Midnight Flight, Midnight Attack: A Friday Reckoning

A midnight flight. Seventy people. Three countries. This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King. Here's your Friday question: when a government moves fast in the dark, what does a Christian owe both the stranger and the state? Late Wednesday, just before midnight, the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted a core piece of the Trump administration's deportation strategy. A flight out of Alexandria, Louisiana was cancelled. Seventy people were on board. The destinations: Burundi, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic. These are third-country deportations. When the government can't quickly return someone home, it sends them elsewhere. Sometimes places they've never heard of. This month, lawyers for two men deported to Equatorial Guinea said they were beaten and held at gunpoint, with bags over their heads, in a hotel-turned-detention center. By Thursday, the administration filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. Solicitor General John Sauer said the courts need to halt the chaos. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the ruling, quote, "in the dark of night" robbed authorities of a legal tool. Here's the key: the lower court did not ban these deportations. It said migrants must have a meaningful chance to argue they'd be tortured or persecuted before removal. That distinction is the whole ballgame. Scripture speaks into this. Deuteronomy ten, verse nineteen: "Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." God gives Israel borders, laws, and order. In the same breath, He commands them to remember what it felt like to be the outsider. Both. Not one or the other. If you want to sit with that tension, keep Deuteronomy ten open in Bible Copilot as you follow along today. Overnight in Edgewood, Pennsylvania, a family was attacked in their sleep. Doctor Idris Evans, forty-six, was a pediatric critical care physician at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Police say a man entered his home just after twelve-thirty in the morning with a kitchen knife. Doctor Evans was killed. His wife is in critical but stable condition. During the attack, she yelled for their two children, ages eight and twelve, to run to a neighbor's house. They did. Police have charged thirty-two-year-old Elijah Hemingway with criminal homicide. Investigators say they don't yet know if the men knew each other. No motive has been announced. Psalm thirty-four, verse eighteen: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." That family needs prayer today, not theories. Pray for wisdom today before you repeat what you have heard. Two more developments moving fast. President Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House Thursday night for a state dinner. It's the first official state visit from a Chinese leader in more than a decade. Zuckerberg and Altman were reportedly among the guests. Lawmakers had urged Trump to press Xi on trade, artificial intelligence, and human rights. And at the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke as diplomats walked out. He called them "moral cowards." Outside, protesters gathered. One congressional candidate was arrested. Proverbs fifteen, verse one: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." That's not weakness. It's strategy. And it applies to prime ministers, presidents, and whatever conversation you're dreading this weekend. This episode is presented by Bible Copilot. Today's verse is Psalm thirty-four, verse eighteen. Open Bible Copilot and study the Verse of the Day first — a guided study through what the passage says, what it means, what it teaches about God, and how to apply it. Three questions each day are free. Start at mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel. That's mybiblecopilot dot com slash gospel, or search Bible Copilot in the App Store. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Sojourners on a midnight flight. A family in Edgewood. Leaders in rooms full of cameras. The Lord is near to all of them. And to you. Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. Carry that nearness into your Friday. I'll see you Monday.