Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 401 ｜ Joy in Jail & Peace Through Persecution

00:00:00.000 hey guys welcome to relatable happy monday so today is the first day that you're listening to

00:00:15.840 this of my maternity leave 12 weeks pre-recorded episodes lots of interviews lots of q and a's

00:00:22.060 answering some of your controversial questions a couple hot topics like kjv onlyism and the death

00:00:30.640 penalty all those will be coming up today however we are talking to pastor james coates of grace life

00:00:37.360 church in edmonton alberta canada i talked to his wife aaron coates a couple weeks ago this you

00:00:43.840 probably remember that interview this pastor was jailed in alberta for continuing to preach the

00:00:50.600 gospel in per in person openly to his church and refusing to limit his congregation to the capacity

00:00:58.660 that um the that the health officials in that area were telling him that he had to limit it to so he

00:01:05.140 ended up going to jail well he got out of jail thankfully there was a lot of back and forth

00:01:10.340 there were um there was a trial and we didn't know what was going to happen they tried to appeal it

00:01:17.140 and during that time there were two child sex predators that were released uh in the same area

00:01:24.040 without conditions that edmonton police said are probably going to recommit their crimes and so

00:01:29.860 because of that hypocrisy because of what seemed like a dystopian persecution against a man who

00:01:35.200 simply allowed people to come to his church and whatever numbers they wanted to come they wanted to

00:01:39.960 wear a mask distance whatever um there was a lot of uproar in the united states about that there's a lot

00:01:44.920 of uproar everywhere about that saying this is clear bias from the government and yes this is a

00:01:51.260 form of persecution no one's saying it it's this that it's the same kind of persecution as what

00:01:56.000 christians are seeing in the middle east or seen in china but this is absolutely something that is

00:02:01.160 unjust and we need to be talking about it and so people started talking about it tucker carlson talked

00:02:07.020 about it on his show but more than that people were praying about it people were praying that he would

00:02:11.500 be released from jail that justice would be done most of all that the gospel would be proclaimed

00:02:16.260 and that god would be glorified we talked about um a couple weeks ago when we were talking about

00:02:22.540 little nas x and his satan shoes about how beautiful and wonderful it is what we see throughout

00:02:28.600 scripture in history um and what we see from the story of joseph that when uh evil people intend

00:02:36.700 something for wickedness intend something for harm god can use that for his glory and i think that's

00:02:43.400 absolutely what we are seeing uh through pastor james coast and grace life church he's out of jail

00:02:50.060 now but the royal canadian mounted police rcmp and members of the alberta health services um decided that

00:02:58.080 they were going to put up fencing around the building so that no one's able to get in

00:03:02.060 and so pastor coates pastor james coast is out of jail um but his church is basically in jail and so

00:03:09.440 they really do not want people worshiping at this church in any capacity so that's where they are

00:03:16.960 right now um and that's the predicament that they are currently in i wanted to talk to pastor james

00:03:23.060 about how he and his congregants and he and his family are trying to navigate this as he is still

00:03:28.320 um striving to be a faithful steward of the gospel and a faithful ambassador of christ a faithful

00:03:34.340 shepherd of the flock that god has entrusted to him so i wanted to talk to him about that i wanted

00:03:39.180 to talk to him about his experience in jail which is i'm sure something that he never thought was going

00:03:43.200 to happen um and just get some encouragement from him because all of us at some point are going to

00:03:48.640 face some kind of if not outright uh that kind of persecution certainly push back and challenges

00:03:55.540 to our faith first sympathy promises that that all who desire to live a godly life uh in christ jesus

00:04:02.260 will be persecuted so whether it looks like james coates's um uh persecution or whether it looks like

00:04:09.320 something else all of us have to prepare through the power of the holy spirit to be able to stand firm

00:04:15.260 and defend our defend our faith when those challenges come and so i'm really excited for you to listen to

00:04:20.940 this conversation that i'm about to have with pastor james coates

00:04:23.880 pastor james thank you so much for joining me you are going through a very crazy time that i thought

00:04:36.160 maybe it would be over when you got released from jail but it hasn't can you talk to us just kind of

00:04:41.780 about what's what's happened over the past few weeks since you were released from jail and what it's

00:04:49.780 been like for you to come home and to see how everything's continued to evolve well it's been an adjustment

00:04:57.580 for sure when i first got out there was a little bit of reprieve from what i've been calling the pressure

00:05:04.320 cooker of all that's happening with our government and ahs but about a week thereafter everything

00:05:11.840 began and i was right back to where i started uh prior to my being imprisoned and and being imprisoned

00:05:20.140 actually provided me some uh peace in all honesty from all of the attention that we've been getting

00:05:27.400 from the rcmp and our government and so it was uh it was a huge adjustment early last week to get back

00:05:37.140 into the headspace and ready and prepared for the battle that i'd had a bit of a break from and so

00:05:42.940 i've been able to get a handle on what's happening in the world and how my world has changed around me

00:05:48.480 and the uh the increased attention that my life is receiving at this time and my my resolve for this

00:05:56.440 battle has been renewed and strengthened and so i am i am thankful the lord has marked me out for this

00:06:02.960 purpose yeah let's back up some because there we've you know we talked to your wife erin and we've

00:06:09.600 talked about um the entire situation um independently as well but i'd like to get your perspective just

00:06:18.080 kind of from the beginning how things started to go down there's a lot of people trying to separate

00:06:23.200 fact from fiction there are a lot of christians who are saying you know this this person actually

00:06:28.160 deserve to be put in jail and all of that can you tell us just from your perspective and everything

00:06:33.040 you know what has um what happened from the beginning why did you get put in jail in the first

00:06:37.780 place well alberta health services is in place to ensure compliance to their health orders and we see

00:06:46.180 their health orders in conflict with the headship of christ over his church and so we have determined

00:06:52.980 then decided to uphold his authority over the church and to submit to his terms of worship we see the health

00:07:00.300 orders as infringing on his directives in his word and so we have been meeting in obedience to christ and in

00:07:10.100 defiance of the health orders for quite some time and so they've employed that is ahs has employed multiple measures to

00:07:17.940 try and get us to comply all of which have failed and and ultimately climaxing now with uh imprisoning our

00:07:26.140 facility as far as my imprisonment is concerned uh the tool they they attempted to use to bring me into

00:07:33.520 compliance that resulted in my imprisonment was an undertaking so i was arrested on february 7th

00:07:39.820 with an undertaking in that undertaking was a condition the condition was the same old condition

00:07:45.920 that we comply with the public health act and follow the health orders as it relates to our

00:07:53.020 our gathering i indicated at that time that i could not agree to that condition

00:07:58.140 and and so the rcmp indicated that i had refused the condition i did not agree i did not i did not sign

00:08:06.520 that document and they said that nevertheless though you have refused the condition the condition still

00:08:12.860 stands the following sunday february 14th when i met and led that service for our congregation i was in

00:08:21.620 breach of that condition and was subsequently arrested now when i was arrested the second time

00:08:27.560 i was brought before a justice of the peace and when that was resolved i was going to be released

00:08:33.460 on the condition again that i comply with alberta health orders as it relates to our gathering at which

00:08:40.040 point i said i could not do that and and that resulted in my imprisonment there was a condition

00:08:45.640 given to me that i would have had to agree to that in my estimation precludes me from carrying out my

00:08:52.180 my god-given responsibility as a pastor and so i could not agree to that condition because i couldn't

00:08:58.080 agree to that condition and that was the condition of my release i was in prison for five weeks and it was

00:09:03.800 that uh that time that there was an agreement put in place by my lawyers in the crown that removed that

00:09:10.720 condition and allowed me to uh to leave the the prison and and and take up my responsibilities as a

00:09:19.420 shepherd so even in that i did plead guilty to breaching that undertaking uh but that was an undertaking

00:09:27.480 i never agreed to comply with and i would break it in a heartbeat all over again um i could have

00:09:33.460 i could have potentially stayed in prison and and forced the crown to drop all charges because there

00:09:39.100 was a lot of pressure on the government and the crown to drop those charges but at that point

00:09:43.500 i would be um trying to do something very personal and individual whereas the reason that i was in prison

00:09:50.580 at that time was because i was being precluded from shepherding the flock of god and so to plead guilty to

00:09:56.780 an undertaking that i breached even though i knew i'd never agreed to comply with it in the first place

00:10:02.040 that would allow me to be a free man and shepherd the flock it was an easy decision for me right

00:10:08.020 and what do you say to the people who said you know what there are other churches who figured out

00:10:14.140 how to um how to run their church and comply with the restrictions um when people say you could have

00:10:24.180 spread out um your you could have spread out your services more to be able to comply with that 15

00:10:31.200 capacity limit there are things that you could have done to make sure that you are still you know

00:10:38.640 shepherding your church and complying with the government what's your response to those kinds of

00:10:44.700 retorts well so we are permitted to have 96 people or 92 people in our facility at one given time based on

00:10:55.260 the current orders that are in place that would require us pre-imprisonment to have at least four

00:11:02.560 if not five services to make sure that all the folks in our church can attend furthermore ahs does

00:11:09.340 not permit socializing fellowship and so basically people would come in partake of the service and leave

00:11:17.800 just like they would a hockey game or a basketball game and and that's not the church the church is not a

00:11:24.420 spectator sport and so we would have to divide up our body have people coming in and cycling out while

00:11:30.220 a new group comes in and comes out there wouldn't be any one another in taking place and and all of

00:11:36.520 that fundamentally would would inhibit the means of grace that are employed in the corporate gathering

00:11:42.080 to the building up of the body of christ and and and covet 19 doesn't warrant those measures it's not a

00:11:49.700 virus severe enough to fundamentally alter the way that we gather as a local church and furthermore jesus

00:11:55.740 christ is the head of the church not not the premier not the chief medical officer of health

00:12:01.500 the lord jesus christ and so we have a responsibility of upholding the word of god and letting the word of

00:12:07.940 god govern our gathering and you also made it possible for people who maybe they were high risk or maybe

00:12:15.240 they lived with people who were especially vulnerable for which you know for whom this virus was very

00:12:21.200 serious you also kind of gave those people space where they could attend or they could watch online

00:12:27.460 people were free to social distance if they wanted to or wear masks if they wanted to correct your

00:12:32.800 really your thing was that you wanted people to be able to be free to make those decisions and everyone

00:12:39.500 who wanted to be able to access church in person you wanted them to be able to do that as easily

00:12:44.980 as possible correct yeah my responsibility as a shepherd our responsibility as shepherds is to open our

00:12:52.420 doors and permit the people of god to worship we never compelled anyone to come we did provide

00:12:57.960 a place in our facility that would warrant uh social distancing and and provide additional measures

00:13:05.300 and protections against the virus for those who were looking for that but at the end of the day our job is

00:13:10.980 to open our doors and welcome the people of god to worship and and so they weren't compelled they were

00:13:16.360 there on their own volition our people are incredibly intelligent they're bright they're healthy they're

00:13:21.480 happy they are they are mature spiritually and it's not for me to make a decision about who can come and

00:13:27.340 who can't and furthermore it's the lord's church it's not even my church so for me to decide unilaterally or

00:13:34.440 for us as a leadership to decide you know laterally you know laterally that we're going to fundamentally

00:13:39.040 alter the conditions of worship because the the government has told us to or because we think

00:13:45.340 this virus is severe enough to warrant that we're actually usurping the authority of christ over his

00:13:51.720 church and so um you know and then furthermore i think when you look at where we are today if if christians

00:14:00.500 believe at least here in alberta and canada that at some point in time we're going to be permitted to

00:14:06.480 gather as the full body of christ i think they're delusional i mean we are over a year into this so

00:14:12.220 called pandemic and and enforcement is increasing i mean i've been to jail our church is now in jail

00:14:20.460 and and so i can understand that maybe you know in the first month or two but now we have the

00:14:27.460 information that the data is in and we understand that this virus is not the threat that they have

00:14:34.260 made it out to be in fact the biggest threat to at least alberta and canada i can't speak for the u.s

00:14:40.740 is the government lockdowns it's it's alberta health services that is the biggest threat to albertans at

00:14:48.760 present and uh and so we we just cannot comply with this lie that's being perpetrated on on our our country

00:14:57.960 and um pastor james did they did they try to justify their restrictions of your church and your

00:15:08.080 imprisonment by any data like you're talking about that this really doesn't correlate to the reality of

00:15:16.040 the threat of covid did they cite that hey you know we've seen an outbreak that had started at your

00:15:23.460 church or we're actually seeing a rise in cases because your church is meeting together did they

00:15:29.160 even try to predicate it on that kind of so-called science no no i mean all of this is predicated on

00:15:37.120 the the theory and and suspect and selective science that has been being used the entire time

00:15:45.300 i mean everything that is in place right now to mitigate the spread of the virus is intensely

00:15:50.780 theoretical uh and and and when you interact with really solid doctors who who actually know what

00:15:57.460 they're talking about they're able to demonstrate very clearly that the approach to handling this

00:16:02.780 pandemic is is misguided at best and so there's nothing to support the measures that have been

00:16:11.140 taken against our church in fact information is rolling in that there are mosques in our province that

00:16:17.100 are packed and they are not getting the attention that we're getting and so now we're beginning to see

00:16:22.200 that we are being singled out and i would say this that that locking up our facility

00:16:28.540 isn't embarrassment as it is for our province but they had to weigh what's the bigger embarrassment

00:16:34.780 and so for us to be able to meet for 37 sundays in a row and not even have a single case of covet 19

00:16:41.440 and and certainly not an outbreak they had to they had to lock up our facility to end the embarrassment

00:16:48.240 of proving that that their lockdown measures are unjust they're harmful and they're unnecessary

00:16:55.000 it is safe to meet and gather and so 99.7 percent of those who contract this virus are going to fully

00:17:02.460 recover and and so we have just exposed that what is happening in our nation is totally unnecessary

00:17:10.600 and and life can go back to normal and and the health care system is not going to be stressed

00:17:16.240 everything is going to be okay and the only way that that we're going to be able to get back to

00:17:20.860 normal in our country is if our people begin to return to life as normal take off the mask

00:17:25.660 open your businesses and and return to life as normal and you can see that people are not afraid

00:17:30.920 you go to costco they're not afraid they're not socially distanced you know they got the mask on but

00:17:36.140 but um but people are not afraid anymore and we just gotta you know take that next step throw off the mask

00:17:42.140 and and return to life as normal and you know it's actually interesting there was a study that i saw just

00:17:47.260 the other day um where i was surprised but a media outlet here in the u.s said um that some of the

00:17:54.200 states with stricter lockdowns are actually seeing a worse caseload a higher caseload than some of the

00:18:00.360 states without restrictions and it seems that it's probably because like you said even in places where

00:18:07.800 there are hefty restrictions people are still meeting but what they're doing is that they're meeting in

00:18:13.500 closed spaces so rather than you know like where i am we can go outside without masks we can spread out

00:18:20.580 we can go to the park we can go to church and still if we want to distance and things like that

00:18:25.400 people in states with actually stricter regulations are seeing more of a spread because they're still

00:18:31.020 meeting together but they're just meeting together in close quarters they're meeting together in living

00:18:35.460 rooms they're meeting together in secret and so actually if you cared about the spread of the

00:18:40.360 virus and you cared about lowering your caseload you would give people um the freedom to be able

00:18:46.540 to you know like you said fellowship in a way that's unrestricted to where they don't feel like

00:18:51.120 they have to be confined to their tiny living room and actually spread a virus um so that's an

00:18:56.480 interesting point that you make i uh am also just wondering kind of what your reaction was what

00:19:02.260 your emotions were when you realized you were actually going to jail i mean i'm sure that you thought

00:19:07.560 that that would be something that would never happen well i would say this that i i settled

00:19:13.040 that i would need to go to jail well before that moment um we um we met uh in january in defiance of

00:19:23.980 a court order uh we could be held in contempt of court for that one of the penalties for contempt of

00:19:29.040 court is up to two years in prison and and so i had to um stare down the barrel of that consequence

00:19:36.160 uh well before the moment that i had at that rcmp office uh so i had settled my willingness to to

00:19:44.740 to go to jail for the headship of christ over his church and i remember listening to a town hall

00:19:50.700 phone call with jason kenny our premier and and dina hinshaw our chief medical officer of health and

00:19:57.660 when it was all said and done my my words to myself were i'm going to jail i am so from another planet

00:20:04.540 um i am so far in a different direction from uh where our government is and where it seems a lot

00:20:12.120 of quote-unquote faith leaders and by the way i am not a faith leader i'm an ambassador of the lord

00:20:17.640 jesus christ i don't even know what a faith leader is but that's a separate issue altogether um so

00:20:23.900 anyway when it came time to to to settle that no i cannot sign that condition that was the easy part i

00:20:31.460 mean that i had already settled that i was well prepared from my lawyers to know what to expect

00:20:37.580 in that particular moment but it was the it was hard for sure in the aftermath of that moment which

00:20:44.680 was literally just a few moments from that moment where i began to digest the reality that i would i would

00:20:50.640 be going to jail and i i was on the phone with my lawyer initially and was just weeping and and he

00:20:57.520 encouraged me and prayed for me and so i could call my family and share with them the reality that i'd be

00:21:04.180 that i'd be going to jail and um and and so i could do that with with a measure of courage even the next

00:21:11.560 morning i was very difficult because as the rcmp transferred me from the rcmp headquarters to the

00:21:19.040 courthouse for a brief hearing they shackled me i was in cuffs and ankle stocks which is bizarre

00:21:25.200 because you would only do that for a flight risk i had turned myself into the rcmp uh i was i was free

00:21:32.660 to go if i would just agree to the condition i i obviously was not a flight risk and so that was

00:21:38.440 that was ill-advised on the part of that rcmp officer and and so when i returned to the headquarters

00:21:45.300 following that that that hearing and spoke to my wife that was a difficult moment as well

00:21:51.100 and so you what i experienced emotionally uh in terms of embracing the reality of going to jail

00:21:59.220 initially was everything that you would expect to experience and um and so those those first couple

00:22:05.760 of days were definitely difficult it was easier to get into prison and be in prison and begin to

00:22:12.180 adjust to the life and culture of prison but the the process of of going to prison was was

00:22:18.380 definitely uncomfortable oh i can hardly imagine and i just remember speaking to your wife as well and

00:22:24.840 she was telling me of course her strength in the lord but also the emotional turmoil that she at times

00:22:32.020 felt and my heart just breaks thinking about the human element of that just being separated from your

00:22:38.740 wife and your family i can't imagine how difficult that was and how surreal and dystopian it felt um when

00:22:45.560 you were in prison i'm sure you you know you had time to adjust but i imagine that that was also a

00:22:52.060 very difficult transition as well can you tell us what it was like um in the cell and what was your

00:22:57.120 life like on a daily basis yeah initially it was surreal because in in the cell that you're in you've got

00:23:04.200 access to four radio stations one of those radio stations is talk radio that does a news loop every

00:23:10.080 half an hour and uh and so initially i was just in that news loop over and over and over again i i we

00:23:18.300 had the radio on even that first night as we slept my myself and my my cellmate and he was later removed

00:23:26.080 from my cell because i became uh i was under administrative watch because of all the media

00:23:31.800 attention so they wanted to kind of protect me from anyone that would do me harm and so he was removed

00:23:36.220 rather early on team but but on that first night we had the radio on and i was kind of in and out

00:23:41.460 of sleep and i i was waking up and hearing myself with sermon excerpts on this radio station which was

00:23:47.500 just uh you know incredibly surreal um but yeah i mean it was uh it was a challenge i mean i there

00:23:53.680 were things about being in jail at that time that made the adjustment maybe somewhat easier i was in

00:24:00.000 quarantine so i wasn't interacting a lot with the other inmates and so initially that was maybe a bit of a

00:24:05.020 grace to give me a chance to ease into prison life and culture my my cellmate was sleeping a lot

00:24:12.320 in in in in those first few days before being removed from my cell so there wasn't even a ton

00:24:18.660 of interaction with him although i did i did share with him the gospel and and you're just trying to

00:24:23.920 learn the culture i mean um you're a total newbie and and so the guards your interaction with the guards

00:24:30.420 you know you're you're trying to understand the schedule of of when breakfast is when lunch is and

00:24:36.840 and when do you when do you get your trays when you give them back again i mean there was all kinds

00:24:41.120 of stuff going on so it was uh it was an adjustment and that helped too because for the first week or so

00:24:46.520 you're just trying to figure everything out and that kind of distracts you a little bit from from uh

00:24:51.840 the the reality of where you are um it's it's hard to get back into my head stays from that it seems

00:24:57.620 like a long time ago already but it was uh it was an adjustment for sure yeah and uh were there moments

00:25:03.640 when you just felt like like you just wanted to despair like how the heck can this be happening to

00:25:13.300 me and is this ever going to end yeah i think there were in a day in prison you can have it's

00:25:22.240 kind of a roller coaster ride you can have moments that are just intense joy and then you can have

00:25:26.940 moments of deep despair and uh and so it's quite a volatile situation you've got a lot of time to

00:25:33.480 yourself um i would get encouragement from my wife in terms of what was happening on the outside at the

00:25:40.660 same time i'd be listening to the radio and talk radio and and you know hearing that i'm being

00:25:47.440 sort of painted as a white supremacist and all this kind of stuff and so that was disheartening there

00:25:52.660 was a point where i had to turn the radio off and just ignore that um yeah it was it was difficult i

00:25:58.680 mean i i now where did those where did those accusations come from i mean just i guess just the

00:26:05.940 usual suspects that just call anyone a racist who they don't agree with but why were you being

00:26:13.160 painted as some kind of white supremacist villain so there were there were rallies taking place and

00:26:19.580 one took place at the legislature in edmonton and apparently there were individuals who attended that

00:26:25.700 that rally with tiki torches now i've never even heard of a tiki tiki torch i don't even know if i

00:26:31.260 could identify what a tiki torch is i don't know what it represents um i i'm i'm in the dark on all

00:26:37.040 of that but but the way the radio was was was reporting on that they were saying tiki torches

00:26:43.600 were present at this lockdown and and these these torches are connected to white supremacy and and and

00:26:51.780 they were doing it in a way that subtly implied that i was a white supremacist and so all of that was

00:26:58.840 was was was disconcerting i still don't really know what a tiki torch is i am not a white supremacist

00:27:05.200 i grew up in an incredibly multicultural area and my friends if i could show you a wedding picture

00:27:11.400 of my crew growing up uh we we are an incredibly multicultural group so um that that that narrative

00:27:19.900 is just ridiculous yeah well you certainly don't have to defend yourself of that here we're very

00:27:24.800 familiar with those kinds of of tactics unfortunately in particular for um for christians

00:27:32.600 and for conservative christians um can you talk about what's happening now you've mentioned and we

00:27:39.200 talked about at the top of this episode that your church is now in jail they put a fence around it

00:27:45.560 what's what's the deal with that and and how are y'all navigating around that craziness well i think

00:27:51.080 right now for us the uh the focus is just determining how we're going to worship the lord

00:27:57.220 uh this coming sunday and so we're working on that uh primarily we we realize there's all kinds of

00:28:03.940 attention that our facility is getting right now and protesters are there and are going to be there and so

00:28:11.440 it's going to be sort of ground zero for a lot of freedom fighters and we're not we're not freedom

00:28:16.720 fighters we're we're ultimately standing up for the headship of christ over his church and and it's

00:28:22.240 giving us a platform to be sure to inform the people of alberta that they don't need to be afraid

00:28:27.300 of the virus and and to encourage them to return to life as normal but we are we aren't fundamentally

00:28:33.080 protesters we're not political revolutionaries uh we're gospel preachers and and our primary

00:28:39.800 responsibility is to is to proclaim the good news of christ to to reconcile sinners to to god

00:28:45.860 through his son and uh and so as far as what we're up to right now we're just trying to do ministry

00:28:51.220 just trying to shepherd the flock care for our people love our people and and figure out how we're

00:28:56.840 going to worship the lord together yeah wow i can't imagine just the difficulties that you guys are

00:29:03.540 trying to that you trying that you're trying to get through right now is there any fear for you

00:29:09.400 that you could be re-imprisoned is that a possibility it's highly unlikely at this point in time i mean

00:29:15.280 even the approach they took with me was a bit outside the box and it's not an approach they've

00:29:20.120 taken with anyone else since then i think it backfired i think they they miscalculated that

00:29:25.440 they were dealing with a man of principle and conviction and so they they assumed that if there

00:29:30.760 was going to be a condition that i would sign the condition and and that was a a miscalculation i think

00:29:37.040 even them imprisoning our facility at this point in time is another miscalculation because i think

00:29:42.860 that's going to backfire as well it's just going to wake people up and and it's going to help

00:29:47.860 albertans to rally uh to to call on our government to to stand down and and uh and remove these lockdown

00:29:55.640 measures and so um yeah it's a crazy time i uh i i think i may have lost the the the original question

00:30:06.920 and all that oh that's okay no you definitely answered it i do hope it's an opportunity for

00:30:13.380 people to to see kind of what's really going on like you mentioned there are other motivations

00:30:19.340 that are behind all of this that really have nothing to do with protection especially when

00:30:23.860 you see just the biased treatment of your church and of christians who are proclaiming the gospel a lot

00:30:31.640 of people i think this was yeah this was while you were still in jail what one story that people

00:30:36.480 were so incensed about that we talked about on this podcast was that there were at least two

00:30:41.100 convicted child sex predators that were released from jail in edmonton on no conditions edmonton police

00:30:48.400 they said they could do nothing about it and they said look we actually think that these child sex

00:30:53.440 predators are going to recommit another crime they're going to have victims and this was while you

00:30:59.180 were locked in jail so i also wonder if that i kind of think for a lot of people and i don't know maybe

00:31:06.860 your wife also told told you this but at least for a lot of people in the united states like that tipped

00:31:12.020 people over the edge because there were definitely people on this side are people and you've i'm sure

00:31:16.920 heard them being like oh this is just he's just trying to be a martyr he's trying to be a celebrity all

00:31:22.140 of that crazy stuff and those accusations that even professing christians are making when they saw that

00:31:27.320 when they saw the hypocrisy of the government that you're dealing with that okay this is not just a

00:31:33.860 this is not for protection this is obviously not for safety of the community this really does seem

00:31:39.600 like persecution and like bias i think that those stories for people is kind of what woke people up

00:31:46.160 and shook them into realizing okay like this is a pointed a targeted attack on the church yeah we

00:31:55.060 stood the tallest i preached a sermon on december 20th that um you know got media press and and went

00:32:02.580 viral and and so our church was absolutely standing the tallest that's why we've gotten i think the

00:32:08.880 attention that we have the assumption is that if we can if they can take out us then that will sort of

00:32:14.480 take out the rest as it were um and so there's no question we have been public enemy number one for

00:32:21.120 ahs and for our government and uh and i guess that's a compliment uh in some respects because

00:32:27.640 obviously we are shining the brightest and that's uh that's a joy to be in this dark world and and

00:32:34.760 shine our light so brightly to put our city on a hill and let that let that city shine as a as a real

00:32:40.720 blessing and uh yeah so i mean you know it's it's uh i understand that people are gonna go well he's just

00:32:48.080 trying to make a name for himself or whatever the case is and and i i don't think i could care much

00:32:53.640 less about that at the end of the day my my desire is to be faithful i'm going to stand before christ

00:32:59.540 and give an account of my life to him and i just want to be faithful i want to go into that moment

00:33:04.180 with a clear conscience i want to i want to do what it is that he's called me to do and so i'm not

00:33:10.100 i don't relish all that's going on right now i would rather our church be able to gather on sundays

00:33:16.460 in our facility and do so peacefully i'd rather live a tranquil and quiet life than go through

00:33:22.040 all of this at the same time i i can't say that now that we're in it and now that it's happening

00:33:28.460 i love the glory of christ and insofar as this gives me an opportunity to to glorify him that is

00:33:35.880 why i'm alive i'm alive to see people saved and sanctified and and this has had a huge impact i mean

00:33:42.260 so many people have come to christ through this it's it's it's amazing and then even the the

00:33:48.160 spiritual growth in our own church let alone beyond that has resulted from the stand that we have taken

00:33:54.380 as a church is is phenomenal and and so i'm just uh i'm just so blessed to to be able to to see that

00:34:03.040 come to fruition i i wish it could come to fruition under different circumstances but i realize that this

00:34:08.020 is how the lord oftentimes works and so it's amazing that the whole world is watching grace

00:34:13.920 like church right now and and i just want us to to glorify him and and that we would have his smile

00:34:22.120 upon our church and that he would use us to further the gospel around this world uh that is uh an immense

00:34:30.180 privilege and honor absolutely and i think that's such good encouragement for us to end on we always

00:34:36.940 talk about how when god is doing one thing he's doing a million things and the things that he's

00:34:41.040 doing aren't necessarily the things that are making headlines or trending on twitter or what everyone's

00:34:45.500 talking about but god doesn't need a media headliner a good pr and marketing team in order for him to bring

00:34:52.020 glory to himself in order for him to spread the gospel what you're not hearing about is exactly what

00:34:57.420 you're talking about um from the news that uh churches who have stood tall in this who have said look

00:35:04.560 we're going to let the people come who want to come we are going to keep our doors open to people who

00:35:09.360 want to hear the gospel who god is calling those churches have seen a huge surge um in membership

00:35:15.100 they've seen a huge surge in attendance there are people in all of this craziness who are looking for

00:35:20.940 a firm place to place their feet they're looking for that firm foundation they're looking for clarity in

00:35:27.280 the midst of chaos for refuge in the midst of everything that's going on and they're finding that in the

00:35:34.240 churches that are saying look like you said we are under the authority of christ and so we follow

00:35:39.280 the dictates of christ and we are going to keep our doors open for whoever wants to come so um i'm

00:35:45.460 thankful for that i'm encouraged by your witness i'm encouraged by um the strength the lord has given

00:35:50.880 you and your wife by the way that episode was very encouraging to so many people it actually changed

00:35:56.240 a lot of people's perspective on things who maybe didn't have all the information so i just want to say

00:36:01.220 thank you thank the lord for working through you both i'm very glad though that you're out of jail

00:36:06.020 um and we will of course keep keep watching and uh keep seeing everything that's going on up there and

00:36:13.320 we will this audience i know will continue to pray for you guys yeah ali thank you so much uh to your

00:36:19.280 listeners i just want to thank them for the support and and the prayers and uh so many people have

00:36:25.860 written for written to me from all over the world and i'm just so thankful for that and maybe if i

00:36:31.100 could just say this um yeah there's some bad news there's some bad the bad news is this that that all

00:36:37.500 of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of god and that god is holy and that if we're going

00:36:41.920 to stand before him in his presence we're going to need to have a perfect righteousness which none of us

00:36:46.700 have on our own and so god the father sent his son to be our representative head and to live the life

00:36:53.560 that we couldn't then die the death that we deserve and he did upon that cross he suffered

00:36:58.880 under the wrath of god for all that would ever believe on his name he died and he rose again and

00:37:04.740 is now seated at the right hand of god and if you would turn from your sin and believe on the lord

00:37:09.880 jesus christ you will be saved and you will be given a new heart and you will be given new life in him

00:37:15.840 and you will live for his honor and his glory knowing that even if you should die you will rise

00:37:22.120 again and and dwell with him in the new heavens and new earth and so i would encourage you that if

00:37:26.640 you do not know christ that you would turn from your sin and look to him as the only sufficient

00:37:32.020 payment for your sin and uh and be reconciled to god through him yes and amen thank you so much

00:37:39.100 pastor james thank you for ending on that for sharing that with us i really appreciate it and i

00:37:44.900 appreciate you taking the time to talk to us thanks allie appreciate you too

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 12, 2021

Ep 401 ｜ Joy in Jail & Peace Through Persecution ｜ Guest： Pastor James Coates

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