What I have learned since the Paris attacks…..
Friday afternoon was just like any other ordinary one. My oldest and I were in the living room talking about random things when I decided to check the news. Both of us sat silent and stunned while watching the news unfold of the horrific events that occurred in Paris, France. We prayed. We cried. We both posted on social media of the news with our deepest condolences and our prayers. We were glued to the television throughout the weekend as new revelations were found. We learned that two of the attackers were allegedly Syrian refugees. Supposedly VETTED Syrian refugees. This made us pause.
(Photo Credit: Facebook)
Here is what I have learned the last few days:
- People will Biblically state that we have to allow Syrian Refugees into America based on the following scripture: 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 25:25-26 and then they use the quote off of the statue of liberty. However, let’s be clear: “The Statue of Liberty says bring us your tired and your weary. It doesn’t say bring us your terrorists and let them bomb neighborhoods, cafes, and concert halls.” – Gov. Mike Huckabee
- A popular scripture in defense of bringing refugees here to America is Luke 12:39, which states, “If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.” Another popular scripture making its way through social media is, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8. Doesn’t protecting those IN your household count as providing for them? Not convinced we need to be careful yet? How about, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; obstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22. John issues a similar warning in 1 John 4:1 when he says, “Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer. It is required!
- In the Qur’an, Hijrah means jihad by immigration. What do you think is happening? I’m sure the refugees include women and children, but we don’t see many women and children in the masses on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN or any of the other news outlets. Instead, we see mostly young to middle-aged men. Not men with noticeable physical ailments, but able-bodied men. “There is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” Ecclesiastes 3:5.
I shared the following status on both my personal and blog Facebook pages HERE:
“I wonder if our Vets pretended to be Syrian refugees if they would be given free housing, money, and medical care. It is a sad, sad day to see people post and fight for the rights of non-citizens to flee to this country but have not posted or fought at all for our Veterans. #VeteransDay is every day! Stop saying you support the troops then leaving them homeless in the streets! Arise church, arise and protect our own! Have classes on PTSD awareness, listen to the Vets in your congregation. Have trainings on how to best be there for military families and Vets.” #military #ptsd #twentytwoaday
The following morning a local Pastor posted a status that said that he “wondered how many Sauls we were keeping from becoming Pauls” by refusing refugees. I commented and shared that status above with him. He took offense to my reply and assumed I was attacking him. However, the reply was meant not specifically for him, but for the church — all Christians near and far. He messaged me and immediately blocked me without allowing any kind of open conversation. Keep in mind, this is a pastor who is very active in the community. He is also a pastor whose main ministry is grace. Grace is good, but the irony in this is he doesn’t show that grace in his own responses. Nor does he have grace for someone whose opinion differs from his. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time something happened like this with the same pastor. If you remember Clay’s post HERE about the church and mine HERE, speaking out about Muslim Indoctrination is also a no-no with peace, love and grace. Without further ado, here is his reply:
I am going to be honest. I am shocked. I never said his name-I literally copied my previous status. I made no false claims, he never even asked me what I meant and he is a Pastor? A grace missioned Pastor? I am shocked at messages I have received for me wanting our own Veterans and homeless taken care of before Syrian refugees. People equate that to me not caring. I DO care. I have cried watching the news of what has happened to innocent Christians in Syria, I have wondered why we can’t DO something. Yet, at the same time we MUST protect our own.
The other analogy that is being brought up by Christians pushing the refugee emplacement is that Mary and Joseph were refugees. My question is refugees from where? Egypt? Nazareth? Bethlehem? Joseph (and Mary) were ordered by the Romans to travel to Joseph’s ancestral home, which was Bethlehem. From the aforementioned analogy, the Syrians’ ancestral home is America? Are they ordered by the proverbial Romans to travel to America? Another note to keep in mind is when Joseph and Mary were denied access, they didn’t just demand a way in! When they knocked and there was no room, they peacefully went on!
Watch this video on why it will not help to bring them here:
Here is another excellent video:
Go HERE Sorry, it is on a facebook post and won’t let me embed it. (FYI this gal is a bit–hostile/serious:))
Lastly, a video my friend made:
Go HERE Sorry, another Facebook post.
My belief in this is that we do not need to bring them here. If we know that 10% of M&M’s are poisoned, would we still reach into the jar and eat a handful? No, probably not. If you knew that opening your door could lead to your entire family being raped, murdered, or killed, would you knowingly do that? Does Jesus ask us to be so blind? No, He doesn’t, which you can see in the scripture above. (Albeit, the references to M&M’s and our families are extreme, did the citizens of Paris have a decision?) Read these posts and see what Franklin Graham says HERE and HERE.
Lastly, I want to leave you with a facebook post by a Veteran named Christopher Allard:
“I don’t typically go on rants or express my political beliefs here, but I just have to get this off my mind. As some of you know, I’m active duty Army. Aside from that, I am a medic. I’ve spent 3 years of my life overseas in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I’ve seen some pretty atrocious sites caused by war, from both sides. I’ve picked up blown up body parts of friends and I’ve saved the lives of guys who were trying to kill me and my guys right before I was keeping them from their 72 virgins or whatever they believe awaits them on the other side. Here is an unbiased truthful view to the Syrian refugee situation. My first deployment to Iraq, in 2006, my unit voluntarily ran a children’s burn clinic outside of the FOB. It was a constant target for attacks. You would think that people wouldn’t shoot mortars or rockets at their own children, but you would be wrong. We saw hundreds of children, from infants to 18-year-olds. The overwhelming majority of the kids we saw (90% or better) were clear cases of abuse. These parents were literally dunking their kids in boiling water or throwing hot chai at their kids faces… Yes, we’re talking about babies, toddlers, kids not even old enough to understand why their parents would do these things to them. HUNDREDS of kids… We saw quite a few of these kids that were sexually abused, both girls and boys. Their parents acted if nothing was wrong with this, even when confronted by our doctors. This is the mentality of their society, not the viewpoint of a few individuals… these beliefs have been accepted to the vast majority of these people. Many were educated, well-dressed, well-spoken men, but yet, they still raped their own children and kept chai boys (if you don’t know what that means, google it.) During that deployment, we also captured the 3rd largest EFP cache that had ever been captured. There were hundreds of copper plates, homemade explosives, fake curbs to house the EFP’s, hundreds of mortars and rockets and howitzer rounds, even an anti-aircraft gun. All of these things came from one place, Syria. Almost every single IED or EFP we found or hit could be traced back to Syria… A lot of the terrorists we captured were from SYRIA… Imagine that. Fast forward a couple years, and I find myself in Helmand Province, in Afghanistan… We had a group of Afghani’s that were paid to help guard our little mud hut in the middle of an Afghan village (I wasn’t on a fob) These guys also kept a “chai boy” A boy, about 11 years old, who was there to serve these guys sexually. We heard him being sexually assaulted many times, but there was nothing we could do about it. We asked the police, the Afghan Army, and we were told the same thing every time…. it’s their culture and accepted as the norm…. Once again, we captured Syrian-made explosives, weapons, and other items… We found Syrian passports during raids… And people out there want us to let these people into the US, with our kids, and near our wives. Near our schools, near our churches, synagogues, malls. Places where we should never have to fear being blown up, shot, kidnapped and tortured… Don’t forget what they did to the Egyptian Coptic Christians or the Jordanian pilot… Don’t forget about what they do to rape victims! They stone these women to death for being raped! They behead their own people. Do you think they will show mercy to you? Look at the rape statistics in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium. Facts don’t lie… 97% of rapes committed in Sweden were committed by Muslim immigrants… And you want 10,000 of these people here? Even if just 1% of these so called “refugees” were ISIS supporters or active ISIS terrorists, would that be acceptable to you? Chew on it… think about it. Take a good look at your kids or your wife and decide if the risk is worth taking. Feel free to share this if you want.”
Deep down, I hope I’m wrong about the risk. Unfortunately, history proves otherwise.
We have every right to worry about these refugees. We have every right to want to help these refugees. For lack of a better word, it is admirable. However, if 1% of the 10,000 refugees are Isis terrorists, is the risk worth the reward? I also pose this question: how many refugees have been placed in the gulf countries? Let’s break this down. Please bear with me.
- 3.8 million refugees from Syria (95 percent) are found in the following five countries. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
- A total of 63,170 resettlement places have been offered globally since the crisis in Syria began, which only represents only 1.7 percent of the total number of refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey.
- The six wealthy Gulf countries – Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain – have offered to receive exactly zero Syrian refugees.
Why is this? Why have the six wealthy Gulf countries offered to receive zero Syrian refugees? Could it be these countries are already Islamized?
On a side note, other high-income countries, including Russia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea have also offered to receive exactly zero percent of the Syrian refugees. Why is this? Could it be because they refuse to drag the conflict into their own countries?
I can see the hurt feelings toward these refugees. Many of us want to do more. I also see the security precautions as well. It’s impossible to ensure each is vetted. Impossible. Beware of wolves in sheep clothing. Lastly, I leave you with this post from The Gospel Coalition.
“You do not lock the front door of your house because you hate the people outside. You lock it because you love the people inside. A country’s border is its front door.”
In Christ,
Laura
PS Comments are welcomed, but I will turn them if they are unkind.
