You Cannot Serve Both Christ and Cruelty: A Call to Christian Conscience for Agents of Power

“No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and mammon.” — Matthew 6:24

In these turbulent times, when nationalism is masked as virtue and cruelty parades as law and order, it becomes more urgent than ever for those who claim the name of Christ to examine their conscience in the light of the Gospel. This is especially true for those in positions of state-sanctioned power, agents of ICE, DHS/HSI, and Border Patrol, who, by virtue of their role, are asked to carry out directives that directly affect the lives, dignity, and survival of the poor, the stranger, the refugee, and the imprisoned.

If you are a Christian and wear the uniform of the state, you are not excused from the demands of the Gospel. On the contrary, the Gospel's demands bear even more heavily on you. You are not simply following orders; you are shaping lives, enforcing policies, and wielding power that can either uphold human dignity or trample it underfoot.

The Least of These: The Gospel Standard of Judgment
Christ speaks clearly in Matthew 25:

“I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

There is no ambiguity here. Jesus identifies Himself with the vulnerable, the displaced, the foreigner. To dehumanize migrants, to separate children from parents, to send desperate souls back into violence and poverty, these are not neutral bureaucratic actions. These are violations of Christ Himself.

If your badge compels you to ignore the suffering of others in the name of “national security,” ask yourself: Whose security are you protecting, and at what cost to your soul? No wall, no border, no policy can justify turning a blind eye to the suffering Christ in your midst.

MAGA and the Anti-Gospel of Power
Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is rooted in xenophobia, racialized fear, and authoritarian cruelty. It champions wealth over justice, control over compassion, and division over unity. It idolizes power and demands unquestioning allegiance, values utterly incompatible with the Kingdom of God.

Christ did not come to affirm the empire, but to upend it. He did not exalt Caesar, but called His followers to take up the Cross. When you follow a political movement that vilifies immigrants, mocks the disabled, demonizes the poor, and glorifies violence, you are not walking with Christ, you are walking away from Him.

To embrace the MAGA ideology is to adopt a rival gospel, one that betrays the suffering Christ and serves the very powers He came to overthrow.

The Christian’s Ultimate Allegiance
As Christians, our loyalty is not to party, nation, or job. Our first and final allegiance is to Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Son of the Living God, and the Judge of all nations. And He will not ask how effectively we enforced policy, but how faithfully we loved our neighbor.

If your job forces you to participate in actions that violate the image of God in another human being, you must choose. You cannot serve both Christ and cruelty. You cannot stand at the altar and at the border checkpoint where families are torn apart. You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer on Sunday and imprison the hungry stranger on Monday.

Resign Your Post—Reclaim Your Soul
This is a call to radical Christian conscience. If you claim the Christian faith and you serve in a role that enacts or upholds policies of inhumanity, you must resign your position. Resignation is not cowardice. It is discipleship. It is taking up your cross. It is saying: “Here I stand; I can do no other.”

There is a higher law than any executive order. There is a deeper allegiance than any flag. And there is a more lasting Kingdom than any nation.

To walk away from a job that asks you to betray Christ is not a loss, it is the beginning of salvation. You may be misunderstood, mocked, or even suffer economically. But you will have preserved the only thing that truly matters: your soul.

The Narrow Way of Peace
The world offers many rationalizations for evil: it calls it policy, duty, even patriotism. But Christ offers only one path, the narrow way, marked by mercy, humility, and love for the least.

The Church cannot remain silent. The Gospel cannot be twisted into nationalist slogans. And the Christian conscience must not be sold for a pension or political safety.

Christ is calling His followers to come out from among the machinery of cruelty and take their place among the poor, the outcast, and the stranger, where He has always been.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9

If you wish to follow Christ, follow Him all the way, away from the weapons of empire and into the arms of the Crucified.