The Church of God congregation in Aylmer, Ont. had a little more to be thankful for Sunday – for the first time in months, they knew gathering, singing, and praying would not get them fined..In an interview with the Western Standard, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt’s son, Herbert, said the developments are a welcome reprieve in adverse times..“I think right now, we really feel a little bit better. There’s been an endless string of court hearings and fines and that whole circus. However, as of this last Friday, Ontario changed their mind and legalized all outdoor church services with no capacity limits. So that has taken some of the pressure off this weekend, which is good so this is a way for people to get together, right?” Hildebrandt said..“We have to be thankful for everything that’s there. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s, it’s still a tragedy with how they’re dealing with this whole thing. We should be grateful, but not excited.”.Last month was challenging for the church. On May 14 a judge fined the church and its leadership $117,000 and ordered their meeting house to be locked up, which happened later that day. Undaunted, the church has met outdoors ever since, only to be slapped with an additional $66,000 in fines on May 31..Pastor Hildebrandt offered his perspective on the fines in a June 2 Facebook video watched over 13,000 times..“As the judge was speaking, the scripture that came to my mind is that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. So for the Lord $183,000 is 183,000, right? He can work that out. Maybe there’s a way how he works it out where it doesn’t get paid. If it needs to be paid, then there will be a way to do it,” the pastor said..“When the judge ordered the doors locked, then that instantly doubled the attendance. We are now … between 850 and 1000. A revival has begun. An awakening is taking place. And God is using these things to kick out lukewarm Christianity.”.Salim Mansur, a Muslim and retired political science professor, joined the congregation outdoors on May 23. In an interview with Western Standard two days later, he expressed appreciation for the experience..“The people were celebrating Jesus, celebrating their faith, their freedom of worship. But there was of course, a lot of anger. And the pastor’s sermon was very powerful in my view, and right on the money. But then he’s being, like everybody else … duct taped [at] the mouth, metaphorically and being punished – and his people. And this is Canada 2021,” said Mansur..“Ontario has gone totally crazy and I’m seeing Doug Ford and his team are bent upon masochistically, punishing the people of Ontario for not following their orders.”.While some Christian clergy and believers have opposed the stand taken by the Hildebrandts and their church, Mansur said Canadians should be more like them..“This matter would be over yesterday if the people said, ‘No, we have a right to our body, we have a right to our mind, and we’re not going to go along with it. But we have seen everything that is happening around us, churches being locked down,” he said..Although Hildebrandt can breathe a little easier, he remains concerned with clergy getting arrested elsewhere. A somber Hildebrandt took to YouTube yesterday to express his feelings on the recent arrest of Calgary Pastor Tim Stephens. Last Sunday a police helicopter discovered where his congregation of Fairview Church was gathering and arrested the pastor the next day. He was arrested again Monday for breaching an order..“I just listened to the heart wrenching arrest of pastor Tim Stevens – unbelievable, unbelievable. It just is so hard to understand that we are in Canada and what is happening. But perhaps things have to get a little worse before we will be vindicated, before people will wake up and recognize how wrong it is. It’s very sad to see that a dear family like this, the little children have to suffer under this only because we have so many, so many that will not take a stand, so many that will not rise up.”.Harding is a Western Standard correspondent based in Saskatchewan
