Tensions escalated in Minneapolis recently after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by Federal law enforcement officers after Good allegedly used her vehicle to target an ICE officer. The New York Post later reported that Good was involved with ICE Watch, a loose coalition of activists in Minneapolis working to track and disrupt ICE operations. Acting on her anti-ICE views, Good was uncooperative in a traffic stop and accelerated her vehicle toward an ICE officer, who reportedly shot Good in fear for his own life and safety.

A day later, ICE officers in Portland, Oregon, wounded an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant and his wife. The immigrant was allegedly affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang involved in drug activity. Homeland Security officials claimed that, after the officers identified themselves, the immigrant “weaponized his vehicle” and targeted ICE officers, prompting one of the officers to fire his weapon into the car.

Anti-ICE protesters claim their actions are a response to enforcement actions initiated by the Trump Administration, actions they claim are unconstitutional, unjust and immoral. Trump supporters say that the anti-ICE protests are often organized and financed by groups associated with George Soros and have socialist/communist backgrounds.

Whatever one believes about immigration, can we agree that violence, riots, and chaos combined with government overreach and politically-based enforcement are stealing the peace from American society? The situation in America today resembles conditions in ancient Israel after Moses and Joshua died and the people of Israel settled in Palestine alongside non-Israelites. Four times in the book of Judges the author notes that “in those days Israel had no king” and twice he describes the result as “everyone did as they saw fit.” (For an example, see Judges 17:6, NIV.) The last few decades in American society have been characterized by politicians who bypass legislative compromise and oversight in favor of executive orders and selective enforcement and by political disagreement that takes the form of bureaucratic subversion and organized violence. Everyone seems to be doing what they see fit and American society seems to be unravelling.

For nearly 250 years, Americans have espoused the “Rule of Law,” the idea that no person, whether an illegal immigrant or a government official, is above the law of the land; the same rules must apply to everyone.

James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers, wrote in 1788 to express the idea that no one, including the government itself, is above the law: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

God’s people must not participate in illegal and violent activities. In Romans 13:1-2, the Apostle Paul warns, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” In the United States, that means that those who disagree with the government must either change the laws or change the government; violence isn’t an acceptable option.

Like the biblical Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Martin Luther King, Jr. applied the principle of peaceful resistance. King organized civil rights protests in Birmingham, AL, that resulted in thousands of arrests, including the arrest of King himself.

Once the city jail was overcrowded, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor used high pressure water hoses and attack dogs in an attempt to disperse protestors. The national anger caused by these events focused America’s attention on civil rights and eventually resulted in Federal anti-discrimination laws. Criticized by white clergymen for the protests, King responded with his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law,” King wrote, “…That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s insistence on non-violent protest brought change; modern protestors often create chaos.