"Let me make one final plea Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and as you told the nation yesterday you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.
The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals.
They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples.
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.
Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.
May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen."
It's astonishing how such a graceful and nuanced sermon—essentially a very short plea for mercy—aligned with the positions of the Episcopal church, the Catholic Church, and other Protestant denominations, rooted in the most obvious doctrinal points of the Gospels... stirs so much anger among partisans and receives such a disgusting response from Trump. He simply couldn't let it slide, could he?
Ladies and gentlemen, the worshipers of a false prophet decrying a simple call for mercy... nevermind the hypocrisy of hating free speech.
Matthew 19:24 "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Matthew 7:15-16 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are kravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?"
Matthew 21:12-28 "And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
"When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt"(Leviticus 19:34-35)
"Here the word of the Lord O King of Judah sitting on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow nor shed innocent blood in this place"(Jeremiah 22:2-3)
"Hear this you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong. Its rulers give judgement for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money, yet the lean upon the Lord and say 'Surely the Lord is with us' Therefore because of you Zion shall be ploughed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins"(Micah 3:9-12)
