IT WILL RETURN AND BITE US!

(I wrote this blog in June of 2006. There is a prophetic quality to it that I did not fully comprehend at that time. If this article doesn’t say anything else to you I trust it is a wake-up call to pray for our nation. Our borders are being violated with impunity and the government in Washington seems to be hopelessly useless to do anything meaningful about this. It is time to pray, pray, pray that God will have mercy on our nation!)

IT WILL RETURN AND BITE US!

In April of 1966, Carol and I had been married for just about nine months. I flew to Vancouver, B.C. to interview at the U.S. Consulate and finish the paperwork necessary to become a permanent resident of the U.S. I had attended college in the U.S. on a student visa that allowed me to work and to go to school and now I was getting my permanent residence visa (the infamous green card, which is now a subtle but attractive shade of pink).

I have watched the news over the last few weeks about the immigration issue with a sense of disgust and dismay. For years the problem of illegal immigration has been an open secret and an exposed wound. Unfortunately, the wound has festered and the sore has erupted in a way that no one anticipated. For decades the bureaucrats have turned away from doing anything really meaningful to close the borders of our country. Businessmen who wanted cheap labor exploited the open secret, exploited the illegals, and have seriously damaged our nation.

If you were a poor worker in a remote village in Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras making a few dollars a day doing hard physical labor, and knew you could sneak across the border and get to Los Angeles or Dallas and get a job doing the same thing and making $75 or $100 a day, what would you do? And besides, the gringos don’t really do anything about it. They talk a lot about the problem and once in a while they catch a few illegal immigrants and send them back, but basically they just ignore the situation.

For decades America has winked at the problem. Businessmen and businesses have said that we needed the cheap labor to stay competitive and that the illegals were doing jobs that Americans wouldn’t take. I believe this is primarily a lie and the truth is that these businessmen did not want to cut into their profit margin and pay living wages. They were content to exploit the illegals, pay at or under the minimum wage, and offer no benefits.

For years, Washington has done nothing. The liberals have tried to stymie any legislation or action that would effectively lock down our borders. And if we think that the problem is just with the border between Mexico and the U.S., we are dreaming. The border between Canada and the U.S. is more open than the southern border. There are stretches along the North Dakota and Montana border with Canada where it is almost impossible to know what country you are in.

Now we have 11 to 12 million illegals living in the U.S. and they are demanding a fast track to citizenship. They are here illegally and they are demanding rights and threatening anarchy.

The last paper that I signed at the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver in 1966 was crucial; if I didn’t sign it I didn’t get into the country. The essence of what I signed said that if I was granted entrance to the U.S. as a resident, I would obey all the laws of the land, including serving in the military. I happily signed the paper and I was on my way.

For years we have turned away from the problem of illegal immigration. We did not acknowledge that it was serious and it has turned around and is trying to bite us.

There is a spiritual lesson to be learned from all of this and simply put, it is this: To ignore sin and God’s dealing in your life is to do so at your own jeopardy. To try to hold on to sin after God has shown us that it is wrong is to risk disaster.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9, ESV)

I do not know what will happen with the borders and the immigration issues that our nation is facing. What concerns me is that the issue has now become political and compromises will be made and deals will be cut in order to arrive at a solution. Sin cannot be dealt with politically. God does not negotiate when it comes to dealing with disobedience. The kingdom of God is not a democracy; we do not have voting and negotiation rights in heaven.