So-called "conversion therapy" is now banned in Canada, and thousands of churches across the country are bracing for impact as the new law threatens to criminalize pastors for teaching the Bible.
More than 4,000 church leaders are reportedly standing together in protest against the rule, which makes it a crime to try to "convert" homosexuals and other members of the LGBTQ community out of their "lifestyle."
Even those who would willingly seek out conversion will no longer be allowed this freedom in Canada, as pastors there are now prohibited from offering any sort of counseling or therapy on the matter.
An initiative launched by Liberty Coalition Canada and supported by Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles stands against Bill C-4, which essentially criminalizes biblical Christianity in Canada.
"The controversial legislation, which went into effect Jan. 8 after being fast-tracked through the Canadian Parliament in December without extensive debate, describes as a 'myth' the belief that heterosexuality and cisgender identity are preferable," reported Fox News.
"Counseling that does not align with such a worldview now carries a potential five-year jail sentence."
California, Nevada, New Jersey and New York have all passed similar antichrist legislation
Critics of Bill C-4 warn that its all-encompassing language paves the way for extensive persecution of Christians in Canada. Even private conversations can potentially be criminalized due to how it was written.
"Ultimately, the dissenters, the ones who will not cave in, are going to be those who are faithful to the Bible," MacArthur is quoted as saying about it. "And that's what's already leading to laws made against doing what we are commanded to do in Scripture, which is to confront that sin. And that's just going to escalate."
"The fact that they identified it as a criminal conduct that could give you as much as five years in prison takes it to a completely different level, because Canadian pastors have been put in jail for just having church services."
A similar push towards criminalizing Christianity is also occurring in the United States, though you might say that it is still in the infancy stages of a nationwide rollout.
Left-leaning states like California, New York and New Jersey have passed similar bills criminalizing conversion therapy at the state level, as has Nevada. MacArthur says this is a disturbing trend that American Christians must fight against if they hope to preserve freedom of religion in this country.
"I think it's reached a level there in Canada that it hasn't yet reached here, but it's coming," he warns. "It's coming fast."
MacArthur first got involved after receiving an email from Pastor James Coates, who was the first Canadian clergyman to be imprisoned in the name of public health.
When Coates refused to close down his Edmonton church in obedience to the provincial government's Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, federal law enforcement raided it at dawn one morning and locked him up in a maximum-security prison for a month.
The church building itself was also forcibly locked down and barricaded behind three layers of fencing.
Coates told Fox that Bill C-4 is "anything but loving," as the LGBTQ lobby contends. Instead, it aims to "shut the LGBT community off from the saving and transforming message of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
"I believe our government is capitalizing on a politically expedient segment of its constituency in an effort to further dismantle Western civilization as we know it. To do this, it must outlaw its very foundation, which is rooted in a Judeo-Christian worldview. Bill C-4 is another brick laid in this effort and is evidence that our government is under the judgment of God," he added.
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