Security is Compassion

By: American Decency Staff

As I read through our most recent newsletter (you can find online archives under “resources” in the navigation bar at the top of our webpage), I once again see heavy topics that are addressing matters of spiritual warfare that are upon us on so many levels. There are a lot of words, few pictures and nothing much fun about our newsletter.  Yet our readers tell us they look forward to receiving it – that we are truth tellers, that they rely upon us for understanding.

As we closed out 2019, our readers blessed us so graciously and generously through your gifts, Christmas cards, and with notes of love and affirmation thanking us for our ministry.  We are rejuvenated by your stand with us, dear friends!

We do recognize the great privilege that we yet have of living in a nation that still upholds the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, etc.  As a ministry that God has lifted up, we don’t take for granted these rights, these great freedoms that so few around the world live under. So when we write, we also pray and thank God for the privilege and we recognize the responsibility that goes along with it.  We also know that these rights are increasingly fragile as they are under immense attack from without, but even more so from within our country.

Truly, these are sobering times. One concerning matter is the issue of refugee resettlement.  As Christians, we should have compassion for the physical and spiritual well-being of every individual, recognizing them as image bearers of God. Yet our leaders also have a duty to protect the citizens of our nation.  I would be much more open to refugee resettlement if I knew there was a careful vetting of refugees and community planning (and more) behind resettlement.  But there is not.

Who amongst us wants to be considered uncompassionate? Certainly not me and, I would think, certainly not you.  We don’t want people to think of us as not having a concern about those who are looking for a safe haven. Our hearts do go out to those who have a legitimate and honorable desire to come to really one of the only free nations in all the world.

But sadly there are those who do not mean us well and desire to destroy this great nation from within and without.  They know that immigration is an Achilles heel in this nation. So the evil one strikes at one of our strengths, which is compassion, and makes it our weakness.

On September 25, 2019 the Trump administration gave state governors and local county commissioners the opportunity to either opt in or opt out of taking on a recommended number of refugees into their local states/communities. As of this writing, there have been no governors who have opted out, leaving the door open to minimal or maybe even massive refugee resettlement.  This morning I read that there has only been one county in all of America where the local leadership opted out of taking in refugees.  One county.

If only we could count on our federal and local governments and so-called religious nonprofits who place these refugees in our local community of doing their due diligence to carefully vet those looking for a safe haven.  Yet their constituents who express legitimate concerns about the influx of unvetted refugees are labeled as heartless and racist.

Recently, I was asked to speak at a local County Commissioners meeting on the matter of refugee resettlement. Below are my words to them.

No compassion for refugees?  Nothing could be further from the truth.  During the aftermath of the Vietnam war, many churches carefully prepared the way to bring in “boat people” who had escaped death and suffering in internment camps to come to America.

I know because the church where I was a member sponsored such a family.  The beauty of the opportunity was that the Kim Vu family was not forced into a community, but rather vetted, and then a compassionate home with their help was prepared for them;  work was found, language training and constitutional training was brought.  The family wanted America to be their home and they desired to contribute back to the community over time – which they did.  It was a beautiful experience and repeated countless times across this great nation.

The agenda was straight forward – to get behind an embattled family, to befriend them and help them make their way so as not to be a burden upon their new country.

This was compassionate toward the embattled boat people, but it was compassionate for the American citizen as well because it took into consideration the safety and security of the local citizens.  Who were these people?  Did they have criminal records? Did they come carrying communicable diseases?  Did they have a history of discord and hostility?

In other words were they caringly and properly vetted?   Did they have alignments that indicated a hostility to the Constitution of the United States that ultimately one day might lead to hostility and criminality in their new community?  They were vetted and they were cared for and the years went by showing that the carefulness and thoroughness was worth it all.

As a father and grandfather, it behooves me to be compassionate first toward my family and my neighbors, my community and nation. Two of my children were adopted from a Korean orphanage.  There are many like me doing similar things, yet are still concerned about the impact of unvetted refugees in our nation.  That doesn’t make me uncompassionate when I ask decision makers to exercise compassion first for the communities that they represent.

As individuals and as a nation, we desperately need God’s help.  Dear God, we are a wayward people and yet you have preserved and protected us again and again and again.  Would you help us once again?  Guard us from ourselves.  Rule and overrule for Your glory and honor, we pray.  Amen. 

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