LAZARUS SATURDAY CALL TO DEFENSE OF THE IMMIGRANT IN 2026: FROM THE YEAR OF THE BEAST TO THE YEAR OF THE LION KING – DEPENDING (WITH VIDEO)

NO KINGS DAY (MAR 28, 2026). “Millions of Americans are expected to take to the streets on Saturday for the No Kings Protests against the Trump Administration. More than 3,000 events are planned in all 50 states, plus in 16 countries, according to a Coalition of Organizers that includes Anti-Authoritarian’ Groups Indivisible’ and 50501, labor unions and other grassroots organizations … ‘A Multiplicity of Stressors is expected to bring out protesters across issues, organizers said, from ICE Raids to Voting Rights threats.”’ – LEX MCMENAMIN, “Third No Kings Protest,” The Guardian, Mar. 28, 2026; edited

1. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” – ISAIAH 1:16-17 KJV

QUOTATION. “‘Jesus Christ lived in the midst of His enemies.’ At the end all His disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this Cause, He had come, to bring Peace to the Enemies of God. ‘So, the Christian, too,’ belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is His Commission, His Work.’

‘The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you Blasphemers and Betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared’ (Luther).” ― DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community, 1939; edited

WHO IS MY BROTHER? “But Jesus replied to the one who told Him, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples [and all His other followers], He said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven [by believing in Me, and following Me] is My brother and sister and mother.’” – MATTHEW 12:48-50, AMP

COMMENTARY. “‘Wash ye, make you clean’ — Repent, and do works meet for repentance: Cleanse your hearts and hands from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and do not content yourselves with your ceremonial washings. He refers to the Charge preferred in the preceding clause, and alludes to the legal purifications commanded on several occasions: see Leviticus 14:8-9; Leviticus 14:47. 

‘Put away the evil,’ &c., ‘from before Mine eyes’ — Reform yourselves thoroughly, that you may not only approve yourselves to men, but to Me, who search your hearts and try all your actions. ‘Learn to do well’ — Begin, and inure yourselves, to Live Soberly, Righteously, and Godly. ‘Seek judgment,’ &c. — Show your Religion to God, by Practising Justice and Mercy to men. ‘Judge the fatherless,’ &c. — Deliver and defend those that are poor and helpless, and liable to be oppressed by unjust and potent adversaries.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

II. TEACHING

We are going to take a bit different track today given the sharpened Orders given us from the passage in Isaiah. So sharpened, that each of its NINE KEY TERMS leaves no ambiguity whatsoever as to Our Sacred Commission for these Last Days.

• ONE: “WASH!” ‘Rachats’ [רַחֲצוּ֙]: “The verb occurs roughly seventy-two times across the Hebrew canon and consistently denotes the action of washing the body, parts of the body, or objects with water. The contexts fall into five broad spheres: Priestly Ritual, Individual Purification after uncleanness, Hospitality and Daily Hygiene, Judicial Symbolism, and Prophetic or Poetic Metaphor.” DK: Refers to working toward Spiritual Purity and Innocence on the major issues, including a Period of Repentance in order be able serve fully. – ISAIAH 6:8

• TWO: “MAKE!” ‘Zakah’ [הִזַּכּ֔וּ]: “The verb זָכָה expresses the idea of becoming or Being Pure, Clean, Innocent, or Acquitted. It functions both in the Physical sense of cleansing and in the Moral–Legal sense of being pronounced Righteous. Across its eight occurrences the term consistently points to the impossibility of self-generated purity and the necessity of Divine Action to cleanse and justify.” DK: This term continues the Theme and Objective of God to move us forward into what most would define as “Integrity:” ‘The genuine, uncompromised state of one’s Character.’ – PROVERBS 11:3

• THREE: “PUT AWAY!” ‘Sur’ [הָסִ֛ירוּ]: “The verb סוּר spans the breadth of Old Testament Revelation, appearing in almost every corpus—from Genesis through Malachi—depicting the act of turning, departing, removing, or causing something or someone to turn. Whether it is a heart drifting from Covenant Loyalty, an Idol lifted out of sacred space, or Yahweh’s Wrath withdrawn, סוּר portrays ‘Decisive Change’ of position or direction, both physical and spiritual.” DK: This requires a most solid ‘Choosing to serve Christ with absolutely nothing held back, unto life or unto death.’ – REVELATION 12:11

• FOUR: “CEASE!” ‘Chadal’ [חִדְל֖וּ]: “חָדַל (Strong’s Hebrew 2308) expresses the Ideas of Ceasing, Stopping, Refraining, Leaving Off, or Letting Alone. Though linguistically simple, its occurrences display a rich tapestry of Divine Sovereignty, Human Responsibility, and Covenant Faithfulness. About fifty-eight times the Spirit employs the verb to mark moments when activity terminates—whether judgment, sin, pleading, or toil. Each appearance reminds readers that the God of Scripture both initiates and halts events for His redemptive purposes.” DK: This idea embodies the entire notion and requirement of “Walking away” from bad company inside God’s House, hypocrites, liars and brutes. – MATTHEW 10:14

• FIVE: “LEARN!” ‘Lamad’ [לִמְד֥וּ]: “לָמַד (‘lamad’) embraces both the Receptive side of ‘Learning’ and the Active side of ‘Teaching,’ appearing about eighty-six times across the Old Testament. The Root spans Covenant Instruction, Skill Training, Prophetic Admonition, and Eschatological Promise. It depicts the Conveyance of Truth that calls the learner into Obedient Relationship with the LORD and thus undergirds Israel’s Faith, Worship, and Communal Life.” DK: Somewhat difficult to encapsulate given its breadth, it is at is Core, ‘Diligent Study’ of the Words of Life in the Scriptures.” – 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

• SIX: “SEEK!” ‘Darash’ [דִּרְשׁ֥וּ]: “Strong’s Hebrew 1875, דָּרַשׁ, threads the Old Testament with the idea of ‘Seeking’ in its richest sense—Intent, Inquiry, Investigation, Dependence, Worship, even Judicial Pursuit. The verb can be: Cognitive (‘to inquire’),Volitional (‘to seek earnestly’), or Forensic (‘to require an account’). Each nuance reinforces that the God of Israel is Personal, Knowable, and ‘Willing to be found’ while also being the ‘One who calls every deed to account.’” DK: The essence of this term is summed up in what I lovingly refer to as a “Magnificent Obsession” with Christ. That my entire Purpose in Life is to love Him by my Obedience and Loyalty to His Commands.” – JOHN 14:15

• SEVEN: “RELIEVE!” ‘Ashar’ [אַשְּׁר֣וּ]: “אָשַׁר (ʼâshar’) moves along Two closely-related Tracks: 1. ‘To declare or regard as blessed/happy.’ 2. ‘To guide, make straight, lead in a right path.’ Both ideas grow out of the same COVENANT SOIL: ‘Life Ordered Aright under Yahweh’s Favor becomes observable Blessedness that can be publicly acknowledged.’” DK: Here we drive straight to the Center of the Gospel: To Raise Up and ‘Rescue’ the downtrodden to a Life in Christ that will transform them from the Path of Death to the Path of Life and Truth found only in Jesus. – PROVERBS 24:11

• EIGHT: “JUDGE!” ‘Shaphat’ [שִׁפְט֣וּ]: “The Hebrew verb שָׁפַט occurs about two-hundred times across the Old Testament and centers on the Idea of Exercising Judgment in every sphere of Israel’s life—Legal, Military, Prophetic, Royal, and ultimately Divine. The word spans the entire Canon, from Genesis to Malachi, uniting Scripture’s testimony that Righteous Judgment is essential to Covenant Life and points ahead to the final, perfect Judgment of God’s Messiah.” DK: As we contend on behalf of the oppressed, the fatherless, the widow and the “least of these” on a continuing basis, it implies the willingness to litigate or avenge their injustices in all the ways sanctioned by Scripture. ‘To Punish Evil and Evildoers (or pray for their punishment), and call people to account.’ – MATTHEW 25:40

• NINE: “PLEAD!” ‘Rib’ [רִ֖יבוּ]: “Strong’s Hebrew רִיב appears roughly sixty-seven times, depicting ‘Contending’ or ‘Bringing a case.’ In Scripture it ranges from personal quarrels to formal litigation and, supremely, to the Lord’s own covenant lawsuit.” DK: Here we have what I consider to be the Baseline Responsibility for the True Christian in relation to the Underclass: SPEAK! Speak and contend for Justice on their behalf. Speak for those who have no voice. Speak for those who are being oppressed by the Power Wielders who treat such people as mere ‘Chattel.’ That is, as their own personal property that is fungible (moveable or even dispensable), depending on the need of the Rich and Powerful to move or dispense with them.

QUESTION. In light of all this rigorous theological definition of what Almighty God expects and requires of us toward these “Least of us,” we must ask. How is the Church Doing?

III. THE WHITE CHURCH & THE IMMIGRANT

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – EMMA LAZARUS, The New Colossus, 1883; edited

One of the most appalling things that has taken place in American Church history is the White Evangelical community’s recent angry opposition to, confusion about, and ultimately indifference toward or sheer negligence of the ongoing Immigration Crisis.

This is in stunning contrast to the Church’s traditional support of Immigration, based on the clear and consistent Teachings of Scripture:

“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress or mistreat him. But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone NATIVE-BORN [‘ezrach’ (כְּאֶזְרָ֣ח)-‘as a citizen in one’s own country’] among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” – LEVITICUS 19:34-35, AMP

From this lofty High View of God’s Immigration Policy, we have these statements from Three [White] Pastors who cannot find their Spiritual Centers for the life of themselves over the Immigration Crisis. DR. RUSSEL MOORE recounts it this way.

“One Pastor said to me, ‘Most of my people want to know how best to pray for and to serve their neighbors here, but if I answer their questions from the pulpit, a small minority of the congregation is going to say that I’m “supporting illegals.” One Preacher, an Immigration Hawk who supports mass deportation, said he has the same problem when he tells people the Church’s job is to minister to everybody, regardless of where they’re from or what they’ve done. Yet another Minister confessed, ‘I don’t even know what my views on immigration or ICE are; I’m not trying to weigh in on that. I just want to remind people to love their neighbors, full stop. That’s Jesus. How is that controversial?’” – “Why Christians Ignore What the Bible Says About Immigrants” (Jan.7, 2026; edited).

IN BREACH. “Being ‘In Breach’ means a party has VIOLATED a legal obligation, duty, or contract terms, such as failing to perform a promise, breaking a rule, or violating a trust without justification. It signifies a Failure to meet contractual obligations, which can be minor (partial) or material (substantial).” – AI Overview, ret. Mar. 27, 2026; edited

I submit to you that the United States of America has been In Substantial Material Breach of its Covenant with the God of the Bible and the United States Constitution, under the 14^th Amendment, Section 1, that states:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Not only this, beloved, but to such a degree that we now are witness to the Methods of Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) have been documented as nothing less than Barbaric!

ICE VIOLATIONS. For important analysis of this unprecedented treatment of what the Bible calls, The Stranger,” I turn once more to the excellent journal, The Atlantic. The author is PRIYANKA MENON, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in an essay titled, “ICE Might Be Violating America’s Other Bill of Rights” (Mar. 26, 2026; edited).

• OPEN. “Immigration-Enforcement Officers have used tear gas on nonviolent protesters, broken into homes and cars, and killed people, including U.S. citizens. ICE and Customs and Border Protection have been behaving like an out-of-control Police Force. No wonder, then, that when lawyers and other advocates try to challenge these Federal Officials’ Abuses of Power—in court and on the streets—they tend to reach for the same legal tool used to combat police violence: ‘THE FOURTH AMENDMENT, which guards against excessive force and “unreasonable searches and seizures.’” But this path comes with serious challenges.”

• SUPREMES. “A pair of Supreme Court decisions has ‘undercut’ the Amendment’s power against ICE and CBP, allowing evidence gathered in violation of its requirements to be used in deportation proceedings, and shielding Agents from lawsuits seeking compensation for excessive force. Another strain of precedent makes obtaining Court Orders aimed at preventing ICE misconduct extremely hard.”

• FIREWALL. “But there’s another path to holding ICE and CBP accountable for abuses. As a Federal Agency, the Department of Homeland Security is subject to the dictates of Federal Administrative Law, much of which is set forward in a powerful 1946 Statute known as the Administrative Procedure Act. The APA is largely concerned with how Agencies go about their business—setting forward, for instance, how they should issue regulations and resolve administrative disputes. The Statute also allows courts to review potentially Unlawful Action, thereby ensuring agencies follow the Constitution, other Federal Laws, and their own rules and procedures.”

• MISFIRES. “Many recent lawsuits against ICE have made things needlessly difficult for plaintiffs by focusing on the ‘Unconstitutionality’ of Immigration Agents’ actions. Even when these lawsuits have name-checked the APA, they have tended to point attention toward the outrageousness of what ICE or CBP has done instead of focusing on the decision-making process behind immigration officials’ actions. But if plaintiffs instead used the full power of the APA, they might actually find more success curbing these agencies’ most abusive behaviors.”

• LAWLESSNESS. “In considering recent claims against ICE, some courts seem to have forgotten about Administrative Law entirely. Two appellate courts that have weighed in on efforts to stop and prevent ICE’s abuses of power have chastised lower courts for attempting to tell Executive-Branch Officers how to do their job! But that Rebuke is at odds with the current Supreme Court’s instructions that courts should keep a close eye out for Agency Misbehavior. (I was part of a Coalition of Lawyers behind one such effort, Chicago Headline Club v. Noem, which challenged ICE’s misconduct in Chicago last September).”

• CONSTRAINTS. “To be sure, the APA has its limits. Even if a plaintiff were to win reprieve from deportation under the APA, there’s usually no bar against the government restarting deportation proceedings. And, legal technicalities aside, it can seem odd for the Constitution to take a back seat in the middle of a civil-rights crisis.”

• SYSTEM FAILURE. “But in many cases, Advocates can achieve a lot by ‘slowing down’ the Immigration Bureaucracy. Parents who would be deported can stay home, keeping families intact; Asylum Seekers can keep building their lives free from persecution. Those practical outcomes help create the sort of society envisioned by the Constitution, even if we don’t rely directly on the Constitution to get there. When Congress passed the APA eight decades ago, the statute was referred to as a ‘Bill of Rights’ for anyone subject to administrative power. Americans should put it to good use.”

ABSENCE OF OUTRAGE. Despite these obvious Roadblocks to Immigration Justice in both Church and State, I again hear virtually nothing but SILENCEfrom tens of thousands of White Evangelical Pulpits across the entire American Church Landscape. I can only conclude from this one brutally astonishing thing:

The White Evangelical Church could CARE LESS about the Immigrant!

IV. LAST THOUGHTS: BEAST OR LION?

I close with a brilliantly composed essay by former Federal Prosecutor JOYCE VANCE in a piece titled, “Will We Normalize ICE Brutality?” (Diane Ravitch’s Blog, Mar. 10, 2026; edited).

“ICE may have left Minneapolis (or at least officials have said they are drawing down—Border Czar Tom Homan said over the weekend that a ‘small’ Federal Security Force would stay behind ‘for a short period of time’), but we cannot afford to forget what they did there. Even though this particular ICE Surge was in Minnesota, it matters for all of us.

We cannot afford to forget Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the other people and incidents, even, perhaps especially, those we do not have names or faces to attach to because of the sheer volume. When a Government shoots and kills its own citizens—citizens exercising essential Constitutional Rights lawfully and in public, we must not forget. When that Government lies about what happened, demonizes the victims, calls them terrorists, and opens an investigation into one of their family members instead of the Law Enforcement Agent who pulled the trigger, we cannot afford to look away. If we do, if what happened in Minneapolis becomes just one more horror to be tossed with the rest of the trash at the end of its news cycle, we will forever lose a big, significant piece of what it means to be an American.

If you had Federal Agents killing American citizens in broad daylight on your 2026 bingo card, congratulations. Most of us didn’t. But shock and surprise are no reason to let what happened fade away, to push it aside because it’s too painful to stay focused on. If anything, Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s deaths reinforce the reasons we can’t forget that Trump Militarized Federal Immigration Enforcement Agencies to terrorize people on the streets of an American city. A President who once said he could shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue without losing his followers’ support must not be permitted to turn that cynicism into prophecy.

This Administration has shown no remorse for what it did in Minneapolis. It has defended and continues to defend The Surge in court. ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security. In a normal administration, regardless of Party, you would have expected the Secretary to be outraged and demand a thorough investigation into what happened if personnel in one of the agencies she oversaw killed Americans in broad daylight. Instead, she called what happened ‘Self-Defense’ and publicly defended the Officers’ actions despite video of both events that showed it was not.

Two days after Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, Noem’s top adviser and unofficial chief of staff Corey Lewandowski, with whom she is rumored to have been having an affair for years, ‘messaged Trump’s pollster with a request: They needed to cut an ad to help her.’ She sought support for herself, not accountability. Noem subsequently, according to reporting,  tried to fire her Coast Guard pilot for failing to move her blanket from one plane to another. She was forced to rehire him when she realized there was no one else to fly her plane home.

That’s the Level of Function at DHS these days. Meanwhile, the Agent who shot Renee Good appears to be facing no serious consequences from the Federal Government, while Alex Pretti’s death is only under investigation because of unambiguous footage of the shooting showing he wasn’t a threat to anyone. There are no guarantees of a fair investigation or of a timely outcome. Nothing suggests Americans aren’t at risk of repetition in another time, and another place, if the President chooses to deploy his Militarized Law Enforcement Agency again.

Even for those who may not have caught on to this fact yet, we are all affected by this Administration’s response to citizen dissent. In Maine, where ICE briefly surged in January in an effort that local reporting said was directed toward the state’s Somali Community, an ICE Agent filmed a woman who was observing his activity, and when she asked why, he told her, ‘Because we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a Domestic Terrorist.’ Anyone who opposes this Administration runs that risk.

It’s an Administration that arrests first and validates later, which means it has swept up people with legal immigration status as well as American citizens, in the race to rack up statistics for its mass deportation plan. A CBS News report, citing internal government data, found that fewer  than 14% of those arrested by ICE in Trump’s first year back in office had violent criminal records. We can’t afford to ignore or forget about it. Memory is the key.

It is all about threats, intimidation, and the risk of violence—all conduct that Americans are deeply ingrained against expecting from their Government.

Late last week, the New York Times ran a story about DHS, reporting that it sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on ICE. Whether there is actually an investigation, whether they get the information or not, putting a report like this in circulation is a great tactic for a Regime that wants to frighten people, to get them to second-guess themselves before they post on social media or attend a rally. It’s not what Democracies do. In a Democracy, leaders tolerate voices that disagree with them, they don’t shoot them.

How dangerous of a stage are we at when a Government starts killing its own citizens? I asked Princeton Professor Kim Scheppele, who studies Comparative Law and has expertise in Hungary, among other failing democracies, whether there is any precedent after Nazi Germany for a supposed Democracy to use Paramilitary Forces to execute its own people in public. ‘Not in any Country that pretends to be a Democracy,’ she told me. ‘That’s why the 20th-century Dictators are different. And now so are we.’

Scheppele explained that the New Autocrats, the ones who have come to power in the 21st Century, don’t kill their own citizens until very late in the process of autocratic consolidation, and even then, not in the type of direct, public confrontations that led to Good and Pretti’s deaths. In Russia, opponents of the Regime started falling from windows about 10 years into Putin’s reign, but they were difficult to attribute directly to the Kremlin. Erdogan, in Turkey, only began killing his own citizens (that is, outside Kurdish areas) after the attempted coup in 2016. Scheppele concluded that ‘Since most of the New Autocrats pretend to be Democrats, this sort of State Violence and Killing we’ve seen since the start of The Surge immigration campaigns is quite rare.’

‘Dictators try to SILENCE OPPOSITION, whether it’s through intimidation or violence. The Question our Democracy faces now is whether we’re going to let that happen here.’”

THE QUESTION. Therefore, beloved, just Whom shall we serve in all this Brutality against our Immigrant Neighbors: The Beast of Babylon, or The Lion of Judah? It should not take much pondering to answer rightly. God give you the Courage necessary to do so, even as the Prophet wrote of it long ago.

“They shall walk after the Lord, Who will ROAR LIKE A LION; He Himself will roar and [His] sons shall come trembling and eagerly from the west.” – HOSEA 11:10, AMP

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YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/vXfGs9U0SUM