Rejecting Refugees Is Like 'Closing the Door on Jesus,' Megachurch Pastor Warns

Evangelical megachurch pastor Jason Webb has spoken out against President Donald Trump's temporary suspension of refugee resettlement and argues that preventing refugees from entering the United States is like closing the door on Jesus.

Webb, who pastors the 6,000-member Elmbrook Church just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in a conservative area of the state, was one of the 100 evangelical leaders who signed onto an open letter published as a full-page advertisement in last Wednesday's Washington Post opposing Trump's Jan. 27 executive order.

"When I was asked to sign this letter, there wasn't even really a thought that I wouldn't sign it. I do that for personal reasons as a follower of Jesus," Webb said during a conference call last Thursday. "My role as a follower of Jesus and as a pastor no matter what the issue is to help people see the world not from a political perspective, but first and foremost, as a follower of Jesus."

The letter has now been signed by nearly 6,000 church leaders across the country.

"Right now, people first go to the pages of social media or to their favorite news source. We need to elevate that and say 'No, the role of a Christian is to start where we believe is the source of truth, which is the Bible,'" Webb added. "When you think politically, we have found it leads to an irrational fear of your neighbor. But when you think biblically, it leads to an extravagant love of your neighbor."

The Milwaukee pastor explained that the Bible constantly reminds Christians that they are called to love strangers, foreigners and their neighbors.

"If you just open Scripture, you just begin to see that God's love for them is undeniable. In the Old Testament alone, the term for foreigner residing in the land is mentioned 92 times," he said. "You read in Leviticus 19 that we are to love the foreigner or the refugee as we are to love ourselves."

Jesus, who fled as a baby with Joseph and Mary into Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod, was also a refugee, Webb pointed out.

"It is no wonder then in Matthew 25, Jesus said that when we welcome a stranger or when we welcome a refugee, we welcome Him," Webb explained. "As a follower of Jesus and a pastor, the opposite is also true — that when we close the door on a refugee, we close the door on Jesus."

"Far greater than my fear of what people will say of me speaking out on this issue is my fear of Jesus asking me one day, 'Why did you close the door on me?'" Webb detailed. "So we believe that the Church isn't the Church unless we are radically committed to both refugees around the world and those that are here in the United States."

As resettlement agencies like World Relief — the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and the key organizer of the letter in The Washington Post — rely on churches to help them resettle refugees of all religions in their new communities, Webb explained that Elmbrook Church partners with resettlement organizations to help resettle refugees. In the last year, the church has helped resettle refugees from Iraq, Iran, Burma, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

World Relief President Scott Arbeiter said that about 70 percent of the refugee resettlement cases that the organization deals with are reunification cases where family members are finally united in the United States.

Faith McDonnell, the director of religious liberty programs at the Washington-based think tank Institute on Religion & Democracy and a supporter of Trump's executive order, told The Christian Post that she disagrees with Webb.

"If a refugee, whatever kind of refugee, shows up at your church door, then closing the door on them is like closing the door on Jesus. Talking about a sovereign state that is not part of the Church, God has given the state different instructions than he has the church," McDonnell, a conservative Anglican, explained. "The first instruction is to protect the people in the state — your nation."

McDonnell added that even though the Church should do everything it can to help refugees, the Church "should not be dictating to the state what they are supposed to do when they are trying to keep the nation safe."

"I don't like when people conflate church and state in this matter," she commented. "They sure never want to do it any other time. They want to keep them in separate boxes any other time but when it comes to this, suddenly the state is supposed to be acting like the Church."

Hey ‘Mega Church’ man- shut up- charity does NOT mean that we allow our country to be over run by a criminal element within those groups and to allow ourselves to be finacially crippled by them- We are currently paying out between $400 BILLION and $600 BILLION per year on illegals- And even more when you add in ‘refugees’ who milk our systems for al it’s worth- Chew on the following FACTS and get back to us when you come up with soem lame excuse to dismiss the horrors that are being perpetrated on our country -

Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants

http://www.usillegalaliens.com/impacts_of_illegal_immigration_crime_summary.html

In recent Testimony of District Attorney John M. Morganelli before the House Subcommittee on immigration, Border, Security and Claims he stated:

“Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent social security numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their illegal status.
In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens. Over 25% of today’s federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are committed by illegal aliens.”

•In Los Angeles, 95% of some 1,500 outstanding warrants for homicides are for illegal aliens. About 67% of the 17,000 outstanding fugitive felony warrants are for illegal aliens.

•There are currently over 400,000 unaccounted for illegal alien criminals with outstanding deportation orders. At least one fourth of these are hard core criminals.

•80,000 to 100,000 illegal aliens who have been convicted of serious crimes are walking the streets. Based on studies they will commit an average of 13 serious crimes per perpetrator.

•Illegal aliens are involved in criminal activities at a rate that is 2-5 times their representative proportion of the population.

•In 1980, our Federal and state facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens but at the end of 2003, approximately 267,000 illegal aliens were incarcerated in U.S. correctional facilities at a cost of about $6.8 billion per year.

•At least 4.5 million pounds of cocaine with a street value of at least $72 billion is smuggled across the southern border every year. ..

•56% of illegal aliens charged with a reentry offense had previously been convicted on at least 5 prior occasions.

•Illegal aliens charged with unlawful reentry had the most extensive criminal histories. 90% had been previously arrested. Of those with a prior arrest, 50% had been arrested for violent or drug-related felonies.

•Illegal aliens commit between 700,000 to 1,289,000 or more crimes per year.

•Illegal aliens commit at least 2,158 murders each year – a number that represents three times greater participation than their proportion of the population.

•Illegal alien sexual predators commit an estimated 130,909 sexual crimes each year.

•There may be as many as 240,000 illegal alien sex offenders circulating throughout America. Based on studies, they will commit an average of 8 sex crimes per perpetrator before being caught.

•Nearly 63% of illegal alien sex offenders had been deported on another offense prior to committing the sex crime.

•Only 2% of the illegal alien sex offenders in one study had no history of criminal behavior, beyond crossing the border illegally.

•In Operation Predator, ICE arrested and deported 6,085 illegal alien pedophiles. Some studies suggest each pedophile molests average of 148 children. If so, that could be as many as 900,580 victims.

•Nobody knows how big the Sex Slave problem is but it is enormous.

•The very brutal MS-13 gang has over 15,000 members and associates in at least 115 different cliques in 33 states.

•The overall financial impact of illegal alien crimes is estimated at between $14.4 and $81 billion or more per year. Factor in the crime as a result of the cocaine and other drugs being smuggled in and the number may reach $150 billion per year.

Where does Rubio come off berating Trump for citing FACTS?

[[Congressman Steve King (R-IA) estimates that illegal alien drunk drivers kill 13 Americans every day — that’s a death toll of 4,745 per year.[4]

The 23 percent criminal traffic offenders figure is only part of the overall picture. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, another 23 percent, more than 43,000 illegal aliens, were convicted of drug offenses. The violent crime category of assault, robbery, sexual assault, and family offenses comes to 12 percent. The non-violent crime grouping of larceny, fraud, and burglary totaled seven percent, and on the list goes — equaling 100 percent of illegal aliens who have been through the criminal justice system and inflicted thousands to millions in cost per alien on the system, for issues having nothing to do with their illegal entry into the country]]

http://www.constitutionparty.com/illegal-alien-crime-and-violence-by-the-numbers-were-all-victims/

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