How To Go From 'American Christian' To 'Christian American'

How To Treat Immigrants And Foreigners For Dummies

What is a human besides a being related to all other humans and descended from an ancient forefather.

Science has discovered and explained how all mankind on earth are related to one another by a common ancient ancestor.

The Bible explains how Noah and his progeny propagated the entire earth.

If both of these are true, or at least one of them, are there different 'races' of human beings?.. or a single race: the human race?

According to the current understanding, race is: a social construct, an idea deriving cultural meaning.

Previous identities promoted the classification of others outside the tribe according to observable exterior differences.

The Romans called those outside their citizenship and yet to be classified by their ethnicity or nationality as 'barbarians'.

The religious called all those outside their religious sphere of acceptance as 'pagans'.

The use of the term 'white' has classified peoples according to external perceptions (skin color) and according to the recent regions on earth where the sons of Noah have visited.

This term was seemingly purposed to establish a 'difference' and has instigated a faulty narrative that is not complimentary to Christ's inclusiveness of the Samaritan, the Gentiles, and those considered 'sinners' (think of the 'criminal' immigrant narrative).

These manners are categorically anti-Christ.

Would Christ speak and treat people according to political platitudes, or according to love?

Are you speaking to and about foreigners / immigrants as Christ would speak, or as the talking heads on television and the internet are doing?

Choose wisely.

Such perceptions have caused confusion and have perpetuated ignorant prejudices.

In calling people outside the tribe a particular label, the effort to view others is one done in a 'less-than' manner.

Such a manner has justified violations, prejudices, and eventual extermination in the most extreme cases (by individuals and polity) throughout history.

This stance is a default position for man, a banal trait.

This is how people have built their racial superiority, by developing cultural meaning by all things exterior.

In simple terms: the short man is not as esteemed as the tall man, and vice versa.

When people use the labeling of a color to distinguish between people, a vile evil is sparked in the hearts of already confounded minds.

Yet this labeling of color (as if people are colors - an irrational fallacy at its core), has been the cause of division written into the laws of nations, made clearer in the United States of America.

What is being revealed under heaven is a final conquest of the heart of powerful men (according to the world's measurements) regarding the last bastions of unloving notions in their hearts towards their fellow man.

God has established the current empire in a position to make inroads into the hearts of the people of the world... and such is not done by force, but love and service.

Such is not made complete by pushing a domineering narrative, but becoming the servant of all.

Notice the news is rarely publicizing the volunteer and charitable work of American people in and outside of America, besides an occasional focus.

The large focus in the news is over political arguing, based on economic issues (money and greed) and the faulty and instigating arguments that pit people with many values in common against one another according to their skin tone, their recent heritage, their appearance.

This is the contradiction found in American Christianity, but not in every Christian American.

The contradictions are found in the laws of the United States, which arguably started out with the stamp of Judeo-Christian values built upon the Bible (although some things misinterpreted).

One law provides assistance for immigrants regardless of their paperwork, while another law demands all immigrants without paperwork to be deported.

To not argue one side or another, notice that the human consideration is ignored due to the loud noise made by some people arguing economic reasons, but is the heart of Christ about making financial decisions and measuring humans according to the pocketbook?

Today's United States resembles something akin to western Europe prior to the Roman empire breaking apart.

Scholars debate exactly what broke apart such a military and cultural powerhouse... and one reason was citizenship and non-citizenship.

Unfortunately, archaic identifiers of preeminence typically promote nearsighted classifications of those outside cultural circles... through fear of change, or the dominant ethnic group losing their identity.

What is happening in America (and throughout the world's empire) is that idols are being crushed.

People whose hearts have been divided between what they see on the outside and what the Spirit speaks to the inside are in turmoil.

What is being revealed is where people's faith has been placed, along with where and in what their hopes are centered on.

On military dominance?

On economic dominance?

On cultural dominance?

On the color of your skin and that of others?

If these are the thorns that Christ has allowed to persist, shouldn't they be acknowledged as such and dealt with according to what has been shown regarding swords being turned into plowshares, giving without expecting to receive, and becoming all things to all men?

This is why it is frightful when someone claiming to be a Christian argues a very human argument and then quotes Bible verses to support their bias, evident racism, and focus on money rather than human beings.

Surely there have historically been conquerors, and losers, some peoples being raised to prominence and others being brought low... yet God's kingdom is found among both conquerers and the conquered.

What is the teaching of the Lord revealed on earth regarding the foreigner and immigrant among you?

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. 

Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I Am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. 

Keep all My decrees and all My laws and follow them. I Am the Lord. 

- Leviticus 19: 33-37

Historically, every single one of our ancestors have felt a bondage of some kind.

This bondage takes many forms; spiritual, physical, economical, social, et al.

Some of the wealthiest people are found by depravity, while some of those in abject poverty are bounded by desire for wealth... and then there are a variety of points in between, even some wealthy people having balance and some poor people having balance, considering one another as brothers and human beings, not as colors or as having anymore 'value' attached according to material measure.

Some of our fellow brothers and sisters are atop, within, and below the mechanisms of these bondage tools.

Christendom is everywhere seen and unseen, and many immigrants and foreigners are brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Spirit of the Holy One from Above resides in them... yet their so-called brothers in Christ desire they be deported and expelled for economic reasons.

Imagine that, a 'god' that evicts people over their political or social or financial standing.

This is the confusion some American Christians have, possibly worshipping a 'god' that is first an American citizen, and then maybe a reflection of Christ (if the taxes and military efforts make financial sense, that is).

Notice how that rule in Leviticus speaks on many levels, even mentioning what can be construed today as wages and its relationship to immigration motives from both the foreigner and the domestic law maker.

One stat shows that immigration of any kind supports the business sector by cheap labor, while another stat says the legal benefits immigrants qualify for is unsustainable.

Who do you believe?

Perhaps the one that leans towards your bias, or repeats the same prejudices laced with fear and suspicions?

Perhaps.

Since the Gentiles who came to believe in Messiah as the Lord their God (the God of Israel) have been grafted into spiritual Israel, then Leviticus speaks to God's Law being the constant and the unchanging standard when it comes to social, ethical, and moral manners.

What does always change?

Man's laws.

Every generation throughout all kingdoms of men and political organizations, man is constantly changing, editing, adjusting, updating, and eliminating his laws... and at times attempting to obscure God's Law.

This is how ignorance of God and His perfect Law has infested all circles of society, either spouted by a dominant people over a subdued people using religion and ignorance as their tool, or by a rebellious people desiring to overthrow what they perceive as constraints.

Even Satan used Scripture in an attempt to tempt the Lord when He was on earth in the flesh.

This same scenario is often witnessed with well argued political arguments that pit one man against another using the Bible as a tool, instead of quoting the Word as inspiring people to love, be at peace.

Yet love and righteousness always shines the light... usually among the subjected and downtrodden but also in the higher positions of empire and state.

Some times, the subdued (either their ideas or their ethnic group) becomes the dominant and the roles are reversed.

This has been witnessed more clearly in the new age wherever Jewish and Christian heritage has traveled to... yet not all who have called themselves 'Jew' or 'Christian' were actually part of spiritual Israel.

Since this all came to pass, this was God's purpose and allowance and the keeping of His promise to glorify both physical and spiritual Israel over all the earth... not a poor representation of past hostilities (eye for an eye), but rather mercy over sacrifice.

America has a learning opportunity, as do all other places where immigration is contested and foreigners are presently abused physically and verbally.

Fear campaigns, propagating the color of one's skin, has been a useful tool to instigate people suspicious of change and of faces not resembling their own.

Read how propaganda, fear-based racist narratives, and violence has marked America's past regarding immigration.

Consider also the financial aspect to immigration (cheap labor - another form of a legalized slave trade) which is an issue for another article.

Since the patterns of the past and mankind's nearsightedness is often times very predictable, the lessons of the past can be learned and such mistakes can be properly mitigated today.

This is the pattern of history... yet the proud sometimes never learn, even after a terrible fall.

A nation's identity is largely built upon pride in what was taught to individuals as children and throughout their formative years.

A child is taught prejudice, selfishness, privilege, and racist tendencies... and these are not only found among the dominant social group or historical hegemony, but also very much reflected in the subject / minorities because of cultural programming of such ideas.

The victim of racism often times becomes the racist, as the bullied becomes the bully, the molested becomes the molester.

Concepts of identity, legacy, ethnic identification, the vilifying of others, etc., are important factors to establish a hierarchy over others.

It is a sophisticated political science, very much explored and explained in universities.

History books of any nation state are evidently biased in such ways... how else does a government legitimize its past crimes or its cultural heritage if not by carefully revising the past according to a dreamy narrative coupled with near-mythical figures as moral and outstanding characters.

This is found in almost every single nation-state the world over, ancient and prehistoric and modern.

How can someone take pride in something they had nothing to do with?

None of us chose which tribe to be born into besides Messiah, the Word become flesh, so this arrogance of identity from a social construct is quite the baseless psychological phenomenon.

Some scholars, sociologists, historians, and other thinkers are privy to these details and nuances.

Sadly, populations that follow the intrigues of politicized notions are easily afflicted with nearsighted and ignorant hostilities towards others outside their ideological tribe.

These nationalistic and racial programs are sadly found among those whoare highly honored in both secular and religious circles.

What is most embarrassing for the likes of someone 'like me' (the author of this work, also identifying myself with a particular tribe) is when someone calls themselves a 'Christian' yet expresses anti-Christ sentiments.

When an American Christian (what I can be labeled by someone according to social constructs) cannot see past their prejudices and blindly vilifies strangers, are they reflecting the heart of Messiah?

If such manners are not of Christ, and are not taught in the Gospel, then what has beguiled the American Christian to label immigrants and foreigners in such bigoted ways and somehow claim to know how to read their Bible, say they are part of the Church, and claim they follow the Christ who saves immigrants and foreigners alike?

There is a great learning opportunity for the American Christian regarding their treatment of those who seek what America is projected to offer throughout the world: freedoms... all things stemming from the Christian narrative over the world.

This is a great opportunity for the American Christian to become, instead, a Christian American... or simply a Christian who was born in America, or simply a Christian (like Christ).

Today's Israel are those found in Christ across the globe, and the empire of men has followed the kingdom of God as it spread beyond political borders.

When I read religious doctrine (Christian in this instance) argued according to a secular financial argument, and highlighting certain secular laws while ignoring God's Law, I cringe.

Those desiring to love the foreigner and treat them as their own (as Leviticus teaches) are attacked and ridiculed by those calling themselves 'Christians', but who are instead revealing what and who lives in them.

Old (and divisive) definitions of race still attempt to place one person above another, or categorize certain human beings as 'less-than'... and this has been argued through a very faulty American-centric view of the world.

When the Church was acknowledged as the kingdom of God, and the faith was adopted as the state religion by Roman law... did the Bishops somehow take 'pride' in their standing?

Did the Bishops then become afflicted with some exterior pride that eventually led them to look down upon others?

Yes, this happened to certain Bishops.

Notice how God is surely with the downtrodden, and brings the pride of the wicked very low.

The pride of the Roman state citizen was broken upon the Rock revealed in the Christians, those from all corners of that empire that were not citizens, or looked down upon because they did not resemble the typical Roman hierarchy of the Patrician class and their representation in the Senate.

Does this not sound all too familiar?

Has man yet to learn the valuable lessons of the past?

However, there exists Christians living in America, of domestic and foreign stock, who do acknowledge their fellow man as their peer, equal, or better than themselves according to the Gospel's message.

There are American institutions built upon this very principle; certain colleges, universities, groups, and social organizations besides religious organizations.

There are individual Christians whose American legacy goes back to the early 16th century, yet they may not look like whatever is popularly to be the face of an 'American' ('white', blue eyed...).

There are Christians in American and throughout the American empire who clearly see Christ in all other people the world over, and are not swept away by the noise perpetuated by rhetoric empty of love, but clearly recognize the news media as a place drowning in hostile human arguments.

This is all according to the ideas men have built in isolation and indifference to one another, interpreting their high position as a place to decide the fate of others... instead of an opportunity to serve those of lesser standing.

Consider how an American citizen is perceived as a person with more standing than a citizen of another country (from the American perspective, of course).

God purposed this, but to what end and for what clear purpose?

This is the perception built upon a social construct from a cultural legacy of a collective group who has conquered the world.

One such purpose is exemplified in Paul who was born a Roman citizen and became a pillar in the kingdom of God.

Paul utilized his Roman citizenship not as a way to denounce non-citizens, or call for their eviction from certain 'Roman citizen only' places, but as a powerful tool to serve others (both citizen and non-citizen).

The American Christian can learn a lot from Paul of Tarsus... and as Paul went from being a Jewish Pharisee (something he confessed he took great pride in), Paul denounced such pride and took up the banner of a Christian... not a 'Roman Christian', but simply a Christian.

Since nothing happens outside of God's will, this reality was either purposed or allowed (either way, it is).

Those to whose eyes are open to such things are blessed.

When news that a U.S. citizen is harmed or murdered outside the U.S., there is immediate attention from the U.S. government.

This is mirrored in almost all other government, ethnic, religious groups the world over with unique variations.

But notice that the Christian is not called to only worry about Christians, but all mankind... because among those 'outside' the Church are found are lost brothers and sisters, or our actual brothers and sisters in Christ looking very different from us, but still worshiping Yeshua as their Lord and God.

Isn't the human race a single tribe of people?

Biologically, we are one... but still not according to the walls in people's minds and hearts.

Since this is fact, why do people still use the term 'race' when pointing at others not resembling themselves?

Isn't ethnicity a more proper term rather than race regarding external differences?

I think ethnicity better identifies the measure of time, geography, and diet that brought about such external variances among us.

As groups of people moved away from their geographical and familial origins, the human's appearance changed according to diet, geography, and closed-circuit reproduction.

Generations of closed-cultural propagation developed unique features.

But this change was only on the surface.

The desires and dreams of the heart continued by evidence of the common factors found in all cultures and peoples.

The human genome has traced all mankind to a common ancestor, yet men still perceive color as a classification... ignorance still judges people by exterior notions and not our common heritage.

Be blessed and realize your brother and sister near and far, even those residing in places a secular government labels as 'foreign', yet where the Spirit of God walks in His vessels (His world-wide church).

Be blessed and recognize Noah as the distant ancestor you and all mankind have in common.

Be blessed and love your neighbor, whether they are across the street or across the political border... or across the ocean.