The Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms has announced that it will be defending Trinity Bible Chapel, located near Waterloo, Ontario, “against escalating enforcement measures by the Ford government.” They made the announcement on January 29th, 2021.
The Pastor of the church, Jacob Reaume has been vocal about the lockdowns – announcing on December the 3rd, 2020 that “if his region went into a hard lockdown again, his church would remain open, and that it was essential to do so —spiritually, psychologically, biblically and legally. “
The Church Must Meet
It’s about more than rights when it comes to going and meeting in Church – it is about doing what God has commanded us to do. Many are quick to point to Romans 13:1 and tell any Christian or Pastor that insists on opening their Church that they’re in violation of what God wants us to do – after-all render unto Cesar what is Cesar’s right?
Not exactly. Christians are commanded to obey authority up until a point. That point is arrived at when authority clashes with God’s edicts. It’s then the job of Christians to obey God over Government – no matter how many feelings will be hurt.
The Biblical case against lockdowns
Pastor Jacob Reaume, wrote a blog titled “Here We Stand: The Church Must meet” for his personal blog that is available on Trinity Bible Chapel’s website. In this blog, Mr. Reaume lays out the Biblical case against lockdowns.
Under the section titled “Extent of Christian Obedience to Governing Authorities,” Mr. Reaume talks about Romans 13:1 and says “the command, however, is not ultimate.” He continues, “In such cases when government edicts contradict God’s commands, Christians must obey God over government.“
Pastor Reaume’s gave bible references in this section – here they are;
- Acts 5:29 – “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”
- Acts 20:28 -“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” The implication here would be how can you pay careful attention to anything you don’t see in person?
- Matthew 10:16-25 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors.” Pastor Reaume had the following to say on Matthew 10:16-25; “The Lord Jesus predicted that governments would oppose His Law to the point of punishing His people through court systems.”
- Hebrews 11:36-37 – “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.” Christians throughout history often faced governmental penalty for their obedience to God.
- 1 Timothy 5:17 – “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.”
- Titus 1:7 – “For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.”
As we see in Acts 5:29 we “must obey God rather than men.” Yes, the bible tells us to obey authority – until that authority contradicts God’s edicts. When we tell people that they can’t gather to worship and pray together but can attend a grocery store or large box chain store with hundreds of others at the same time – then we have drifted into obeying God over Government territory.
How is it ok for beer, liquor and weed to be open and deemed essential – but not a Church that ministers to the needs of their community? How can any government official that agrees with shutting down access to the Churches then turn around and say they care about the mental health and well-being of their community with a straight face?
One survey conducted by lifeway research asked participants to answer 2 questions. The first was “I need other believers to help me grow in my walk with God” and the second was “I can walk with God without other believers.” They were asked if they agreed, disagreed or neither. Interestingly, 75% of respondents agreed that they “need other believers to help grow” in their walk with God. Although, 65% agreed they could walk with God without other believers – 75% noted they needed other believers to help them grow in their faith.
In essence, people need to be in Church to help grow their faith walk with God. You need to be surrounded by other believers going through the day to day struggles of life while doing their best to remain faithful to God. Iron sharpens Iron – and right now Iron isn’t allowed to meet on Sundays.
The Church (TBC) says their desire is to “work with the Province to care for the health of our community” but that “it must practice civil disobedience in the event of a government lockdown.”
They conclude;
“By God’s grace, Canada was founded on Christian principles, as enumerated in the preamble of the Charter, namely the supremacy of God and the rule of law. While it is still our hope and prayer that another lockdown does not occur in our region, TBC will, with God’s help and by His grace, continue to meet if any lockdown or similar order by the Province or Municipal government does occur and firmly states that the sincere belief and religious practice of regular Sunday meetings fall under the fundamental freedoms of religion and peaceful assembly found in sections 2(a) and 2(c) of the Charter.
To all those who read, we encourage you to prayerfully consider the biblical requirement of Christians to physically gather as a body and the blessing provided by this gift of fellowship.”
Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms on Lockdowns
In the JCCF press release, they had the following to say about lockdowns and their benefits;
“Since lockdowns were imposed in March of 2020, the Ford government has failed to provide evidence that lockdown benefits (if any) outweigh the harms, despite repeated requests from the Justice Centre and even in response to a recent challenge from within Premier Ford’s own party. Premier Ford has shut down the opposing voices of MPP Roman Baber and MPP Belinda Karahalios, and has maintained a de facto state of emergency through its Reopening Ontario Act.”
They continue;
“The Reopening Ontario Act is a backdoor means of continuing to hold emergency powers, which are concentrated in a small group of cabinet members and public health officials, rather than in the Legislature as required by Canada’s Constitution.”
Advanced age is the leading risk factor for death from COVID-19, particularly when there are serious co-morbidities involved. However, for the vast majority of the population, COVID-19 is not the deadly threat it was made out to be. This is especially true for children, who are at greater risk of dying from the annual flu than from COVID-19.
Justice Centre Lawyer Lisa Bildy said “despite knowing who is most at risk, measures to protect those in long-term care were extremely inadequate. Instead, the focus has been on locking down the rest of society, resulting in economic destruction, death and despair from this unprecedented experiment on the populace.”
We here at Diverge Media agree with Lisa Bildy’s above statement on the matter. Lockdown has been an “unprecedented experiment on the populace” and there isn’t any excuses for it either. In their press release there is a document linked titled “Flying Blind – Governments’ hasty decisions to lock down Canadians while damaging public health and the economy.”
Number of deaths not significantly higher than other years
In the 101 page document, the JCCF has an executive summary for quick use. Under point number 4 they say that the data that is available indicates the following;
“The popular assumption that COVID-19 has increased the number of people dying in Canada is not supported by the data released by Statistics Canada on October 28, 2020. For the 34 weeks ending August 22, 2020, the number of deaths from all causes is not significantly higher than observed in recent years.“
Fewer Deaths are being ascribed to other causes as Covid-19 deaths increase
“While there remain a substantial number of deaths not categorized by cause, as deaths from COVID-19 increase, fewer deaths are ascribed to other causes, notably cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, pneumonia and influenza. This suggests that COVID-19 may be reported as the primary cause of death instead of these other conditions which account for the majority of deaths in Canada.” – JCCF
The media needs to do its job
Our job in media is not to report our personal biases and feelings about a situation or story – although admittedly we all have a bias of sorts. We must be aware of our bias and put it to the side in an attempt to seek the facts and evidence – and ultimately the truth.
The mainstream media has been complicit in aiding the government’s draconian trampling of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They don’t give coverage to the other perspective nearly enough and when they do it’s usually riddled with the narrator’s bias (in my opinion).
Instead, the media seems to obsess with small Churches like Trinity Bible Chapel, constantly vilifying them without evidence of them ever causing harm to others – based purely on speculation and assumptions. Just because you think someone could be harmed doesn’t prove that any harm has occurred. This type of coverage has “resulted in threats of violence against Trinity Bible Chapel,” said Ms. Bildy a Lawyer of the JCCF.
In seeking to “deal” with COVID-19, Canadians have allowed their provincial Government to become the proverbial helicopter parents of their respective provinces. Sadly, like frightened little children, many Canadians continue to turn to their toxic caretakers to “save them” from a virus that presents little risk to the vast majority of them. They do so not just at the expense of today – but at the expense of our future, our kid’s future, and likely the children of future generations as well.
Fewer jobs will lead to less tax income, which will lead to higher taxes – eventually, it will all lead to cuts to services like healthcare if the bills can’t be paid. Why hasn’t there been one discussion about the long term repercussions of continually decimating our economy through on-going lockdowns and COVID-19 protocols that do little to help?
Ontario’s former Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Richard Schabas, who served as chief of staff at York Central hospital during the 2003 SARS crisis, has recently spoken out against lockdowns saying;
“Lockdown was never part of our planned pandemic response nor is it supported by strong science. Two recent studies on the effectiveness of lockdown show that it has, at most, a small COVID mortality benefit compared to more moderate measures. Both studies warned about the excessive cost of lockdowns.”
End the lockdowns. Debate the best way forward on handling COVID-19 and let’s get on with living our lives. End the fear campaign and come clean Premier Ford. Experts are speaking out, even members of your own party – what an amazing ability you possess to ignore anyone who doesn’t give you “medical” advice.
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