{"id":544589,"date":"2021-05-28T16:20:46","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T20:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=544589"},"modified":"2021-05-28T16:20:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T20:20:47","slug":"tensions-are-escalating-ontario-congregation-charged-for-meeting-outdoors-after-police-lock-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tensions-are-escalating-ontario-congregation-charged-for-meeting-outdoors-after-police-lock-church\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Tensions Are Escalating\u2019: Ontario Congregation Charged For Meeting Outdoors After Police Lock Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftensions-are-escalating-ontario-congregation-charged-for-meeting-outdoors-after-police-lock-church%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=544589&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-834747684.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A Christian congregation in Ontario, Canada, has been charged with violating lockdown rules by holding several outdoor services with more than 10 people after police locked them out of their church building.<\/p>\n<p>The Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario, many of the members of which are from the Mennonite tradition, held two services on May 16 and May 23, in violation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/page\/reopening-ontario\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reopening Ontario Act<\/a>, which limits even outdoor gatherings to 10 people.<\/p>\n<p>They were forced to meet outdoors after police locked the doors of their church upon the order of Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas, who alleged the church had turned the small town of Aylmer into \u201ca cauldron of hostility.\u201d No cases of COVID-19 have been traced to the house of worship.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/may-god-help-us-ontario-christians-pray-for-police-as-they-kick-them-out-of-church-lock-doors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">video<\/a> of the incident, police officers interrupted the Church of God\u2019s worship service earlier this month while congregants sang hymns. As the armed officers entered the sanctuary to order them to vacate, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt read from the third chapter of the Book of Daniel, which recounts how God saved three of Daniel\u2019s friends who were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship a golden image set up by the king of Babylon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important that people retain the right to choose for themselves whether a situation presents a danger to their health,\u201d Hildebrandt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/ontario-church-charged-for-holding-outdoor-services.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told<\/a> The Christian Post. \u201cWe offer drive-in, online, in-person services to accommodate all those seeking for spiritual fellowship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hildebrandt said he and his church \u201cacknowledge Christ as our king and do not recognize the authority of the state as it pertains to the services and functions of the church as prescribed by the Word of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the state commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands, we will obey God rather than men,\u201d Hildebrandt continued. \u201cThe supremacy of God is written into our Constitution, and we acknowledge that his sovereignty supersedes that of earthly government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Related:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/may-god-help-us-ontario-christians-pray-for-police-as-they-kick-them-out-of-church-lock-doors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2018May God Help Us\u2019: Ontario Christians Pray For Police As They Kick Them Out Of Church, Lock Doors<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>During a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/lfpress.com\/news\/local-news\/qa-aylmer-police-chief-on-escalating-tension-with-church-of-god\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The London Free Press<\/a>, Aylmer&nbsp;Police Chief Zvonko Horvat said that \u201ctensions are escalating\u201d regarding the backlash his police force has received from their actions against the Church of God. \u201cObviously, we don\u2019t want to see anybody get hurt and, certainly, it is a concern for me and my officers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horvat also said he has no sympathy for those at the Church of God who say the strict provincial lockdowns are an attack on their religious liberty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI absolutely do not [have sympathy],\u201d said&nbsp;Hovart. \u201cThere are certain things that governments take a position on for the betterment of the community and the safety of the community and, in actual fact, they are not prohibited from having service, so it\u2019s not a total shutdown of religious services. These are restrictions in terms of the number of people (for in-person service) based on expert opinion during this pandemic. They are allowed to do a drive-in service where they can worship and pray \u2026 so I\u2019m not sympathetic at all toward their cause. It\u2019s more defiance than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong>: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/can-religious-liberty-survive-covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Can Religious Liberty Survive COVID-19?<\/a><\/strong><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Christian congregation in Ontario, Canada, has been charged with violating lockdown rules by holding several outdoor services with more than 10 people after police locked them out of their &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313437,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-834747684.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Tensions Are Escalating\u2019: Ontario Congregation Charged For Meeting Outdoors After Police Lock Church","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-834747684.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Tensions Are Escalating\u2019: Ontario Congregation Charged For Meeting Outdoors After Police Lock Church","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}