I stand with James Coates, first Canadian pastor to be imprisoned for gathering his congregation to worship God

 

“While all things are quiet and comfortable, we live by sense rather than faith. But the worth of a soldier is never known in times of peace.”

James Coates is a pastor in Edmonton Alberta arrested and currently in prison for gathering his congregation for worship.  

James' wife shared the following: 

"James has been in isolation in a cell block since yesterday morning.  His hearing didn't go very well.  The Crown went for the jugular.  The JP say he didn't want to detain him, he wasn't interested in making a martyr of him.  He could walk if he just sets aside his God-given pastoral duties but he can't do that.  He has a hearing today to set a court date for his charges.  It's very possible that they will remand him until his court case.  The Crown has called him a danger to the health and safety of Albertans.  May God have mercy on our nation.  I read to my children the work the Lord is doing in peoples [lives] through James so they can see the sacrifice of their father is not in vain.  My prayer is that men will stand!  They can't see that if they shut us down on this issue they will shut us down on any issue they deem to be "a danger to the health and safety of Albertans."  

In another post she wrote:

"My heart is broken.  They tried him in secret.  The officers lied to us and told us he wasn't there.  They tried to hide him and sneak him out the back door.  In the providence of God one of our men was there.  The officer only allowed him to tell him that he loved him and were here with him.  They pulled him away.  They have remanded him as our lawyer seeks the appeal.  The conditions of his release are that he would not pastor anymore.  I cannot visit him."

This is Canada, a nation I was once proud to call home.  Today I am ashamed and angry.  Our government has badly betrayed its citizens.

But what angers me most is the silence of the pastors and elders.  The complicity of so many church leaders in the evils committed by our provincial and federal governments is surely a symptom of a greater problem, but it is itself a denial and a betrayal of the Saviour who bought us.  

What about you?  Will you stand up for Jesus?  Will you stand with a brother and fellow-citizen, the first Canadian pastor in our history to be imprisoned for gathering with his congregation for worship.  Maybe you wonder, "how?"  "How can I stand up for a minister in Alberta?"

Here are some simple suggestions:  

• By doing as he has done, whether you are pastor, elder or layperson.  
• By putting the crown back on Christ's head!
• By obeying God rather than man.  In other words, complying with the laws of King Jesus rather than the laws of a godless idolatrous government.   
• By gathering for worship and telling the government "never again."   In other words, opening the doors of the church (whether a church building, home or barn) and never closing again.  
• By publicly defending James every chance you get.  
• By counting the cost of following Jesus and then paying that cost.
• By telling the government that you are with James, and if they will imprison Christians who gather they will have to arrest you too.

For my part I am with James.  

Today I called his MLA and then wrote to my MP.   I wish there was much more I could have done, but I did what I could.  The email - see below - was written out of grief and (I trust) righteous indignation.  It was my way of saying, "I am with James."  I offer it here for your consideration, with the following disclaimer: 

* Our primary struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.   I believe there is a place for letters like these.  There is a place for political protest.  But ultimately this is God's judgment on a backslidden Church.  And the only way out is by prayer and fasting with repentance.

Here, then, is the email.

"Dear sir, I am one of your constituents.  I am also a local pastor and I have been somewhat involved in the Liberty Coalition Canada.  My ancestors came to Ontario in the late 1700s.  They were Quakers who came here seeking refuge.  Today I learned that a fellow pastor is in prison in Alberta for gathering his congregation for worship.  Sir, I say this with respect, but enough is enough.  My grandfather and great-grandfather served in the wars.  They did not fight for this.  They fought to preserve our freedoms!  This has to stop.  

As a pastor I mean to go on gathering with my congregation, and I will be using every platform I have to encourage other pastors to do the same with or without the permission of civil authorities.  If this once great nation is going to start arresting pastors I assure you its going to be busy because there are a growing number of us who have had enough.  We have long honoured our civil authorities and called on our people to also honour their civil authorities; but we must obey God, and we will not stand idly by while a brother is imprisoned for doing what he and we believe Christians must do.  

Sir, if James Coates should be locked up for gathering his people for worship so should I.  And so should hundreds of others in this province alone.   I know personally of dozens of churches in this province that have been meeting secretly in obedience to God and in defiance of these draconian rules that are destroying the lives of so many more than they will ever save.  

Sir, it isn't right to arrest and imprison just one.  So urge our government to decide once and for all whether we have religious freedom to gather peacefully or not.  And if not, tell them to come get us all..."

Of course, we have no wish to be arrested and imprisoned.  Indeed, we have no wish to disobey our civil authorities!   We pray for them privately and corporately.  But we must obey God, and we will continue to obey Him.  So, we may eventually find ourselves chased out of our church buildings, but the only way to keep us from gathering for worship is to lock us up with James.  Duty is ours, events are God's.  

I believe I speak for many pastors across the land when I say, "for our part, we intend to quit ourselves like men (1 Corinthians 16:13)."  

- Steve Richardson