Category: Current Events

The Words of Amos to the Faithful Remnant of God’s People in the US Today?

The pairing of the church and state is not a wedding made in heaven

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Mountain fortress overlooking a stone bridge and river gorge at twilight

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.

5 Things About the Current State of Immigration Detention

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Diverse people walking through an ornate courthouse hallway

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.


You Have Been Warned! (In the best way possible)

The Warning, three sisters from Mexico who dared to dream big.

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From a recent video released by The Warning

I love and appreciate music. I used to be a classic rock guy but my horizons have been expanded, and I mostly listen to contemporary music these days. I played guitar for a number of years and even led worship, but that was B.C. (before children). I was also a board member for a music foundation that built out and operates a venue for live music. I even booked the venue for about a year before COVID.

In the process of booking the music venue, I was constantly searching out new music. I focused on people writing and performing their own music. I looked for artists with a good enough following to fill a 200-seat venue but not so big that they were priced out of our range. I booked many, many acts, some of which have outgrown our space. At least one musician I booked went on to play for crowds of tens of thousands.

I tend to gravitate toward new folk, “new grass,” Americana, and indie rock, but I appreciate good music of all kinds. I go to live shows outside of my listening sweet spot to support young artists and appreciate their music. I like people who are not what I expect them to be, musicians who are authentic and who defy stereotypes. I also like a good story

All of these characteristics define a young group out of Monterrey, Mexico called “The Warning.” I will say now, “You have been warned!” which became their catchy promotional phrase when they were young – and not without reason. I can relate from experience that their rabbit hole is deep and winding!

The Warning is comprised of the three Villarreal Velez sisters who were raised by good parents who love music and introduced them to classical piano lessons, music of all genres, and Rock Band (the video game) when they were young. Daniela and Paulina began playing Rock Band when they were 8 and 6. They played it for hours and were driven to get perfect scores. Daniela (Dany) always played guitar and Paulina (Pau) insisted on the drums. Their little sister Alejandra (Ale) was “just a baby” (3) as she watched her older sisters play.

The girls became rockers and begged their father to buy them the real instruments they were playing on the video game. He obliged, signed them up for music lessons, and told them they had to give it at least 6 months. He had difficulty finding someone willing to give a 6-year-old drum lessons – a very small 6-year-old at that. The parents, Monica and Luis, captured their journey on video, part of which is the source material for a short documentary, Mayday in the Making, embedded below.

The girls took to that challenge their father gave them in the same way they were driven to achieve a perfect score in Rock Band. They shifted from piano lessons to guitar and drum lessons, and they practiced constantly.

Ale developed the same love of music as her older sisters, watching them play rock band and taking classical piano lessons herself. Though she was originally drawn to the harp, she fell in love with the bass guitar, and she began bass guitar lessons at 7 or 8 years old.

The sisters didn’t take long before they realized they could start playing music together, and they became a band. In fact, Ale had only been taking bass lessons for two months when they performed together for the first time in front of a live audience at a school Christmas celebration. Their father built them a state-of-the-art studio in the basement, which I imagine was half for sound containment and half to support his blossoming musical prodigies.

This may seem like an odd article on this website, but I do have a page devoted to music with perhaps a dozen articles I have written on music/faith themes. I have been inspired to write about the Warning, but I need to step up the stage first (pun intended) with an introductory article.

Continue reading “You Have Been Warned! (In the best way possible)” →

What Good Is It to Know the Times and Be Found Wanting before Jesus?

The Sons of Issachar knew the times, but do we?

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The most well read article on this Blog since September of 2020 is Who Were the Sons of Issachar? And What Might They Mean for Us Today? I wrote the article in response to the charismatic prophets who were prophesying another Trump victory in the 2020 presidential election. At least one man prophesied that Trump would be elected president in 2016, and too many people to count were prophesying a second presidential victory in 2020.

The message floating in the charismatic ether in 2020 was about “knowing the times.” Knowing the times became a buzzword for having the inside track on what God was doing. It became a signal for those who knew God had chosen Donald Trump, and he was their man who they rallied around – like the Sons of Issachar rallied around David.

The “chiefs” of the Sons of Issachar were described as “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should be do” in 1 Chronicles 12:32 when they left King Saul’s army to rally around David, who was hiding from Saul in the wilderness. The implication was that embracing Trump for a second term would be “knowing the times” and doing what should be done – as ordained by God.

When I researched the Sons of Issachar and wrote the article, I noted that the Sons of Issachar were not the first people to gather around David. They weren’t even in the first wave of people who supported David. Though the leaders of the Sons of Issachar apparently knew the times, many other Israelites, including the sons of Benjamin (from Saul’s own tribe), had already rallied in defense of David. The Sons of Issachar were actually late to the party.

I don’t know exactly how we should parse that. Was “knowing the times” said tongue in cheek? Did the leaders have a hard time rallying their men to follow? (The Sons of Issachar were specifically the leaders of that tribe, unlike the descriptions of the other tribes that responded in greater numbers.)

Whatever was going on there, the author of those words in 1 Chronicles 12:32 had the benefit of hindsight. Those words were penned after Saul’s fall from grace and David’s rise to the power. The modern day prophets in 2020 didn’t know how the presidential campaign would play out, but they were certain “they knew the times.”

I was skeptical. It didn’t sit right with me, so I spent time studying the passage from which “knowing the times” came and seeking God on the subject. The article was written by me as a way of working out what I was seeing in Scripture and sensing in my own spirit as I sought to be guided by God’s Holy Spirit. Whether, I understood the times will be known only in time.

A year earlier (in 2019), the same crowd was describing Donald Trump as a King David (and later King Cyrus), but I was thinking that he was more like King Saul. (See Is Donald Trump the King We Wanted?) I voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but I didn’t feel good about it. I was disturbed by the fruit of his life – his sordid past, his bullying, his coarse talk, his ignorance about the Bible, and his demeanor – because none of it added up to reflect the kind of person Christ followers should follow.

I had given him the benefit of the doubt, but I was unsettled in my spirit. I had not yet thought to research what Jesus told us to look for in discerning false prophets – that we would know them by their fruit. I was torn.

I was mindful not to despise prophecy, but I recalled Paul’s admonition to “test everything.” (1 Thess. 5:20) I spent years testing, not letting myself completely dismiss Donald Trump as an imposter – a wolf in sheep’s clothing – but feeling the whole time like that is exactly what he was.

Paul’s admonition about testing everything may come from Deuteronomy:

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him…. If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them…. If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods you have not known), then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly.….”

Deuteronomy 13:1-4, 6-8, 12-14

Continue reading “What Good Is It to Know the Times and Be Found Wanting before Jesus?” →

David Was a Refugee and Asylum Seeker

Lessons from David the refugee and asylum seeker

kevingdrendel3 Comments
Five men dressed in ancient clothing sitting around a campfire with a dog

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I have written often on the theme of migration (aliens, foreigners, sojourners, and strangers) as it appears in the Bible. Now that I am aware of it, I am amazed at the amount of time devoted to it in God’s revelation to us. It is a rich and deep vein of gold with significant Gospel implications.

I began reading to determine how God views immigrants back in 2014 during the Syrian refugee crisis. I wrote Immigration: The Strangers Among Us in the fall of 2014 to share what I found.

Since then I have noticed how central this thread is to the Gospel and the whole biblical narrative from the beginning (the exile of Adam & Eve from the garden) to the end (the gathering of people from every nation, tribe and tongue before the throne of Jesus in Revelation 7:9). In my daily reading recently, I noticed another segment of that thread involving David before he was king. When you see it, it’s obvious.

David Was a Refugee

David rose quickly to prominence after killing Goliath. He was initially taken in by King Saul because of that success, but Saul became jealous of David as he had more and more success in battle andas a leader of men. God rejected Saul, though he remained King, and David was anointed as his successor.

Jealousy drove Saul to want to kill David. His first attempt is chronicled in 1 Samuel 18:10-11. Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear twice, David dodged him and escaped. Saul tried a different tactic – to send David into battle after battle, hoping he would be killed by enemy forces. (1 Samuel 18:17, 25) When those efforts failed, Saul ordered his son, Jonathan, and his attendants to kill David, but Jonathan would not do it. (1 Samuel 19:1-2)

With Jonathan’s help, David fled into the wilderness to preserve his life, but Saul pursued David with an army of men. David was on the run from Saul from 1 Samuel 19 through 1 Samuel 26 until Saul died in battle with the Philistines.

Today, we would call David a refugee because he was displaced due to violence. Over 123 million people have been displaced today because of war, armed conflict, persecution, human rights abuses, and generalized violence, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). About 60-70 million refugees are displaced inside their own countries. The other 40+ million refugees have crossed country borders to escape the violence that threatens them.

In 1 Samuel 21:10-15, David fled across the border to the Philistine city of Gath, which ironically was the hometown of Goliath, the giant that David killed. The Philistines were obviously enemies of the nation of Israel, but David was desperate.

Not surprisingly, the Philistines recognized David and were suspicious. David feigned insanity to save himself from potential hostility (1 Samuel 21:10-15), and he returned to hiding in the wilderness of Israel.

Being a refugee is a desperate circumstance. Like David, many people are caught up in local, regional, or national violence and do not have safe places to go in their home country. They face danger at home and abroad. People in David’s position are vulnerable. They look for safety, protection, and welcome wherever they can find it.

The things David experienced as a refugee and asylum seeker play out for millions of people in our world today. In fact, more people are displaced today because of violence than ever before, according to the UNHCR Global Trends Report published in 2024. That number doubled in the last decade, leaving 1 out of every 67 people in the world displaced today!

This is obviously a sad state of affairs, but I am more interested in what God has to say about these things. There was a time when I didn’t know. Since 2014, I have become increasingly aware of the way scripture views people in refugee status, and today I will trace what can be found in the life of David when he became a refugee and asylum seeker.

Continue reading “David Was a Refugee and Asylum Seeker” →