What happens when you ask a president who says he has Christian values to govern using Christian values? You are witnessing it every day. Trump and his followers promote the idea that their actions are CHRISTIAN, advancing BIBLICAL standards for godly living. I say they have forgotten or choose to ignore Romans 3:7-8, "For if the truth of God has INCREASED through my LIE to His glory, why am I also STILL judged as a sinner? And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come?" - as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just."
In other words, you can't do horrible things even if it is for the good of the church, kingdom, or Christian body.
Taking President Trump at his word, that he stands with Christians, particularly Evangelicals, Rev. Budde issued a simple request. The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Diocese of Washington, made a direct appeal to Trump during a post-Inauguration prayer service (January 2025) he attended, asking him to show mercy to members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally.
Referencing Trump’s belief that he was saved by God from assassination (July 13, 2024, at 5:11 PM CDT), Budde preached, “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
Trump and his supporters did not hold kindly to being asked to show mercy towards people who may be fearful of his administration's future actions regarding immigration. Who becomes upset about being asked to be kind? Who needs to be asked to be kind in the first place? Both answers to the questions: Donald Trump and his supporters.
Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, a prominent Trump supporter, was at the service and posted on X that Budde “insulted rather than encouraged our great president” and “there was palpable disgust in the audience with her words.” What was the reverend asking Trump to have mercy on? The way he will go about HANDLING immigrants. Why the disgust at the notion of being kind?
The executive orders signed on the first day of President Trump’s second term radically expand the legal authorities used to enforce immigration law against immigrants already in the U.S., while calling for an equally radical expansion of the infrastructure that would be needed to accomplish the "mass deportations" the president has promised. Furthermore, they signal efforts to immiserate unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, depriving them of the ability to work legally and punishing them for being unable to “register” with the U.S. government—something they have no way of doing.
While addressing the ongoing immigration problem, the Trump administration is not acting with MERCY, stripping a people of their DIGNITY and HUMANITY, forgetting many immigrants are fleeing their country riddled with poverty, war, and violence. Many immigrants flee poverty and violence from countries in Central America, including El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. These countries are among the most impoverished and violent in the world.
Wanting immigrants to enter the United States legally is the desire of the majority of Americans.
Very few people are in favor of people out and out breaking the law. What many people are taking exception to is the WAY the illegal immigrants are being treated. Donald Trump painted an apocalyptic picture of a country being "occupied" by hordes of criminal foreigners in his campaign speech. Trump has super-charged concerns by claiming an "invasion" is underway by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans. Donald Trump vowed to “rescue” the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, from the rapists, “blood thirsty criminals,” and “most violent people on earth” he insists are ruining the “fabric” of the country and its culture: immigrants. The former president has escalated his xenophobic and racist rhetoric against migrants and minority groups he says are genetically predisposed to commit crime. This type of rhetoric leads to fear and violence.
America proclaims to be a Christian nation. If it truly is, it would choose to be guided by the Christian Bible adhering to its principles; all NOT some of them. There are several passages guiding the Christian in how they are to treat foreigners.
- Leviticus 19:33-34: Treat foreigners as you would your own people, and love them as you love yourself
- Deuteronomy 10:18-19: God loves foreigners and provides for them with food and clothing
- Matthew 25:35: Jesus says that welcoming strangers is a way to show that you are his follower
- Deuteronomy 14:28-29: Store tithes so that foreigners and Levites can eat
- Isaiah 58:10: Feed the hungry and satisfy those in need
- Zechariah 7:9: Show kindness and mercy to foreigners, orphans, and widows
- Deuteronomy 24:17-18: Do not deprive foreigners or orphans of justice
- Deuteronomy 27:19: Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from foreigners, orphans, or widows
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