God Loves Borders: A Biblical Look At Immigration

President Donald Trump’s controversial border wall has been dominating the news ever since he famously rode down the escalator at Trump Tower in June 2015 to announce he would run for president. The media seemed unable to believe he would make the wall a focal point of his 2016 campaign, yet many now believe it could be a critical factor in his bid for re-election.

As I write in my book God, Trump, and the 2020 Election, this concept isn’t new, and the president inherited a mess. The debate surrounding illegal immigration—and even talk of building a fence—goes back as far as Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Construction of a 14-mile stretch of fence along the San Diego-Tijuana border began during George H. W. Bush’s administration and continued into Bill Clinton’s first term.

In 2006, during George W. Bush’s administration, the Secure Fence Act authorized hundreds more miles of fencing. Yet while the issue has become almost a stalemate in Washington, the subject of borders is not merely a topic of political debate. It can also be viewed with spiritual eyes. We have to look no further than the Bible to learn that walls are biblical and God loves borders.

In a recent sermon series called “Border Control,” Pastor Matthew Hagee, son of John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, described the Bible as a book of borders. He said God put borders around everything He created and that the current problems at the nation’s physical border are merely an outward symptom of a supernatural border problem. As a country we’ve crossed the line on biblical mandates regarding gender, abortion, sexuality and marriage.

We haven’t stayed within the boundaries God has given us in His Word. Because of that our view of borders has changed. Borders used to be thought of as blessings, Hagee says, but now they are burdens.

Pastor Jim Garlow put forth a similar theory regarding today’s “anything goes” society. He said people don’t like borders in their lives, and that sentiment extends to not wanting borders around countries.

God imposed biblical borders, but people hate them. They don’t want rules. They want to be able to kill babies if the pregnancy is unwanted; they want to be able to end it even though they are ending a human life. Sexually they want to do anything with anyone at any time. They don’t realize that God created boundaries as a means of protection.

If one nation gets out of line, borders make it more difficult for them to spread their poison, their toxicity and their evil ways to the next country. Garlow contends that God established borders for a reason—even geographical borders are permitted by God and even blessed by God; He establishes nations.

Francis Myles, author of Why God Hates Open Borders and pastor of Lovefest Church International in Tempe, Arizona, also preached a powerful sermon about how God establishes borders. His message is taken from Acts 17:26, where Paul tells the Greeks on Mars Hill that God created every nation on earth from one blood and established “their boundaries.” Boundaries are God’s idea, Myles said, and anyone who wants open borders is in rebellion against Him.

These are not the only leaders who view the battle over the wall through a spiritual lens. Dr. Alveda King—niece of Martin Luther King Jr.—wrote an article about Trump’s wall for Newsmax that caught my attention and prompted me to interview her. Not only does she believe borders are God’s idea; she also sees a spiritual reason behind many liberals’ biased animosity toward Trump. She makes a comparison to the biblical story of Ezra and Nehemiah, who helped restore Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. At that time, Ezra served as a teacher of the law to the people of Israel, and as governor Nehemiah helped rebuild Jerusalem’s wall.

“And they had Sanballat and Tobias and the naysayers saying, ‘Come down off the wall! Don’t build the wall! Come down and talk to us and let’s discuss,'” Alveda said. “Nehemiah, by the Spirit of God, knew that he couldn’t come down off that wall, or it wouldn’t happen. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”

President Trump has decided that he’s going to focus on blessing the people in this nation, and that’s what all governing officials should do in their own country.

This is an adapted excerpt from God, Trump, and the 2020 Election by Stephen E. Strang. Copyright ©2020 Published by Charisma House. Used by permission.