​People moving between tribes, lands, and countries is no new phenomenon. Indeed, since the world began, people have moved around. After the establishment of property boundaries, classification became necessary. Words like “migrant” and “refugee” are used interchangeably in today’s media. Older words like “alien,” “nomad,” or “gypsy” were used to convey negative presuppositions. Even older words like “stranger” and “foreigner” are descriptors applied in the Bible. There is one word, however, that has special significance for developing a biblical worldview. That word is “sojourner.” To be fair, a sojourner of the Bible and an immigrant of today might not necessarily be one in the same. Nevertheless, we must let the Bible inform our perspective on immigration and not political or social agendas.

God had given Adam and Eve the command to eat of any tree “of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die”. (Genesis 2:16-17 CSB) If you know the narrative then you know what happens next: taking the form of a serpent, Satan approaches Eve and asks the simple question: “Did God really say?” casting doubt on the veracity of God’s spoken Word to His creation. Adam and Eve then fell — “The Fall of Man” or the teaching of “Original Sin.” That is what Satan does, he casts doubt on the Word of God and the truth that is contained in it. It is a worldview sadly that has been taught by false teachers (see 1st Timothy 4:1 and 2nd Timothy 3 and 4 for a more in-depth study on the issue) throughout the centuries and it is especially prevalent in the modern church today.

​​“Woke” is the word of the day. If you spend anytime watching, reading, or surfing the news, you will have come across this word. In decades past, one would speak of being “woken up” from slumber. Today, that word has shifted from a somnial meaning into an ideological one. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (itself fallen into wokeness) defines that word as American slang suggesting an awareness of and attention to key facts or issues. In most contexts, “woke” is often used in reference to some social or political issue. The Bible speaks less about being “woke” and more about being “washed.”