Scripture can both explain, amplify and inform public policy, but it’s also been known, at times, to be either misapplied or misinterpreted to make a point or advance an agenda.
The Reverend Mariah Tollgaard was invited to testify on Wednesday before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Congressional members were gathered to glean answers to the many questions surrounding the massive fraud in Minnesota’s social service programs. It’s been estimated that over $9 billion was stolen, a scam allegedly driven and enabled by the state’s illegal alien community.
Mariah Tollgaard is pastor of Hamline Church United Methodist in St. Paul, Minnesota. If you visit the church’s website, you’ll see them refer to the congregation as being “radically inclusive” or “LGBTQIA + Friendly.”
Regardless, why would a pastor be testifying before Congress at a hearing on fraud?
Pastor Tollgaard was there to share her perceived community concerns stemming from the federal government’s “Operation Metro Surge” illegal immigration enforcement campaign. In her opening statement, the pastor accused ICE officers of terrorizing the community and noted her eight-year-old “struggles to sleep at night because she is afraid ICE agents might break into our house.”
Where might an 8-year-old have gotten that idea?
She then added:
“This Administration has targeted Minnesota because we live out our values of loving our neighbors.”
It would be good to note that the mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is “to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.”
Pastor Tollgaard ended her opening statement with an impassioned plea:
To Americans across the country and those watching from home, to the families who are still afraid to answer a knock at the door, who go to the gas station at 2:00 AM out of fear, who have not yet held funerals for the people they have lost: You are not forgotten. And there are more people fighting for you than you know.
Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do unto me.”
Following her testimony, Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas pressed in on Pastor Tollgaard’s comments, particularly her decision to cite Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel.
“I went and got my Bible and thought we’d dig into Matthew 25 for a minute,” he began.“And the scripture you invoked was Matthew 25, [verses] 35 through 40. It ends with this: ‘Then the righteous will answer to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the King will answer to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did to one of those brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did this to me.’ I would ask you, ‘Who’s the ‘you’ in that passage?’”
Pastor Tollgaard acknowledged the “You” was all of us.
Rep. Cloud replied, “What Christ didn’t say was to lobby your government. He even said, if you have, you give, that’s the general biblical principle here.”
The Texas representative then quoted from the Apostle Paul’s letter to believers in Corinth where he noted Christians should give voluntarily “not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). He asked the pastor if taxes were compulsory. After some hesitation she acknowledged they were.
“I’m always amazed in D.C. how much we get to define our personal worth as a politician or statesman, or whatever you want to call us, by how much of other people’s money we give away,” Rep. Cloud said.
The Texas representative pushed back on the idea of Matthew 25 being used as a “blanket statement” for funding even illegal activities, noting the necessity of a safety blanket, but saying it doesn’t justify the distribution of taxpayer funds for anything and everything. He then referenced the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and noted God expects us to do something with what He gives us.
In other words, it’s easy to distort what true Christian charity is to be.
In Minnesota, according to Rep. Cloud, “We have a massive program of fraud that’s being paid for by taxpayers.”
Representative Cloud then referenced the purpose of government and that “if you do wrong, be afraid, for the rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants” (Romans 13:4).
Pastor Tollgaard sat quietly as Rep. Cloud noted the irony of cherry-picking one verse of Matthew 25, but then seemingly ignoring Jesus’ warning that “the worthless servant” will be cast “into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).
He then added by saying, “I would caution those who begin to use Matthew 25 to do so in the proper context, understanding that we have multiple biblical institutions and they each have a purpose and context here.”
Whether a politician or an ordinary citizen, Scripture isn’t intended to suit our whims but rather to help us serve the Lord and those in our world.
