April 30, 2022 – Ron Young
CHARLOTTE—On Easter Sunday, widely considered to be the holiest day of the year for Christians, popular megachurch pastor, Steven Furtick, stole the headlines with his biblical and hard-hitting message.
“We don’t do enough,” he thundered, “We are enough – say, ‘I am enough’ – but we don’t do enough. And enough is enough.”
After the crowd of nearly 10,000 people sat down from their raucous applause, Furtick began to expound his meaning.
“Think about it, believe it, receive it, achieve it – say ‘I receive it’ – no one asked Jesus to come to this planet. No one wanted Jesus to come to this planet. No one invited him. He just did it. And that’s so like him.”
As choruses of laughter, chants of “ohhhh, it is!”, and scatters of applause faded away, Furtick brought down the proverbial hammer of biblical exposition: Jesus was an illegal immigrant! He broke the law for love, and he can destroy national sovereignty as well. Can I get an amen?”
He did.
As Furtick continued to share, scales fell from the eyes of those in the crowd as the Scriptures became alive like never before.
“He didn’t have a passport. He didn’t have a green card. He didn’t have a visa. He just showed up and showed out! And guess what? He brought a whole host of angels with him! A mighty host of illegals marching into the Bethlehem sky.”
“And what did we do?” ‘There’s no room for you, Jesus.’ That’s what the innkeeper said. ‘We are terrified of you, go away!’ That’s what the shepherds said to the angels. ‘I want to kill you!’ That’s what Herod said to Jesus.”
At this point, the parallel between biblical truth and American reality was so clear that Furtick didn’t even need to continue.
He did.
“So, when I turn on the news, and I see an army of illegal immigrants swarming our borders, I see angels, man! And when I see a group running through a field at night being chased by border patrol, I think to myself, ‘that’s Jesus right there.’”
Upon capturing the heartrending image of Christ being chased through a field by border patrol, the entire audience began to wail and lament. It was a moving of the spirit rarely witnessed in these times.
When asked about the final point of his message, or the practical application, Furtick replied with, “The gospel, man. If you are already saved, this church isn’t for you.”
When confronted with the fact that immigration is a complex and nuanced issue, Furtick said, “Listen, in the end, Jesus understood the situation and went back where he belonged. I think the Mexicans will do the same.”
We asked him if he had used Scripture to reach these wonderful conclusions.
He didn’t.
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