FAVORING CHRISTIAN REFUGEES AND THE SEEKER-SENSITIVE CHURCH

At the G20 summit, President Obama stated:  

• “When I hear folks say that, well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which a person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful. That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”

However, Pam Geller countered:

• But it is Obama who is shameful. He’s the one who has applied a religious test to migrants. He has refused Christians seeking refuge from jihad genocide. He has refused to meet with Middle Eastern Christian leaders. They are the true victims of the jihadi wars.

• “Discrimination: 2,098 Syrian Muslim Refugees Allowed Into America, Only 53 Christians,” (John Nolte, Breitbart News, November 17, 2015)

Geller adds that only 53 Christian Syrian refugees have been allowed in since 2011. In light of this, it is Obama who is showing favoritism. Meanwhile, it is the Christians who are suffering the worst victimization.

• Syrian Christians have been singled out for the worst kind of persecution under ISIS, including mass beheadings that do not discriminate against innocent women and even small children.

Geller adds that:       

• Fleeing persecution at the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other jihadist groups, Syrian Christians generally avoid U.N. refugee camps because they are targeted there too.

• Most refugees considered for resettlement in the U.S. are referred by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

While Obama claims that showing preference for Christians is “not who we are,” this is what we have always been. The US has always discriminated in terms of who we accept into the country.

Meanwhile, Geller adds that:

• The F.B.I. has already admitted that it cannot adequately vet these refuges, and ISIS has promised to use the Syrian refugee process as a means to infiltrate the West with terrorists. Early reports indicate that two of the gunmen that hit Paris Friday snuck in through the refugee program.

It is therefore entirely irresponsible to bring in Muslim refugees who, in light of both religion and history, will practice Jihad on their adoptive country. According to the Koran, immigration is also a means of Jihad for the Muslim:

• He who emigrates (from his home) in the Cause of Allah [Jihad], will find on earth many dwelling places and plenty to live by. And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allah and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And when you (Muslims) travel in the land, there is no sin on you if you shorten your Salat (prayer) if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you, verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies. (Koran 4:100-101) 

Meanwhile, Obama fails to acknowledge that Christian refugees will not cut off heads or bring down buildings or try to impose their ways on our nation. Instead, it is the Christians who are likely to make the most positive adjustment and contributions to the US. And so why shouldn’t this be a consideration!

Meanwhile, there are other possible humanitarian responses to the Muslim refugees. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said:

·       "It's absurd — just think about it, when the Germans say they will spend billions on providing for the new arrivals instead of giving the money to the countries around the crisis zone, where they [migrants] should be stopped in the first place. It would be better for everyone. They wouldn't come here. It would cost less. And our approach couldn't be called into question morally either."

However, in September, France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve attacked the idea of preferring Christian refugees:

·       "I really don't understand this distinction," Cazeneuve said. "I condemn it, and I think it's dreadful. A whole series of minorities are being persecuted in the situation in Syria.”

How many more Paris attacks will be necessary for these multicultural zealots to rethink their position! Even now, they admit that they have lost control of the situation.

However, it is not them alone who need to do some re-thinking. Seeker-sensitive churches, springing up in metropolitan areas, also think it illegitimate to favor Christian refugees. Often, they will not even single out Christian refugees for prayer.

However, loving their brethren is to take preference over all other expressions of Christian love (Galatians 6:10). Even Jesus showed favoritism, identifying so closely with His Brethren that when they suffered, He too suffered:

·        “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:40)

For Jesus, the way to love the world and to draw them to the light was to demonstrate the light of our love for our brethren:

·       "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

·       "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)

The best way to love the world is to start by loving our own. Although such a conclusion is politically distasteful to younger Christians, it will not be so if we would only think about it for a bit. The best way to love our children is to love our spouse, which would create a loving family environment. Likewise, the best way to love our community is to love our children, thereby raising responsible and loving neighbors.

This doesn’t mean that we do not love our neighbor’s children. However, to put their welfare above that of our own children will create bitterness and, eventually, brokenness. Such “love” will also be seen as hypocritical. To care for my neighbor’s wife as I do my own can only bring forth bad results.

To bring in dangerous Muslim refugees who will murder, according to their religion and for the sake of imposing their Caliphate, will also engender bitterness and dissolution.

To ignore these very apparent realities will bring great disrepute on the church. Instead, we are to provide light and leadership and not a pathetic pandering to the prevailing culture.

In light of this, giving must be performed with great discretion and wisdom. It must be conducted in a way that doesn’t endanger the innocent. Bringing in tens of thousands of Muslims into the USA is a sure prescription for violence, and it is antithetical to Christian love. Instead, our hearts must go out first of all to the Christian refugees - the ones who will make a positive adjustment to the West - without forgetting charity to others.