Leftists love them some Jesus—so long as He can be twisted into a progressive mascot for their latest political crusade. But the moment He starts talking about sin, repentance, or judgment, they promptly shove Him back into the box labeled “outdated religious figure.”

But when it comes to open borders and mass immigration, suddenly, Jesus is a refugee, an illegal alien, an undocumented migrant, and—if you buy the tortured logic—an advocate for dismantling national sovereignty altogether.

Enter Russell Moore, a man who abandoned his post at the ERLC, because, get this, the Southern Baptist Convention wasn’t woke enough, only to take up residence at the thoroughly apostate Christianity Today, a publication that long ago exchanged theological fidelity for 30 pieces of leftist activism.

Earlier this week, Moore penned a screed titled Yes, Jesus Was a Refugee, in which he not only trots out this tired trope but does so with the smug condescension of a man who has spent too much time at elitist cocktail parties lobbying government leaders to approve the construction of Islamic mosques in small, conservative suburbs and not enough time in serious biblical study.

Moore begins his argument with a lament about the U.S. State Department halting refugee-related grants, mourning the plight of groups like World Relief—because, apparently, funneling tax dollars to NGOs masquerading as ministries is a sacred duty.

Then, in classic fashion, he leaps to the claim that rejecting the refugee-industrial complex is akin to rejecting Christ Himself. “The glee with which some anti-refugee figures celebrate their rejection” is, he warns, a dangerous sign. Indeed, because refusing to let bureaucrats dictate our national immigration policy is gleeful rejection rather than rational governance.

Then comes his central claim: “The question of whether Jesus was ever a refugee is straightforward and without any ambiguity.” He then cites the UN’s definition of a refugee—because, of course, what better authority on biblical matters than a globalist organization obsessed with dismantling national borders? He attempts to square this definition with Matthew 2, where Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre.

What Moore and his ilk don’t seem to grasp is that fleeing temporarily to another province within the Roman Empire at the direction of divine revelation is not the same thing as breaching a sovereign nation’s borders in defiance of the law.

Jesus was not applying for asylum status at the Egyptian border. He was not sneaking in under cover of darkness to demand social services. His parents took Him to a region under the same imperial rule, much like moving from California to Texas. By Moore’s logic, any American who flees New York’s tax policies for Florida is a “refugee.”

Moore then tries to tie Jesus’ flight to various Old Testament stories, citing the Israelites’ sojourn in Egypt, Rahab’s defection from Jericho, Ruth’s migration to Bethlehem, and David’s escape from Saul. None of these examples hold water. The Israelites were invited into Egypt under Joseph’s leadership and later enslaved. That is not the same as illegal immigration.

Rahab was a turncoat who betrayed her own city for the people of God, hardly a model for a mass invasion of national borders. Ruth followed her mother-in-law to her homeland, fully assimilating to Israelite customs. And David? He was on the run from a murderous king, not hopping borders in search of government benefits.

Moore’s cherry-picking continues with an appeal to Hebrews 11, citing various figures who “wandered about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” In other words, he’s comparing illegal border crossings to biblical figures running for their lives from tyrants. By this standard, any fugitive is a refugee. Should we open our borders to cartel members and terrorists because David once hid in a cave? This is biblical interpretation at its most laughable.

Then comes the most nauseating part. Moore admits that refugee policy is complex, that “Christians can and do differ on what the right way is to accomplish these goals,” but then pivots to his real argument—you must care about refugees in the way he prescribes, or you are rejecting Christ.

He suggests that just as tax collectors in the Bible were called to administer taxes justly, so too must Christians advocate for a refugee policy that aligns with “biblical principles.” But who interprets and defines those principles? Apparently, Russell Moore and his comrades at Christianity Today.

Finally, he appeals to emotion, claiming that refugees are unpopular, scapegoated, and reviled, and then tries to shoehorn Hebrews 13:12-14 into his argument. “Jesus suffered outside the gate,” he says, therefore, we must throw open our borders. Never mind that the passage is about Christ’s atoning sacrifice, not immigration policy. But this is how these people operate—if you disagree with their political agenda, you’re rejecting Christ Himself.

Here’s the truth. Jesus was not a refugee. He is the divine Son of God, sovereign over all creation, who temporarily lived in a different Roman province at the command of God. He never broke a law, never demanded handouts, and never called for the abolition of national borders. The Bible calls for charity and hospitality, yes, but it never commands governments to relinquish their duty to secure their nations.

Russell Moore and his ilk are not interested in biblical stewardship. They are interested in weaponizing Jesus to push their progressive agenda. They are not shepherds, they are radicalized far-left zealots, political operatives in clerical disguise. And anyone who uses Christ as a pawn to guilt-trip a nation into self-destruction is not a steward of God’s word but a fraud. A con artist. A deceiver.

No, Jesus was not a refugee. And no, Christians are not obligated to submit to Russell Moore’s twisted theology. Beware of those who use the gospel as a tool for their own political ends—they are not servants of Christ but servants of their own ambition.