It’s time for a little update, not much, but I am no longer new to blogging. I have been at it a few years. Not that I have gained any particular stature. I simply can’t claim to be new at it. I still write as part of my profession, but blogging is more interesting. Blogging is my way of sharpening ideas and fleshing them out. It’s a journey, and I know I don’t always “get it right”, but I take it seriously.
I have been on a journey for truth since I emerged from the haze and confusion of adolescence, much of it self-induced. Stepping out of that myopic existence I began to get an inkling that a world of truth lay in front of me to encounter, and so I set off. I didn’t realize, then, how much faith is required to seek truth.
I have been reading Embrace the Tension by Tommy Nixon. He has resonated deeply with me, especially in this time. Christians in the United States seem to be living in a golden moment with a president openly engaging Christians and a popular segment of the church celebrating a symbiotic relationship with the president and his administration.
We don’t have to look too closely, however, to be concerned. Many prophetic voices have distanced themselves from this expression of Christianity. They stand outside the structure of this church and state power duo sounding an alarm. The foundation of this relationship is power and influence, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is missing,
Satan tempted Jesus by offering him all the power of the kingdoms of the world, and Jesus flatly turned him down. When Jesus’ own followers attempted to seize him by force and make him king, he escaped into the hills. When Pilate confronted Jesus about the confusing things he was hearing – Was Jesus really king of the Jews? – Jesus told him that his kingdom is not of this world.
Jesus explained to Pilate that his power was given to him by God. If Jesus had come to take over, his followers would have risen up and seized control, but that isn’t why he came. He came to good news to the poor and to die on a cross. He came to introduce people to the Kingdom of God that is here now – growing in the midst of the kingdoms of this world – though the reign of the Righteous King is not yet.
Jesus will not reign as king until he comes again at the end of the age. In the meantime, he was clear that his followers are to be salt and light in the world. The church has no mandate to take over the kingdoms of the world. The church is commissioned to make disciples – followers of Jesus.
Tommy Nixon recalls in his book the church at Antioch. They were diverse, but not for diversity’s sake. They were diverse because Jesus loves and came to save the world. They were unified, but not for unity’s sake. They were unified in Christ and in his purposes. They had power, but not for power’s sake. The power they wielded was found in taking up a cross and following Jesus. They experience the joy of the Holy Spirit, but not for joy’s sake. They experienced the joy of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a world that was orientated against what God was doing.
A dramatic change in the church took place when Constantine became king and issued the Edict of Milan, proclaiming religious toleration for Christianity within the Roman Empire, followed by the Edict of Thessalonica, in which Christianity was made the state religion. This is how Tommy Nixon characterizes the change:
“What seemed like a triumph for the church was the beginning of a dangerous compromise. The same empire that once persecuted followers of Christ now embraced Christianity as its own. The gradual fusion of the church with the state followed, leading to the kingdom becoming the empire. Political power and cultural dominance diluted the gospel message. It was no longer good news to the margins; it was a tool to maintain control.
Embrace the Tension: Choosing the Radical Middle Instead of Picking a Side by Tommy Nixon, page 142
If we make an honest comparison of the church before the 5th century and the church after the first century, we can see the influence that state power had on the church. Before the church had any power it was persecuted and marginalized, but it revolutionized the Roman world in the love of neighbor and the love of God. The church was subversive in the best possible ways, led by people authentically walking the path of its suffering Savior, preaching good news to the poor – as Jesus did.
From the 6th century on, the became wedded to state power and than more deeply embedded in state power. Church and state became inseparable, and the corruption of the Church ensued. We call those years the Dark Ages for good reason.
Not everything was dark, of course. God was still at work in His church and in the world, despite the evil and corruption that litter the annals of this period of the history of the Church. The Crusades and the Inquisition are among the rotten fruit that grew in the name of Christ, though God always preserves a remnant in every age.
Tommy Nixon is nothing if not brutally honest and authentic:
“We see the effects of this today. In the United States, the surge of Christian nationalism and the conflation of faith with political ideology reveal how deeply the empire has shaped our perception of what it means to be a follower of Christ.”
Embrace the Tension, page 142
Once again, a segment of the Church flirts with the power and influence of Empire. In this context, Tommy Nixon refers to the Book of Amos. Amos was a prophet in Israel in the 8th Century BC. He warned Israel, that was once the oppressed living in slavery, that it had become the oppressor. Idolatry and injustice were rampant, and God was giving them an opportunity to repent and turn from their waywardness.
They didn’t listen, of course. Within 30 years of the ministry of Amos, the northern kingdom was exiled to Babylon.
Though Amos spoke at a low point in the history of God’s people, he ended with a message of hope. He spoke of a day when God would “restore David’s fallen shelter,” and “repair its broken walls,” “restore its ruins,” and “rebuild it as it used to be.” Amos 9:11-12
I don’t think that God intended to restore the nation of Israel exactly as it was; God intended to restore Israel as He designed it to be. Amos says God would do this so that his people would “possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name.” God’s blessing and promise to Abraham was always to extend to all the nations.
We see the reality of this, of course, in Jesus. He came first to the lost sheep of Israel, but his ministry extended far beyond the remnant of Israel. It extended to all of us and to all of time.
God’s ways are not our ways. He sent his only Son into the world that all who call upon his name will be saved – in Israel, Judah, Samaria, and all the world: the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, El Salvador, China, and to all the islands of the world.
Tommy Nixon concludes his assessment of the church in America by saying. “It doesn’t have to be this way.” We don’t need to devolve into the corruption of state power. “We can continue to be the rebels, but we have to be honest about the rebellion. The church needs a lot of work, but you and I are the church. It is time to be brave and own our hypocrisy and do something about it.”
Tommy Nixon speaks truth when he says, “The church is the problem,” but our hope is in the fact that “the church is also the solution.”
It’s time for the church to be the church, to repent, and to get back to what it means to be followers of Christ, fellow cross bearers, suffering servants in the way of Jesus, who live out the kingdom of God in our daily lives, preaching good news to the poor, suffering with those who suffer, mourning with those who mourn, and sharing the good news of the kingdom of God to anyone who will hear.
Jesus could have taken over the kingdoms of the Earth, but he knew who it was who had the present authority over the kingdoms of the world. The will of God was to introduce His kingdom on Earth and to raise up an army of suffering servants who would pray and live into the reality of the kingdom of God on Earth as it is in heaven.
We are tempted by the same things that tempted Jesus, and we should reject them the same way Jesus rejected them. His kingdom is not of this world. We have missed the mark in our attempt to protect the power and influence we have gained in this world at the expense of being like Jesus – the ambassadors of his kingdom.
Just as Amos prophesied it is not too late. It is not too late for the remnant of God’s people in this age – the church – to be the body of Christ, representatives of Jesus in this world. We do not need earthly power and influence. As a matter of fact, earthly power and influence will corrupt the whole thing. It always has, and it always will until the day Jesus comes again. As God told Amos, God will do what He says. We only need to be faithful.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he taught them to recognize God: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Immediately after recognizing God for who He is, Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” These things are the foundation of our prayer life with God, according to Jesus.
As I think about this today, the realization strikes me that praying, “Thy kingdom come,” needs to be accompanied by a willingness to reflect God’s kingdom and God’s will in the way we live. If we pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven and don’t think that prayer means anything for us in the way that we live, do we really mean it?
These thoughts came to me as I was worshipping God and thinking about the song we were singing, which was an expression of faith in the promises of God. If we
pray or sing these words to God without any intention to reflect the God we are worshiping and praying to in our daily lives, is our worship and prayer anything other than a clanging gong or a banging cymbal that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13?
When Jesus began his public ministry, the message he preached was the coming of the kingdom, which he said is near at hand. (Mk. 1:14-15l Matt. 4:17, 23) Jesus said that the reason he was sent was to preach the coming of the kingdom of God. (Luke 4:3)
When Jesus spoke in his hometown synagogue, he said it a little bit differently: he said that he came to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to prisoners, to give sight to the blind, and to set the oppressed free. (Luke 4:18-19)
Throughout his public ministry Jesus demonstrated what he came to do. He touched lepers, though doing so would make him unclean under Jewish law, and he healed them. He gave sight to the blind. He healed the sick and the lame. He set people free from demonic influences. He forgave sins. He lived out a tangible demonstration of what it means for the kingdom of God to come, and he extended God’s favor to Samaritans, a Canaanite woman, and a Roman centurion.
He also challenged the religious people of his day. He repeatedly healed people on the Sabbath. He even went right into the synagogues and healed them in front of the religious leaders, knowing that it would provoke them in their religiosity, because they didn’t understand what it means for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
The religious leaders were angry when Jesus challenged their understanding of the law and therefore of God. In their best moments they were just confused.
When Jesus healed ten lepers and instructed them to go show themselves to the priests, only the Samaritan leper came back and thanked Jesus. The priests asked, when would this kingdom that Jesus was preaching come? Jesus said, God’s kingdom isn’t any particular place, because God’s kingdom is within us. (ἐντός (entos), meaning inside (us) (adverb or noun) — within (us), sometimes translated “among us” or “in our midst”)
They still didn’t know what he meant. All they could see was that he was breaking the rules – the requirements they had established to protect people from breaking the mosaic Law of not working on the Sabbath. They didn’t understand that the Lord of the Sabbath was standing in front of them, telling them they were getting it wrong.
Jesus said the kingdom is in the midst of His followers. He come to announce that God’s kingdom has come, though it is also still to come. He introduced his kingdom, and he called his followers to recognize it, to repent, and to live in its reality.
The question I want to ask today of myself and anyone who might be reading this is this: Are we doing that?
I joined a Facebook group for discussion between atheists and Christians recently. I tried to engage in discussion and was disappointed to find that people were more adept at the use of laughing emojis and one-line put downs than discussion. I was disappointed because I hoped I hoped for better, but I realize I should not have been surprised.
I also hoped for better from myself, and I was disappointed, if not surprised, that I was inclined to be offended. I wanted to react in kind. I found myself dwelling on a sour post for long after reading it, fighting the urge to post a quick-witted comeback, and – when I couldn’t think of exactly the right tightly packed and insightful retort – to flame the disrespectful responder with the not so inimitable laugh emoji. Ugghh….
I mostly resisted my urge to respond. The few times I succumbed to my weakness, I regretted it. There was no discussion. Just a hailstorm of barbed quips, memes, and emojis (mostly laughing – the ultimate form of online mockery).
My weak attempts to start a conversation were for naught. Perhaps, if I had stayed the course, persisted in my focus on conversation, and resisted all temptation to lash back, I might have found a real discussion. Maybe. And maybe I am just hopelessly hopeful.
I don’t know how many days I lasted in that group. It didn’t take long before I bowed out with a parting question: “Why do atheists spend so much time talking about a God they don’t believe in?”
I admit the question wasn’t meant to start a discussion, or reflective thought, or to get at anything deeply meaningful. It was a not so subtle parting shot – a little monument to my own inability to rise above the clamor and din of the social media frenzy that belies the evolutionary doctrine of the inevitable upward progress of mankind.
I was surprised again (though I don’t know why) that notices of responses to my frankly sophomoric question continued to appear in my feed days afterward. Three days to this point.
I was even more surprised at the sheer number of responses: 795 comments and 195 emojis (mostly of the laughing variety) so far. I don’t know if a single post I have ever put on Facebook has elicited that much response. Do I count that as a success?
I doubt that anyone in the group knows that I left. The sharks continue to circle the corpse of my failed attempt at a discussion, attacking the dead body with quips, memes, and emojis in a feeding frenzy that is truly remarkable, if not sadly cliche. Social media and its finest.
I am reminded of the word of the Lord to Isaiah in the temple. God sent him to preach to the nation of Israel and warned Isaiah in the same breath that the people wouldn’t listen. God, nevertheless, wanted him to be faithful, which he was.
I wonder how much Isaiah wanted to lash back at the people who mocked him and criticized him. (Perhaps, he did. I assume he was just as human as I am.) Perhaps, he was just as discouraged and disappointed as I am, though he stuck in there long enough to author a good-sized chunk of the Old Testament.
Perhaps, social media isn’t the best platform for engaging people in thoughtful discussion. (Yah think?!) The low-hanging fruit of social media tends to be pretty rotten, though I have seen some good proof from people who may be more like Isaiah than me.
I obviously do my own writing. (Like Isaiah, perhaps?) The flaming arrows don’t come as fast at me on this platform, nor are they as frequent. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever gotten 795 comments on articles I have written and posted on this site in a whole year, and 195 responses (laugh emojis and all😂) would be a record for any blog article I have written.
The scale of social media reach is powerful. The quality of that social media reach leaves much to be desired.
Perhaps, social media just reveals the reality of what is going on behind more mundane and seemingly less impactful forms of communication, like a watch. Perhaps, people are more apt to fly their true colors in the immediacy of a social media platform encouraging reflexive action that results in a more genuine response.
Perhaps, we get a better glimpse of what people are actually thinking and how they are actually responding, which we do not often see in other media. Perhaps, I should take some solace in this. Perhaps, I should be more understanding and frank in my assessment of the way my blog material hits. My writing probably doesn’t get the universal response I hope it will or think it does. On the other hand, I am probably hitting a more receptive audience that tunes into my blog writing than my posts on a Christian/atheist discussion site.
I feel like I’m trying to encourage myself not to be discouraged. Maybe I am trying to talk myself out of my disappointment – being philosophical about it. Maybe this kind of reflective thinking is what is necessary to avoid being swept up into the constantly reactive ways we are learning to live in a social media world. Maybe I am just fighting back in the way that I know how. Maybe I will do better next time.
All Scripture is inspired by God. Scripture is useful to teach us and it convicts us of what is right. Scripture straightens out our thinking, and it trains us in knowing and doing what it right. (2 Timothy 3:16) With this foundation, my inspiration today comes from Exodus 3.
“Then the Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’”
Exodus 3:7-10 ESV
We are often comforted by God’s word to know that God sees our afflictions; He hears our cries; and He responds. We find comfort in this passage from Exodus that God sees, God hears, God knows, and God responds. This is undeniable, but it isn’t the primary purpose of Scripture.
If we only take away the fact that God sees us, hears us, knows us, and responds to us from this passage, we are missing the bigger picture. The purpose of Scripture is not primarily to comfort us. If you read 2 Timothy 3:16, which I paraphrased at the beginning of this article, it describes the primary purpose of Scripture, and the description does not include providing comfort to us.
Yes, Scripture is comforting to us, and we take great comfort in it as we should. That is part of having faith in and trusting God. The primary purpose of scripture, however, is not to comfort us, but to instruct us, to straighten out our thinking, to give us a new perspective, and to train us in what is right according to 2 Timothy 3:16.
In the passage from Exodus 3 quoted above, we are comforted to understand that God sees the afflictions of His people, hears their cries and knows their suffering, and God responds, but we should not miss that God responds through Moses who God calls to carry out His response. The focus of the story is God calling on Moses to carry out God’s response to what God sees, hears, and knows.
Matt Soerens with World Relief was asked to comment about the current state of immigration detention in July of 2026. Although immigrant detention is not as much in the news right now as it was months earlier, it is still happening. Tactics and policies have not changed, but ICE has stopped being so public about it.
Was that part of the plan? Did they purposefully introduce a new era of immigration enforcement with tanks, heavy equipment, masks, fatigues, violence, cruelty, and disregard for 4th amendment protections with a public show of fanfare and force to scare immigrants and desensitize the rest of us?
If ICE was previously “in your face,” they have shrunk back into the shadows, though the pace of immigration has actually increased, according to Soerens. In fact, the federal government reports that 46,000 people were detained in the month of July, which is more immigrant detainees in a single month in the history of the United States.
Some things have not changed. The vast majority of people being detained have not committed any crime. The most recent data available at the Department of Homeland Security indicates that approximately 65,000 people were detained as of July 20th, and 71% of them had not been convicted of any crime.
Of course, this means that approximately 29% of the immigrant detainees have been convicted of a crime. What qualifies as a crime, however, is a very broad spectrum of activity that extends from murder down to traffic violations.
Soerens cautions that we should not minimize the importance of locating and detaining immigrants (or anyone, for that matter) who has committed a heinous crime. At the same time, we should not lump in people whose only crime is a misdemeanor traffic offense with hardened criminals.
Soerens, a Chicago area resident, observes that traveling 81 miles per hour on I-294 in the Chicago area is a crime, but it doesn’t get anyone detained, thrown in prison, or worse. If you live in Chicago, you know the speed limit on I-294 is 60 miles per hour, but you will be run over if you are not flowing with the traffic, which often runs 75 miles per hour or more, with people passing you doing 80, 90, or faster.
A significant percentage of the 29% of detainees who have criminal convictions have been convicted of nothing other than a misdemeanor traffic offense – like doing 81 on I-294 or similar offenses. The fine for a traffic ticket is nothing more than an inconvenience for most people, but detention and deportation can be a life sentence for people who have left danger in their home countries.
Some immigrants who are currently being detained have lawful status that was taken away by the current administration. They came here legally under a program that was established for them. In fact, they entered the country precisely because the program was created for them, but now it has been terminated, and they are being deported like people who entered the country without permission.
Soerens says, we don’t know how many people have been detained in this category. We do know that 1.8 million people were present in the United States in January of 2025 with lawful status that has been revoked by the current administration. Many of the people in this category have come from countries with the worst humanitarian crises in the world – places like Haiti and Venezuela. The people who came in through these programs have been vetted. They have had criminal background checks to ensure that they do not have criminal backgrounds, and they are escaping real and present danger. They cannot return safely to their country of origin – especially now that being returned puts a target on their backs.
With their lawful status withdrawn, these people go into the category of immigration violators, though they did nothing wrong. They become immediately eligible for deportation through no fault of their own.
Reasonable minds can differ about the wisdom and propriety of the programs that were created for these people. But revoking status that was granted that induced them to immigrate to the United States isn’t just immoral; it’s a clear violation of biblical mandates to “let your yes be yes and our no be no.”
In the context of contracts, which is similar to a covenant, we have laws that protect people from that kind of behavior. If one person breaks a contract, the other person has a remedy in the law. In this case, our government broke the contract, and there is no recourse.
In the context of local governmental law (with which I am familiar, having practiced in that area for 35 years),governments can pass new laws that end protections or privileges, but they cannot be applied retroactively to people who relied on them. It isn’t fair to pull the rug from underneath someone who depended on the rug.
This is such a fundamental rule of law, that it hardly needs any explanation. If a person acts in reliance of the current rules, even if government changes the rules, the change can only apply going forward. It cannot apply back in time for people who relied on the old rules.
In a sense, the fundamental rule of law goes back to the idea of letting our yes be yes and our no be no. That’s the way God works with us. He is not arbitrary and capricious. He makes a promise and keeps it, and he expects us to do the same. We can disagree with the programs that were created and end those programs, but we should not, in good conscience before God, remove the protections that were once given.
Ironically, the people whose lawful status was removed by the present administration become some of the easiest people to detain because the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have all of their information. They have gone through official channels, and they are sitting ducks.
Another thing to know about the status of immigration enforcement in this country is that families are being separated. World Belief participated in a study together with the National Association of Evangelicals to determine the effect of the administration deporting 1 million people each year of the current administration, which is the stated goal. The study shows that 270,000 spouses would be separated because of detainment and deportment, and 900,000 and a million children would lose at least one parent.
Another thing to know about the current immigration enforcement operation is the effect it has on the church. World Belief participated in a separate study with the National Association of Evangelicals and the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. They found that 80% of people vulnerable to deportation are Christian of one stripe or another. If the administration was successful in deporting everyone who is vulnerable to deportation, deportation will affect 1 in 12 households in this country.
The final thing to know about current immigration policy is the great cost. In 2024, the ICE budget for detention was 3.4 billion dollars. The big, beautiful bill passed a year ago budgeted 45 billion dollars just for detention. That figure does not include other operations of immigration enforcement, including the deportation process, border security, or administrative operations. On top of that, the administration seeks even more money for detention since the budget was passed!
Matt Soerens says that World Relief has never taken the position that no one should be detained or deported. The border should be secure, and anyone who poses a threat or has engaged in criminal activity of a type that is not consistent with good citizenship should be eligible for deportation, according to Soerens.
The issue isn’t stepping up immigration enforcement against immigrants who have committed serious crimes. The issue is that over 70% of immigrants currently detained have no criminal record. Not even a traffic violation. Yet, we are spending over 10 times the amount of money to detain them, and the administration is asking for more. Even people who agree with the effort to deport people who entered without permission recognize that the cost is unreasonable compared to what is being accomplished.
Regardless of the financial cost or even policy considerations, Christians should be speaking up and petitioning legislative representatives for more humane treatment of immigrants, who are people made in the image of God. Christians can disagree over the priorities for immigration: enforcement, the kinds of crimes or actions that should warrant detainment and deportation, and the programs that should be offered, but Christians should have no disagreement over the humane treatment of immigrants.
We do not detain hardened criminals, including murderers and rapists, in the conditions that currently exist for the detention of immigrants. Immigrants should not be treated like hardened criminals, and they should not be treated worse than hardened criminals – unless we don’t really believe that all people are made in the image of God.
It isn’t the degree of criminal activity that should warrant humane treatment; and it isn’t whether a person is a citizen or a legally documented alien that should warrant humane treatment. All human beings are made in God’s image – whether murderers, rapists, speeders, or immigrants. If we really believe that, then immigrants should be treated accordingly, and not rounded up, herded, and detained in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions with little or no medical attention for those who need it.
The current state of immigration enforcement and detention in the United States does not reflect God’s righteousness and justice, the foundation of God’s throne. They do not reflect the most basic of biblical principals: that all people are created in God’s image. As Christians, we need to advocate for God’s justice and righteousness, regardless of what we feel about immigration issues politically.
