Name That Tune

 Sooner or later, God'll cut you down

These are lyrics from a song that come from a traditional American Folk Song entitled "God's Gonna Cut You Down." It has been recorded in various versions by artists from Elvis to Moby. Into this mix, we toss Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, who took Johnny Cash as their inspiration. And of course it might go without saying that all of these interpretations had their beginnings in The Bible. 

Which is probably how some clever media influencer working for the Department of Homeland Security decided to lift a verse from the Book of Isaiah: "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 audio was lifted from the 2014 film Fury, set in the war torn European theater of WWII. Behind the dialogue supplied by Shia LaBeouf the yingyangs in the DHS recruitment office chose the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's version of the aforementioned folk song. Then they put all that audio behind footage of  ICE agents patrolling a river, flying over the border wall, and looking through night vision goggles at "the enemy." With the ominous reminder, "God's gonna cut you down." 

No word yet from Shia, but like so very many artists have already done, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club asked the goons in charge to cease and desist. In part, their response: “It’s obvious that you don’t respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution. For the record, we hereby order @dhsgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video.“ Then they went ahead and gave them a suggestion about what they might do with their free time once they had deleted the video. 

The selection of Isaiah for the Trumpreich's self-righteous attempt to cloak the kidnapping and torture of immigrants as some sort of Holy Mission isn't a surprise. The Old Testament offers plenty of vengefulness and wrath. However, many theologians would disagree with ICE Barbie and her masked minions. Pastor JK Forateros wrote: "...ethnic nationalism was not the message God called Isaiah to deliver. As the Bible makes clear, God’s message delivered through Isaiah was one of impending judgment, precisely because the people of Judah ignored God’s calls for justice and instead were continuing to oppress people who were poor, widowed, orphaned, and refugees."

Yup, even the Old Testament God believed in social justice. And yes, sooner or later, God's gonna cut them down.