Tag: fence

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In-person Church Righteous Defiance

GraceLife Church to Get Building Back Next Week, Says Authorities

The underground church of GraceLife in Parkland County, Alberta, whose building was tyrannically and grotesquely shut down and fenced in by law enforcement and government agents on April 7th, 2021, whose pastor James Coates spent 35 days in jail, and who has been meeting in secret at undisclosed locations since the closure, will be allowed to re-enter their building by July 1st, according to authorities.

With the news that 70 percent of Albertans aged 12 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Premier Kenny made the announcement last week that the province would be reopening and more or less going back to normal, with a few restrictions still in place for wearing face masks, but no more capacity limits on churches.

No more bans on indoor social gatherings. No more limits for gyms, sports and fitness activities. No more capacity limits at restaurants, in retail, or for places of worship. No more advisories against non-essential travel.

At the time of the fencing in, Alberta Health Services said it would only take the fence down if the church would comply with the lockdown orders. The Church never did, and the fence will come down anyway.

With it no longer being illegal to gather at more than 15 percent capacity as of July 1, 2021, by all indications this coming week will be the last that the GraceLife congregation will meet in secret, and then be back in their own building the week after.

[Editor’s note: This is still not over. There is a rumour (from Pastor Coates himself) that authorities will likely bill the cost of erecting, maintaining, and dismantling the fencing to GraceLife Church. Pray for these faithful brethren.]

Categories
Church Coronavirus In-person Church Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur Reads Letter From James Coates+ Their Prayer for Him

John MacArthur read a letter from Pastor James Coates of Gracelife Church to the congregation during their Sunday morning service, thanking them for being a model of faithfulness and counting it a joy to be considered a co-sufferer for Christ. Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California has born the brunt of the heat in the United States for being open at full capacity through the latter part of the pandemic, being one of the most visible and largest congregations after they chose to reopen in the summer.

Explaining that Gracelife Church is meeting at an undiscovered location, MacArthur comments ‘it’s amazing to have an underground church in Canada, because the government of Alberta tripled fenced the church in and locked it so people couldn’t go there.” Coates and his Associate Pastor Jacob Spenst are both graduates of Master’s Seminary, and he credits MacArthur and his congregation with his resolve to remain strong.

He writes

To Grace Community Church which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace in him. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has superabundantly glorified himself through you.

For decades you have been a strong and steadfast pillar and support of the truth. So much so the Lord has established many other beacons of truth throughout this world as a direct result of your ministry. You have exemplified a profound love for the brethren, warm service and hospitality, and an undeniable love for God and his word. In fact, his word has sounded forth from you with such power and precision that the fruit of your ministry is absolutely immeasurable this side of heaven.

Pastor Johns’ 52 years of faithful ministry is as much a testimony to you as it is to him. May God richly reward you for faithfulness.

Thank you for the way you cared for me, my family and congregation during my imprisonment. Your love and prayerful support were vital to our steadfastness in the face of suffering. The letter from the elders was an immense encouragement. The support from Dr. Nathan Busenitz and the Master’s Seminary was both humbling and strengthening and the pastoral care provided by Pastor John was incredibly comforting.

It was also a rich blessing to receive letters from a number of you while imprisoned. Those letters provided necessary fuel for my resolve.

My wife Erin also sends her greeting and thankfulness. She was and continues to be greatly strengthened by your letters. You poured into her early in her spiritual development and you are pouring into her now as well.

You have suffered well for the gospel. It is an indescribable blessing to join you in that suffering. Our congregations have been counted worthy for this purpose. May we rejoice in this as did the apostles in their sufferings. Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord over all creation and the Supreme Head of the church. We will bow to him and him alone. Only he is worthy.  

And now may he continually strengthen you unto all faithfulness and may he constantly radiate his honor and glory through you. To him be the glory forever and ever,

Amen

James Coates


In return, MacArthur prayed for Gracelife again, echoing their sentiments.

Father we pray for our dear friend James Coates and Erin and their family and others who stand with him for Gracelife Church up in Alberta, that the word will continue to sound forth from them.

We thank you for his godliness, his manliness, his courage, his conviction, his strength, his resolve. Thank you for the work you’ve done in his heart so that he would be strong and courageous and put himself in a position of obedience no matter what the cost so that you could be honored.

 Even as he concluded his letter. his words are our prayer. May you O Lord constantly radiate your honor and glory through us, through Grace Church and through Gracelife Church. To you be the glory forever and ever amen.

Editor’s note. The letter and prayer are both a transcript that we provided. We do not know exactly how it was laid out, so any errors in the reading are ours.

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News

Police Keep Gracelife Church Closed Until They Can ‘Prove’ They’ll Obey

Edmonton Police have shut down GraceLife Church, the home of recently incarcerated Pastor James Coates, who spent 36 days behind bars as a prisoner of conscience for insisting that Christ is the head of the church and the scriptures dictate how a church is run.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says the drastic action will be kept in place until the Church can prove it will follow and comply with COVID-19 restrictions, even going so far as to set up porto-potties for the guards that will be overseeing the property. Not only does the fence extend around the Church, but the congregation has been barred from Church property, including the grassy fields in front of it.

As the barricades continued to be put up throughout the morning, dozens of church members gathered to sing hymns and worship Christ.

Later these congregation members, joined by dozens more with no affiliation to the church, stood around and socialized in close connection, with no charges being laid or fines being given, despite violating outdoor gathering restrictions which limits the people to 10.

While GraceLife members have been peaceful, some of the other unaffiliated people have had some rough interactions with police and guards, none of which ought to reflect on the actions of the church. Furthermore, there are continued protests planned at the church, for which some people are driving several hours and pledging they will camp out until the walls come down.

AHS informed media that the option to physically shut down the church had one they had been considering for a while now, and could have been used at any point prior to this, but they wanted to explore other options first, such as fining and jailing Pastor Coates. Since the Summer of 2020, the AHS has fielded more than 100 complaints and has conducted 17 inspections of the church.

In response to stricter new COVID-19 measures imposed on the province, a third of the ruling party’s MLAs (Member(s) of Legislative Assembly) have revolted, signing and releasing a letter that says in part:

We have heard from our constituents, and they want us to defend their livelihoods and freedoms as Albertans. For months, we have raised these concerns at the highest levels of government and unfortunately, the approach of the government has remained the same…

While Alberta Premier Jason Kenny has not yet responded to this new development, he did comment on the government’s new restrictions, explaining:

Ultimately what causes me to support measures like the ones were announced today is my belief in the sanctity of human life. I would appeal to them to reflect on that life ethic, which is shared by every major faith community.

[Editor’s note: It is not the job of the state to keep us safe. It is our own responsibility, and I for one did not consent to it being taken from me so brazenly.]

Categories
Breaking

Breaking! Police and Security Put up Chain-link Fence Around Gracelife Church

In a completely unprecedented move, police and security arrived on site in the middle of the night and put up a chain and wire fence around Gracelife Church in Edmonton, Alberta, home of previously imprisoned Pastor James Coates, in order to keep them out and prevent them from gathering for further services until they comply with shutdown restrictions.

Earlier this morning, Alberta Health Services issued a statement announcing it has “physically closed GraceLife Church and has prevented access to the building until GLC can demonstrate the ability to comply with Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health’s restrictions.”

Erin Coates, wife of James Coates revealed on her Instagram,

This is what happens when you have freedom of religion in a free and democratic society: they jail your pastor for freely opening the doors of the church and serving Christ’s sheep and hurting people.

Now they’ve chained the doors of GraceLife Church enclosing in chain link fence. This is all under guise of a health order. Too bad the Church isn’t a building, it’s a blood bought people – Christ has and will prevail.

We have an enemy and that enemy has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ. For all those who find satisfaction in this – you cannot stop the gospel. The name of Jesus Christ will go forth with even more power and conviction. The Word of God will sound out across this nation accomplishing all the work God has ordained to glorify Himself.

I pray for all the pastors and Christians that still think this is about a virus and health order. Clearly our Charter and criminal code mean nothing as long as the government can come up with a good enough story to disregard it. God have mercy on our nation. I pray for their souls. They are clearly under Your judgment.

This is a developing story