Erin Coates Interview

Hello dear ones, my name is Justin Peters. I hope that you and your family are doing well today. I want to thank you very much for watching this video. And this is a follow-up video of sorts I suppose to the previous video that I posted entitled Romans 13 and Pastor James Coates.

By now all of you know that James Coates the pastor of Grace Life Church in Edmonton, Alberta Canada has been arrested simply for holding church opening up his church and Worshipping God and fellowshipping with the Saints and bearing one another's burdens and for this he has been arrested and as I Record this right now.

He is sitting in a prison cell and in God's kind Providence I was able to make contact with James wife Erin and I asked her if she would be willing to come on to My youtube channel here do an interview because I would really like you to hear from her.

I saw an interview that Erin did with a Canadian reporter and my wife Kathy and I watched that and we're just so so impressed by her maturity and the depth of understanding that she has and the issues at stake here and So I really wanted to let you hear from her and so for the next I don't have in front of me.

But 45 50 minutes or so You will hear from Erin. Your heart undoubtedly will break but I think you will also be Encouraged in the gospel and listening to Erin as well. So I'm gonna play this interview and that you might notice that this is a very long video and that's because I am posting again Pastor James Coates sermon from Romans 13 that he preached on February 14th.

This was two days before he was arrested and then also I've also included a sermon That was preached at his church February 21st Is preached by his associate pastor their associate pastor and elder Jacob Spence and he preaches a wonderful message from Philippians chapter 1 and So I want you to hear from Erin and I also want you to hear her sermon her husband's sermon again as well as the sermon that was preached on the very first Sunday that Pastor James spent in in prison praying please pray for this precious family pray for this local body of believers Grace Life Church in Edmonton and Pray that God and his kind Providence would use this as a powerful testimony already is I'm already hearing that churches all across Canada are opening up because of the witness of Grace life in Edmonton.

So pray that God would use this For the furtherance of his gospel as a powerful testimony to a watching world without any further delay. Here's Erin. Erin. I so want to thank you for joining me for my YouTube channel and found out that we have a mutual friend in Susan Heck so Susan Heck for those watching has a website with themaster .com and and Susan is married to a man named Doug and Doug was Our pastor Kathy and my pastor when we lived in, Oklahoma about Eight or so years ago.

So how did how did you get connected with Susan?

Well, I think I've heard Susan's name for years and I ended up doing a conference with her Last year online. Open hearts in a closed world.

Oh.

So as I was obviously, you know, you want to know who you're doing a conference with and so I just started researching her and Listening to her content and I was like this woman is Phenomenal. I need to call her.

And we've been friends ever since so she has just been a dear treasure to me. She is one of those women who? Dispersed me on to love Christ more. I mean her conviction for memorizing scripture is just incredible.

So as a teacher to our what our women She just really models well for me what that should look like. So I always say to her, you know, you you have permission to say whatever you want in my life. I've said something wrong.

She's just a sweet friend and so we meet every couple weeks. Yeah. Oh good.

Well, well Susan is the one who connected us and I'm so grateful that she did. And Yeah, I want to thank you for your time here and So I think everyone pretty much now knows kind of at least the gist of what?

Has been going on with your husband James and his arrest. Of course all of this started for all of us about a year or so ago when kovat started becoming a big news Issue and people begin to be really worried about it.

And in the spring Just about all maybe not all but vast majority of the churches shut down before we really realized how serious this was going to be. But then beginning in June Grace Life Church opened back up, right?

Can you just give us a bird's-eye view Aaron of how? You got from opening back up in June to.

To where you are now. Yeah, sure.

So we opened back up obviously because there was so much conflicting information out there from a medical standpoint and. We know people within the medical community that were giving us different ways of looking at the virus and.

So.

We opened back up just because it hit our church very hard. When you have a true axe to church that is so involved in one another's lives and Loves one another the way our church does to separate us the way that they did was very hurtful to our church.

It was almost like a mourning. Just the Messages you would get in the songs that were being sent like people were really feeling the weight of being separated. And leadership just really looked at that and thought okay.

We we have to open like what is what is obedience demand of us in an opening? Back up when the information is starting to roll out and So we've kind of always had restrictions on the church. I think in the summer. It was about 30 capacity.

I can't remember if there was masks and social distancing at that point. I don't think we were allowed to sing.

And.

At the end of November they were starting to really crack down on. Like gatherings again, and then we went into another health emergency. In the in December in early December and it seems like somebody had called a chest on us.

Which is Alberta Health Services. Alberta Health Services has essentially been given all Authority to dictate how we are to live our lives in the church and outside of the church and so. We're very restrictive on the church.

And we just thought like we we have to keep going and you know, we're getting Testimonies of suicides are going up abuses going up depression is going up. Actually had taught on First Thessalonians 4 1 through 8 there and I just did some research on what what what were the effects of the pandemic?

In regards to like pornography and Children and women it was skyrocketing during the pandemic and so you're watching all of these things happening and it's so heartbreaking. And so our guys just kept going and and so HS started paying us visits and.

With the RCMP and then about I think what's the for us for us down in the States.

What's our CMP our CMP is Royal Mounted Canadian police, okay, okay. So they would be not quite our city police, but they would be different districts. You usually you'd see them in there in shows and their red mounted gear on a horse.

That's like ceremonial Outfit but they dress like normal cops when when they're on duty so they were coming to our gathering and They issued us an order to Follow the protocol and that we have to be abiding by the rules and we had not had any kovat cases Transmitted or spread within our Sunday gathering now we had some cases in the summer that were outside of the gathering and we actually shut down for two weeks to make sure like Did it actually get to the gathering and it didn't?

So we shut down for those two weeks and then we just resumed. But we have not contracted or spread kovat within our our Sunday gathering our people are Fairly intelligent people. I think you know if they're really fatigued or they have a sore throat or the sniffles or a cough.

They don't come to church and they they act for two weeks and so When they gave us the the order to follow the restrictions they also fined James for not following this with the restrictions and then a couple weeks passed and in January AHS filed a I think a court a court appeal to to enforce greater Consequences for us continuing to gather and breaking the restrictions.

I mean, I'm saying restrictions because everyone's like you're breaking the law, but it's like it's not it's not. It's not a lot. It hasn't got the law, right? It's not it hasn't gone through the the democratic process.

So you have this health emergency. I'm not a professional. But it's really scary when you can have a health emergency, but one person in power and then the whole society struggles from that and one thing that's really interesting to me is they're not Doing any studies on the effects of the lockdown and they have been petitioned by various doctors To do that.

So we have a friend who is a doctor and she is grieved by what she's seeing in her own practice in regards to lockdowns. Yeah talking to a gentleman yesterday and he says, you know, he says I don't know anyone who's died of kovat.

I know five people who committed suicide well, and yeah, and then I was speaking to another woman and she's had seven people in her circle commit suicide and So the suicide rates are skyrocketing and we have nurses in the hospital saying like our concern isn't kovat anymore.

It is the drug overdoses. We have an opioid Issue here people are drug overdose alcohol Abuse all of that is coming into the hospital suicides. Even speaking with police officers. They're inundated with those kinds of phone calls.

So That so they they they wanted to push us further. We didn't comply in obedience to the Lord and and there are collective elders conscience on keeping our church open both to believers and unbelievers in such a difficult time and then on James is 41st birthday, which was the end of January.

They issued us a closure notice and they stuck it to the door and said this church is closed. So then we just kept going and We just like you you can't close down Christ's Church. So and then on February 17th James was Arrested it was a it was a catch-and-release.

And so the RCMP they didn't want to humiliate him. They said, you know, you've really respected us and we want to respect you. I think they were really put between a rock and a hard place. And so they arrested him, but they did it at the church they didn't cuff him, but they issued him an undertaking and James did not sign the undertaking because the undertaking was that he would not conduct the service the way he had previously been doing so.

He said I can't sign that and so they left and then the following Sunday we had a service and The RCMP called and they said like you're under arrest again. We want you to turn yourself in and so that was Tuesday the 16th and then so he was at the RCMP Station and then he went before to justice of the peace.

They did they were like I do not want to make a martyr of this man and they washed their hands of him but they put a Restriction in place for him to not conduct services as he had previously been doing so and that if he didn't abide by that He wasn't allowed on grace life property.

He wasn't allowed to conduct a worship service and so he said I can't sign that and so they detained him and He had a trial a bail hearing the next day and He he told me After that trial that they had shackled him.

They had cuffed his wrists and his legs. We were trying to find out like where was it? When was his trial? I'm trying to like obviously get there to him. The the courthouse was telling us he was gone it was already done and over he's left and so One of our guys was at the courthouse and he came around the back and he actually saw James coming out in chains.

And.

He only had 15 seconds to say like we love you. We're with you and then the officer pulled him away. So then he went back to the RCMP Station and I was trying to get to him at this point still and then he's like I'm trying.

I'm at the RCMP station I'm still like I'm trying to see you. Before they take me to jail because everything's kovat laws, right? They're not. Zoom private.

And.

So when I had arrived at the RCMP station, I said, can I see him. And they're like no he's not here and It was only about a 15-minute window and my friend had said I didn't see anyone. She was sitting in the parking lot.

She said I didn't see anyone leave the parking lot. So I had not Talked to him. Probably I can't. My timelines are a little bit fuzzy. Wednesday, maybe Thursday.

Just.

It was crazy. So we didn't even know if he was actually at the jail like what had happened. And so his lawyer was able to get a hold of him and talk to him and tell me no he he's there. Because he wasn't in the system because he's he he can walk he can he can be a free man if he just you know if he just signs that piece of paper and he says yes, I will refuse the gathering to Like two-fifths or six of our church.

But he said he just can't he can't do it. So he's in there until his his trial. We are moving for an appeal to drop the conditions. And at this point HS has handed the baton to the RCMP. So No one wants to take responsibility.

For what's happening? The RCMP is pointing the finger at HS. HS is pointing the finger at the RCMP. People are pointing their fingers at our premiere premieres. Like I don't have anything to do with this.

So I'm like Yeah, no kidding. So it's just you know and to hear that they have released like criminals into society because of kovat and they've arrested a man who is armed with the words of life and has made it his.

Life to.

Minister to people and help people. Is astonishing to me, but you know, we're gonna put him where he wants to put him. Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron I was sharing with you before we started recording that. We've seen one interview that you did and my wife Kathy and I were just so so very impressed with your composure and the depth of the of the answers that you gave and.

My wife told me the other night she said that that you and your family are all she's been able to think about ever since this, you know became news and. She's just uh, I've seen her in tears, you know, and when we've been talking about you guys and maybe I should have begun with this but.

Tell us a little bit more about your family. You have two sons. Is that good? Yeah. Yeah.

And we have a almost 18 year old on Thursday. He'll be 18 Wow. Then we have an 11 year old both both boys. We've wanted to have more kids, but it just hasn't happened. So Yeah, James is my best friend he is.

Don't wanna cry. He's a he's a he's a strong leader. So when you take that leader away I feel lost and I'm having to make decisions I've never had to make before and that's a really that's a really hard thing, especially knowing him in his heart.

So there's been nights where I've I've woken up crying and that's that's double-sided. I'm Obviously concerned about him. I'm concerned about the church. I'm concerned about how she's responded to this.

It is it is baffling to me that people are saying that you know, he just has a martyr complex or he wants to be a Revolutionary and you're just thinking this man. This is this is basic obedience to Christ opening the gathering is a thick obedience to Christ and he's being called a revolutionary and to me that is just so sad because that tells us where the church is and she's asleep and My greatest fear is that if the tide does not change We will go down in the church history books as the generation that kissed sound ecclesiology Goodbye, and just opted to live stream, you know, which is is very sad, right?

Right and and speaking of that some of the Pushback that I've seen from people some of the criticisms and and I won. I don't know if you saw the video the first video I did but One one individual referred to your husband as a snowflake.

Yeah, I was watching I saw your video. Yeah, that was a real test of my sanctification. When I heard that as you said a minute ago this this is a man who he could have his freedom. Right now, right? All he has to do is agree not to preach.

So.

What would you say to those who say? Oh, well, it's no big deal. You know, just keep your capacity at 15 If you can't sing, you know, it's okay you can you can zoom in you can do online, you know can watch Livestream.

So what's the big deal? What would you say to those folks?

Yeah, I see probably a large portion of those people. Have not been called to pastoral ministry. They have not called they have not been called and qualified to take care of people and. And have to stand before Christ and give an account for the souls that have been entrusted to them.

So I think they just don't understand. I hope they don't. That's that is what at the heart of it they don't understand the weight that a shepherd carries before Christ and.

Yes.

Seriousness of that call because people love to say, you know, you're allowed to have 15 capacity but our people have have names and and feelings and and you know, they have a conscience that they have to Worship the Lord according to his word.

And so for us to turn away a large portion of the congregation every Sunday. We can't we can't do that those are Christ's people you can Christ would never do that to us. So I would just say the probably a large portion of them would they just don't understand the responsibility.

To those that are pastors. I want to be very careful. Obviously. I'm a woman. I would just say You know go before the Lord and and check your heart and do some really deep study on. You know the things that you're using to hide behind like I believe there are genuine men who are just confused.

They've understood Romans 13 a certain way. And they've never really had to think about this. I mean, we've never had to think about this, right? So I know there will be men like that. But I just say like please consider your people we have a very real enemy and His job is to seek kill destroy and and how does he do that?

Well in isolation, you can't live the Christian life by yourself, right? Unfortunately, what I think the fruit of that is what is a lack of Preaching from the pulpit. I think It could be a lack of Relationship with your congregation.

So not only is James a shepherd of Grace Life Church. He's first and foremost a member of Grace Life Church. Leading the church, but the people of Grace Life Church have gifts that James needs to be sanctified to be more like Christ.

So he is very intimately involved with the people and so much of our work happens on Sunday and I think we have a very poor theology of preaching and What's actually happening in the moment of preaching when the preacher is is had the book is open and he's mediating the presence of God.

Well, they're an accurate exposition of the word is happening and the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts corporately and so I think we have a weak theology of preaching. And it could just be yeah, like they don't have that relationship with their people so they don't recognize the need is there.

But for our church, you know Whoever is in the pulpit preaches a sermon and then we're at the church with each other probably until four o 'clock. It's later now of people just applying the sermon. What's this week gonna look like for your sanctification?

What was your what did your last week look like? So just a lot of one another's happening on a Sunday.

And.

And again James needs to be able to speak with the people. So everyone's saying well, why can't you just do like six or seven services a Sunday? Well, first of all, you still can't sing. You can't converse with one another and James can't even converse with them because they have to leave immediately.

So that leaves him in a place of like how are how are my sheep responding to God's Word? So I think that would that's probably the fruit of what is Happening. So I would just ask those men to consider before the Lord the people who have been entrusted to them and to not leave them for food for the enemy because When you fall asleep or you become lukewarm unfortunately, you don't know that that's happening to you and we had a testimony of a young lady come into our church and she hadn't been in the gathering for 11 months and She came in and she just wept because she didn't realize how cold her heart had become and so There it was just like whoa like I needed this and I've been having a lot of letters written to me since James has left and people's testimonies a Lot of people have recently come to our church because of the pandemic their churches are closed.

Yeah, and and their testimony is we didn't even know how hungry we were. We didn't even know how anemic we were one young guy. Just this brought me to tears. He said pastor James keeping the church open saved my life because the sin in his life was so aggressive and the gathering for him where he sees all of these people who are Sinners, but striving for holiness.

He looked at that every Sunday and that helped him not be consumed by his sin. So all of these stories are coming in and you're just like this is this is so Sad and and stories of people their churches are shut down and they're alone.

Yeah, and the implications of that for somebody's sanctification. Because if they're not making progress in sanctification, they're not glorifying God to the fullest. So we have stories like that rolling in and that's a huge encouragement.

So I think that's what's what's happening and zoom makes sheep. Hungry skinny. Right, oh I you know, I've Had vertigo a couple weeks back and I I actually had a live stream our service because I was so dizzy I couldn't walk and I didn't feel at all like I was a part of the body.

I was just a spectator watching what was happening on the TV. I couldn't hear voices. I couldn't hear pages turning. Even to keep your your focus on the TV is really difficult. It's not as an as engaging as when you're there.

So It's different it's not the same and I think why people say or are so quick to say Why don't you just live stream to me? That's just so sad because they've probably never experienced true biblical exposition and That's really heartbreaking.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's just not the same. I mean, it's. I'm grateful to to be able to go on to YouTube and watch sermons whenever I want to and that's that's great for You know a spiritual supplement if you will.

But but it is not the same thing and never will be this it will never be a replacement. For gathering with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and seeing them seeing their faces. Sands a mask, you know, yeah, I mean, it's just such a it's it's a dehumanizing thing to to have your face covered and it's a.

Yeah, so there's just no replacement. There's a reason that we that Christ commands us to gather. I'm so appreciative for what y 'all are doing and You know Romans 8 28 off God works all things together for the good.

It does not mean that all things are good and What has happened to your husband is is not in and of itself good. But I tell you Aaron, I really believe that that there's gonna be a lot of good fruit born from this.

So your question did you ask me. How do I handle. How do I handle.

People saying things sometimes I. Well, uh, yeah, I guess I did in a way as it. Has how discouraging has it been to see that some people are or basically they're saying that James brought this on himself and.

Has it been a discouragement to you or.

To you and the boys. And yeah, I've had moments. Yes. I've had moments. People just say the most awful thing they've they've judged the situation. I mean we're being accused of being rich white people that the reason why He wasn't arrested earlier is because he's a rich white man and I'm kind of like I just want to come over to our house and have dinner and get to know us and.

But.

For me This is Christ's church at stake and You know, they have to answer before the Lord every idle word that is both spoken and typed will come into an account and I don't have to answer to them. I have to answer to the Lord and it's my job to be obedient to him.

I can definitely lose sight of that and and when I see comments come in. See that that's for you're talking about dehumanizing. What I think the pandemic has sought to facilitate is a dehumanizing of people where they can just fire things off on the internet that they wouldn't do face to face and in a biblical Manner, so everyone is just talking and making a judgment on the situation.

But it's it at the end of the day. It doesn't matter because they're not grace life I have not been called to minister to them to care for them. Obviously if they contact me and they need help I'll do my best to help them but All that matters to both James and I is the health of the church that we've been called to minister to you.

That's that's the priority for us. Yeah.

Indeed indeed. Well, how how are your boys doing? How are how are they? Handling this area. Yeah.

Um yesterday was really hard on my oldest. He um I think he has a more accurate picture of what is happening. Um, so it's hitting him a little bit harder. My children are very. Um, i've guarded them from a lot so they don't know the negativity.

I see isaac knows like um. My oldest one. He knows there's heat and and he has a better Idea of the picture of things and I think that's why it affects him a little bit more. But he you know since I. What like I've been growing my babies with church history and missionary biographies and the cost of knowing christ.

And this is hard and this is probably the hardest thing. Or maybe it's not the hardest thing. Maybe this is just the the beginning of of what's happening in our world. But that he knows that god is doing this for his glory and that he needs to be refined.

Um my youngest though. Because he's more sheltered from the situation. He has moments where he like misses his dad, obviously, um, and there there has been tears.

Um.

But he just doesn't know all of the other stuff that's flying around. So and he shouldn't he shouldn't have to carry that burden at this point. Um so they're. They're sorrowful, but but rejoicing. I mean our church family has taken such good care of us since this happened and writing the kids letters and telling them what what the lord has done through his ministry and um, that's encouraged them, but I think it's just you know, they've sat under their dad's ministry for 11 years.

He's trained them for this and um.

So.

They're as prepared as they could.

Be.

Yeah, right, right. I mean who's really prepared for this? Yeah. No.

Uh.

I think I mentioned in my first video, you know, we've all had this as believers. We've all had this kind of general understanding that at at some point persecution is a possibility, but it's always been kind of a A distant, you know that that happens in other countries in other parts of the world not here not in not in the west uh.

But here it is and um. And I tell you if you don't have a good doctrinal foundation When this stuff comes you're not going to be prepared for it. Not that any of us are fully prepared for it, but uh, you certainly won't be equipped to handle it and uh, But boy, y 'all y 'all certainly have handled yourselves in such a a wonderful magnificent christ honoring way um.

That's my heart. I'm just like lord. Don't Don't let me blow this. You've been training me. Like you've shown me who you are. Don't let me. I need to see more of him though like my my life has been um more loved to the oh christ and so this is.

He's brought he's brought the knife and uh in his faithfulness. He's afflicting us and uh.

I.

I I know him, but I want to know him more and this is what he's brought for us to love him more and to Rip the sinfulness away from us to be more like him. Uh, it's painful.

The knife is cut deep. Oh gosh. Yeah, I can't imagine. I really can't. Um Aaron, I don't want to ask you to preach here's your husband's sermon, but uh I thought his sermon on. And I'm getting let me ask this first.

I guess when he preached on sunday, february 14th from romans 13. And that's the text that deals with being in submission to the to the governing authorities. I'm guessing he preached that knowing that in all likelihood that was going to be his last time in that pulpit for the you know Foreseeable future.

Correct. He kind of yeah, he didn't know.

He didn't know what the cons. He didn't know like. He knew that he was already under arrest. He knew he was breaking the undertaking. He knew that.

Um.

Arrest and jail was very real that we just didn't know. Um. But it was definitely yeah, he knew. Every sunday he preached I think he was thinking is this my last sermon? Oh, yeah.

Okay.

And.

So what would you say to those who say uh, the governing authorities were commanded to be in submission to them and. The governing authorities have told us that we we've got to limit our church gatherings to 15.

We've got to do this got to do that.

So.

By going against that. You're going against what god says in romans. 13 for those who have not yet heard james sermons What would be your kind of bird's eye view? Um, what has james said about that?

Yeah, I think well he goes back to the garden and just the um, the the role that god has given us as human beings created in his image to Um have dominion over the earth and he's given us certain mandates and the government's responsibility is to um give us freedom to do the things that god has called us to do because so many people want to say like Um, the government is right.

The government is right. But so much of what they're saying goes against god's word not only in worship. You have people who are can't work. Well god's word says if you don't work you don't eat and so and so there's things that they're asking us in the mandate to do that are directly against god's word and it may not Be personal for somebody but when you have a health order in place, that's keeping people from their god-ordained means of providing for their family, um.

Worship and that that's a serious thing. So the government was never meant to They're they're god's ministers. They're they're there to Uphold the freedoms of people so that they are free to worship god.

They're there to punish you the evildoer and and praise the person who's doing good. So when you start when you have a government that's reaching into the church. They they are not Upholding their role as lesser magistrates.

Um.

And there is a point in which people Have to say like it's time to disobey the government and it's unfortunate that they haven't drawn the line and the reason why they haven't drawn the line is Various reasons whether it's fear.

Whether it's just a misunderstanding of romance routine, but again, I think it just comes back to a low view of the gathering.

Um.

Which is unfortunate so I would say just Listen to james's sermon because he does so much better than I would just laying it out that there is a limit To government and that they're to uphold what god has told them to uphold which is Not what they're doing.

So yeah.

In fact just in listening to you. I think what i'm going to do i'm going to put the i'm going to put james sermon at the end of this video as well just so more people can be exposed to it, but. Yeah, you're exactly right.

And and the government is overstepping. It's all authority is delegated, right? I mean it all Has its origin in god and god delegates authority and when a person or an entity um oversteps that delegated authority then they've gone against the very one who gave them that authority in the first place and.

The government doesn't have jurisdiction in the church.

Right.

That's one of the Key things I appreciated about his sermon. Um, well aaron, well tell me tell me this, um. We're recording this on february 22nd monday. So y 'all. Y 'all had church yesterday. From what I saw and uh from everything i've read.

It was to capacity and you even had what a hundred or so people. Sitting in their cars out in the parking lot that just couldn't get in because of the fire code, right?