On Tuesday, John MacArthur alerted his Twitter followers to an “urgent matter” regarding biblical sexual morality. Grace Community Church’s pastor asked “faithful pastors” to commit to preaching about biblical sexual morality on Sunday, January 16, 2022.
In a statement called “A Stand on Biblical Sexual Morality,” MacArthur called on pastors to sign their names as a commitment to take “a stand for the truth of the saving gospel” by dedicating the January date to preaching on biblical sexual morality in solidarity with their Canadian brothers.
“On December 22, I received an email from Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada,” MacArthur wrote. Coates and his church has been in the news for disobeying government COVID-19 rules and restrictions regarding gathering limits and church closings during the pandemic. As a result, Coates was arrested and GraceLife Church was seized by authorities for almost three months. Coates is a graduate of MacArthur’s The Master’s Seminary.
Coates’ letter to MacArthur gave him insight into Bill C-4, which was recently passed by the Canadian government. Coates said the bill “directly comes against parents and counsellors who would seek to offer biblical counsel with respect to sexual immorality and gender.” Coates shared that the bill could be used to make evangelism a criminal offense.
MacArthur‘s statement also included a letter from Pastor Andrew DeBartolo, teaching elder at Encounter Church in Kingston, Canada. DeBartolo shared that not “a single dissenting vote was cast by any member of the conservative party,” and that Bill C-4 will become law after January 8, 2022.
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Bill C-4 bans conversion therapy and will criminalize “causing another person to undergo conversion therapy; promoting or advertising conversion therapy.”
Bill C-4 also says that the idea that “heterosexuality, cisgender gender identity and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth” are to be “preferred over other sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions” is a “myth.”
DeBartolo explained that the new law will be able to be used against preachers and elders who speak against homosexuality or transgenderism. Counseling someone toward a biblical understanding of sexuality and marriage would be in violation of the law and could result in imprisonment.
“Everyone who knowingly causes another person to undergo conversion therapy, including by providing conversion therapy to that other person—is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years,” Bill C-4 says.
The Bill also explains that “everyone who knowingly promotes or advertises conversion therapy is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years.”
