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On Sunday, leftist protesters disrupted a Minneapolis-area Baptist church<\/a> service due to allegations one of the church\u2019s pastors<\/a> has a day job enforcing federal immigration law. Former CNN host Don Lemon accompanied<\/a> the protesters and claimed they have constitutional speech rights to disrupt other Americans\u2019 constitutionally protected rights to freely worship and to private church property. Top federal legal officers disagreed.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s Don Lemon trying to pundit-splain this pastor that the radicals have a first amendment right to shut down his worship service. <\/p>\n Lemon is absolutely wrong. This is a violation of a federal law called the FACE Act. AG is investigating already. pic.twitter.com\/wAlT1IUOc1<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) January 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Christian,\u201d Lemon told Cities Church Lead Pastor<\/a> Jonathan Parnell to excuse himself while turning the church service into a circus, as frightened children and their families fled their house of worship. That\u2019s between him and God, but his theology on this issue is a mess.<\/p>\n There\u2019s zero biblical support for swapping activist politics for weekly corporate worship. There is, however, strong and explicit support in the Bible for borders, border enforcement, law and order, Christians not intermarrying nor otherwise culturally intertwining with pagans and demon-worshippers, and the use of government force to punish and repel evildoing.<\/p>\n That is why it is perfectly legitimate for a pastor to help enforce his nation\u2019s morally permissible requirements for would-be immigrants, including by working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There are a lot of phony pastors in the world, and a lot of people who think they are Christians despite a very low theological IQ or even professing fervent beliefs that contradict clear scripture. But working for ICE doesn\u2019t necessarily place a person in either of those categories. <\/p>\n There is a lot of trash theology floating around on this, claiming Christians are theologically bound to support open borders or even expansive \u201crefugee\u201d programs. But in fact Christians are not bound by our faith to support either. We may even freely support the opposite: completely closed borders and no refugee programs.<\/p>\n The Bible \u2014 which defines what Christians must believe \u2014 does not explicitly lay out what every nation\u2019s immigration laws must be. It doesn\u2019t say nations must have open borders. It doesn\u2019t say nations must not have open borders. So Christians are free to hold a variety of positions about these and reason from the Bible and other sources to come to our conclusions, and to lawfully work within our available political processes to advocate our views. <\/p>\n It\u2019s notable that the exact same camp of self-identified Christians who browbeat the rest of us with Romans 13\u2019s exhortation to \u201cobey the governing authorities\u201d when governments were violating our Constitution and the Bible to ban Christian worship during lockdowns now seem to have forgotten Romans 13 exists when it comes to U.S. border laws.<\/p>\n Is it still true for immigration crimes that \u201cwhoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves?\u201d Look, either Romans 13 commands exact obedience to every <\/em>government edict or it does not, but it can\u2019t be both.<\/p>\n So yes, the Bible does not lay down an explicit, detailed, full account of what prudent immigration laws would be. (Perhaps that\u2019s because it depends on the circumstances!) But it does <\/em>offer wisdom that should inform Christians\u2019 thinking about these issues. <\/p>\n Christians thinking through this topic should search the whole scriptures for what it has to say about foreigners, pagans, strangers, and the like. They might be surprised what they find \u2014 partly because the Bible both commands kindness to people detached from their homes and forbids intermixing with those who won\u2019t assimilate to Christianity.<\/p>\n It\u2019s popular for spiritual manipulators to ply Christians with the Bible\u2019s generosity to \u201csojourners,\u201d but none also mention that the same Bible sections require executing<\/a> \u201csojourners\u201d for blaspheming the Christian God, ban them from worship<\/a> unless they adopt Christianity, require<\/a> them to follow Christian religious customs<\/a>, require them<\/a> to follow<\/a> Christian and civil law on exactly the same basis as citizens, and require<\/a> them to read the Bible.<\/p>\n They also fail to mention the many times the Bible warns against pagans and foreigners, frequently calling it a curse, shame, and a judgment for God\u2019s people to be ruled by foreigners with anti-Christian customs. Here\u2019s Deuteronomy 17:15<\/a>: \u201cOne from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.\u201d Here\u2019s Lamentations 5:1-2: \u201cRemember, O Lord, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach! Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, And our houses to foreigners.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaiah 2:6 says: \u201cFor You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they are pleased with the children of foreigners.\u201d Here\u2019s Psalm 144:7-8<\/a>: \u201cRescue me and deliver me out of great waters, From the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.\u201d In Proverbs 5<\/a>, King Solomon warns his son to learn wisdom, \u201cLest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner.\u201d<\/p>\n As Pastor Adam Koontz explains in a fuller discussion of this subject<\/a>, what Christians call the Great Commission \u2014 the command we tell everyone on earth about Jesus Christ \u2014 also does not require open borders or lax immigration laws.<\/p>\n The mandate of Jesus to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15) is not a political mandate rearranging the world\u2019s borders or nations or languages. It is a mandate for the Church to translate that gospel, as at Pentecost, into the world\u2019s languages so that all the nations may hear. The nations need not come to a central place, whether Jerusalem or some American suburb with a higher standard of living than where they were born. The Church needs to go out to the nations and preach the gospel to them wherever they live. It has no requirement to bring as many people into an ostensibly wealthy place. The Church\u2019s ministers travel with the gospel. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In short, the Bible seems to support the classic American position: Immigrants are welcome when they come lawfully and assimilate. And assimilation to a Christian culture includes embracing the Christian religion. These are arguments Christians can and should make from the Bible. Our Christian brothers and sisters are welcome to make other ones from the Bible (if they can). <\/p>\n Other parts of the Bible play into this topic, too, of course. Open borders facilitate child and sex trafficking, among other grave evils. Supporting a situation that enslaves women and children and encourages their sexual torture is obviously anti-Christian. Open borders enrich international drug cartels that also rape, torture, murder, and enslave. It\u2019s obviously immoral to support not only such outcomes but also the policies that encourage such outcomes. <\/p>\n Faithful lay Christians understand and believe this. Yet many of the prominent people who claim to speak in Christians\u2019 name browbeat their people with false and spiritually manipulative claims that it\u2019s immoral to oppose open borders. Let me be plain: Speaking where the Bible has not spoken is blasphemy. It violates the first and second of the Ten Commandments. Doing this without repenting quickly should strip a leader of his office. <\/p>\n Indeed, Jesus himself said<\/a> the second greatest command, after loving God with all our being, is that we love our neighbor. Neighbors are the people closest to us physically \u2014 starting with our families, churches, and streets. This is very old and very basic theology.<\/p>\n It is complemented by Bible verses such as Saint Paul commanding Christians to put fellow believers first, before pagans: \u201cTherefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u201d And 1 Timothy 5:8: \u201cIf anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.\u201d<\/p>\n We cannot say, \u201cGod directly says you must support open borders\u201d when he has not said that. But we can argue, \u201cThese verses from the Bible give good counsel that, together with practical knowledge, indicate open borders are evil and assimilation for newcomers into Christian culture is mandatory.\u201d Indeed, the Bible also says<\/a> spiritual leaders who abuse their authority will be judged<\/a> harshly by God. It would be better if Christians could see that our pastors advocate for their flock<\/a> both before God\u2019s throne and in the public square more strenuously than they do for unknown masses of mostly unrepentant pagans.<\/p>\n All this is why it is perfectly moral and even good for a pastor to take a day job supporting border enforcement. Like every Christian, he is free to perform any honest work. And supporting the moral laws of one\u2019s nation, enforcing justice on evildoers, is <\/em>honest work. <\/p>\n It can of course be performed in bad ways, such as abusive use of force, but Christians (and everyone) can and should avoid that, and perform such an inherently honest vocation justly. Just as mothers don\u2019t stop being mothers when they ignore their kids too much to stare at their phones, so law enforcement doesn\u2019t become inherently evil because a few abuse the position. <\/p>\n Indeed, Christians can righteously participate in the lawful use of force, as Romans 13 itself says: A civil authority \u201cdoes not bear the sword in vain; for he is God\u2019s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.\u201d <\/p>\n This is all very basic, Christian theology 101. Christians who attend churches with a decent pastor learn all this. People who claim to be Christians and who are theologically illiterate should at the very least stop shouting their ignorance on camera and calling their stupid and immoral ideas sanctioned by God. They\u2019re only bringing down judgment on themselves with those blasphemies. <\/p>\n An 18-year education and politics reporter, Joy has testified before nearly two dozen legislatures on education policy and appeared on major media including Tucker Carlson, CNN, Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, Ben Shapiro, and Dennis Prager. Joy is a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs who identifies as native American and gender natural. Joy is also the cofounder of a high-performing Christian classical school and the author and coauthor of classical curricula.<\/p>\n Her traditionally published books also include “The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids<\/a>,” from Encounter Books.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Christians Are Free to Support Zero Immigration<\/h2>\n
Foreign Rulers Are a Judgment from God<\/h2>\n
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Love Your Neighbor Means Put Christians First<\/h2>\n
Enforcing Just Laws Is a Righteous Work<\/h2>\n
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\nA happy wife and the mother of six children, her ebooks include the NEW “300 Classic Books for Ages 9 to Adult<\/a>,” and the bestselling “Classic Books For Young Children<\/a>.” <\/p>\n