Bobservations
by Pastor Bob Lawrenz
President Calvin Coolidge
saw problems ahead with our open immigration policy in the early 1900’s.
Coolidge’s Immigration Law of 1924 shut down our otherwise open immigration,
and set limits on the numbers of people coming here to America’s shores. This was done for the sole
purpose of granting foreigners the chance to be assimilated into American
culture. The Immigration Law of 1924 was in force until 1965. Enter, President Lyndon
B. Johnson and his vision for “The Great Society.”
Since
1965, assimilation is no longer taking place. Rather, a fragmenting has
occurred, and deep fractures have scarred the U.S. culture. We are Polish-American, or
African-American, or Spanish-American, or any other hyphenated type of American
one can think of. Whole sections within our cities have been known as the
Black, Chinese, Italian, German, and even the Bhutanese sections. Within each
section, enclave, and neighborhood, the old culture remains in language,
customs, and attitudes. Becoming an American means nothing anymore, except to
the few that desire citizenship.
We hear in the media today that in many
large cities, the growing Muslim populations in western nations are forming
their own enclaves, and retaining their language, faith, and even bringing
their own Sharia Law to govern them.
Not so with the Body of Christ. The church
transcends international borders. In Acts 17:26, we are told that all mankind
is of one blood: “And (God) hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;…”
Racism stops at the door of the church, but
before it stops there, it must be dealt with at the border of every nation, and
in the heart of every Believer. Jesus Christ binds Believers together. He
Himself is not a respecter of persons, so He is neither a respecter of skin
color, nor ethnicity. If He were, the Apostle Phillip would never have been
made a deacon (Acts 6:5), neither would Phillip have been teaching in Samaria
(Acts 8:5), nor sent to the Ethiopian Eunich to baptize him and teach him God’s
Word (Acts 8:27), nor would he and his wife have been blessed with four virgin
daughters who had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:8). Obedience to God’s word broadens
our horizons, brings blessings to our lives, and to the lives of our families.
