Mailbag

Opportunity cost

Having worked my teenage years on the family fresh produce truck farm in the 1960s with illegal immigrants, I can attest to their value, hard work ethic, and good and decent values. Those immigrants crossed only for the harvest seasons, returning to Mexico in November to return every April or May. They sent 90% of the paychecks back home. They taught me how to work. My brothers and I worked alongside them for 10-12 hours a day, went to bed, and then got up the next day to do it all again.

They paid into Social Security without any hope of ever collecting a dime, much as happens today. They sometimes begged to work for cash as they didn’t have the funds to buy fake documents. Back then, the INS hunted them down like animals and stole our helpers when we needed them most.

Now? Millions are let in without vetting, and we will pay the awful price for that for years to come. Yes, we need immigrants, but we need them here legally, fully vetted, and based upon their ability to assimilate and be a productive part of the American economy. For my Democrat/Socialist friends who love all things Europe and Canada, we would only have to look north to Canada for a sane, workable, productive, and country-preserving immigration system.

Canada vets immigrants and requires them to speak English or French proficiently and have a skill that can be employed in Canada. These types of requirements were introduced into Congress during Donald Trump’s first term but never made it out of committee, and the reasons are legion. With declining birthrates, immigrants will save our economy, but the drug dealers, gang members, sexual predators, and worse must be vetted out, excluded, and returned when found.

That would be a sane economic and social policy. I pray for sound leadership, but before we reform the system and perhaps even provide a path to citizenship, we must cleanse our cities and land from the mess of illegal, unfettered, and dangerous immigrants who are not here to forward our interests. I weep for our future.
     Craig J Borgardt / Caledonia, Wis.

This article is one of the reasons that I love WORLD. Never have I had the immigration debate explained for me so clearly and in such a well-balanced way.
     Cheryl Irish / Bastrop, Texas

I disagree with the argument that illegal immigrants provide greater fiscal benefits than those who reside here legally. Federal, state, and local governments spend billions of dollars a year for their education. How much do we spend on illegal immigrants’ healthcare? We don’t really know because many states take federal money for Medicaid that is not supposed to be used for illegal immigrants and that frees up state money to provide healthcare for them. Meanwhile, illegal immigrants, as well as legal ones, take jobs from citizens.
     Jeanette Burrage / Kent, Wash.

Heralds from the south

This article brought up a few good points that could serve the church in America well. However, an issue that went unaddressed is that a pastor does not have the right or authority to make unilateral changes and enforce them on the congregation against its will. Jesus, as Head of the church, has granted power to His church. This power resides with the whole body of the church—those who rule and those who are ruled. The power exercised by the people extends to the choice of those officers whom He has appointed in His church. In other words, it’s not the pastor’s church. It’s Christ’s church, and Christ has granted power to the congregation, which then extends that power to the elders of the church as overseers and shepherds. If an elder board/session wants to make the types of changes set forth in this article, it would do well to involve the congregation in the process rather than pushing changes upon them.
     Tom Chapman / Acworth, Ga.

Heavenly light

I choose to accept and marvel at God’s pre-solar, divine light, as detailed in the first book of the Bible. Created on Day 1, this light was sufficient to grow and sustain vegetation, three days prior to the creation of the sun. I believe it is the identical, God-created, light identified in Revelation 21:23: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.”
     Doug Powell / Fayetteville, Ga.

A vision fulfilled

I’ve followed stories about Wycliffe and other groups translating the Scriptures in previously unwritten languages. We are so fortunate to have had the Bible in English for many centuries, following the work of John Wycliffe, the Lollards, William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, and the translators of the “authorized” King James Bible. I myself mostly use the old Revised Standard Bible, the English Standard Version, and the New King James. But more translations in English seem to appear almost every year. Do we really need more English versions when we have so many? I don’t know, but I wish more money and effort were spent for those who cannot yet hear God’s words in their own “heart” language.
     Dan LaRue / Lebanon, Pa.

Thank you for Rob Holmes’ update on Bible translation around the world! I wept as I read about God’s faithfulness to reveal Himself to every people group through this work. “God’s provision through prayer changes everything. … Soon, ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’” (Habakkuk 2:14) is a challenge and encouragement that I hope will keep us on our knees and raise up a generosity that will fuel and fund translation teams around the world. May God be praised!
     Rebecca Blair / Albany, Ore.

Revival seed

I greatly appreciate Andrée Seu Peterson’s focus on revival seed. The history we have been taught in public schools over the past seven decades mentions Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening, but it does not come close to describing what happened within the colonies’ churches in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, especially with the central role the churches played.

In my seminary courses about church history, the central figure of the Welsh Revival that extended around the world was Evan Roberts, whose utterance of the phrase “Come, Holy Spirit” was the invitation of the revival’s initiation.
     David Albers / Crystal Lake, Ill.

One of my favorite writers, Andrée Seu Peterson, once again has tapped into the heartbeat of what God wants to bring to America—spiritual renewal and revival. As she noted, each revival or awakening America has experienced has left its own signature. In 1740, youth led the way; in 1857, businessmen and prayer took center stage; and the 1906 Azusa Street revival, while important because it was interracial, also extended to the Pentecostal Movement and Charismatic Movement, which both exploded worldwide in the 20th century. While all revivals and awakenings share many common themes, prayer is the most important common theme.
     Frank Stephens / Lynn Haven, Fla.

Things that last

Thank you for the article on DVDs making a comeback. I am one of the few who still watch them instead of streaming as I just can’t stomach that extra cost, especially when it includes ads! Hoping that this trend back is not lost on the library system. I keep fearing they will get rid of their vast collection.
     Connie Fleming / Mentor, Ohio

Ambitious faith

As a Christian in the Anglican tradition, I was amused by the assertion by Michael A.G. Haykin that he doesn’t “know of any other denominational body where paedocommunion is the norm.” Professor Haykin either made the choice to ignore orthodox Anglican churches, or he is unaware of the common practice of paedocommunion in many Anglican churches. My church is part of the Reformed Episcopal Church (ACNA), where infants and toddlers are brought to the communion rail every Sunday to receive.
     Danielle Versluys / Wrightwood, Calif.

Quotables

Why is Mamdani shown extinguishing the flame of hope of liberty and a better life, when it was being put out by others in power for years?
     Tom Kittok / Milaca, Minn.

Correction

Corey Mahler’s Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod congregation excommunicated him in 2023 (“Old prejudice,” January, p. 66).

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