
Authorities stand in tear gas while trying to clear protesters at the metropolitan detention center in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following last night's immigration raid protest. (AP Photo/Jae Hong)
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles yesterday, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving vehicles on fire, after President Trump deployed National Guard troops to the city. Local law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd. Last night, the police department declared all of downtown LA to be an “unlawful assembly,” ordering demonstrators to leave the area immediately.
Mr. Trump deployed the Guard despite objections from Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was a result of “violent mobs” attacking “Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations” in recent days. More protests are scheduled for today.
Last night, police arrested approximately sixty people in San Francisco who committed violent crimes in support of the LA protesters. In response to demonstrations in multiple cities, including Minneapolis and Chicago, Mr. Trump stated that he could deploy troops to additional cities.
Few events display the paradoxical fallenness of humanity so starkly, no matter which side you take. Government agents are arresting illegal immigrants, or they are victimizing people. Protesters are breaking the law and making things worse, or they are defending the powerless. The administration is restoring order, or it is compounding the crisis.
In Federalist 51, James Madison observed:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on 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.
The good news is that there is a way to resolve this “great difficulty,” one as available to us as our next prayer.
Yesterday was the “birthday of the Church”
Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, marking the anniversary of the miracle by which the Holy Spirit sparked the global Christian movement.
Occurring fifty days after Easter, Pentecost is known as the “birthday of the Church.” On this day, Christians were miraculously empowered to share the gospel in the languages of multitudes gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:4–11), then Peter preached the first sermon in Christian history (vv. 14–40) and “there were added that day about three thousand souls” (v. 41).
In Against the Heresies, St. Irenaeus (c. 125–c. 202) described the event: “The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.” Then he added: “Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us.”
The miracle of Pentecost was not just that the Spirit saved so many souls, but that he began the process of making them like their Savior:
- They “devoted themselves” to biblical truth, unity, worship, and prayer (v. 42).
- “Many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles” (v. 43).
- The people sacrificially served the needs of others (vv. 44–45).
- They lived with joy and worship (vv. 46–47a).
- “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (v. 47b).
All of this was Jesus continuing his earthly ministry in them by the power of his Spirit as the Father transformed their hearts into the character of his Son (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 5:17), not by their merits or religious achievements but by his grace.
“Beware of harking back to what you were once”
The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the “Hajj,” concluded yesterday. It is one of the five “pillars” of Islam, works by which the faithful seek to earn salvation and favor from Allah. It typifies religion, our attempt to climb up to God by our deeds.
In Christianity, by contrast, God climbs down to us—in the Incarnation of his Son and then in the giving of his Spirit who indwells his people (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Here’s the problem: In our desire to be our own god (Genesis 3:5) and use religion as a means to our ends, we can make a relationship of grace into a religion of works. Like the actors who won Tony Awards last night, we can play a role on the stage of our lives in the desire to be someone we are not to achieve success as secularism defines it.
However, Oswald Chambers warns us: “Beware of harking back to what you were once when God wants you to be something you have never been.” He reminds us: “The Holy Spirit is the One Who makes real in you all that Jesus did for you.”
“My heart an altar and thy love the flame”
Now we can cooperate with the Spirit in manifesting the character of Christ in our lives. We can “set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2), remembering with Watchman Nee that “whatever the mind sets itself on is what the man walks after.” We can submit our lives fully to the Spirit, asking him to manifest the character of Christ in us (Galatians 5:22–23) and praying with the Irish hymnwriter George Croly, “My heart an altar and thy love the flame.”
When we do, every day becomes Pentecost.
Or we can read this article, set it aside, and focus on “things that are on the earth.” We can make today our “hajj” as we pray, read Scripture, and perform other religious duties in the transactional hope that God will then bless our days as we wish.
We can live for his glory or ours, seeking to advance his kingdom or our own.
But we cannot do both.
“It’s time for us to let God love us”
In First15, our ministry’s devotional resource, we read that God “longs to guide us into the incredible, abundant life that comes from seeking his kingdom above all else.” However, “You cannot have both love for the world and love for your heavenly Father.” As a result,
“It’s time for the bride of Christ to end its affair with the world. It’s time for us to let God love us and in response live for him alone.”
Will you live for Jesus “alone” today?
Quote for the day:
“Without Pentecost, the Christ event—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about, and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us so that we can become living Christs here and now.” —Henri Nouwen