THOU SHALT NOT OPPRESS A STRANGER

THE STRANGER IN SWEDEN

Sweden has for many years been a Christian country, we have built our nation on a Christian foundation and been blessed, but our situation has changed. An horrendous terror attack took place not too long ago in our capital, Stockholm. Sweden's second biggest city, Gothenburg, has become Europe's number one recruiting place to ISIS. According to a research made by Göteborgsposten (Swedish newspaper), 1 out of 10 Swedish students living in the suburbs of Sweden, sympathizes with terrorists from ISIS and other terror-groups. In Sweden's third largest city, Malmo, where they have built Scandinavia's largest mosque financed by Qatar, 43 percent of the population are foreigners, and 90 percent of these have muslim background. Sweden have earlier had school graduations in churches where the students heard God's word, sang Christian songs and expressed their gratitude to God. Today we have to choose other locations rather than the church, or cover the crosses to not offend people of other beliefs. Just recently a school in Malmo forbid the Swedish flag to be seen at a school graduation since the cross on the flag would upset people. Politicians wants to change the Swedish flag and add symbols of Islam instead of the Christian cross.

The younger generation in Sweden don't have the same opportunities to practice their Christian faith as earlier generations. Islam expands and muslim foreigners don't want to make our God their God, our culture their culture, our laws their laws, but want to make their god our god, their culture our culture, their laws our laws. Rebels won't submit to Swedish law but want to put fear into our citizens by terrorizing, in order to change our way of living. A document made by SVT (Swedish television) reveals that the Imams in the mosques in Sweden encourages their members not to follow Swedish law, but their law.

It's time to take a stand, and preach the Gospel like never before. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it is the only message that can transform our nation.

THE STRANGER IN ISRAEL

When Israel was founded God declared how he wanted them to treat strangers that wished to live in their land. ("Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Exodus 23:9)

God though gives us the definition on what kind of stranger should be received. That stranger was obliged to make the God of Israel His God, and the people of Israel his people. The stranger should also be willing to contribute to the welfare of the country. Christians often quote "you shall not oppress a stranger" and use that verse as a defense to take in any stranger, even the stranger that would potentially cause the country a lot of harm. Just think about it, if God don't want us to oppress a stranger, then why would God want the stranger to oppress us? Sweden has done a huge mistake by taking in people that has been wanting to cause a lot of harm, but unfortunately Christians has been blinded from seeing it and terror attacks has been a result of it.

In the Bible we find the story about Ruth who left her home country and settled in Israel. Ruth said "For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried." (Ruth 1:16-17)

The stranger that would be received should therefore not be someone who wanted to force another religion or culture on the people. He would not either cheat the government on it's generosity for his own gain.

WHAT ABOUT RECEIVING A STRANGER?

When Jesus urged us to receive strangers, He didn't only speak to Israel but to all nations, but Jesus also gave us the definition on what stranger he was talking about:

Matt.25:35–40, 35 "for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

Jesus is saying here that He is one with them that wants to believe in him and live for him. He calls them his brothers (inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren"). Jesus in this context is not talking about people that is hostile to Jesus, but about those that are persecuted for their faith in Jesus.

Jesus said that when He comes back to earth He will say "I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink...", but some will then ask Him "When did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?". It's crystal clear, Jesus obviously refers to the body of Christ - "I was hungry and you gave Me food" - The body of Christ/ The church was hungry and thirsty... Jesus said that we should feed the church - we should feed Him, because He is one with the church (John 17:21)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RECEIVING A STRANGER, OR ANY STRANGER?

I have nothing against receiving strangers whatsoever, but what I can't tolerate is when we blindly receive anyone. Sweden has taken a big undertaking by receiving people from other countries with backgrounds of terrorism, and has been ignorant to the fact that it would put our safety at risk. We see daily in the asylum homes in Sweden, where Christian refugees have to move from refugee homes to other refugee homes because they are constantly mistreated and persecuted by other refugees that don't share their faith. These refugees fled their home countries due to persecution, but in the refugee shelters they are continuously persecuted. My questions is, did we do the Christian refugees a favor by taking in those that persecute them? Did we do the church a favor? Did we do Jesus a favor? We can do the stranger a favor by receiving him, but at the same time disfavor our family. For example, you could do a rapist a favor by letting him stay in your house with your family, but you certainly wouldn't do your family a favor. With other words Jesus is saying: those that are persecuted - give them a better life. Unfortunately we have instead allowed the persecutors in to our countries to continue to persecute us.

Sweden has as other countries in Europe, received strangers, that they have provided with housing and financial support, who've later joined ISIS and fought with them against European troops in Syria and beheaded Christians. When these people return again to Sweden/ Europe after having slaughtered innocent people, we blindly let them back in. Can we call this a loving act? At least we can say, it is not a loving act towards Jesus and his church - the least of his breathren.

MISUSED BIBLE SCRIPTURES Matt.5:38-48 is a bible scripture Christians has used to a point where they've almost become ignorant when it comes to dealing with foreigners. We have let Islamic terrorists terrorize but not many has dared to stand up and speak out about it. Often when a terror attack happens I hear "my thoughts and prayer goes out" or "all we can do now is to love", but what is love without action? It sounds sweet to say "my thoughts and prayer", but the life's that has been taken won't come back to life. We are so quick to try to solve something after it has happened, but what about preventing it from happening? Not to mention what Katy Perry said after the terror attack in Manchester, UK "The greatest thing we could do is just unite and love on each other, and like, no barriers, no borders... We all need to co-exist". I mean, how easy is it to co-exist when you just got killed by a terrorist? Was that the most substantial words she could come up with after an attack? Katy Perry, who so strongly advocates for women's rights, but don't want to talk about female genital mutilation that happens in the name of Islam, and the lack of women's rights under Sharia law. After the attack I heard someone say "the most important now is not to offend the peaceful muslims". Really? Is that the most important? What about the life's that were taken, is it not more important to prevent this from happening again?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't love, but just because we love don't mean that we don't have boundaries to what happens around us in our society. We can only expect more terror attacks in England, when Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, seemingly being quite ignorant to the fact that ISIS-fighter are let back into the UK after having fought against British troops overseas. This is a huge problem we have in Europe, it's gone out of hand!

In Matt. 5:38-48 we read that a stranger of Israel had taken over the nation. The people of Israel had been occupied by the Romans. The Israelite's were now found in a situation where they could be punished severely if not following their laws and orders. We read "whoever slaps you on your right cheek", "If anyone wants to sue you", "whoever compels you to go one mile". The Romans oppressed the people of Israel, and the Israelite's had to simply surrender under their authority. Jesus mentioned what it was written in the law and said "You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". Jesus quoted the law of justice found in Exodus 21-23 where we also read "you shall not oppress a stranger", but Jesus also adds "but I tell you not to resist an evil person". What did Jesus really mean by saying this? Could he really mean to say that he wanted the Israelite's to let injustice go on? If a man tried to rape another mans daughter, would Jesus' advice to that man be to just let it happen? In Sweden and in the U.S. we practice criminal justice, that'll say, if a man commits a crime there's a consequence for that crime. By law we can not let the rapists, murderers, gang-members do whatever they please, that would be unsafe and unfair for the law-abiding citizens. So would Jesus really encourage the Israelite's to let this madness go on? There are a lot of Christians that quote this scripture to condone what people around us do, and that we should "love these people" and "be more tolerant". We got to understand that this is not a matter of loving someone. The bible says that correction is a proof of love. Love is not defined in letting things pass, but correction is instead a result of love. Or would it be loving for a parent to let a complete stranger rape his daughter? So why have we become so ignorant when we see "refugees" terrorizing on our streets? Because we haven't understood what Jesus said in the context of this scripture!

Israel under this time was under Romans occupation, what Jesus therefore said could be applied to people that are in a similar situation, but it could not be applied for a police officer nowadays. Sweden for example is not under occupation, and could not let injustice be condoned. How would it look like if a criminal shot a man and the police officer would encourage the man to turn his other cheek? The police officers wouldn't then be able to arrest anyone, if they had to turn the other cheek on everyone that is practicing criminality. At this time in Israel, if a Roman would punch an Israelite in the face, and the Israelite didn't turn the other cheek but fought back, he could possibly be crucified. Or if an Israelite was asked to go a mile but refused to do so, severe consequences would follow.

Jesus therefore didn't encourage the Israelite's to condone what the Romans did, or abolish the law of justice. Jesus said "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill", but Jesus added a commandment to the law to help them not to hate the Romans, but to love them. Jesus helped them to meet everyone with respect and love. The teaching that Jesus shared about how the Jews would behave towards the stranger that occupied the land, could therefore not be applied in that sense to a people that are not occupied. Sweden for example can not let foreigners in and let them apply sharia-law, because that would go against Swedish law. Jesus never encouraged us to be tolerant to that which is against the will of God, neither did He tell us that we shouldn't defend what is right. Why would Jesus want evil to rule?

These Romans that occupied Israel, could be called "strangers". We have read that we shouldn't oppress the strangers, but has also dealt with what kind of strangers God was talking about, but in Deuteronomy 28:47-52 we read about a stranger that is called "enemy". This stranger mentioned in Deuteronomy was not a blessing to Israel, but a curse.

STRANGERS THAT ARE ENEMIES

Deuteronomy 28:47-52 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you."

We read in this scripture, that there would come foreigners that would be against Israel, that would speak another language, that would oppress them and should steel what they had built up. Strangers that are opposite to the ones we talked about earlier, who were obliged according to the law God gave Moses, that they should contribute to the welfare of the country and not cheat the government on it's generosity for his own gain. We see this today in Sweden, where school graduations can no longer be held in churches because it would offend those that share another faith. The crosses has to be covered or taken down in the churches to not offend those that have another religion. Politicians wants to change the Swedish flag and add symbols of Islam instead of the Christian cross, and the government is under threat by extremists. Meanwhile, we the citizens are tolerant (or rather ignorant) to the fact, because we don't want to resist an evil person as "Jesus told us not to". Yes Jesus told us not to resist an evil person in this context but the Bible also teaches us to reject every kind of evil, and that we should fear the Lord and shun evil (1 Thess. 5:22, Prov 3:7).

For you that live in a Christian nation, you have to understand that the blessing that is over your nation, and the abundance that is over your nation, is a result of a nation that has served the Lord and followed His will (Deut. 28:1-2). Unfortunately as people turn away from God, Christianity fades away and other religions comes in and persecutes to a point where oppression and poverty becomes the result of it.

I wrote this blog with a prayer that we would understand the great deal of importance to serve the Lord, not only personally or as a family, but as a nation. That we would be encouraged to let God's will rule in our families, and our nation, and if we do, we will enjoy the riches and blessings from God in our countries.

2 Chronicles 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Love and peace

- Richard Wendesten