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Pastor David Lynn of Christ Forgiveness Ministries was arrested
on June 4, 2019 for preaching the Gospel publicly in Toronto,
Canada. The neighborhood he was preaching in was Church-
Wellesley Village. This neighborhood is known to be a place
where many of the LGBTQ community in Toronto reside. His
ministry is currently on an outdoor preaching tour throughout
the 22 districts of Toronto. June 4, happened to be the day they
scheduled for that district.

It is not uncommon for someone to think “open-air preaching” and
“LGBTQ neighborhood” and immediately jump to thoughts of
preachers condemning homosexuals to hell. However, Pastor Lynn’s
preaching was some of the most loving and gracious preaching I
have ever seen and heard. Which is why it is outrageous that he
was arrested.

The entire time of preaching was livestreamed via Facebook and
can be found on YouTube. Throughout the video, it is surprising
to see the reaction of those who were listening to Lynn’s
preaching. The more love he poured out, the more hate and
resistance he received. As anyone can see if they view the
video, Pastor Lynn was respectful and kind throughout all of his
time preaching. As he shared the Gospel, he also made statements
like “We are here to tell you that we hate nobody.” He
emphasized God’s love again and again.

He proceeded to ask those protesting him if they would be
willing to tolerate him as a Christian. But those listening were
unwilling to dialogue, and many asked him to leave the street
corner.

Throughout the encounter he was very calm and collected, not
entering into any disrespectful or condemnatory dialogue.

Canada does have hate speech laws. However, there is no way that
his preaching could be deemed as hate-speech. Lynn stated while
preaching, “Everyone is accepted….and that is what we preach as
Christians.”

In order to not make anyone listening feel singled out, he said
“Jesus died for the sinner…. Every heterosexual has sin. Every
homosexual has sin. Sin is when we violate the laws of God….” He
did not target any particular group of people or single out
homosexuality.

Though he was very loving throughout the entire encounter,
tensions escalated, and people began to form a mob of protest
around him. As he tried to walk away from the most adamant
protesters, they crowded in on him and would not let him move.
All throughout the encounter, as he tried to walk away from
them, they pressed in on him and blocked him. At times, they
even pressed their bodies against him, which in technicality is
assault.

When the police arrived, rather than dealing with those that
were assaulting Pastor Lynn, the police blamed Lynn for creating
a disturbance of peace. Even upon his request to deal with those
who had assaulted him, the police would not listen to him.

Pastor Lynn, preaches on a weekly basis all throughout Toronto
with amplification and, according to his statements, he has
never been in violation of the law by using amplification. In
the video that captured the entirety of the event, the officers
told him that he needed to preach without amplification. They
said this despite him not being in any violation of the law. He
then proceeded to preach without amplification, but not long
after, the officers decided to arrest him.

Later that evening, in a statement to the media, he said, “Every
community in Toronto should have the same laws, and everyone
should be welcome.” He continued, “Everyone should have rights,
dignity, and respect, just like Christians should as well”

He clarified that all throughout his preaching, he was telling
those listening “God loves you. There is hope for you.”
“Whatever community you are, God loves you. Jesus died for you.”

We must understand the importance of this event. It is a gross
violation against free speech, and it shows any Christian a
precursor of what persecution could look like in the future.

Here in North America, we are in a serious battle for rights
that we have taken for granted. There are groups, organizations,
and individuals that want to make certain types of free speech
illegal. Pastor Lynn’s arrest is nothing short of a violation of
his right to free speech. He was not inciting anyone to
violence, and neither was he being defamatory. He was preaching
the Gospel. He was preaching that Jesus Christ loves each person
and died specifically for them. In spite of this, he received
harsh protest which ended in his arrest. This should greatly
concern any Christian.

Pastor David Lynn was arrested for a message of love, healing,
and hope. As Christians we need to take this as a wake-up call.
Our rights and liberties are on the brink of being removed in
the coming years. Now is the time to have a voice. We cannot
afford to remain silent.

The growing trend in North America is that if anyone shares
publicly on a topic that is deemed controversial, or that a
particular group deems hateful, they must be silenced. What will
happen the day that the simple Gospel is considered hate-speech?
That is where things are headed if we as Christians do not take
a stand today. We've already seen certain people and topics
being censored by Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We cannot be
idle. We must stand for liberty. The future of our right to free
speech begins today. If we wait to deal with it, it will likely
have already been taken away.

David Hoffman is an evangelist and the director of Kingdom
Enterprises, an outreach and evangelism ministry in Tucson,
Arizona. His passions in ministry are to reach the lost with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, ignite a passion for evangelism within
the lives of believers, and to help equip them to live Spirit-
filled and Christ-centered lives. Kingdom Enterprises offers
free evangelism trainings for individuals, groups, and churches.
For more information or to contact him, please go to
HisKingdomEnterprises.com

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/christians-silenced-pastor- arrested-preaching-love-lgbt-neighborhood.html
 

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