The family foundation of the late Thomas Kinkade demanded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stop posting his art on social media. According to the family, the government agency misused “Morning Pledge”—which depicts children holding hands to hearts as an American flag is raised—“to promote division and xenophobia.” DHS posted the image on X with the message “Protect the Homeland.” The rest of the government agency’s social media feed was filled with posts cheering the mass deportation of immigrants. Kinkade, the self-branded “painter of light” whose art has been frequently criticized as sentimental, originally said he wanted “Morning Pledge” to capture the promise of liberty and justice for all.
A friend of mine (also a pastor) responded to my posting of the above: “Magistrates have every right, and in fact are commanded to protect their nations in Scripture. Self control is analogized to border walls, and there’s an entire book about building the wall around your homeland. Legal immigration and assimilation is good. Illegal is not. Other than some of the deportations not being done with compassion, what is the biblical counter argument here?”
Here’s my response if you care to read it:
Magistrates have every right…
Speaking of “every right,” it’s my assumption that the Kincade family has every right to demand the DHS take down the use of their family’s property for whatever reason they have.
Magistrates are commanded to protect their nations…
If you’re referring to Romans 13:1-7, time and space wouldn’t allow here, but for my 6 part essay on it, see this. That said, in spite of what the administration says, we’re not “under siege” in our country by immigrants. Crime by immigrants is miniscule by comparison per capita to native born Americans.
Self-control is analogized to border walls…
Jesus is analogized by bread, water, vines, and a rider on a white horse. That’s the nature of analogies.
There’s an entire book about building the wall…
As I read the OT, Israel was often under attack by neighboring states. And with their unique status as God’s vehicle to birth the Messiah, they had to build walls to preserve their theocratic way of life, which IMHO isn’t analogous to our country or any other in history. They didn’t have a “golden dome” or cruise missiles. Yes, boundaries between nations are important, and yes, there must be sane ways to manage our borders, which no administration has come up with, least of all IMHO, he present one.
Illegal is not [good]…
There’s illegal and there’s immoral. Sometimes they’re the same and sometimes they’re miles apart. IMHO the moral mandate of love of neighbor (the 2nd highest of all God’s commands), not to mention the command to be hospitable (the Greek is “love of stranger”) trumps the immoral law of hermetically sealed borders. (Before anyone accuses me of advocating “open borders” I’ll say it for he umpteenth time, I’m not. Just morally and biblically based immigration policy.)
Speaking of legal, as I said above, the Kincade family is within their legal rights to demand the removal of their family’s property from DHS use.
Other than some of the deportations not being done with compassion…
Is that what you call innocents being scooped off the street without due process (over 50% of which have no criminal history – only 3% of them had been convicted of a violent offense), separated from their kids, handcuffed, thrown on the ground, detained in inhumane cells, shackled and shipped off to a hellish facility in El Salvador (CECOT)* where they’re tortured and abused (some of them sexually)––“not being done with compassion”? *
What is the biblical counter argument here?
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”—EXODUS 23:9
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”—LEVITICUS 19:33-34
“[God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”—DEUTERONOMY 10:18
“At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”—DEUTERONOMY 14:28-29
“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.”—DEUTERONOMY 24:14-15
“Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.” —DEUTERONOMY 24:17
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.”—DEUTERONOMY 24:19-21
“I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger.”—JOB 29:16
“The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.”—EZEKIEL 22:29
“Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”—ZECHARIAH 7:10
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.” (MALACHI 3:5)
NOTE: If, as Deuteronomy 10:17-18 states, “The LORD your God . . . defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing,” how can we who aspire to be like him do any less? Tim Keller wrote: “We should be wary of simply saying, ‘These things don’t apply anymore,’ because the Mosaic laws of social justice are grounded in God’s character, and that never changes.”
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation 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 invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” —MATTHEW 25:34-36
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” —HEBREWS 13:2
Do you need more of a biblical counter than that? There’s more.
barney wiget 