Lutheran Shrinking School of Theology Does Not Abide Illinois State Police

The Rev. Hannah Kardon, left, is pulled from a group of demonstrators by Illinois State Police outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, Oct. 17, 2025. (Video screen grab)

Last Friday (Oct. 17), the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area, stood alongside other protesters demonstrating outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. As a line of Illinois State Police began marching toward her and other demonstrators, gripping wooden batons, footage shows the pastor with her hands raised in prayer.

Officers then pushed into the protesters, forcing them back. One officer shifted his stance, reared back and began shoving his baton like a battering ram — jamming it repeatedly, Kardon says, into her leg. A few seconds later, the pastor was pulled from the crowd and thrown to the ground.

All the while, Kardon says, she never stopped praying. When officers began to arrest her, they tied her arms behind her back and placed her along the curb.

"I said, 'God, please help these people to know that what they're doing is wrong, and help them to turn around,'" Kardon, who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, said in an interview. Her leg, she said, has developed visible bruises.

The incident, most of which was captured on film by a journalist with the independent outlet Unraveled, is the latest example in a growing list of Chicago-area clergy who have been met with violence after confronting state and federal agents to protest the actions of ICE. As President Donald Trump's ongoing immigration crackdown in Chicago continues, a diverse array of faith leaders from across the region are speaking out against the government's treatment of immigrants — with many voicing willingness to risk arrest and physical harm to protect migrants.

Kardon is among the more than 210 signers of a letter signed by mostly Chicago-area Christian clergy. Titled "Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview," the letter railed against ICE and agents "hunting and terrorizing of immigrant communities" in the city. The letter was made public the same day Kardon was arrested and has accrued more than 100 additional signatures since then.

 "Our parishes and schools will not turn away those who seek comfort, and we will not be silent when dignity is denied in the enforcement of the law, it is essential that we respect the dignity of every human being," said Cardinal Blase Cupich, Catholic archbishop of Chicago, in a Oct. 21 statement. 

 

Revelation - Chapter 17 - 9 AM Today

 

17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

[Angels are primarily announcers of events.]

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

[Fornication is far worse, because adultery involves marriage - fornication not.]

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

[Blasphemy is the opposite of divine proclamation.]

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

[The greatness of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit is the exact opposite of the Abominations.]

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

[This should make everyone stop to think - not written.]

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

[Great contrasts.]

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.