Canadian Pastor Jailed for “Crime” of Holding In-Person Church

Canadian pastor jailed for the, quote, crime of holding in-person church services. That is a topic we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Royal View radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. Now, last year in America, many who rioted and destroyed property while disobeying COVID masking and distancing mandates, I might add, were arrested and then released. Right now, those who enter the United States illegally are often released into the country. Apparently, justice has become very selective. Meanwhile, in Canada, our ally to the north in a small town just west of Edmonton, a pastor has been imprisoned for the past month awaiting his trial two months from now in May. His crime?

Burning and looting, inciting violence? Well, if you guessed holding in-person church services in violation of government COVID mandates, you'd be correct. Pastor James Coates's imprisonment has garnered worldwide attention. For non-Christians, government and, quote, experts are their gods, so they heap condemnation on the pastor for following biblically-based beliefs. What is surprising, however, is that many professing Christians say or write that Pastor Coates isn't really being persecuted because all he had to do was, quote, comply with COVID mandates or just hold his church online. Pastor Eric Davis of Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Wyoming, went to seminary with Pastor Coates. He's written extensively about his imprisonment, and he joins us this weekend to discuss why Pastor Coates should be respected and prayed for rather than ridiculed for making the decision to meet in person with his church.

Eric, it's great to have you back on the program. I want to start out by reading a column that you wrote on the Cripplegate blog website about James Coates, the pastor in Canada in Spruce Grove, Alberta, who was jailed Tuesday, February 12th. So he's been in jail for almost a month now. And I want to read just a portion of that column where you say, Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church in Spruce Grove, Alberta, was jailed this past Tuesday, February 16th. As of February 17th, he remains imprisoned with a possible trial date to be set next week sometime.

Again, you wrote this back in February. There's been a lot more that's developed of the story since then. Currently, his wife and children are prohibited from visiting him. Coates is a graduate of the Master's Seminary, was a personal classmate of mine, and has faithfully pastored Grace Life since 2010.

Now here's some context. You write, Grace Life suspended corporate worship services in the spring of 2020 in response to a largely unknown COVID situation. On June 21st of 2020, the church resumed meeting for corporate gathering. The lawyer representing the church stated, quote, even in the summer of 2020, it had become apparent to congregants of Grace Life that government lockdowns cause far more self-imposed harm than the natural harm of COVID, unquote. In early July, two people who attended Grace Life tested positive for COVID, upon which the church shut down for two weeks.

They then resumed meeting when it was discovered that no further spread occurred. In December 2020, the chief medical officer of Alberta issued a mandate restricting worship gatherings to 15% capacity with masks and social distancing. Representing Grace Life, the Justice Center wrote, such restrictions violate the constitutional rights to freedom of conscience and religion, expression, peaceful assembly and association as protected by Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In November, Canadian health officials began showing up at Grace Life worship gatherings, recording the number of attendees, those who were not wearing masks, and social distancing.

This continued each Sunday for about three months. The church regarded, quote, the weekly invasion of AHS inspectors to be a potential criminal offense pursuant to Section 162 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which prohibits the interrupting or disturbing of a religious worship service, unquote. On January 21st, a court order was filled to imprison Pastor Coates.

Then the health department issued a closure order on January 29th. Grace Life continued to gather for corporate worship. On February 7th, Canadian police told Pastor Coates that he was under arrest for continuing to preside over worship gatherings, explaining that he must abide by the health order. He explained that he could not go against conscience and the need to shepherd God's people.

Police left without arresting him. Health inspectors attended Grace Life again on February 14th. Pastor Coates was arrested and jailed on Tuesday, as I mentioned, February 16th. In the meantime, as Canada jails Pastor Coates, the nation considers marijuana dispensaries and liquor stores essential services. Reportedly, authorities will release him from jail on the condition he does not preside over Grace Life services. So far, Pastor Coates seems to have declined the offer.

Perhaps this reminds us of John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress, who once said, I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience. And let me just play a brief soundbite, Eric, of what Pastor James Coates preached just two days before he was arrested. Whether or not we're being persecuted makes absolutely no difference to me. I don't think that I could care any less about whether or not this meets the definition of persecution.

That doesn't even factor into the equation for me. That's not the basis upon which I'm doing anything. I'm doing what I'm doing in obedience to Christ. I am quite content to let the Lord Jesus Christ himself decide whether or not this is persecution. He promises that those who are persecuted for his namesake will be blessed. He's the one that blesses and I'm content to leave that in his court.

My responsibility is to obey Christ. You know James personally, Eric, you went to seminary with him. Have you been in contact with him?

And how is he doing? Yeah, thanks, David. It's great to be on your show.

I appreciate the opportunity, especially to talk about this situation. So he has had very little contact Pastor Coates has with anyone except for his lawyer, his wife, and the letters that are pouring in from literally all over the world. However, I'm told he's doing well. He has within a few days of being in prison, he got the nickname, the preacher, because he has embraced God's sovereignty and is seeing that as a God given opportunity, though not ideal to continue with the mission to love people and preach the gospel.

So he's doing well, despite the conditions. Well, you can imagine, I mean, of course, you didn't compare to like the actual imprisonment of John Bunyan. He was in jail for years in terrible conditions. But still, this is shocking really in a Western nation, just Canada, fairly small town in Alberta in Canada that they're imprisoning a pastor over refusing to shut down his church or abide by some really extremely strict COVID mandates. In the follow up to that column, and this is what I more want to get into today, you wrote another column for the Cripplegate, why Pastor James Coates imprisonment is actual persecution. You say, it is amazing that this even needs to be said, the imprisonment of Pastor James Coates is actual persecution. It's been sorrowful to see many professing Christians over the past few days with an eagerness to declare that Pastor Coates' imprisonment doesn't count as actual persecution. Like eager referees, many professing Christians over the past few days are throwing penalty flags, self-righteously declaring things like, quote, nope, sorry, this doesn't actually count as persecution.

We didn't technically need to gather as the body of Christ. Try again, unquote. And it's gone further. I'm just going to read one Facebook comment that I read about this that describes what you just wrote in that column. Someone on Facebook wrote, I'm so tired of people making him some kind of martyr for religious liberty. I mean, hopefully our churches stay in compliance with fire ordinances for occupancy, right? The fire chief would be able to enforce that if a church refused to comply. This is the same situation, but with a public health ordinance.

They were told to comply with occupancy limits and enforce masking and distancing. If you have a problem with that on libertarian grounds, I disagree with you. But don't make this about church, because it's not. There are literally dozens of ways a pastor could guide his church in complying with the public safety requirements. He did not. He still refuses to. Hence, he's where he's at.

I don't think you could more perfectly sum up, Eric, what you just wrote in the beginning of your column than that Facebook comment. So maybe you could explain, why is James Coates being imprisoned? And is it actual persecution?

It is certainly persecution. He's being imprisoned because he refused to compromise his conscience as it concerns presiding over the gathering of the wonderful great church up there outside of Edmonton, Grace Life Church, and restricting their church families gathering to merely 15% capacity. He absolutely, as does any pastor, have the right to, before God and biblically, to go with their conscience on that issue. Look, another pastor in Canada, I have several friends who are pastors across Canada, some might with their conscience say, okay, I am going to go with 15%.

We're going to have six services or whatever it might be. And that's okay. But biblically speaking, I think what's happening with some people here is they're imposing their conscience upon others. And God's ideal, Hebrews 10, 24 to 25, God's ideal is that the body of Christ would celebrate together with the full local body, the whole local family there, in corporate worship with all of the body present, all the gifts present, all the one anothers being practiced. You know, we have to be careful with being so dogmatic that it's not persecution. Because I wonder what those individuals might have said to someone like Stephen, you know, who was stoned to death, as the Apostle Paul watched in Acts chapter seven. You know, he has some firm words, Stephen did, and it was recorded in Acts chapter seven for the Sanhedrin. I mean, he says, you know, that you you are stiff necked, you're resisting the Holy Spirit, and they stone him to death.

They kill him, they murder him with stones under the guise of abiding by the law. And I wonder if people who are coming down so hard on Pastor Coates would say, well, you know, technically, Stephen didn't need to say that they were stiff necked, you know, he could have, he could have done a more backdoor gracious sway and just done like a passive aggressive approach. And then he and therefore, he could have avoided being stoned. And so technically, you know, Stephen stoning to death wasn't persecution. Or maybe they would have said that about John the Baptist, you know, well, technically, he didn't have to confront Herod on his sexual perversion. And technically, he could have just taken a more gracious approach. And so since he got his head cut off, you know, that decapitation wasn't technically persecution, when in fact, John the Baptist held up as the greatest, you know, the greatest guy ever, our Lord says in Luke 11.

So I think we just have to be real careful about that. And I wonder if some of the people making those statements, not all, you know, not all, but some of them might be compromising in their own conscience, behind the scenes as it were in their heart, and then imposing that upon others. So I think it's we have to be more gracious, we have to be real careful about imposing our conscience upon others and instead, support this brother in prayer, even if we disagree. That's the Christian way.

Absolutely. Eric Davis with us today on the Christian worldview. He's the teaching pastor of Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Wyoming.

He's also a columnist at the Cripplegate blog, an excellent website, by the way, thecripplegate.com. And Eric, I want to read a comment by a well known evangelical leader named Andy Stanley. He said recently, the thing that has been concerning to me about the local church is how quickly so many churches felt like we've got to get back into our building shoulder to shoulder, doing what we've always done.

It was the exact wrong response to COVID, because we had an opportunity of a lifetime to do new things, try new things, experiment with new things, because we couldn't do the old things. And instead of focusing on what we can't do, we should have been 100% focused on what we can do. I thought, again, Andy Stanley, wait a minute, we're the body of Christ. We're not in it to win it. As you're in it to win it, you've abandoned our New Testament mandate. We're in it to serve.

And there is more need than there's ever been. He said, I'm so proud of our staff and our churches, North Point, there's a group of churches he leads, and the adults in our church who put up with me saying, no, we're not going to meet. I know the church down the street's meeting, but we are intentionally redeploying and refocusing our attention at this time, because this is a unique opportunity, and it's going to come to an end, but we need to take full advantage of that opportunity. He said, you inspire people to follow Jesus. That's our mission. You date the model—I think there's kind of a play on words there—shoulder to shoulder in a building, singing songs and worshiping and listening to sermons.

All that is is a model. And during this season, he concludes, you abandon the model of meeting in person for the sake of the mission. You inspire people to follow Jesus.

That's what he says the mission is. But the local churches that abandon the mission for the sake of the model and rush back into the model, I feel like we in some cases miss an extraordinary opportunity, especially the churches that got in a spitting match with local and state governments. That was just embarrassing to me as a Christian. Again, that's Andy Stanley, one of the most influential and well-known evangelicals in this country. Eric, what is your response to Andy Stanley's perspective on meeting in person for churches?

Honestly, that's pretty discouraging to me. I wonder if we would say that to the churches in China or the churches across the Roman Empire for the first three centuries in which Christianity was illegal. And they so desperately loved to gather together to worship. Granted, they did it in different ways.

They had to go underground. But the idea that, well, we don't need to gather for worship, we're going to do the mission, that's a misunderstanding of the Christian life. Worship is always the top priority. And if you don't have, without worship, you're not going to be able to do anything else. Without true worship, you don't have anything else. All things in the Christian life flow out of worship. Well, I can worship God on a mountain or in my neighborhood on a hike. You certainly can, and praise God for that.

That's a great joy. But the New Testament commands us, prescriptively and descriptively, we are to gather with the local body of Christ for worship. God has not given the government the right, the authority to dictate Christian worship.

He's given them the authority to do other things. Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, 13 to 17, right? To collect taxes, to bear the sword upon evil, which is actual evil and reward the righteous.

That's a misnomer. It's a misunderstanding of the Christian life. All things flow out of worship. What's worship to look like, among other things? Gathering with God's people. Hebrews 10, 24 to 25, among other things. And God's people desperately need to be fed in the context and in the way of corporate worship, especially in times like these where we've seen studies over the past 12 months, David, that have shown how depression and mental illness and suicide, all these things have just skyrocketed.

Well, why is that? Well, because human beings, generally speaking, are meant to be together, to have face-to-face interaction. And biblically speaking, that is meant to take place preeminently in the context of a local church with a local pastor who's been trained, affirmed by existing called and qualified elders to raise up this individual and pour into and preach the word and music and the one another's and prayer. And God has decided that is the preeminent way that I have decided to love and care and shepherd my people through my under-shepherds as a regular way of life and hardship and world pandemics, though they're difficult, they're real, they cause true suffering. We're not to shelve this essential way which our great God and our Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, has decided to care for us through these means of grace in such time. If ever, if ever a time is needed to gather, it is now, David.

Yeah, you're absolutely correct. The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton returns in just a moment. The new year has brought new features to the Christian Worldview radio program. First, good news for those who don't have an affiliate station in their area and those who subscribe to our free podcast. The latest program will now be available at our website, thechristianworldview.org or via our podcast feed at 8 a.m. Central Time on Saturdays. Short takes will also be released on Mondays following the weekend airing of the program. These bite-sized highlights are great for those who don't have time to listen to the full 54-minute broadcast.

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Now, back to today's program with host David Wheaton. Eric Davis with us today on The Christian Worldview, a pastor of Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Wyoming. This is asking the same question sort of a different way, or asking it the way you might hear someone say, currently in society in the midst of COVID, well, why isn't online church good enough? Or you hear this, isn't it loving thy neighbor to stay home? You're endangering people if you go to church and gather as a group and you don't keep physically distanced and don't wear multiple masks and so forth. How do you answer those kinds of questions?

There's that perspective out there as well, too. Well, church online is church after all, isn't it? You're just looking over a screen at the pastor and some other people who are maybe on that screen as well. That's a really good question.

It's a common question. First of all, let me say that with people who in the flock and dear saints who do want to stay home and maybe are struggling a little bit, or they're caring for maybe an elderly loved one who is considered in this high risk category, and they're not sure about coming back in person, we want to be really gracious and take each person situationally, but be patient, be loving, be compassionate. But as to this idea of, well, why can't we do church online?

There's a lot of ways to address that. First of all, just generally speaking, would you approach your family like that? Would you approach your family gatherings?

My kids are in town, my grandkids are in town, well, we're going to do our Thanksgiving dinner, or our Christmas dinner online. There's just something missing there, that personal touch, that intimate feel of fellowship, and that heightened in the body of Christ with the command that I've mentioned already from Hebrews 10, 25, also with the one anothers, and then descriptively practiced in scripture together. Look, God has made human beings to 3D connect in person, and there is simply no substitute for that, and just evidentially paced. We could interview a slew of church members over this past year who did the online thing, and many, if not most, would say, you know, it just is no substitute. You wouldn't get married to your wife online.

You know, you want to be there, you want to lift the veil, you want to kiss your bride, you want people there to greet you and to congratulate you. So that's sort of, genuinely speaking, more particularly, we frankly, David, have the command, do not forsake gathering with one another. And we ought not say, well, God didn't know that there was going to be internet back then and have these wonderful Skype and Zoom and FaceTime abilities. No, our God is sovereign. Our God is omniscient. He knew what was going to happen in the 21st century. In fact, he ordained it. Ecclesiastes 7 talks about Lamentations 3 as well. And so the Scriptures, therefore, when it commands us to meet together in person, those commands are transcendent. They apply to all time, all places, and all situations.

And so this online thing, it simply is no substitute. Okay, when, you know, back in March and April of last year, we were sort of unsure. I think a lot of churches, not all, but a lot of churches said, okay, at the request of our local health authorities, we have no idea what this virus is going to do. The models were saying millions upon millions, we're going to die within the first few months to serve as a way to serve our local hospitals, to lighten the load on ICUs. Okay, we're going to push pause for a little bit.

And I think that, correct me if I'm wrong, David, but I think the quote was something like, you know, 15 days to flatten the curve, 25 days to flatten the curve, I don't remember exactly what it was. That's a very, very much an exception to the command to gather in person. Now, as far as isn't it loving to stay home?

Again, we want to be real gracious with people, be very, very patient. But no, that isn't more loving to stay home. And in fact, I think in our time, we have taken and we've sort of twisted this idea of love, and forced it myopically to take the definition of stay home, wear a mask, don't be around people, and it's become a symbol of righteousness. Well, the Bible doesn't say that we have to be much more broad in our in our perspective, it's actually loving, it can be very loving to gather for in person worship.

Well, why is that? That seems kind of counterintuitive to some people, because you are getting poured into, you're worshiping God, you're meeting other people who are fearful, who are terrified, who are scared, who might be suffering, you're meeting with them, connecting with them, hearing about needs, you yourself as you attend corporate worship are just getting refreshed with the Word of God and refreshed with the gifts of the saints as you see each other. And therefore you go out the other six days, as we scattered the other six days throughout the week, more equipped, more loving, more transformed into the image of Christ to be light and salt. And frankly, in a world that is backwards and darkened, it's terrified right now. So I think we have to be careful about being so narrow with our definition of love in these times. I don't have the definition right in front of me, but isn't the New Testament word ekklesia for church doesn't actually mean gathering?

Yeah, it often has that sense, the gathering, the people of God assembled, absolutely. Eric Davis with us again today on the Christian Real View, the teaching pastor of Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Wyoming. He knows he was a classmate of James Cote, the Canadian pastor imprisoned currently in Alberta. He's been in prison for a month now. And I think there's actually some more time here, Eric, a few more weeks before his even hearing. He's going to be in prison for at least, I think, a couple months before this hearing comes up. Is that correct?

Yeah, it is correct. Unfortunately, David, his hearing, I believe, is early May. And so he's imprisoned until then.

It's really an amazing thing. This is no criminal. This is a pastor of a church whose conscience and based on the Word of God compelled him to be meeting in person, and was arrested and imprisoned in our continent.

This happens. Christians are persecuted, imprisoned and killed all over the world. This is nothing new.

But it is something, I think, a little new here, where it's this blatant. I want to read a quote from another very well-known evangelical, Rick Warren. I can't remember the news source for this, but I'm reading this. In a recent interview, Pastor Rick Warren of the California-based Saddleback Church said he rejects the notion that churches are being discriminated against during COVID. He posited that COVID-19 revealed what he said is a, quote, fundamental weakness in the church, unquote, which was that most churches see worship, that's the word you used, Eric, as their sole purpose, quote, and if you take worship away, you've got nothing.

They're in a hurry to get back to worship because that's all they got, he said. But the 20,000-member Saddleback Church is built not on one purpose, but on five, Warren explained. Quote, you take one circle out, I guess that means worship, you've still got four other circles. We've got ministry going on, we've got mission going on, we've got fellowship going on, we've got discipleship going on. They all stand on their own, unquote. That from Rick Warren, one of the most influential evangelicals. So, sort of in the same ballpark you could say as Andy Stanley with regard to the staying away, don't meet in person and so forth. What are the purposes of the church, Eric?

Maybe you could list them in order of priority. Yeah, that's a great question, and without knowing more of the context there, that's sort of a discouraging comment as well, because if you take worship away, you've got nothing. They're in a hurry to get back to worship because that's all they have. Oh, David, our God is a great God. He is a great God. The psalmist says, clap your hands all people, shout to God with a voice of joy, for the Lord most high is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. Psalm 95, come bow down, let us worship the Lord our God. Again, that idea just seems foreign to the scripture because worship is the launch pad for all of the Christian life. Without worship, we have nothing.

We can still share the gospel. Theoretically, if we didn't go to church on Sunday, we can still share the gospel and must and get to with our not yet believing neighbors and family and friends and do missions and have informal fellowship. But when you read the scripture cover to cover, it's always about worship. Worship is the starting point, the midpoint, the end point. Evangelism is worship, and everything else in the Christian life is to flow from worship. And really, again, our Christian life and all the other duties flow from worship. So the church is to be a worshiping community. It's to be a witnessing community as well.

As you talk about the purposes of the church, Jesus lays it out in Matthew 28, 18 to 20, where he says, you as a church are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything they command of you. I'm with you. And so we are to do that. But to say that, well, we don't need to gather for worship to do that. I mean, that's like saying, I don't need to eat to go to work, to go for a jog, to function. I mean, worship is the main thing, David.

It's everything. From Genesis to Revelation, we're to worship. And so our strength and alignment and even our biblical doctrine, the know-how, the knowledge of how to do everything else and the motivation and the joy in it comes from worship preeminently as God has commanded in this day, corporate worship. As to the idea that churches aren't being discriminated against, I just, I can't really agree with that. Again, God has given government the authority to bear the sword against evil. That's actual evil as God defines, to collect taxes for doing so, to reward the righteous. He has not given secular authorities the right, the jurisdiction to regulate Christian worship.

And when they attempt to, they are overstepping their God-given bounds, whether or not that country is a constitutional republic or not. So it certainly is. It certainly is discrimination. And yes, but light persecution, much lighter than some of our brothers and sisters face now and have faith.

But nevertheless, it absolutely is overstepping their bounds and therefore discrimination. Now, we don't make a, we don't riot over it. We don't cause a ruckus.

Well, why? Because, well, in 1 Timothy 2, 1 to 2, God says, hey, I want you to be quiet, dignified. I want you to pray for your authorities and keep the mission the main thing, which is evangelizing the law, teaching those who are safe to follow Christ. But nevertheless, it still would be qualified as overstepping their bounds against God's churches. The most significant being the cost of airtime on the station, website, or app on which you hear the radio program. We are looking for monthly partners so that each station or website is supported by its own listeners.

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Short takes are also available and be sure to share with others. Now, back to today's program with host David Wheaton. Well, very interestingly, Eric, I'm sure you know this, but the message that Pastor James Coates gave the Sunday before he was arrested back in February was on Romans 13 and the role of government and so forth. I haven't had a chance to hear the whole message, but there was actually more to it. This church, Grace Life Church, actually wrote a public statement. They dealt with the theological issue that we've been talking about with the explicit and implicit examples of how churches are to meet in person.

So there was that. There was a whole theological basis to why they opted to continue to worship in person. But there was also, and we have this public statement linked on our website, thechristianworldview.org, they address the government overreach and the exaggeration of just how dangerous this particular virus is and how many people it's actually affected. And they went into actually the individual liberty aspect of this and saying, this is way, way overblown. And it wasn't just opinions.

They were using health department statistics and everything else. So I'm going to try to get a chance to just read some of that, but listeners can read the entire statement. I mean, this church is on it. It wasn't purely like, this is just what my conscience says, which would be good enough for a pastor.

But there was more to it than that. I just want to close, Eric, with one more question about persecution. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, starting in verse 10. He says to his younger man in the faith, he says, Now you, Timothy, followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. And Paul was constantly getting in trouble from authorities for his missionary work, preaching the gospel.

What persecutions I endured, and out of them all, the Lord rescued me, exclamation point. And it says in verse 12, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Last verse, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Now, I'm not sure I'm interpreting this right. You're the pastor, so you correct me if I'm wrong, but evil men and imposters, evil men seems to be perhaps non-believers. You would never call a Christian an evil man, so maybe non-believers. And imposters has to do with someone who's kind of faking being a believer.

Correct me if I'm wrong in that interpretation there. They'll proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So can I extrapolate from that, that there's going to be governmental leaders who are just evil and hate the kingdom of God, who are going to proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And there's also going to be imposters inside the church professing to be Christians, well-known Christian leaders, and they're going to be deceiving and being deceived as well. And so the question is, do you think persecution is going to increase for Christians, pastors, and churches here in America? I think you make a great observation from 2 Timothy 3 there.

It certainly would include governmental leaders. And look, there's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, right? And Satan is not tired.

He's on a long leash, but he is not tired, and he's doing his thing. And on the basis of the authority of the scripture you just read, as well as others, I do believe we have reason to conclude that persecution will increase the way things are going. And as far as inside and outside the church, you made a great point that there will be imposters. Jesus said in his parable of the wheat and the tares that there's going to be tares, that the evil one will sow tares in the church that will fall away, that will deceive and be deceived. Governmental authorities and even professing Christians who are not will come, and they will, under the guise of love, under the cloak of compassion, falsely cloaking their deeds in care and in unity, will do evil things.

And it's not love, because love is how God has defined love, and it has to line up with all the scriptural definitions and qualifications. So that's happening now, probably. I'm not a prophet, but probably it will increase. But for the Christian, we can take Peter's advice in the 1 Peter 4.12, where he says, Beloved, don't be surprised. And you know, he's speaking in the first century when the Neronian persecution was cranking up with the Colosseum and doing terrible, terrible things to Christians. He says, Don't be surprised. And that applies to our day, too, at these fiery ordeals which come upon you for your testing, as though some strange or bizarre things were happening to you.

So if and when it does increase, it probably will. God is for us. Hallelujah that the Creator of the universe is for us. All they can do, Jesus says in Luke 12, they can just kill the body, they can't do anything more than that. So fear Him who has the authority over body and soul.

It will and it probably will get more difficult. But what a great God we have and in eternity, we'll look back on these things and praise and bless God for all of it. Well, Eric, thank you for answering that question. Not just the way it was stated, will there be increasing persecution, but giving us encouragement and hope that nothing can defeat the church.

Nothing can defeat believers, because we serve a much, much greater God. So we just appreciate you, Eric, these columns you've written on Pastor James Coates, bringing him to our attention. I know it's received widespread worldwide news on this particular issue, but you've really brought a biblical perspective to it. And thank you for coming on the program and we just wish all of God's best and grace to you and Cornerstone Church. Well, thank you for the opportunity, David. Bless you, your wonderful ministry and all your listeners. Okay, so if you missed any of the interview with Eric, you can always go to our website, thechristianrealview.org. There's also a link to his church there if you want to hear some of his sermons as well.

I just wanted to read quickly one more thing that Eric wrote about this situation with James Coates. He said, instead of being quick to throw the persecution penalty flag, we should pause, practice our faith, love, and believe the best, 1 Corinthians 13. We ought to do something like rejoice in the boldness and love of this brother, thinking something like, wow, praise God that this pastor so loves Jesus and his flock that he wants to be obedient to Jesus and shepherd them, care for them, feed them, protect them in the sacred essential time of the corporate setting. Praise Jesus that this church so believes in the Holy Spirit's command to preach the word to the flock and trust the Spirit to do a unique work through preaching in the corporate gathering of care for the hurting, encouragement for the lonely, stabilization for the fearful, rebuke of the proud, and do a transforming work of salvation and sanctification as this pastor preaches the word. So Eric's saying, that's the attitude we should have about this pastor.

One more paragraph. And if you disagree with his decision, that's fine. But think something like, I might not agree with gathering the whole church weekly in defiance of Canada's unreasonable restrictions, but I'm going to believe the best about this brother and his conscience. Praise Jesus that he doesn't want to violate his conscience, but so desires to feed his people, promote an atmosphere of sweet trust in Jesus with the church during a time when people are gripped with fear and buying into the fear propaganda, which has become a self-righteous virtue. Praise Jesus for this dear pastor, that he is so wanting to help people and gather despite the government's overreach that is unsubstantiated by data. Let's pray for him, his family, and the church. And let's try to have something of the Christ honoring boldness of previous generations. And I just think that is so well said.

Amen to what he said right there. Let's remember this pastor, James Coates, is sitting in prison right now as you are listening to this. He's been in prison for a month. He's going to be in prison for two more months. He can't go home to his wife and children every night and have dinner with them and go for a walk with his dog or whatever he does in his free time and go and assemble with fellow believers at the church he leads.

He's sitting in a jail right now while other people kind of throw arrows at him saying that, well, he doesn't really need to be there. Let's have more of the attitude that Eric Davis just wrote out in this column. And let's pray for this man on a regular basis that he might actually encourage, put courage in other pastors to do the same.

Now, I just wanted to play one more quick soundbite from that final sermon that James Coates gave before he was arrested. And here's what he talks about when it comes to Christians and their understanding of their role with government. The historical time we're in has revealed both a deficient and inaccurate theology of government and it's deficient for at least two reasons. One, we simply had it so good for so long. We simply had it so good for so long and therefore haven't had to think deeply about this aspect of theology. It's a muscle we just simply haven't worked.

And two, we're ignorant of historical theology because theologians of the past thought deeply about these things and we haven't significantly enough and sufficiently enough exposed ourselves to their writing. And this is very true. And this is going to become much more important going forward because as we've been talking about for months on this program, there has been a huge government consolidation of power in this country over the coronavirus, over the social and racial unrest due to the death of George Floyd. And by the way, that trial is taking place right now here in the Twin Cities. This will not be a fair trial in my opinion.

Even holding it in the city is incomprehensible with the amount of pressure and barriers and protesters going on all around the courtroom. But that topic is for another day. Now I mentioned earlier in the program that Pastor James Coates' church had written a public statement. This church not only dealt with the theological foundation for meeting in person and their conviction on that, but they also dealt with the fact that this virus has been so overplayed to consolidate government power.

And it's a matter of losing individual liberties. They said it so articulately and convincingly. And so I really encourage you to read that statement. It's linked on our website, thechristianworldview.org. Just to give an example about how Christians are going to have to think through how we interact with government, you've probably heard about the Equality Act. It's probably better termed the Christian Persecution Act because that is what it's going to be setting up to do against Christians in this country. Basically, just in a nutshell, this Equality Act adds homosexuality and transgenderism to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Non-Discrimination Act where you can't discriminate against someone on the basis of their race or skin color or their sex or their other kind of born with factors. Now, this has already passed the House of Representatives.

It may, probably likely, will pass the Senate and will definitely be signed if it does pass the Senate by our wicked president, who is intent on pushing all things ungodly on this country. So to summarize what the Equality Act does, anything an organization couldn't do to someone, let's say, based on their skin color, like you couldn't refuse to employ someone because they're black or you can't fire someone because they're black, that organization won't be able to do exactly that with someone who's a homosexual or transgender. So, for example, what if that organization is a church, a Christian ministry, a Christian school or Christian college who has a biblical stance about biblical sexuality or marriage? They will be faced with the decision to comply with this law or else they will be under legal and financial jeopardy. So if you're a church and you don't do same-sex, so-called marriages, well, that's discriminatory.

You're going against the Civil Rights Act, now injected with the Equality Act, and you're going to be liable for persecution and litigation. We will talk more about this Equality Act and why it is the Christian Persecution Act in a coming program. What I want to conclude today was some encouragement and hope from another paragraph from Eric's column. He said, Christians need not be surprised nor shaken by these things. Above all, the Lord Jesus Christ sits as the sovereign King and Supreme Lord over all the universe. Every knee and every tongue of every human will one day bow and confess Him as such, whether in redemption or in wrath. Jesus will return one day to earth, render judgment and rule as King over the world. In the meantime, God extends His loving mercy to sinners. The good news is that though we have all sinned, God the Father has not left us to our condemnation, but sent His Son Jesus to die as a wrath-bearing sacrifice in our place. Christ then rose victoriously from the grave, demonstrating that He is the sufficient Savior. Incredibly, Eric writes, God will instantly and irreversibly declare sinners righteous who repent and put faith in Jesus Christ, granting them eternal life and a glorious eternity with Him. He really is that merciful. In this life, for all who experience persecution for their faith, Jesus promises great blessing and heavenly reward. Well, what a great way that captures exactly what's going on. We can be encouraged Christians.

We don't need to be surprised nor shaken. Jesus Christ is sitting on His throne. And I would only add to that the rest of the passage that I read from 2 Timothy 3 earlier in the program. Paul writes of Timothy and says this about expecting to receive persecution if you live godly. He says, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

And that summarizes it so well. You know, we do live in a changing and increasingly challenging world. But the Bible says Jesus Christ and His word are the same yesterday, today, and forever. So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, stand firm, rejoice always, and pray for Pastor Coates and all those believers in the world who are standing strong in lifting up the name of Jesus Christ. Thanks for joining us today in The Christian Worldview. The mission of The Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, or to sign up for our free weekly email, or to find out what must I do to be saved, go to our website, thechristianworldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener supported ministry and furnished by the Overcomer Foundation, a nonprofit organization. You can find out more, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner, and contact us by visiting thechristianworldview.org, calling toll free at 1-888-646-2233, or writing to Box 401, Excelsior Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.