Voices In My Head Podcast Episode #225: Hurricanes, DACA, and Matthew 25

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Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I am your host Rick Lee James, and I'm really glad to be with you today. We're gonna see how this goes this morning. I'm at home with my son Alex, who is 4 today. He's a little bit under the weather, and so he's kind of in the back room right now just watching some TV and doing what you do when you're not feeling good. And I'm kind of just giving him some space to do that this morning. And I had a few minutes, and I figured as long as I was able to keep the room fairly quiet this morning, and as long as he doesn't come in and need me for the next few minutes, I would be able to record a quick podcast. Now, keeping up with some current events that are going on, and most of you, if you're listening to this, are probably listening around September 7th when I'm recording it. We're having another hurricane hitting at this time in the Atlantic. It's supposedly, from what they say, the largest hurricane on record that we've ever had. Huge storm. I've been kind of marveling as I've been watching even video from the space station that has been taken and sent back down, just seeing this immense storm. So our prayers are definitely with those that are in the path of that hurricane after we've already experienced a huge one in Houston. And, you know, two storms that they say are just, you know, bigger than we've ever seen and only happen once every 500 years, and we've had two of those in like the last week, you know, in about a space of about a week's time. So it's unreal. So that's kind of where we are right now. And in the midst of all this happening, the, the administration that's in power right now, the Trump administration, they drop a bomb and saying that they are going to stop the DACA DACA program. And so I wanted to today just first of all say a couple things about that, because it's my understanding that there are a couple different viewpoints of DACA and what that is. So I'm going to try to explain as best as I understand it and explain as best as I understand it, even giving the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt on this one in some way. Knowing that this affects children of immigrants, illegal immigrants who have come into this country. My understanding, and some of you could probably correct me if I'm wrong, and that's my understanding of what the DACA program was, it was something that President Obama put in place because he couldn't really get the House, the Senate, he couldn't get the powers that be to actually create a law to protect the children of immigrants and was trying to for some time. And so my understanding is he overreached in his executive power power and created DACA as a way to protect the children of illegal immigrants. Now, why would the children of illegal immigrants need protecting? Well, simply, it's like this: when immigrants came over with their families and they did so illegally, and they were undocumented and weren't supposed to be here necessarily, their children maybe came over with them. Sometimes they were infants, sometimes 2 to 4 years old, sometimes a little older, sometimes a little younger, but for all purposes they've been living as Americans their entire lives at no fault of their own. They were brought over with no choice of their own. Most of us, you know, hopefully would not be held accountable for decisions that our parents made when we were 2 or 4 or 6 years old because we had nothing to do with those things. So here they are, they've been living in the country, they haven't had access to programs like Americans get. Like, they, they don't receive college scholarships, they don't receive grants, they don't receive any government assistance because it's not legal for them to receive those things. But in spite of that, because they have been granted the right to be able to stay in the country because they are Americans, even though they aren't legally documented, but they've lived their lives the entire way and no fault of their own being here illegally. Most of them have never even been in their home country or or remember it because they were so young when they left. I say they were in them, but only for a short time. So this gave them a chance to actually start making some plans. And so they are called Dreamers. And so the Dreamers, many of them are— have gone to school, they've worked their way through college very hard. They, they pay taxes like the rest of us do. Many of them have worked their way into good positions. They're not taking the jobs from the average American. Many of them are getting jobs like doctors and lawyers and scientists and things like that, and they are contributing to society in huge ways. They are not violent. They don't have— I think it's 98% was the last thing I saw— of people that have absolutely no crime against them whatsoever. They are working hard. Many of them are in college right now and have been there their whole lives. So what DACA did was protect them from being removed from the country. Because they don't know the country of their origin. They only know America. They've lived here, they've gone to school here, they have friends here, and so it's sort of a way to protect them. So my understanding was, again, legally it wasn't something that President Obama had in his power to do. From what I understand, this is what people are telling me, as good as I think DACA is, apparently it's not something that's legal. So what was needed to be done is they actually needed to have all of the three branches of government together come to an agreement, or at least two of them, I guess, come to agreement on this and create a new law that actually enacts DACA, basically. So this is where I'm a little unclear on the Trump presidency, and again, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this because, because I don't know exactly. He seems to have some compassion towards the Dreamers and wants to help them. In past interviews and before he ran as a candidate, he actually spoke quite a bit about the Dreamers and how unfair he thought it would be for them to leave the country. Of all the illegal immigrants, they are definitely the most sympathetic. I think all party lines agree with that—Republicans, Democrats, everybody agrees that they want to help the Dreamers in whatever way they can. What is questionable is the way that this has been done, because we know that Jeff Sessions is a hardliner and wants them out of the country, and letters have been sent out saying basically, "Get your house in order because you're going to be deported in 6 months whenever we end this program." What I understand President Trump wants to do is to force the other branches of government to come up with some kind of law that actually makes DACA stick, but is not DACA. So, you know, it's up in the air. I think there's probably a better solution than sending out letters saying, "Hey, you're done in this country." I think we actually ought to find a way to protect these people. We always should be about protecting the innocent. So I'm not thrilled about the overturn of DACA, but then again, I understand it probably wasn't legal in the first place. So I'm a little bit torn on the issue, but I am always, as a Christian, compelled to be for the rights of of those who do not have rights and to be the voice for the voiceless. And there's some good reasons for that, and I wanted to focus quickly in on, on Matthew 25 today. Matthew 25 is the sheep and the goats parable, and many of us know this very well, but I'm just gonna read it to you real quick because I think this is an important thing, and I think there is an important biblical precedent set from Jesus in this passage about things that actually, um, these are actually heaven-hell issues for believers. I really do believe that. The sheep and the goats. Matthew 25:31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?' And the King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.' Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' And they too will reply, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or in prison and did not minister to you?' Then the King will answer, 'Truly I tell you, Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. That's a passage of scripture that has haunted me since I was a kid. It seems to be that the thing that Jesus will judge us on We don't really have anywhere in Scripture where He says we're going to be judged as to whether or not we said a sinner's prayer. As good as I think that is, and I think it's a helpful opening start to our relationship with Jesus, these are the things that the nations will be judged for. These are the things that we personally will be judged for at the end of time. So it's very important, and I want to look specifically— I have BibleHub.com open And I wanted to look up that word stranger. And so what I'm gonna do is like right here while I'm sitting with you, um, I'm gonna look up Matthew chapter 25 and we're gonna go to verse 35. And I'm gonna grab the interlinear, interlinear, if I can find it here. Uh, Matthew 25:35. Alright, so Matthew 25:35, that's where it talks specifically about the stranger. Nope, I don't want the commentary, I want the interlinear. Where's the interlinear at? Sorry, I should have been a little bit more prepared. I'm gonna pause this for just a moment so I can find it. Okay, sorry about that. Back with you now. My iPad, I wasn't finding the proper button to go where I wanted to go, but I found it now and I'm back. And so what you can do if you've never been on BibleHub.com before, I encourage you to do this. I took Greek in college, and so I have somewhat of an understanding of the Greek language. Hebrew is a little harder for me, but Greek I'm a little bit more able to navigate And so what I wanted to do is I can go to BibleHub and you can actually click on the interlinear, INT, whenever you're there, and it helps you to have some study tools so you can go in and look at the Greek words for yourself. It gives you the translations of the passage. So if I was to read this in the Greek, it would be more literally read out, I hungered indeed and you gave me to eat. I thirsted and you gave me to drink. Gave to drink me, gave me to drink. Trying to get the words in the right order. And you gave to drink me. It's a little awkward in English, but that's how it is. And then we have the word xenos, X-E-N-O-S, if we transliterate it into English, a stranger. I was, and you took me in. So it's that word stranger that I want us to take a look at today, because I think we're gonna find it very relevant to this conversation within within the context where we are. It's not just a stranger, meaning somebody you don't know. For that matter, it's not a person you think is strange. The definition of it, the short definition, is a foreigner, a person who is not from around here, a person from outside your country, a stranger. An alien is another definition of translating that word xenos. A foreigner, a guest, someone who is not from around here. It can be an alien, illegal or legal, either way. But it's a person who is a guest. As believers, we are to treat all strangers, all foreigners, all immigrants as guests. And so that adds a new dimension. And as we see this in this passage, And we see that this is one of the things Jesus says we will be judged on, in the way that we cared for the immigrants and for the strangers. It's obviously something that we need to take very seriously as believers, and we need to figure out ways together how to make sure that we protect those who are among us who need protecting. There are— I don't want to get into a huge debate on immigration, legal or illegal, But as I said, I think we'll find that the Dreamers, they are the most sympathetic of any of the immigrants, of any of the illegal ones. There's so many things they don't qualify for already because they aren't American citizens. They don't have a way necessarily to become legal citizens, at least not very easily. Our vetting process is very, very hard. And so they're young, they're trying to do their best,, and over 800,000 of them have applied. Lynn Hybels, the wife of Bill Hybels from Willow Creek in Chicago, posted a wonderful article about the way that their ministry has been able to help thousands of people through DACA. And she talks about basically the devastating effects of what's going to happen when it's repealed, because all these people that they've ministered to, all these people who are part of their congregation that were given a chance, to have a better life here in America. It's being ripped from them if this is taken away. So what we pray for, and I don't always encourage listeners to do this because I don't know that, you know, I just don't know that's always my place, but I've been writing people in our government and encouraging representatives to please do some work on the DREAM Act. If it was illegal the way it was started, if President Obama indeed overstretched his boundaries, it still was a good idea, and it's something that, that our leaders can put in place, and it's something that they can do. Aside from the fact that deporting all of these people will cost our country billions of dollars that it doesn't have. So there are many different things, even if you weren't sympathetic to the immigrants, even if you weren't trying to be Christian about it, as the Bible is extremely clear about. There are even financial factors that I would think even people who are financial conservatives would want to look at and say, "Wow, this would totally ruin the economy in many ways just by deporting these people who are actually contributing to our economy right now, who by their employment and by just their being here, and people who many times are making higher wages are able to contribute to our society. So I just think it's something worth praying about. Pastors, I think it's something probably worth preaching about because Matthew 25 is very clear for us as Christians. It's something— like I said, it's a passage that haunts me because I don't know that I always live it out in the way that I should. So I only address it today because I just think it's an important matter to God's heart. I think it's an important matter to the heart of Jesus, and it should be an important matter to those of us who say that we follow Jesus. And there are things that we can agree and disagree about. And again, like I said, maybe it was illegal the way it was brought about. If that's the case, let's fix it and do it the right way and make it legal so that they can stay. That's my thought on the matter. But mostly my message today is, let's be people who are not finding our identity on issues like this based on any political party leaning. Alright, I really don't think this is an issue that we should relegate to conservative, liberal. I really don't think anything should be relegated to those categories, actually, because we're neighbors of each other. You know, to be honest, my literal neighbors next door to me, I don't know their politics, but I do know they're my neighbors. And I do know when they moved in, we took them a batch of cookies that we made, and we talked to each other, and we fellowship, and we're together over the fence. I don't know their politics, but I know them, and I love them, and I hope— and I think they love me. And, and I want us to try to strive for that sort of society where we stop labeling each other so much. And because these are people that are in my church and your church, these immigrants, and they are there. Hopefully they are there in your church too. If they aren't, I'd be very surprised. We need to talk and think together and ask, how can we help them? How can we be people of God, because our ultimate goal as kingdom citizens is not to make them American citizens. We are to invite them into the kingdom of God. That comes first and foremost. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. And so let's be people of generous spirits, of generous hearts, Let's be people who allow the image of God to find its place firmly in our lives, that we would not be people who mar that image. Again, I beg you, don't let this be a conservative-liberal issue. Let this be a Jesus issue. Let this be a heaven-hell issue. The way that we stand up for those who are underprivileged, the way that we stand up for the strangers, for the immigrants, for those who are not from around here. So, Lord, let us live this day as children who bear your image. May it not be disfigured in us. Love unbounded be clearly seen in us. That is our prayer today. Well, thanks everybody for listening to Voices in My Head. I plan on making an announcement next week because we are at this point about around 10 days away from a big announcement that I'll be making in CCM Magazine. So go ahead and mark your calendars for the 15th of September, CCMmagazine.org. It has to do with my music. And do me a favor, if you listen to Spotify, go to Spotify and find my music. Look up Rick Lee James and listen to my albums on there. You'll be helping me out if you do. Thanks so much for listening to Voices in My Head. God bless you.

Thank you for joining me here this week on the Voices in My Head podcast. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames, like my artist page on Facebook at facebook.com/rickleejames, and keep up to date on what I'm writing at my author page on amazon.com. Make sure to follow my calendar on the website, and if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website by clicking on the link for parebooking agency. That's P-A-R-E booking. And finally, it would mean the world to me if you were to leave me a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet. And now the benediction: May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead strengthen your inner being for every good work, and may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore. Forevermore. Amen.