After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared a video on X featuring the “send me” phrasing of the Bible verse Isaiah 6:8 while showing border patrol searching for migrants, Pastor Zach W. Lambert called out the agency's hypocrisy, noting how it is twisting Scripture to suit the Trump administration's ends.
The agency shared the video that includes the following narration:
“There’s a Bible verse I think about sometimes. Many times. It goes, ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’”
The camera then cuts to a close-up of the narrator’s uniform patch, revealing him as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent. Grainy, shadow-filled footage follows—agents maneuvering boats through dark waters, helicopters slicing through the night sky, all captured through night vision as they carry out their missions under cover of darkness.
The video uses Johnny Cash's song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" as a backdrop.
You can see the agency's video below.
Shortly afterward, Lambert noted the agency's hypocrisy in "using Bible verses to justify violence against immigrants":
"Using Bible verses to justify violence against immigrants is not only the opposite of what Jesus teaches, it’s also a direct contradiction to the passage cited in this video. “Here am I, send me” was the prophet Isaiah’s response after being called by God to deliver a message to the people and their leaders."
"What was the message? 'Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them love bribes and demand payoffs, but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows.' Isaiah 1:23"
"What were these corrupt and rebellious leaders doing?"
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? Isaiah 10:1-3"
He continued:
"God is sending Isaiah to warn the people, and more specifically their leaders, that if they do not turn from their corrupt ways and begin caring for the most vulnerable among them, they will suffer God’s judgment. Isaiah answers that call by saying, 'Here am I, send me.'"
"For a corrupt government to use these verses to justify the very marginalization and oppression being condemned in this passage is the height of blasphemy."
You can see Lambert's post below.
Many applauded him for speaking out and criticized the Trump administration themselves.
DHS has not responded to criticism about the video.