Pastor Aaron Rock

In December I was informed by a Windsor Police Services officer that I was being charged for holding church services in contravention of provincial orders. The penalty could be as high as $100,000 and one year in jail.

Last Sunday (Jan. 10) I went to the riverfront for about twenty minutes to observe a public protest from a distance. Our leadership wanted to observe how it was being conducted, how people were being treated, and what the messaging was without committing to participate. I walked over to the group briefly to greet a couple people I recognized, observed from afar, said goodbye to a friend, and then I left for an appointment. I have multiple witnesses.

Yesterday I received a court summons for my alleged “participation” in this protest based on police surveillance photographs. The potential fines and terms of imprisonment also apply.

I remain supportive of peaceful protests. They are guaranteed under our Charter and provide a means in a democratic society for people to voice their concerns. For this reason, it is noteworthy that the protest I observed took place in the same location where public officials, employed by the City of Windsor, protested last summer. They had full, public participation in those protests, attended by over 1000 people and were in contravention of provincial orders. To my knowledge, no charges have been laid against anyone who attended or spoke at the summer protests. I applaud the freedom to do so. What I do not applaud is the double standard, whereby officials have immunity and citizens are being surveilled, targeted and fined.

Why is all this happening?

What drives society’s desire to stop all dissent, punish people for church services, punish people for saying hello to a couple of protestors, target people who speak out, throw nails in a church parking lot, or send hate-laced messages to a church that challenges the cultural narrative? Why is our community so divided and imbalanced on this issue?

I’ll reiterate the essence of what I said earlier this week: Fear produces tunnel vision and in our fixation on stopping this virus we are complicit in destroying people’s livelihoods, especially among the poor, in immigrant neighbourhoods, and the small business community. It doesn’t matter whether our fear is fear of death, fear of fines, fear of censorship, fear of family ire, fear of bad exegesis, or fear of culpability – fear drives society’s narrative.

Ontario continues to be the most indebted sub-sovereign state anywhere, yet our compliance is saddling our children with unbearable debt for generations to come. We feel physically safe hunkered down in homes many will soon forfeit, while overlooking the numerous other ways people are dying. We are contributing to mental breakdowns, suicides, pornography and substance addictions, global starvation, and injustice, but in our terror, compliance, or obsession with selfpreservation, we look the other way. We shame, condemn, fine, and threaten to imprison the prophets and protesters of our age because we believe the myth of a benevolent, informed ruler who will rescue us from harm, even as his minions double cross us with their hypocrisy.

Why has it come to this?

Because an over-trusting citizenry, forgetful of history, economics, law, good governance and divine revelation, has bowed down to the cult of the progressive messianic technocrat. We have not yet learned that in a democracy you get what you ask for and you don’t get what you don’t ask for (and if you ask for absolute safety you get absolute stupidity). This is politics folks! So long as you live in fear or compliance, or assume Big Brother will save you, you’re signalling to our branchless government that you’re willing to be herded down this reckless path of destruction. We spend billions of dollars per year on healthcare which is more than enough to protect the vulnerable and reduce deaths. Instead we lockdown the healthy resulting in spiritual, social and economic sickness; we offer a cure that is worse than the disease. This isn’t about loving your neighbour or submitting to a governor who now chooses to rule us while chastising us for the ineffectuality of his decrees. This is what happens when we lose peripheral vision, fail to look down the road, or pause to seriously consider why we are all being pushed into our homes to stay safe. If we continue to stay home to stay safe we will emerge one day to find we have lost both: our homes and our safety.

It’s time to reinstate proper government and adopt a more balanced approach. May God help us.

Aaron Rock is the Lead Pastor of Bible Harvest Church in Windsor, Ontario. www.HarvestWindsor.ca