A pastor in Toronto, Canada was arrested last week after his gospel message offended a nearby mob.
Pastor David Lynn of Christ Forgiveness Ministries was at Church-Wellesley Village on June 4, as part of the ministry’s outdoor preaching tour throughout 22 districts in Toronto.
The entire incident, including Pastor Lynn’s arrest, was live-streamed on Facebook and later uploaded to YouTube.
The video shows Lynn sharing the gospel with people on a street corner when a group of belligerent LGBTQ protesters began to form a blockade around the pastor and shout down his message.
“We are here to tell you that we hate nobody,” the pastor said.
“Jesus died for the sinners,” he added. “Every heterosexual has sin. Every homosexual has sin. Sin is when we violate the laws of God.”
As pastor Lynn attempted to move away from the hostile crowds, they continued to shove, intimidate and block him from leaving.
Police eventually arrived, and rather than dealing with those physically intimidating and technically assaulting the pastor, they accused Lynn of disturbing the peace and told him he could only continue preaching without amplification.
Lynn complied, but as the crowd became even more hostile, police moved in an arrested the pastor.
According to a recorded phone call with Police communications officer, Pastor Lynn was arrested for “allegedly yelling derogatory comments at passersby”.
“The comments that were made were causing a commotion amongst the crowd and there were people there that were clearly disturbed and appalled by the comments that were being made. I don’t know what those comments were or what exactly it was he was saying. That man was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace,” the officer went on to say.
“Our religious beliefs and our freedoms to exercise that belief are going to be taken away,” Philip Blair, of Torch of Christ Ministries, said following the arrest.
“We didn’t form a mob today. A mob for formed against us. Assault was demonstrated against us. We were assaulted. No one who assaulted us was arrested. But the person that was speaking and freely exercising their Christian beliefs was handcuffed and we don’t even know where he’s at right now,” Blair added.
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