The Fight for Religious Liberty Continues, as Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski Arrested on His Return to Canada

Pastor Artur Pawlowski, whose defiance of Canadian authorities over COVID restrictions have garnered him arrests and international attention, was arrested again on September 27 on his return to his home in Calgary, Alberta Canada.

BREAKING: Pastor Artur Pawlowski ARRESTED again after landing at Calgary airport

Help us fight for Pastor Art's freedom at https://t.co/5RfUUBfNwX. pic.twitter.com/OHgHgYN2WG

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 27, 2021

From Fox News:

The Polish-Canadian pastor who has been repeatedly arrested for holding church services in Calgary, Alberta, said Canadian border police confiscated his belongings and apparently broke into his personal computer.

When Pastor Artur Pawlowski landed back in his home city of Calgary on Monday following a four-month tour of the United States, customs officials were waiting to cuff him on the tarmac for two criminal charges, he told Fox News in an interview.

“They have fallen to a new low,” Pawlowski said of the Canadian authorities. “Our lawyers contacted them and asked them if there are any pending warrants for me when I was in the states. They said that there are no pending warrants, there is nothing outstanding.”

Pawlowski had been traveling throughout the United States over the summer to spread his warning that Western governments increasingly resemble the communist regime in Poland he fled as a young man.

Because the battles of pastors in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia and Maine apparently did not get enough attention, or people didn’t feel as though it affected them.

Pastor Pawlowski, along with California pastors John MacArthur, Che Ahn, and others, were among the few who defied government mandates instituted under the guise of COVID-19.

His tour followed the international attention he received in April when officials went to his church in Canada during Holy Week to inspect it for COVID-19 compliance. Because they entered the sanctuary armed and uninvited during a worship service, Pawlowski refused to speak with them.

Instead, he accused them of being “Nazis” and shouted them down until they agreed to leave. Video of the encounter went viral.

Three weeks later, officials returned with a court order authorizing them to access Pawlowski’s church and arrest him if he failed to comply. Again he demanded they leave the church property and contact his lawyer.

Now he is arrested again, and his battle continues.

Legacy media wishes to paint this as a “white, evangelical Christian issue” and do their usual dance of mock, malign, and target. Some of the pastors who initially defied this order were pastors of color. Last I checked, Che Ahn is of South Korean descent. Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of Virginia, who initially defied orders and died of complications from COVID was Black.

But this does not stop the marginalization of believers who stand for religious liberty, but of anyone who defies government tyranny.

From an August Alternet article:

Hinch adds, “More recently, White evangelicals have emerged as the demographic group most resistant to getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Their embrace of conspiracy theories and overall pandemic denialism contributed to their avid participation in the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol. A religious group that prides itself on its patriotism has become a major impediment to advancing the United States’ goals.”

The Los Angeles megachurch that Hinch discusses in his article is Grace Community Church, located in the San Fernando Valley. Hinch describes Grace’s 82-year-old pastor, John F. MacArthur, as “theologically conservative” but notes that according to the church’s website, “John doesn’t involve himself in politics.”

Nonetheless, Grace has resisted public health measures during a deadly pandemic that has, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, killed more than 4.3 million people worldwide. But at first, Hinch notes, MacArthur accepted social distancing measures.

Hinch observes, “Though Grace initially closed its doors in compliance with a statewide lockdown order, MacArthur changed course four months later, reopening his church’s 3500-seat sanctuary to indoor worship, defying mask mandates. It was a remarkable change in posture…. Something happened during those first four months of the pandemic that not only changed MacArthur’s mind, but galvanized him into outright public anti-government opposition. He ignored a cease-and-desist letter from Los Angeles County, then countersued when the County sought to block the in-person services in court.”

Thanks to the work of Liberty Counsel on behalf of MacArthur and pastor Che Ahn of Harvest Rock International, both pastors prevailed against the state. The State of California and the County of Los Angeles are required to pay $800,000 to Grace Community Church. They are required to pay Harvest Rock $1.35 million. Liberty Counsel additionally obtained a declaration in that judgment that the state could no longer impose restrictions and church closures for any reason.

But this does not mean the government, whether Canadian or American will stop trying to destroy churches. They pushed the envelope with COVID and found success. Look how many churches did not bother to push back to reopen, nor did they express solidarity with their fellow pastors and parishioners fight to do so.

This is why Pastor Pawlowski is sounding the alarm and working to wake up the churches in America.

The government knows who they can control, and they will force compliance by any means necessary. If one avenue does not work, you know they are testing out others.