Into the Light: Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD
Into the Light
This morning in Minneapolis, federal immigration agents shot and killed a man on the city’s south side, an event that arrives less than three weeks after the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good by an ICE officer. Two killings, both at the hands of federal agents, have now taken place within the span of a month on American streets. These are not isolated incidents; they represent a pattern of force exercised with minimal transparency and rapidly shifting official explanations. The moral question before us is not simply what happened today, but what kind of nation we are becoming when federal power is repeatedly expressed through lethal violence against civilians.
Historically, societies do not descend into authoritarianism in one dramatic moment. They drift—slowly, incrementally—into patterns of coercion that become familiar, even expected. Germany in the early 1930s offers a sobering parallel. The full horrors of the later regime were not yet visible in those early years. What was visible, however, was the gradual expansion of state policing powers, the targeting of vulnerable communities, the erosion of judicial oversight, and the normalization of violence carried out by agents of the state. Pastors, theologians, and civic leaders who sensed the danger often spoke too late, discovering that authoritarian structures, once established, do not easily yield to moral persuasion.
Our present moment bears disquieting resemblance to that early drift. When federal officers appear on city streets functioning more as a paramilitary force than accountable civil servants, when the taking of human life becomes a procedural footnote, and when the state asks the public to accept these acts with minimal inquiry, we are witnessing the early architecture of authoritarian governance. Christians must be the first to recognize this. We follow a Lord whose authority is expressed not through intimidation but through self-giving love, justice, and a fierce defense of the vulnerable. The Gospel offers no sanction for a state that deploys fear as a governing strategy.
Moreover, silence in moments such as these becomes a form of acquiescence. The churches of Germany in the 1930s learned this at great cost: the refusal to speak early and clearly created a vacuum in which authoritarian power thrived. We cannot repeat that mistake. The deaths in Minneapolis require not only lament but a sober confrontation with the systems and structures that allowed them to occur. The Christian vocation is to call for truth, transparency, and accountability from all who wield public authority.
Therefore, we must insist upon an independent and public investigation of these shootings, the curbing of unchecked federal force, and a renewed commitment to the dignity of every human life. A society that tolerates the routine killing of civilians by agents of the state is a society in danger of forgetting its own moral foundations. The task before the Church is to speak plainly, to advocate courageously, and to proclaim that peace rooted in justice is the only peace worth pursuing. Authoritarianism grows in the shadows. It is time to bring these shadows into the light.
Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD
“Moreover, silence in moments such as these becomes a form of acquiescence. The churches of Germany in the 1930s learned this at great cost: the refusal to speak early and clearly created a vacuum in which authoritarian power thrived. We cannot repeat that mistake.”
I thank you for giving voice to the rest of us…
We are in the most dangerous moment in our lifetimes.
Yes, Duane.
One of the problems is that many of us have lost all trust in the DOJ, DHS, and many other federal agencies to be upfront or honest in any way with investigations into incidents like the one today in Minneapolis. We believe they lie far more often than tell the truth, and when they do tell the truth, they bend it into a lie with their narrative.
Robert F
The concern you raise is neither isolated nor unreasonable. When federal agencies repeatedly provide partial accounts, shifting explanations, or opaque investigative processes, public trust inevitably erodes. Moreover, the pattern of violence we are now witnessing in Minneapolis makes clear that transparency cannot be optional; it is the foundation upon which legitimate authority rests. A government that asks its citizens to accept lethal force without full accountability is a government that has forgotten its obligation to truth, and the only faithful response is to demand independent scrutiny, rigorous public reporting, and structures strong enough to withstand honest examination.
“BCA blocked from scene where federal agent fatally shot man in south Minneapolis.”https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/ice-in-minnesota/bca-blocked-from-scene-where-federal-agents-fatally-shot-man-south-minneapolis/89-2d4bf800-d146-49ee-8eb8-4ff5e09f02c8
The criminals are investigating the crime. Human justice will not be done in this case.
Tonight I feel defeated. Tonight nothing makes sense. Tonight there is only waiting, waiting, interminable waiting for the darkness of the world to pass. Tonight my heart is weak as a breath of air. Tonight it is all I can do just to mourn the passing of Jeffrey Pretti.
The Lord is still on the throne.
We still win in the end…and we may be closer than we know…
all the while, mainstream media sits on their hands trying to avoid both their jobs/duty to hold speak truth to power and provide minimal coverage for the general population. Fox News is simply a tool of propaganda and carries no heft or weight of legitimacy. Americans need to vote with their dollars–boycotting networks who fail to do their jobs and avoiding the companies that advertise on their platforms. We are not powerless. We are being failed by institutions we have placed in authority.
We saw the demonic enacted on the streets of Minneapolis today, enacted by operatives of our federal government, and then we heard the demonic communications of our federal officials launch a completely fabricated smear campaign against the victim of its brutality and lie with impunity about the circumstances surrounding his execution.
Robert F,
Then the wicked bastards offered to leave Minnesota…in exchange for their voter rolls…
God bless and protect the courageous women and men of Minneapolis who are documenting in video-audio the deliberate violence and atrocities of this American administration and its agents against citizens and residents of the United States. They are as brave as soldiers in battle, with this difference: their only weapon is light that dispels darkness and exposes truth.
Michael,
They won’t leave for good if they’re given what they want — they will come back with the info weaponized to interfere in upcoming elections. The government and people of Minnesota should tell the federal government that they don’t negotiate with terrorists.
This is Fascism plain and simple.
No way around it.
Amen and Amen. Don’t have more to add other than I know people in the areas blocked off where the National Guard is deployed.
Have mercy, Lord. We’re tired and angry.
Latest reports on NPR are that federal officers are still preventing local police from investigating the execution of Jeffrey Pretti. This is a coverup from the get-go, right out in the open for all the world to see the feds are burying the truth and replacing it with their lying narrative. The truth will not come out of this investigation; it will be a Putin-esque level disinformation campaign. We can only expect injustice from the Department of Justice and all the agencies that report to it.
Hang in, DavidP. Hang in.
We all knew this. We knew they would start brutalizing and killing Americans along with foreign residents of the U.S. The atrocities are picking up steam every few days.
And we don’t even have any idea what is going on inside the detention centers, especially to non-citizens. They are keeping congressional investigators out; the darkness over the issue is itself a revelation of what is occurring.
Mr. Pretti was a Civil Servant as I was for 40 years, 3 months and 4 days.
The snake is swallowing it’s tail, while the Church is chasing it’s own, docked stub.
Revelation 22:
20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Not himself having pulled a gun, Pretti was shot in the back three or four times. Then another five or six times as he lay prone and motionless on the ground. That is an execution, on the same level as Nazis shooting victims in the back of the head beside a pit full of corpses. What kind of cowardly monsters have been employed by Border Patrol, and how long has BP been employing cowardly monsters like these? What kind if atrocities have been committed against undocumented immigrants by these monsters over the decades?
Robert F
They are jackbooted thugs – nothing more and nothing less…
The next trick they will pull is the boot gun.
That being an untraceable gun from an officer’s boot to plant on a victim so they can accuse them of being armed and justify their shooting.
Alex Pretti’s last words:
“Don’t touch her.
Are you OK?” (trying to help a woman off the ground)
Renee Good’s last words: “I’m really not mad at you, Dude”
This madness must end. Now.
I am heartbroken and sick to see what is happening in my home state of Minnesota. I lived in Minneapolis for a few years and am familiar with some of the locations.
These people also sent two children into detention this past week-a 5 year old boy and a two year old girl. They do not have consciences. And new sources say that they are quite a few children in a detention camp near El Paso-with their families, supposedly.
Fidelity to the image of God in every human being may at times be called rebellion by those who don’t value that image — but it is not rebellion, it is the path of the Kingdom of God.
They were never great, but the governing institutions of our country have been thoroughly corrupted and debased by Trump and his people, and many private institutions and organizations are now being infected by that corruption. We can no longer trust the institutions.
“From now on, Brother, everybody stands on his own two feet.”
Thanks Robert, my wife and I attended a small prayer group today. We heard of innocent people being whisked away from their cars, pulled out of schools, etc. Got told how to talk to federal agents and get home safely if someone rams your car and calls it terrorism — Didn’t expect to hear that in my lifetime from a bunch of mild-mannered evangelical church ladies!
If Michael’s doing a Linkathon this week, I know people who go to this church. They’re salt and light.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/01/25/ice-raids-minnesota-church-refugees/88304162007/
At some point people will realize they have nothing less to lose, and those ICE thugs will find out the hard way as the Germany army found out in the Warsaw Ghetto. Considering how these bullies are actually cowardly incompetents, they are nowhere the equivalent of the WWII Germany army in terms of tactics, training, etc. It would not take much to deal with these bands of 2, 6, and 12 agents. A city of several hundred thousand with all the privately owned weapons, etc. could easily deal with 3000 gestapo thugs if push comes to shove.
Michael and Duane,
I have always said silence in the face of bullies and sociopaths and injustice is acquiescence.and tacit agreement. I had to deal with a close family member who was a bully and a truly despicable human being and deal with relatives who wanted to keep nice, be silent, and keep up appearances. I told those relatives they were cowards and I told them I would deal with the bully and told them if too not stand in my way, as I will not hesitate to run them down to deal with the bully. I also told them their silence and not standing it what encouraged the bully to get away with their BS for as long as they did. Because they took as agreement. As for those silent family members, I do not consider them family and I have basically to them all to eat excrement and die. The same goes with all the effers in the church and public who are not saying anything about what is going on in Minnesota. The same goes for all those abusive pastors who are able to last as long as they do.
Perhaps once the cancer of MAGA and the cult of Trump is purged from America, we can force all those Evangelicals who were silent to do what the Allies made the German civilians at gunpoint (all types, men, women, old, young) do near the concentration camps and bury the victims. Sign me up.
Ra’s al Ghul,
I admire your spirit, and the seriousness with which you are addressing the crisis at hand, and I even think that, without people acting in self-defense using almost any means (some tactics and strategies are never acceptable) necessary (without Malcolm X and the Black Panthers involved in the crisis of that time, would MLK’s achievements have reached as far?), this state terrorism will not end. But please forgive me if I offer one word of caution, and not from a Christian source: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”
DavidP,
It’s good to hear that there are evangelicals who recognize the actual signs of the times. It is sad that it’s come to this, but denial of the reality before us will only make things worse, so time to wake up for all who can wake up.
You are involved in the Minneapolis Uprising. You have the misfortune to live in a time and place of historic and, as a Christian, cosmic importance.
People all over the country should be finding resources about how communities in Minneapolis have been preparing for the immediate civil protest actions that we are seeing in the news whenever federal agents appear in a neighborhood. This did not happen overnight; everyday people have been preparing for a long time, since the murder of George Floyd, in communications, in tactics, in legal matters regarding their rights. W have the internet, we have instant communication, which has been used for some very bad things; here is the chance, the duty, to use them for good. Only the people of this country can turn this around using lessons learned from their fellow citizens. Be prepared if the secret police come to your town or city.
Robert F,
I am OK with becoming a monster if need be, because sometimes the only way to stop a monster is with another monster (Japanese kaiju movies notwithstanding). History has repeatedly shown that. The only way to deal with bullies is to do what Ender Wiggin did in Ender’s Game in dealing with Stilson (a sadistic bully):
“Knocking him down won the first fight. I wanted to win all the next ones, too. So they’d leave me alone.”
And Trump and ICE and the MAGAs and all the Christian Nationalists refuse to do that. Whether it is the immigrants, the LGBTs, the drinkers, the smokers, the weed users, etc.
Sure it is not “Christian”, but then I am not and very much an atheist, so I don’t really care.
This is Jessia Hauser. These are her words about Alex Pretti – the man killed by I.C.E. yesterday.
“I was Alex Pretti’s final nursing student. He was my friend and my nursing mentor. For the past four months, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him during my capstone preceptorship at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. There he trained me to care for the sickest of the sick as an ICU nurse. He taught me how to care for arterial and central lines, the intricacies of managing multiple IVs filled with lifesaving solutions, and how to watch over every heartbeat, every breath, and every flicker of life, ready to act the moment they wavered. Techniques intended to heal.
“Alex carried patience, compassion and calm as a steady light within him. Even at the very end, that light was there. I recognized his familiar stillness and signature calm composure shining through during those unbearable final moments captured on camera.
‘It does not surprise me that his final words were, ‘Are you okay?,’ Caring for people was at the core of who he was. He was incapable of causing harm. He lived a life of healing, and he lived it well.
“Alex believed strongly in the Second Amendment and in the rights rooted in our Constitution and its amendments. He spoke out for justice and peace whenever he could, not only out of obligation, but out of a belief that we are more connected than divided, and that communication would bring us together.
“I want his family to know his legacy lives on. I am a better nurse because of the wisdom and skills he instilled in me. I carry his light with me into every room, letting it guide and steady my hands as I heal and care for those in need.
“Please honor my friend by standing up for peace, preferably with a cup of black coffee in hand and a couple of pieces of candy in your pocket, just as he would. He would remind you that caring for others is hard work, and we must do whatever it takes to get through the long shifts.
“Step outside with your dog, breathe in the world, hike or bike as he loved to do, and let yourself find peace in the quiet moments within nature. Stand up for justice and speak with those whose views differ from your own. Hold your beliefs with strength, but always extend love outward, even in the face of adversity.
Take one step, no matter how small, to help heal our world. Through these acts, carry his light forward in his name. Let his legacy continue to heal.”
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HBtfu5rav/
I watched a CNN interview with Mr Bovino, and the beginning of his speech to a news conference— “The suspect this the suspect that…” “Suspected of what?” asks the reporter with no answer… We all have choices etc. I need to go to work, but would be interested if anyone here has done a little more analysis of his remarks. Sadly I’ve not read 1984- but is he engaging in Newspeak? I have read That Hideous Strength, but no longer have the book. Merlin confuses the speech of a bunch of N I C E guys and says something like “Those who despise the word of God- the word of man will be taken from them”. Can’t find it online — any thoughts?
Ra’ al Ghul,
If we become monsters because that’s what’s required to destroy monsters, then others would have to become monsters do destroy us. Throughout history this has happened again and again; in defeating Hitler and the Nazis the Allies used tactics and strategies that resulted in a little of the spirit of Hitler entering the mentality of the Allied countries after the War, even though his body had been destroyed. One of the results was a firebombing campaign against North Korea during that war that resulted in an unmatched slaughter of civilians, and a policy in Vietnam that asserted “we had to destroy the village to save the village,” and a policy in Central and South America that upheld and armed brutal authoritarian regimes because they were our tyrants and it was in our interest, and etc, all the time claiming we were the “Good Guys.” And you could locate the monsters that begat the Nazis themselves in the history of Europe long before them. Monsters beget monsters.