The U.S. Laws of the Land and the Bible on Illegal Immigration
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is continuing to come under attack from emotionally-gripped people who charge that his enforcement of immigration laws is cruel and mean-spirited.
While photographs of crying children stir everyone’s feelings and trigger angry reactions in some, emotions must not be the deciding factor in complicated and significant issues that have tremendous impact on a nation and its people.
In a recent interview with Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Ralph Drollinger, President and Founder of Capitol Ministries, defended the actions of Attorney General Sessions, a professing Christian who sponsors and attends the weekly White House Cabinet Bible study led by Drollinger.
Drollinger said enforcing immigration laws is Attorney General Session’s primary job as the U.S. top cop, and, that enforcing laws is in harmony with what the Bible says about the role of the State as well as a nation’s right to protect its borders and its people from illegal immigration.
Drollinger wrote a Bible study about the issue, What the Bible Says about Our Illegal Immigration Problem, that was published in 2016.
In a taped interview this week with Jennifer Wishon, Senior Washington Correspondent for Christian Broadcasting Network’s (CBN) news division, Drollinger said:
“One would say the institution of the State’s primary purpose in the primary passages in the New Testament that describe it would be Matthew 22, Romans 13, and 1 Peter 2 and in both Romans 13:4 and 1 Peter 2:13 it says the basic purpose for God ordaining the state is to ‘bear the sword.’
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 minster of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Romans 13:4
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 1 Peter 2:13-14
“Now that almost sounds harsh in today’s world, but it’s the idea that there are consequences to evil actions and if there is not, then all hell breaks loose in a country.
“You can see even like when we have a tornado or a hurricane and the government goes down in the south, you can see all kinds of robbery occurring.
“And the actual fallen, depraved nature of man comes out when there is no sense of retribution for his evil action so God restrains that by ordaining the state.
“So that is to say, as it relates to our argument today, as it relates to border crossing, that there has to be consequences for illegal border crossing.
“That is what Attorney General Jeff Sessions is all about, that is his primary purpose vocationally and it is a matter of obedience to Scripture.”
Click here to listen to Drollinger’s comments.
Drollinger’s comments were supplemental to a story Ms. Wishon had written a few days previously. The text of the June 18 story, headlined Cabinet Bible Study Leader Defends Sessions, Explains What the Bible Really Says About Immigrants, follows:
“In a number of Texas pulpits Sunday, pastors openly criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for using scripture to back up the Justice Department’s zero tolerance policy for people crossing the border illegally.
‘I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 – to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for His purposes,’ Sessions said in a speech.
“But a Methodist church in Richardson, Texas, posted a road sign rebuking the attorney general: ‘Please don’t use scripture to justify policies that harm families,’ the sign read.
“And one Texas parishioner told the Texas Tribune his pastor admonished Sessions by name Sunday morning and referred his congregation to Leviticus 19:33, which says, ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.’
“However, instead of disputing Sessions’ point, Ralph Drollinger, founder, and president of Capitol Ministries insists the verses critics are using validate the attorney general’s position.
“Drollinger, leader of the weekly Cabinet Bible study that Sessions sponsors and attends, says the Bible is full of God’s design for parents and how they are commanded to bring up their children in the ‘nurture and admonition of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6:4) and to do so families must be together.
“‘No one is disputing that ‘sojourners’ should be welcomed into the United States,’ Drollinger writes in a statement.
“However, he points out that Sessions has been appointed to enforce the laws of the land enacted by Congress and signed by presidents.
“He says some criticism comes from people who advocate for open borders, while others may be unfamiliar with the original Hebrew words of the Bible.
“Drollinger says the word ‘sojourner’ is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘ger’ or ‘toshab’ meaning ‘legal immigrant.’
“‘No one, especially my personal friend, the kind-hearted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, desires that a mother or father be separated from their children,’ Drollinger continued.
“If someone breaks the law of the land, he says, they should anticipate that one of the consequences of their behavior will be separation from their children.
“‘The passage the attorney general cited, Romans 13, bespeaks of this: There are and there should be serious, known consequences for breaking the laws of the land — otherwise the law becomes toothless and inconsequential and it is no longer a deterrent to harmful behavior, which is what God designed it to be,’ he said.”