Preaching the Biblical Gospel a Criminal Act in Canada
Stephens said that the extent to which authorities will enforce the law remains in question.
This story was first published by Ben Zeisloft from Daily Wire.
‘Revival and Reformation Is Needed’: Canadian Pastors Sound Off On New Law That Threatens To Criminalize Evangelism
“Days ago, Canada approved a “conversion therapy” ban that condemns Christian doctrine on the sinfulness of homosexuality and transgenderism as “myth.” Indeed, Bill C-4 — passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Commons — threatens pastors with up to five years of prison time if they remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As thousands of American ministers stand in solidarity with Canadian believers by preaching about biblical sexual ethics on Sunday, January 16, two Canadian pastors — Jacob Reaume of Trinity Bible Chapel and Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church — told The Daily Wire about the implications of C-4 and how Canadian Christians plan to respond.
While describing C-4, Reaume — whose church incurred over $100,000 in fines last year for refusing to shut its doors in defiance of Canada’s COVID-19 lockdowns — noted that the edict will “make the preaching of the biblical gospel a criminal act.”
“The biblical gospel is a message of conversion, whereby Christ causes sinners to be born-again, thus converting them from sinful propensities to godliness,” he explained. “The bill’s language is vague enough that many think it might criminalize a biblical call to forsake sodomitic propensities to embrace righteousness.”
Stephens — who was jailed in a maximum-security facility last summer for refusing to close his church — added that “the law is overly broad in defining conversion therapy,” thereby enshrining “progressive gender ideology and queer theory as normative.”
“All societies that live according to the biblical ethic” — in other words, creational norms — “have flourished,” he continued. “This is now called harmful. Ironically, this law promotes a truly harmful type of ‘conversion’ using puberty-blocking chemicals, surgeries to remove functioning breasts and sexual organs, regular hormone treatments, and truly harmful counseling that has led to exorbitant suicide rates.”
Stephens said that the extent to which authorities will enforce the law remains in question. In any case: “Many churches in Canada avoid this subject already to avoid the ire of the culture. When preaching is outlawed, the faithful will be the outlaws who preach.”
As ministers of the gospel, neither Reaume nor Stephens plan to amend their preaching in response to C-4.
“I have a message from God, and He has called me to herald it,” Reaume said. “I am not my own, but He bought me with the blood of His Son. I am beholden to Him alone. By His grace, I will not stop speaking about God’s demands for holiness and His free offer of pardon. If anything, the legislation will motivate me to speak with more force and clarity against the evils of homosexuality and transgenderism.”
“We don’t pick our battles, but we do pick how we fight them. May the Master find me faithful.”
“I will preach the whole counsel of God in season and out of season. I will continue to speak on the issues that face our culture with clarity,” Stephens likewise affirmed. “These cultural flashpoints are where the battle rages hottest and it is precisely here that faithfulness is tested. The Church must be a prophetic witness rather than gag God and be ashamed of His truth.”
“Broadly, Christians in Canada remain concerned about losing freedom of religion but fearful of using those freedoms to protect their ‘witness.’ But witness is not reputation in the eyes of the world, it’s faithfulness before God,” Stephens added.
‘Revival and reformation is needed’
How should Christians in the West — especially in the United States — be warned from Canada’s passage of C-4? According to both Reaume and Stephens, LGBTQ doctrine will continue to gain new footholds apart from Christians taking background.
“The ideologies of queer theory, progressive gender ideology, and critical theory have taken over education, corporations, entertainment, and the media,” Stephens explained. “Politics is simply the face of the heart of a nation. The United States is lagging Canada, but the ideas are there and will bear fruit unless the roots are pulled up.”
“Christians must realize that we are in a spiritual battle where we are called to destroy strongholds, these opinions, and philosophies that are raised against the knowledge of God,” Stephens continued, warning that the United States Constitution will sooner or later “prove ineffective to stop the advance of these godless ideologies.”
“Revival and reformation are needed. The Church must lead. Sadly, American evangelicalism looks a lot like Canada with only a few voices sounding the alarm and speaking truth to culture.”
Reaume noted that believers in the West can no longer ignore pervasive sexual sin in their cultures.
“Christians have erred in thinking that we can carry on in our churches and lives just fine while the state and the media have done all they can to normalize sodomy,” he said. “We can’t carry on. Sodomy is selfish and destructive toward all it touches. The more it is permitted to grow, the more it will grow, and it will accelerate until it destroys every aspect of life.”
“Scripture describes Sodom as a vine with poisonous grapes (Deuteronomy 32:32). Without being cut back, the vine will take and poison the entire garden, strangling all of life. That is what has happened in Canada,” he warned. “The vine of Sodom has now entered the Church and is attempting to suffocate the pulpit. Christians need to put on the full armor of God and attack at the root to remove the entire plant from the garden.”
Read the rest of this unbelievable story here.
A CALL TO ACTION:
Bringing you conservative news and commentary means it is tough out there on social media. We’re constantly getting kneecapped and constrained by tech companies who find the truth intolerable, resulting in our reach being severely throttled.
For this reason, please consider supporting us directly. If you like what you are reading and desire to to see more, please support our work here.