{"id":8010,"date":"2025-11-05T11:26:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianethicstoday.com\/wp\/?p=8010"},"modified":"2025-11-17T09:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T16:51:11","slug":"the-bible-according-to-the-department-of-homeland-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianethicstoday.com\/wp\/the-bible-according-to-the-department-of-homeland-security\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible According to the Department of Homeland Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brian Kaylor<\/em><\/p>\n

The social media feeds of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are mostly filled with arrest porn, like mugshots, images of immigrants being nabbed by federal agents, and conservative media articles about crimes allegedly committed by an immigrant. They also put in some glamor shots of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including videos<\/a>\u00a0of her this week riding a horse in the Argentinian countryside (as she visited the country on taxpayer funds along with the man with whom she\u2019s long been\u00a0rumored<\/a>\u00a0to be having an affair). DHS has also been posting nostalgic art with yearnings for a White America, like a Thomas Kinkade\u00a0painting<\/a>\u00a0and a John Gast\u00a0painting<\/a>\u00a0glorifying \u201cmanifest destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the arrest porn, shots of \u201cICE Barbie<\/a>,\u201d and kitschy art, DHS has recently thrown in a couple of Bible verses to justify their militarized efforts to hunt immigrants. Such kidnappings of Scripture for dehumanizing rhetoric and the flexing of imperial power stand out as particularly grotesque abuses of the Christian faith, even amid an administration constantly\u00a0pushing<\/a>\u00a0Christian nationalism and\u00a0attacking<\/a>\u00a0Christians who care for immigrants.<\/p>\n

DHS isn\u2019t merely taking verses out of context; they\u2019re snatching verses that clearly don\u2019t apply to their work as they try to frame arresting, detaining, and deporting people as the result of a divine call from God. So this issue of\u00a0A Public Witness<\/em>\u00a0opens up DHS\u2019s social media in one hand and an actual Bible in the other to consider the competing faiths.<\/p>\n

Homeland Heresies<\/strong><\/p>\n

This month, DHS shared two videos that use a biblical passage along with footage of militarized forces running around looking for immigrants. Both also used audio from movies, raising questions of whether they actually had the rights to do so. DHS is already facing claims from others that they used copyrighted materials without permission, including from the estate of Kinkade which\u00a0called<\/a>\u00a0the use of his painting \u201cunauthorized.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 7, DHS\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0a video they titled \u201cHere am I, send me\u201d (along with an American flag emoji after that phrase). As the title suggests, they co-opted Isaiah 6, which is when the prophet Isaiah experienced a divine call that included a vision of seraphim flying around, the voice of God calling out, and a hot coal placed on his mouth before he answers for God to send him.<\/p>\n

The DHS video starts not with flying heavenly creatures but with helicopters carrying people in military-like garb and holding weapons as they look around for people to capture. Instead of a hot coal, the agents\u2019 faces are covered by masks (except for a cameo shot of Noem riding along where we see her whole face glowing in red light). At one point the footage switches to night-goggle vision to see not the throne of God but the people who are being hunted. Throughout the one-minute video, audio runs with the words also on the screen. Although not acknowledged, the audio was taken from the movie\u00a0Fury<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a Bible verse I think about sometimes. Many times,\u201d we hear Shia LaBeouf say as the World War II tank gunner Boyd \u201cBible\u201d Swan. \u201cIt goes: And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, \u2018Whom shall I send and who will go for us?\u2019 I said, \u2018Here am I, send me!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With LaBeouf\u2019s uncredited words serving as a narration for the video, it makes it seem like a DHS agent is answering a call from God to go and serve in a mission to hunt immigrants. Joining DHS is baptized as a divine job, with DHS agents protecting the nation in this holy crusade.<\/p>\n

Adding to that, the video also features background music that aids in elevating both the religious messaging and the glorification of militarized force: \u201cGod\u2019s Gonna Cut You Down.\u201d The song, which has been recorded over several decades by various artists, warns criminals that they \u201ccan run on for a long time\u201d but \u201csooner or later, God\u2019ll cut you down.\u201d In this new context, DHS clearly sees themselves as agents of God\u2019s retribution (as opposed to those being warned by the song). The particular version of the song used in the video was recorded by the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The band\u00a0responded<\/a>\u00a0by criticizing DHS for \u201cimproperly using\u201d the recording and demanding the video be pulled down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obvious that you don\u2019t respect copyright law and artists\u2019 rights any more than you respect habeas corpus and due process rights, not to mention the separation of church and state per the U.S. Constitution,\u201d the band added. \u201cOh, and go f\u2026 yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 28, DHS\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0another video exploiting both Scripture and immigrants. This 41-second film is also highly produced, featuring secretive agents in tactical gear and holding guns while bursting into buildings at night. At one point, a clip from a Batman movie is heard where the Dark Knight declares: \u201cThey think I\u2019m hiding in the shadows. But I am the shadows.\u201d That\u2019s the voice of Robert Pattinson in the 2022 film\u00a0The Batman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, a Bible verse (in the King James translation) slowly appears on screen and then stays on for the rest of the video as agents run around pointing guns at empty spaces: \u201cThe wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.\u201d \u2014 Proverbs 28:1<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s put aside the poor choice of which Bruce Wayne alter ego to use (when the best is clearly Will Arnett in\u00a0The Lego Batman Movie<\/em>). The use of Proverbs 28:1 is even more ridiculous. Obviously, DHS thinks they are the \u201crighteous\u201d ones in the verse, but they must not be reading very carefully. You can\u2019t claim to be \u201cbold as a lion\u201d while wearing masks, driving unmarked cars, and refusing to identify yourself. And while the wicked might flee when no one pursues them, in this case people are being pursued by DHS agents. So does that mean the people aren\u2019t actually wicked since they\u2019re literally being pursued?<\/p>\n

Thus Saith the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both DHS videos clearly misuse the Bible, twisting the holy words to justify something not intended by the authors. In fact, if DHS keeps reading, they\u2019ll instead find a much stronger case against them with a lot of verses that offer strong critiques of DHS and the Trump administration more broadly. And I don\u2019t even mean they need to keep reading the entire Bible; they could settle for just reading the rest of the Book of Isaiah or merely finish reading Proverbs 28.<\/p>\n

The hermeneutical approach of Noem\u2019s DHS is basically akin to dragging a puppy to a gravel pit and\u00a0shooting<\/a>\u00a0it. Far from an anti-immigrant demagogue, Isaiah instead warns the ancient Israeli Department of Homeland Security that they will fail to defend the nation \u2014 not because they didn\u2019t crack down on foreigners but partially because they didn\u2019t welcome them!<\/p>\n

\u201cHide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees,\u201d Isaiah\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0the people. \u201cLet the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBring water for the thirsty,\u201d he\u00a0added<\/a>. \u201cBring food for the fugitives. They flee from the sword.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaiah even declared that God would refuse to accept the prayers and religious expressions of those who oppressed others, which should serve as quite a warning to someone misusing a Bible verse to justify oppressing immigrants and refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood,\u201d Isaiah\u00a0wrote<\/a>, offering a word from God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.\u201d
\nAs for Proverbs 28, even this book of wisdom literature packs quite a prophetic punch that should make DHS squirm. Here are a few other lines from chapter<\/a> 28:<\/p>\n

\u201cA ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.\u201d v. 3<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.\u201d v. 6<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.\u201d v. 9<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.\u201d v. 11
\n\u201cWhen the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.\u201d v. 12
\n\u201cLike a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.\u201d v. 15<\/p>\n

\u201cA tyrannical ruler practices extortion.\u201d v. 16<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.\u201d v. 27<\/p>\n

With biblical passages like those, I would be tempted to hide my face too. The only problem for DHS is that God can see through the masks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2014 Brian Kaylor<\/strong> is editor of Missouri’s <\/em>Word&Way.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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