Encourage Dr. Ed Stetzer to Address Refugee Resettlement with Wisdom and Discernment

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Dear Dr. Ed Stetzer,

Please allow us to express some concerns about your support and involvement with the “Christian Declaration on Caring for Refugees: An Evangelical Response.” The GC2 Summit statement reads: “Moments like these are when Christians cannot remain silent and still.” We wholeheartedly agree. We also agree that it is our duty to extend the utmost mercy and compassion. But we do not believe this should be done without regard to our national security or our country’s already strained financial well-being.

As you may be aware, there are nine Voluntary Agencies (or VOLAGS), and hundreds of subcontractors that are paid by the federal government to resettle refugees. As we examine one ofthese nine, World Relief(WRI), we see that Mr. Stephan Bauman (annual salary $192,194) and Ms. Jenny Yang ofWRI received $41.2 million in FY 2014 from government grants, which equates to 70 percent oftheir 2014 revenues.1 This sounds more like a big business making money by collecting tax dollars, than committed Christians sacrificing to do the work ofthe Lord. As a side note, I find it of great concern that they find additional support from the “controversial” George Soros, via the National Immigration Forum. We would encourage you to learn more about his many other provocative activities.

As a member of Refugee Council USA, WRI has helped lobby Senators into signing a letter that encourages Obama to receive 65,000 Syrian refugees before the end of his term.2 As a member of The Immigration Alliance (TIA), World Reliefis also associated with a network oftens ofthousands of churches. Some of these TIA member organizations like Assemblies of God, Church of Nazarene, Evangelical Free Church, Missionary Church, and Wesleyan Church are noted as signatories to the declaration. With the support of our tax money and the support ofthe churches listed, then why does the next paragraph hold true?

We quote from a National Review article: “Earlier this year, a Congressional Research Service report found that 74 percent ofthe refugees who arrived in the past five years were on food stamps, 56 percent were accessing Medicaid, 47 percent were receiving cash assistance, and 23 percent were in public housing. Only 11 percent were getting health insurance through an employer.” 3 This is a tremendous financial burden to our country. It has been projected that a family off our would cost the U.S. $257,481 over the next five years.4

Up to this point, we’ve tabled any expression offear, because an equal concern to national security is that offinancial security. Can you please help us by answering these two questions: 1) How is transplanting a refugee into the U.S. to become dependent on our already overburdened government merciful and compassionate? and 2) Since it’s not mentioned in the declaration, we also want to know; who is going to pay for it? Please note that it’s 12 times more cost effective to help refugees in their original region (according to Mark Krikorkian ofthe Center for Immigration Studies)5 and it’s our tax money that foots the bill. With the recent passing ofthe omnibus bill, refugee resettlement is fully funded, further increasing our $18 trillion debt. The Bible does say we will suffer (even economically, at times), but I never realized it would be the result of our own ignorance to the total cost of the subject at hand. It is clear that we must exercise wisdom here.

In a parallel that’s too close for us to pass up, shall we consider both Obama’s agenda of “Welcoming Communities and Fully Integrating Immigrants and Refugees”6 and World Relief’s “Welcoming the Stranger”7 as great causes for the nation? Surely, our President is very pleased with the work ofWorld Relief, especially as our tax money continues to fund his “progressive” plan. On WR’s “Welcoming the Stranger” website, there’s a tab called “Immigration by the Numbers.” We would also like to encourage you to watch Clarion Project’s short film “By the Numbers” found here: http://go.clarionproject.org/numbers-full-film/. Don’t you agree that it brings new meaning to the numbers?

Let it be known that we agree “we cannot allow voices offear to dominate.” However, we must also agree that we cannot become naïve to the facts. With CNN as the resource, the declaration “acknowledge[s] that there are genuine security concerns and encourage governments to be stewards ofsafety, but we also observe that choosing to come to North America as refugees would be among the least effective ways for those who intend to do us harm.” Could you verify CNN’ statement with any other, perhaps more credible sources? Wouldn’t we be all the wiser to consider what Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says on this subject? Terrorists could easily infiltrate the country’s refugee system. Dare we say, some already have!

What if we would choose a more credible source in FBI Director James Comey, who continues to warn us that they cannot properly screen Syrian refugees entering the United States?8 “So, as governments oversee matters ofsecurity, we will care for the hurting…” We won’t go as far back as 9/11, but this year alone, we’ve had the Curtiss Culwell Center attack, the Chattanooga shootings, a hospital bomb threat in Mississippi, the San Bernardino shooting, and almost certainly others ofwhich we are not aware. How many lives have to be threatened – or how many men and women have to die – for us to realize the government is falling short on overseeing the matters ofsecurity? After all, the government did an exemplary job with “properly vetted” Tashfeen Malik, right? Please consider the 1,000 active ISIS probes in the U.S.9 and the 72 DHS employees found on a terrorist watch list before we start relying completely on the government for protection.

Since we agree this is the time for Christians to speak up, please consider the following: Be discerning. Choose your allies carefully. Consider credible resources, surely not a biased news outlet. Yes, we are called to be ambassadors for Christ, but we are also called to be responsible. We would rather see a man ofyour influence standing up against a corrupt government and the deceitful organizations it funds. Please raise your own money, send missionaries abroad, and equip men and women here in America to defend the Gospel. But don’t think that it’s more biblical to weaken our national security and weaken our economy in the process. Our hearts are filled with mercy and compassion, but we are also obligated to express some honesty and wisdom along the way. Our Lord commands us to “be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). I believe that this injunction applies especially well to our current concerns. We look forward to hearing your answers to the two questions posed in the fifth paragraph, and would also like to hear you speak to the very serious security concerns. 

Respectfully yours,

Concerned Christian

References

1. Simpson, James. The Red-Green Axis, Civilization Jihad Reader Series: Volume 4. Center for Security Policy, 2015.

2. http://www.rcusa.org/members

3. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425901/refugee-resettlement-united-states

4. http://cis.org/High-Cost-of-Resettling-Middle-Eastern-Refugees

5. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/19/krikorian-refugee-resettlement -costs-12-times-providing-help-region/

6. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/21/presidential-memorandumcreating-welcoming-communities-and-fully-integra

7. http://welcomingthestranger.com/

8. https://youtu.be/5HZ4A7YGKl4

9. http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/11/fbi-has-nearly-1000-active-isis-probes-inside-u-s/