President Donald Trump’s controversial border wall has been dominating the news. Leftists may complain about our president’s bold agenda to build a wall, but many of them don’t realize this concept isn’t new. The debate surrounding illegal immigration—and even the promise of building a wall—goes back as far as Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Yet now the issue has become almost a stalemate in Washington.
My friend Dr. Alveda King—niece to Martin Luther King Jr.—has a unique perspective and sees a spiritual connection between the book of Nehemiah and what America is facing now. She recently wrote an article about Trump’s wall for Newsmax that caught my attention. I was so intrigued that I asked if I could interview her on my “Strang Report” podcast, where she shared some compelling insights.
As a Christian evangelist, Alveda sees a spiritual reason behind many liberals’ biased animosity against Trump. She makes a comparison to the biblical story of Ezra and Nehemiah, who helped restore Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. Ezra served as a teacher of the law to the people of Israel at that time, and as governor, Nehemiah helped rebuild Jerusalem’s wall.
“And they had Sanballat and Tobias and the naysayers saying, ‘Come down off the wall! Don’t build the wall! Come down and talk to us and let’s discuss,'” Alveda says. “Nehemiah, by the Spirit of God, knew that he couldn’t come down off that wall or it wouldn’t happen. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”
Today’s naysayers want to delay Trump’s border wall with unproductive discussions. But those anti-wall protesters don’t realize just how badly we need a wall, Alveda says. After all, much illegal immigration directly supports drug cartels.
“The drug cartels are advertising,” Alveda says. “[They say,] ‘Give us the money and we’ll get you across.’ But no! They’re really doing that to profiteer with the drug market. … And we even have some evidence that some of the little children are not even the children of the families that they’re with. They’re renting the children to look as though they’re families, to help the cartels get the people across the border.”
In fact, Alveda says, these drug cartels go so far as to trick people into crossing the border illegally. Many travelers think what they’re doing is legal because the cartels tell them they will take care of their paperwork as long as they pay them a certain sum of money. But those lies are costly.
Alveda also points out that the wall is not merely Trump’s agenda. On the contrary, she says members of law enforcement, the medical community and more are pleading with Trump to get a strong regulatory system in process.
The United States is and should still strive to be a compassionate nation, Alveda says, but because of these problems stemming from illegal immigration, we need order. We need a wall.
“Without the order that is required to help and assist and serve the immigrants, they are suffering,” she says. “We welcome immigrants to America—absolutely. But there is a process, and the president is working on that process.”
Alveda points out that a clip is circling the internet right now of Obama saying we need to put politics aside and stop the flood of immigrants coming into our country. She wonders why it was fine for Obama to make this call to action, but not Trump. I can’t help but wonder the same thing.
In my travels around the world, I see how other countries adhere to their strict border laws. I remember one country I visited in Central America that wouldn’t let me enter until I renewed my passport. Why? Because their laws allowed any who entered legally to stay for six months. They realized my passport would expire before then, so even though I had only planned to stay four or five days, they made me get a new passport before I could cross their border.
I’m grateful for Alveda’s wise thoughts on Trump’s border wall. If only more Americans understood these principles! It’s clear that people like Alveda don’t want simply to shut people out of America; for her, compassion is one of the main motives for building a wall. That same compassion compels Alveda to speak out for the lives of unborn children and to join this year’s March for Life on Jan. 18. Be sure to listen to the podcast at the end of this article to hear more of Alveda’s spiritual and political wisdom!
Before I end this article, though, I want to share with you some exciting news about a new podcast I’m launching within the next few weeks called “In Depth With Stephen Strang.” My “Strang Report” podcasts will continue as normal, but each Friday, I will produce a longer episode featuring interviews with some exciting guests, such as Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Damon Davis and more!
I hope you will tune in to this new podcast when it launches—I think you will enjoy it. And if Alveda’s words inspired you today, I encourage you to share this article on your social media.
Joyce Meyer 
Stephen Strang 
