A Canadian church will for now at least not have its doors closed to its faithful by police and health officials after a judge today denied an Ontario Attorney General’s request to shut the church doors because it has stayed open contrary to draconian COVID-19 health rules.
Pastor Henry Hildebrandt of a Church located in Aylmer, Ontario, announced the news in a YouTube message posted today.
“God still is on his throne and prayer and fasting does move his arm. We thank God this morning that the judge ruled, at least until May 13th, that the doors would remain open and that there will be no fines issued,” said Hildebrandt.
“Whatever it takes, God will help us. God is the supreme judge, and what God does, what God allows is, well, it will be the best for his kingdom. May God help us decide if you would pray, especially for May 13th, when this matter will be before the judge again, so that it would be ruled according to what God wants it to be. God bless you. And thank you so very much again for your support and your prayers.”
This past Wednesday, Hildebrandt shared a letter dated April 27 from Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey’s office to the Honourable Mr. Justice Bruce G. Thomas, Regional Senior Justice of the Southwest Region in Ontario.
In the letter, Downey’s office asked the courts to close the Church doors because it has been violating the Ontario Reopening Act.
The Attorney General in the letter sought at a “subsequent sanctions hearing, fines and an order directing the sheriff to lock the doors of the Respondent church until no gathering size limits apply to the church under the Reopening Ontario Act.”
The letter was also copied to Hildebrandt’s lawyers at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), who are working the case.
The JCCF told LifeSiteNews that they will have more to say about today’s ruling soon.
In his video message today, Hildebrandt said they woke this morning with “heavy hearts” expecting bad news, but thanked “God this morning for answering prayer.”
Hildebrandt thanked his legal team and JCCF lawyer Lisa Bildy, saying she spoke in defense of the church with “very strong words.”
“So we are very thankful, very thankful,” he said. “And thank you for your support and your prayers, the many, many messages you sent. God bless you for that. Please keep on praying that the Lord will help us. It is my utmost desire to preach the gospel, the good news, and bring sinners to Christ in a critical time like we’re living in right now.”
According to an Aylmer Express report, Justice Thomas also found today in contempt of the Church as a corporation, Hildebrandt, and Peter Wall – who works as an assistant pastor and church director at the church – because they defied a February court injunction on the church.
“I urge the parties to step back from the heated conflict,” said Justice Thomas, according to the Aylmer Express.
At the packed Sunday, April 25 service, Hildebrandt said he was “very ashamed of many, many pastors in this land” for being “noodlebacks” in going along with COVID-19 restrictions limiting church size.
Independent MP Derek Sloan and Independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier both attended the service at the Church and spoke briefly from the pulpit. The pair have been charged by Aylmer Police for attending.
Both Sloan and Hillier noted on social media that they were pleased the judge denied the government’s request to close the Church doors.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on April 16 introduced extended “stay at home orders” that placed a 10-person limit on church service attendance size, closed playgrounds, implemented provincial border checks, and gave police the power to stop anyone outside his or her home without cause.
After public backlash, the Ford government walked back some of its coronavirus rules less than a day later. Playgrounds were allowed to stay open, and police had to have “reason to suspect that you are participating in an organized public event or social gathering” in order to question people.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
Although we are not in agreement with various doctrine matters with this church, the increase of Christian persecution, specifically by Governments, is relevant for the Body of Christ.
The Bible says that Christians, especially as we near the return of Christ, should not forsake the gathering of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25). When we are faced with the choice between following Government orders or God’s Word our responsibility is to “obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29).
We were told in the last days “all who live godly in Christ” will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). We are also told that a global government would arise with the leader being the “antichrist,” who would kill Christians for lack of participation in his deceptive and blasphemous system (Revelation 13). Should we be surprised governments prior to this leader taking the stage are in opposition to Biblical truth and morality?
If you’re a Christian today, you will not have to face that period of time where the antichrist is reining, and the wrath of God is poured out onto the whole earth (Revelation 3:10). We will be taken out of the way before he comes onto the scene in the “Rapture of the Church” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
However, that doesn’t negate our responsibility to, by the Holy Spirit, work to be a restraining force to the evil of the present day (2 Thessalonians 2:7). We need to be unwilling to be censored from saying truth from the word of God, even if we face man’s consequences. We need to not allow the godless agendas this world is propagating to be pushed through our pulpits as well. We need to instead unashamedly counteract lies with Biblical accuracy, free of conforming, toning down, or silencing our message.
Compromise doesn’t save the lost. The perfect truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ does.
