ethnic outsiders and other minorities, will be welcomed as full members into God's house. The prophet reiterates this theme at the close of his oracle as well: "The time has come to gather all the nations and tongues; they shall come and behold my glory" (Isaiah 66:18). This is the "new heaven and new earth" that Yahweh intends to bring about (66:22). 

      Scholars date Third Isaiah sometime in the first two generations of the exiles' return from Babylon, between the reconstruction of the temple (circa 515 BCE) and the time of Nehemiah (circa 444 BCE). There were many issues facing those trying to rebuild Israelite society under the imperial rule of Persia. Those who had been exiled to Babylon were the upper classes of Israelite society: priests, managers, the landed aristocracy, scribes, etc. The peasant majority, however-the "people of the land"-had remained behind in Palestine, working the land and scraping out a living, as the poor have always done under any regime. As the elites began to trickle back, they set about trying to re-establish their title to land, social status, and political position. 

      Clinton Hammock, in a monograph analyzing in detail this social and historical context, argues that these returnees were a mixed bag and included land speculators and carpetbaggers trying to take economic advantage of the new settlements; priests determined to re-establish a cultic center as their power base; ultra-nationalists who saw a chance to rebuild old dreams of sovereignty; and political front men for Israel's Persian overlords. They all agreed on one thing, however: They would define and lead the reconstruction project. 

      It is not hard to imagine, then, their conflicts with the existing population over property, politics, and religion, and indeed we hear allusions to this in Nehemiah 4-6. We need only think of the situation of Palestine since 1948, also a struggle between longtime residents on the land being disenfranchised by ideologically motivated and politically and militarily powerful "returnees."

       The strategy of the elites was to purge the "people of the land" by establishing new ethnic purity standards, focusing on shoring up boundaries of marriage and nationality. The Persians were supportive of such measures, as they wanted their colony to be ethnically uniform to better enable their imperial management. Thus Nehemiah forbids future intermarriages (Nehemiah 10), while Ezra goes further, demanding the divorce of foreign wives (Ezra 910). This position was likely legitimated on the basis of Deuteronomy 23:18, which specifically excluded "from the assembly" males who were not sexually functional, the "illegitimately" born, and foreigners.  

      It is not hard to understand why the peasants resisted these attempts to exclude them, and Third Isaiah emerged as their advocate. He argues against the position of Ezra and Nehemiah, taking issue specifically with their view that the nation is best protected through purity codes. Instead, the prophet calls for the community to be preserved through ethical behavior: Whoever keeps the Sabbath covenant is entitled to full inclusion. He underlines the point using two "extreme" examples: eunuchs and foreigners.  

      The oracle begins with a dramatic exhortation: "This is what God says: 'Defend justice! Do what is right! Then I will vindicate you!'" (Isaiah 56:1). From the outset the issue is justice, defined in 56:2 as obeying Torah, keeping Sabbath, and turning away from evil. The prophet is invoking Sabbath as the heart of Torah ethos, with its twin social concerns to 1) Constrain greed: Everyone must have enough and the gifts of creation should circulate rather than concentrate (Exodus 16:16-19) and 2) Deconstruct poverty: releasing those who groan under the burden of debt (Deuteronomy 15) and allowing the poor to glean the surplus of the fields (Exodus 23:10-12).  

      But Third Isaiah goes further, addressing those who are being legally and socially excluded on the basis of purity. We hear the voice of those who have internalized this rejection in terms of their self-worth and social prospects: "Let not the foreigner say, 'The Lord will surely separate me from his people'; let not the eunuch say 'I am just a dry tree.' For this is what God says..." (Isaiah 56:3).  

      The eunuch who keeps the Sabbath covenant will receive "in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off' (56:5 is a play on the Hebrew word for eunuch, which comes from a root meaning to castrate). The prophet knew very well that eunuchs were, according to Levitical strictures, supposed to be "cut off from benefits of cult and family life, which would mean their names would also be lost to posterity, an ancient way of rendering someone socially invisible.  

      Instead, God promises an honored place in the "house," something better than pride of genealogy or title to land. This is symbolized by a special "monument" and an "everlasting name." (Playfully, the Hebrew word rendered as "monument" is yd, which can also be a euphemism for "penis.") This is a poignant word to the current debate over exclusion of lesbian and gay people from full status in church and society.  

      The only people below eunuchs in the social hierarchy were foreigners-and this is exactly who the prophet next addresses. If foreigners follow God and observe the Sabbath covenant, "I will bring them to my holy mountain, and their sacrifices will be acceptable. Because my house will be known as a place where all nations pray" (Isaiah 56:7). This is Third Isaiah's answer to Ezra and Nehemiah's culture war on those who didn't fit the national ideal.  

      In his view, the Jerusalem temple was meant to be a world house, not a national shrine (as every other temple in antiquity was). Yahweh welcomes whosoever desires to follow the Way, regardless of who they are in their somatic or ethnic identity. Third Isaiah's perspective did not, however, prevail against the ethnocentric strategy of Ezra and Nehemiah. Indeed, many of those kicked out of the newly proscribed Judean body politic ended up as the despised "Samaritans" of Jesus' day. But God's Word did not prove fruitless.  

      More than four centuries later, a young Jesus of Nazareth, preaching his first sermon, looked hard at his audience and proceeded to read from the heart of Third Isaiah's oracle (Luke 4:18 parallels Isaiah 61:1). Jesus may have staked his entire ministry on a re-appropriation of this prophetic tradition. He invokes it again at the culmination of his struggle with the public authorities in Jerusalem: In the midst of his dramatic "exorcism" of the temple, Jesus quotes directly from our text: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Luke 19:46 parallels Isaiah 56:7). It was this vision of radical inclusion that animated Jesus' constant transgressions of the social boundaries of his day: eating with lepers, hanging out with women, touching the impure, teaching the excluded. More than anything else, it may have been what got him strung up.  

      Jesus most clearly addressed this issue in an oft-overlooked parable found in Mark's gospel. "There is nothing which goes into you that can defile you; only that which comes out of you defiles you" (Mark 7:15). This teaching is another prophetic skirmish with the social function of the purity code. Mark's Jesus is defending his disciples' practice of sharing table fellowship with the "unclean" outsider (Mark 7:1-5) by insisting that "What goes into a person's body from the outside cannot contaminate it" (7:18). Mark presents this parable as one whose meaning the disciples must not mm (7:17)!  

      Jesus is proposing the physical body as a symbol of the "body politic of the nation (a metaphor employed also by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:12). His point - which echoes exactly Third Isaiah's argument - is that the social boundaries constructed by an exclusionary purity code are powerless to protect the integrity of the community, which can only truly be "corrupted" from within. In what may be at once his most radical and most widely ignored teaching, Jesus rejects all culturally proprietary boundaries that allegedly protect a community from perceived external threats. Scape-goating or excluding outsiders cannot protect us; we must look to our own ethical behavior. "Only that which comes out of you defiles you" (Mark 7:20).  

      The episodes that immediately follow in Mark's narrative underscore the point. Jesus' own male and ethnic honor is challenged in the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman. In the sole gospel instance of Jesus losing a verbal joust, he concedes the justice of this female foreigner's insistence upon inclusion (Mark 7:24-30). The expanded circle of enfranchisement is then illustrated by the feeding of Gentile multitudes (Mark 8:1-9). Jesus then warns his disciples to "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Herodians" (8:15), which represents the social and political exclusivity that jeopardizes the "one loaf” around which the church is called to gather.  

      To be sure, issues related to the continuing and often involuntary migration of people, and to the geopolitical definition of human communities, are complex in the modern world and deserve our careful reflection and deliberation. But these are finally theological and pastoral issues for Christians, and we must seek to know immigrants and refugees not as statistics but as human beings who endure extraordinary hardship and trauma in their struggle to survive.  

      And for U.S. citizens, these are issues of national identity. Israel's ethic of compassion toward outsiders was shaped by its own history of pain: "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:21). We, too, are a nation of immigrants.

     Amidst the current culture wars that marginalize immigrants and refugees, then, our churches must choose which America we embrace. To do that we must "hear and understand" Jesus' teaching afresh (Mark 7:14), and that of Third Isaiah before him. If we refuse to take sides with today's outsiders, we too are "without understanding" (Mark 7:18).  

                                                       ~

Ched Myers, a fifth generation Californian, is a minister, author, speaker and activist who lives in Oak View, CA. Over the past three decades he has worked with many peace and justice organizations and movements, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Pacific Concerns Resource Center and the Pacific Life Community. Today, with Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, he focuses on building capacity for biblical literacy, church renewal and faith-based witness for justice. He can be contacted at: Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, PO Box 328, Oak View, CA 93022

For information about Joe's web sites, blogs and his books, please click here Joe Ortiz

Immigration Fears: It’s All about Sowing and Reaping

The Arizona Legislature has dug itself into a deep hole due to the recently enacted (mean-spirited) legislation aimed at all Latinos, one that will make it extremely difficult to ever be recognized as "The Golden Rule State" again; a motto emblazened on it's cars' license plate that belies a 'help thy neighbor' status it once claimed.*

There is a verse in the Bible of which I have known and believed strongly in for the longest time, which states, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” (Galatians 6:7).

This verse basically states that whatever a person (or a nation) does, whether good or bad, whatever seeds they plant, the net produce will yield a like-minded harvest. Some folks call it Karma, a term that comprises the entire cycle of cause and effect. Karma is a sum of all that an individual or country has done, is currently doing and will do. The effects of all deeds actively create present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain in others.

During my years as a teacher in both Los Angeles and Riverside school districts, I always shared this sowing and reaping philosophy with my students. I used to tell them that they can’t plant wheat and expect a harvest of tomatoes. I used this analogy to tell them that they can’t sit back and watch others work harder than them and expect to be promoted or make the same salary they do. It was my way of telling the kids to work as hard as they could and never give up on trying to fulfill their dreams. Some of the students complained that there is too much discrimination and no matter how hard they try, many doors will be closed. I told them to never, ever let anyone discourage them from being the best that they can be.

(Joe Ortiz interviews Dolores Huerta, co-founder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers Union at the 20th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium (1991), a Chicano demonstration that resulted in the murder of journalist Ruben Salazar)

At the same time, I also told the predominate community (through my radio, TV talk shows and newspaper columns), that they needed to embrace minorities and bring them into all aspects of the American experience. I supported bilingual education in the early grades because it helped immigrant kids to assimilate into the American mainstream at a more accelerated pace. I also told my students to master the English language, which is the key to excelling in any subject matter and sorely needed later in life to compete in the American marketplace. My entire career involvement included supporting numerous scholarship and other educational opportunity programs for young Latinos and Latinas, and basically seeking for them total inclusion to all economic, social, political and media institutions. I used to tell the predominate community, however, that if they continue to exclude Latinos from these institutions, one day those actions will come back to haunt them. My belief in the sowing and reaping axiom was the primary logic for this caveat.

Unfortunately, most of those doors remained closed, and no amount of civil dialogue was as effective as the walkouts and demonstrations in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Yet, many of us civil rights era activists tried. Now, primarily due to America’s incessant demand for cheap labor, immigrants from Mexico cross over to this country in droves. This didn’t bother too many folks until recently; it now scares many of them to death. Sadly, the current debate on illegal immigration has brought to the surface much inherent negativity (building high fences, community activist patrolling of the borders and mean-spirited legislation) towards Latinos in general.

The reasons cited are that illegal immigrants are taxing America’s education and the health delivery systems, taking jobs away from US Citizens, and (what they wont admit to publicly is) that their presence here is now diluting a predominately white Anglo-Saxon culture. Many even say that most of the criminals in American jails are illegal immigrants who have been arrested for sexual crimes. Basically, as the Mandingo metaphor was used to demean and stereotype African Americans as sexual savages who prey on white woman, thereby blocking them from gaining their rightful place in the American landscape, these similar tactics and fallacious accusations are being used to incite white America to stereotype Mexicans as worthless human beings and a pariah on a cultured society.

Although their epithets are baseless and amount to panic rhetoric, it is having a reactionary affect designed to keep immigrant labor from coming into this country, and it most certainly provides cannon-fodder to many American citizens who are bitterly impassioned to get rid of those who are already here, including the young Mexican American citizens who were born in the US to immigrant parents.

However, there is a major difference in the historical xenophobic saga of blacks and Mexicans. Africans did not migrate to America; they were forcibly brought here to function as slave laborers. The Mexican experience could be considered worse. While Mexico is one of America’s closest neighbors, we have always been treated (stereotypically) as “those people” from the other side of the tracks.

The United States could have openly welcomed Mexicans to share equally in the America Dream a long time ago. If for no other reason than for their help in building America's infrastructure (railroads, dams, mines and agricultural) through their blood, sweat and tears! They say they have done so, but only to a certain point, always reminding us to keep ourselves in our place. There has never truly been a sincere acceptance, but they keep insisting we have to assimilate or at least acculturate to their own identity. While many of us have tried, they still treat Mexicans as mere peons.

A former colleague of mine, Xavier Hermosillo, (the 2nd Mexican American to conduct a significant talk show on KABC Radio) made a statement on the air about 20 years ago concerning the affect unwelcomed immigration was having on this country, which received much media attention, but little follow up by America’s institutions. Hermosillo coined the phrase, “Wake up America, and smell the refried beans.”

Hermosillo was in essence stating that, whether Americans likes it or not, Mexicans are part of the fabric of this country’s freedom quilt, if for no other reasons than that they are already here. This is what scares many white Americans. No “ship them back to Mexico” legislation will change this. America has always had a chance to welcome Mexicans with open arms, to participate in every aspect of the American Dream. But it didn’t! Despite this institutional derisiveness, Mexicans have worked hard in school and have remained determined to succeed in America. They now represent a more than significant consumer power, and have made tremendous inroads into the political arena, a reality that will soon haunt those who tried to keep Mexicans from sharing in the American dream!

It’s plain and simple! America is now reaping what it sowed!
~
[As a third-generation Mexican American, born and raised in the United States, a military veteran, a law-abiding, taxpayer, who has been blessed by God with the ability to articulate the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the Latino culture, my first and foremost responsibility is to God, family and then country. Many of my fellow Americans (and even some family members) are upset that I boldly speak up for immigrants and basic human rights (whether they are considered legal or non-legal). What many may not realize, is that God, Himself, commands us to do so!]

"Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the poor and needy, (Proverbs 31:8-9)."
~
Joe Ortiz is the first Mexican American to host an English-language talk show on a commercial radio station (KABC-AM Talk Radio, 1971). He is the author of The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation (Author House), two books that refute the Left Behind and Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrines. He lives in Redlands and writes for several local and national periodicals. For more information about his blogs and books, click here Joe Ortiz

* In 2003, before becoming Governor of Arizona, then-Secretary of State Jan Brewer declared Arizona to be a "Golden Rule State." This teaching, common to most of the world's religious faiths, ("do unto others, as you would have them do unto you") was, as a result, imprinted on special license plates and made available to state drivers. Just two weeks ago, now-Governor Brewer was honored by the Arizona Interfaith Movement for her work in promoting that value, received a plaque, gave a speech, and stood while being applauded for her work promoting the Golden Rule in Arizona.

Movie, The Alamo, Provides A Clue For Racial Unity!

     I saw the movie The Alamo over the weekend and walked away with something I have always known. Half way through it, an extremely important message concerning racial unity was uttered by one of the actors, and many people will probably miss it.

      Promoters of the movie before it came out touted it as being more historically accurate than the former version, starring John Wayne, Richard Widmark and other legendary actors. This version, starring Billy Bob Thornton (as Davy Crockett) and Dennis Quaid (as Sam Houston), supposedly would include much fact that native Tejanos (Mexicans born in Texas) played a significant role in defending the Alamo, and contributed greatly to Texas becoming a republic and eventually becoming the 28^th state in the Union on February 29, 1845. One of those heroes was Juan Seguin.

      Seguin was born in 1806 into a long-established Tejano family in San Antonio, Texas. History records little of Seguin’s early life, but he was a staunch critic of Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, the despot leader of Mexico who had a strangle hold on Texas in the 1830's. Santa Ana personally led the slaughter of a group of Texas patriots at a former mission turned mini fortress in San Antonio called the Alamo. Seguin was a strong political ally of William Travis, the Lt. Colonel who valiantly died defending the Alamo while commandeering its volunteer and military forces. Seguin played an active role in the Texas revolution. He served as provisional mayor of San Antonio and led a band of fellow Tejanos against Santa Ana's army in 1835. He was also at the Alamo for the first part of the siege, and survived that massacre because he was sent to gather reinforcements. Later, Seguin and his Tejano Company fought at the battle of San Jacinto, helping to defeat Santa Ana's army.

      Seguin, however, would soon feel the sword of betrayal by the aftermath of the Texas Revolution. Many cities in Texas moved to expel all of their Tejano residents and, even in his hometown of San Antonio, many anglos seriously favored such a move. But his most devastating pain came when Seguin helped defeat a Mexican expedition against San Antonio in 1842. In an effort to turn anglo Texans against him, Seguin was publicly accused my some that he was more loyal to Mexico than Texas. Although Seguin was the mayor of San Antonio at the time, anglos who had been his former comrades suddenly turned on him. They drove him from the city where he had been born and forced him to flee to Mexico. Seguin's dream (that the Texas revolution would mean freedom for all Texans) was shattered.

      Seguin was forced to seek shelter in Mexico amongst those whom he had fought against seeking Texas’ independence. He became separated from his homeland, parents, family, relatives and friends. The Mexican government didn’t welcome Seguin with open arms. Upon his arrival in Nuevo Laredo in 1842, Mexican authorities arrested him and told him to choose between serving in the Mexican army or face imprisonment. He reluctantly chose to join the army, and fought in the Mexican-American war against the United States. After the war Seguin received permission to return to Texas. However, in 1867 Seguin was the victim of further racial harassment that forced him back to Mexico. He died in Nuevo Laredo in 1890, right across the Rio Grande from the land for whose independence he had fought so bravely for. The movie didn’t reveal this aspect of the heroism and dilemma experienced by many patriotic (American) Tejanos.

      Sadly, this untold account of one of the most valiant Tejanos engaged in the Alamo serves as a grim reminder to many Americans of Mexican descent. Many find themselves experiencing the same agony. Thousand upon thousands of Mexican Americans (and other Latinos) have sacrificed their lives for America’s freedom on foreign land. During the Second World War, Hispanics received more Congressional Medals of Honor than any other ethnic group. A close look at today’s news reports reveals that many Latinos (some who weren’t even born in the United States), are still placing their lives in Harm’s Way to defend America. Yet, while most Latinos are proud, hard-working and tax-paying Americans, many still face derisiveness to one degree or the other. Sadly, they are also castigated by Mexican nationals who still call Mexican Americans pochos, a Spanish word which translated means sick or impure. Like Seguin, many Mexican Americans still find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

      However, the movie did contain a line delivered by Billy Bob Thornton, which rang ever so loudly in my mind and heart, as a cure for racial unity. As the story unfolded, Santa Ana’s large army was encamped about a half a mile across from the Alamo. The Mexican soldiers pointed their giant cannons towards the Alamo, and continuously fired its thunder balls to chip away at their resolve. Each time before they launched their immense fire power at the hapless few defending the small mission turned into a symbolic fortress, the Mexican army’s drum and bugle corps preceded the cannon volleys by playing a gruesome sounding tune to psychologically instill terror in the hearts of the volunteers. Right before one of those attacks, Billy Bob Thornton (as Crockett) stood up and said, “I know what’s missing.”

      He quickly got up to one of the Alamo’s towers and began playing a patriotic tune on his violin. As the violin sounds wafted loudly towards the Mexican encampment, both adversaries stood in stunned silence as the Mexican bugles’ and drums’ blaring cacophony melded with Crockett’s music to form a melodious and quieting sonata.

      After a few moments, the volunteers manning the Alamo nervously waited for the cannons to start pounding them again, but nothing happened. The next scene shows Billy Bob Thornton musing at what had just happened, and he uttered probably the most profound line in the entire movie, one that can bode well for racial unity in this country:

      “It’s amazing what a little bit of harmony can accomplish!”

-30-

[Joe Ortiz has the distinction of being the first Mexican American in US history to host an English-language talk show on a commercial radio station. He currently lives in Redlands, California and is the author of a two newly published books, The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation (Author House). For more information, click  Joe Ortiz Web Sites & Blogs

God’s Relationship With (and His Feelings Towards) the Poor and The Alien!

     The recent law passed in the state of Arizona the other day is causing grave concerns for many people, while many in the state (and throughout the country) are ecstatic and overjoyed that the nation is becoming more tough on a segment of society they believe is corrupting their land. Those who support the passage of the law cite many reasons the law was needed, to enforce more aggressive action to identify and remove (back across the Mexican borders) any individuals who cannot prove they are American citizens.

     Among those reasons are (allegedly) that immigrants (whether legal or illegal) are draining US resources, such as taxes, jobs, education, medical assistance, and that they are also responsible for the majority of the crimes that are increasing throughout the land.

     Rather than debating the issues one by one, and it can be proven that the reasons cited are based more on emotion than fact, we will try to show how God feels about the entire issue of the poor and the alien, one that is extremely important to Him. Most certainly, we agree that people, who commit crimes against the populace should be arrested, convicted and force to pay the price for their crimes.

     Yet the jury is still out from a moral and even legal perspective as to whether it is a crime to cross the border if the purpose is solely to seek work to feed your children. Borders do not appear to be of any concern to God because it is He and He alone who owns the land and allows various people to use that land as a gift from Him. Yet, throughout history (especially in America) borders have been erected on both the north and the south of this land, and certain laws have also been enacted to govern the flow of people in and out of this country for its own economic gain.

     Some of these laws are pernicious to the morale of those nationals affected by it, to say the least and, during certain periods throughout history, the laws were nary enforced. For that matter, during the building of much of this country’s foundation and infrastructure (such as its railroads, dams, paved roads and highways, agriculture, mining, forestry, etc.) was built primarily on the backs of immigrants from other countries (especially Mexico) who were highly encouraged to cross the border into America to provide cheap labor. This was an obvious plus for the country.  

     However, during hard economic times, immigrants become the scapegoat and Americans turn their back on these fellow human beings and create situations to deport them back to where they came from. Unfortunately, many of those people who became naturalized citizens or citizens by virtue of being born in this country, have been caught in the same net as those presumed to be here illegally.

     Sadly, the wisdom and worthwhile action of our governing fathers (and mothers, too) have failed to come up with a just and wise law to deal with this burgeoning phenomenon, thereby creating an aura of distrust, disgust and down right hateful attitude towards their neighbors from the south. Many believe the recent law was like striking a match to the short fuse of chaos and possibly another civil (race) war, that almost destroyed this country over 160 years ago.

     In our effort to bring a certain degree of calm until this issue can be resolved, we hereby remind American citizens, especially Christians and other religious people who accept God as the creator of the world and mankind as well, what are God's exact feelings about this whole matter. Frankly, we are surprised to find many, many self-professing Christians on the front lines of protest and either heading or supporting organizations that vigorously promote the insensitive gathering up and forcing aliens to leave the country.

     These are the same Christian who have been told over and over that God will provide all of their needs and He will never abandon them (Romans 8:28). They are the same Christians who have been taught from the Bible to help the poor, to love their enemies, to forgive everyone who breaks any of God's laws, to esteem others above themselves, to turn the other cheek, yet they always find ways and means to justify solving their problems through political involvement. They do not have enough faith in God to provide for their respective needs as He has promised; therefore, instead, they form political-minded groups to intimidate and put pressure on those who only care about staying in office, and the current administration, to rule in favor of extricating aliens from the good old USA!

     You may think the following list of Bible verses (over 190) is a little too long, but we recommend that you read each verse to get a heads up where God and Jesus stand on the matter. Read and listen with your heart as Jesus Himself defends the poor and alien. He doesn’t use any legal mumbo jumbo; He merely tells it like it is. End of story! He says it, we need to believe it.
     And more importantly, all people have to recognize that failure to abide by His feelings brings with it great, and more horrific consequences than can be imagined. The millions of self-professing Christians, who are at the front lines of the movement to eradicate illegal immigrants through brute force, will respond that they have a personal relationship with Christ, and many believe that God is on their side.
     However, it is an easy thing to say they know God; even the devil makes that claim. But, saying that you know God and doing what He commands are two entirely and distinctive issues. They wholeheartedly claim that they not only know God’s word, but that they have a personal relationship with God and know Him very well. Those, to whom all went well, didn’t just claim they knew Him, they did what He commanded!

 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 22:16)

Bible verses concerning the poor and the alien

Leviticus 19:10
Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.


Leviticus 23:22
" 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'


Leviticus 25:35
" 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.


Deuteronomy 15:4
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,


Deuteronomy 15:7
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.


Deuteronomy 15:11
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.


Deuteronomy 24:14
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.


Deuteronomy 24:15
Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.


1 Samuel 2:8
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world.


Esther 9:22
as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.


Job 5:16
So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.


Job 20:10
His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.

Job 20:19
For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.

Job 24:4
They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.


Job 24:5
Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.


Job 24:9
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.


Job 24:14
When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief.


Job 29:12
because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.


Job 30:25
Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?


Job 31:16
"If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,


Job 34:19
who shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?


Job 34:28
They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.


Psalm 14:6
You evil doers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.


Psalm 22:26
The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever!


Psalm 34:6
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.


Psalm 35:10
My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O LORD ? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."


Psalm 37:14
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.


Psalm 40:17
Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.


Psalm 68:10
Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor.


Psalm 69:32
The poor will see and be glad— you who seek God, may your hearts live!


Psalm 70:5
Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.


Psalm 74:21
Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.


Psalm 82:3
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.


Psalm 109:16
For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.


Psalm 109:22
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.


Psalm 112:9
He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.


Psalm 113:7
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;


Psalm 132:15
I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food.


Psalm 140:12
I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.

Proverbs 10:4
Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.


Proverbs 13:7
One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.


Proverbs 13:8
A man's riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat.


Proverbs 13:23
A poor man's field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.


Proverbs 14:20
The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.


Proverbs 14:31
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.


Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.


Proverbs 18:23
A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly.


Proverbs 19:1
Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse.


Proverbs 19:4
Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man's friend deserts him.

Proverbs 19:7
A poor man is shunned by all his relatives— how much more do his friends avoid him! Though he pursues them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found.


Proverbs 19:17
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.


Proverbs 19:22
What a man desires is unfailing love ; better to be poor than a liar.


Proverbs 20:13
Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.


Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.


Proverbs 21:17
He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.


Proverbs 22:2
Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.


Proverbs 22:7
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.


Proverbs 22:9
A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.


Proverbs 22:16
He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.


Proverbs 22:22
Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court,


Proverbs 23:21
for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.


Proverbs 28:3
A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.


Proverbs 28:6
Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse.


Proverbs 28:8
He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.


Proverbs 28:11
A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him.


Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.


Proverbs 29:7
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.


Proverbs 29:13
The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives sight to the eyes of both.


Proverbs 29:14
If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will always be secure.


Proverbs 30:9
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.


Proverbs 30:14
those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind.


Proverbs 31:9
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."


The Wife of Noble Character
Proverbs 31:20
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.


[Advancement Is Meaningless ] Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.


Ecclesiastes 5:8
[ Riches Are Meaningless ] If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.


Ecclesiastes 6:8
What advantage has a wise man over a fool? What does a poor man gain by knowing how to conduct himself before others?


Ecclesiastes 9:15
Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.


Ecclesiastes 9:16
So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.


Isaiah 3:14
The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: "It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.


Isaiah 3:15
What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.


Isaiah 10:2
They deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.


Isaiah 11:4
but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.


Isaiah 14:30
The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.


Isaiah 25:4
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall


Isaiah 32:7
The scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.


Isaiah 41:17
"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.


Isaiah 58:7
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?


Isaiah 61:1
[The Year of the LORD's Favor ] The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,


Jeremiah 2:34
On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this


Jeremiah 5:28
and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor.


Jeremiah 22:16
He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD.


Jeremiah 39:10
But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.


Jeremiah 52:16
But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.


Ezekiel 16:49
" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.


Ezekiel 18:12
He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits robbery. He does not return what he took in pledge. He looks to the idols. He does detestable things.


Ezekiel 22:29
The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.


Amos 2:7
They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.


Amos 4:1
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"


Amos 5:11
You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.


Amos 5:12
For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.


Amos 8:4
Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,


Amos 8:6
buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.


Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'


Matthew 5:3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


Matthew 11:5
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.


Matthew 19:21
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."


Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."


Mark 12:42
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Mark 12:43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

Luke 6:20
Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.


Luke 7:22
So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.


Luke 11:41
But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.


Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.


Luke 14:13
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,


Luke 14:21
"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'


Luke 18:22
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Luke 19:8
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."


Luke 21:2
He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. Luke 21:3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others.

John 12:5 Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. "John 12:6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.


John 12:8
You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."


John 13:29
Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor.


Acts 9:36
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas ), who was always doing good and helping the poor.


Acts 10:5
The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.


Acts 10:31
and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.


Acts 24:17
"After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.


Romans 15:26
For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.


1 Corinthians 13:3
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.


Corinthians 6:10
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.


2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.


2 Corinthians 9:9
As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."


Galatians 2:10
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.


James 2:2
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. James 2:3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet,"


James 2:5
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?


James 2:6
But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?


Revelation 3:17
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

If you made it this far, your life could very well change and begin heading in a different direction, on a raod that willbring you closer to God than ever before!

Welcome to the Kingdom of God!

For more information about this blog and Joe's books The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation (Author House), click here >Joe Ortiz Web Sites and book information.