From the Pastor's Desk:

The question of immigration continues to be a growing concern here in the United States. We have for centuries been considered a nation of immigrants. Through these centuries, attitudes toward new immigrants by those who came before, have bounced between welcoming and keep out. As the world becomes even more unstable, immigration and refugees are becoming a major issue for many governments. In the early years of our country immigrants simply got off the ships and began a new life in the new world. The laws concerning immigration began as early at the Naturalization Act of 1790. At that time citizenship was passed through the father to his children, if the father was a citizen. Since that time there have been more than 12 laws and revisions. Many times, those changes reflected whether the country needed workers, for example the Irish at the time of the Civil War were sent right into the Union Army, or the need for Chinese to work on the building of the Continental Railroad. When the need was no longer there, close the gates. The Roman Empire would be a prime example to study concerning immigration. From the time of Christ until the fall of the Roman Empire, one of the major problems confronting the Empire, was illegal migration of the uncivilized peoples crossing the frontiers. The major question is why did the barbarians want inside the boundaries of the Empire? That is the same question we should be asking today of the illegal immigrates, why are you coming into the United States? The answer is the same. They entered the Empire, and they are entering the United States for food, security and a better way of life. The policy of immigration depended upon which emperor sat on the throne in Rome and who was in the Roman Senate. This led to disastrous consequences. The politics of one emperor and senate let immigrates cross the border and settle. They would begin to fit into the Roman way of life and then another emperor would take the throne and the policy would change. They would be heavily taxed, food subsidies would be cut, perhaps even enslaved. The Romans found they could not police thousands of miles of boundaries to keep the illegal immigrates out. More and more continued to flood into the Empire driven for a better way of life. They were starving in their homelands. There was war and violence outside the Empire and those first illegal immigrates would have made great citizens, building up the Empire. The policies of the Emperors and Roman Senate turned those first waves of illegal immigrates from productive, to roving bands that joined with later violent groups of barbarians. The barbarians became a tremendous destructive force inside the Empire. They were seeking a better way of life at first, but because of the way they were treated, they helped to destroy one of the greatest civilizations the world has known. Does all of this sound familiar? Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past? What does all of this have to do with “church” and the “Gospel of Jesus Christ”? I do not have the answers for the government, but I do know how we are to treat people according to the teachings of Christ. Let us not lose sight of those teachings, may they be our guide in all things.