Canadian pastor who defied COVID ban by holding services sings 'Amazing Grace' at US border. A Canadian pastor who was imprisoned for holding church services in defiance of the government last year traveled with some of his friends to sing "Amazing Grace" at the Canadian-U.S. border as tens of thousands of Canadian truckers gathered in Ottawa to protest vaccine mandates. Pastor Tobias Tissen of Steinbach, Manitoba, went to the U.S. border in Emerson, Manitoba, on Sunday to sing the classic Christian hymn, according to footage posted on his Instagram.
"As I said yesterday, all I would need before was just my Canadian passport," Tissen said regarding what he would need to cross the border in Emerson, which straddles Minnesota and North Dakota. "Now that's not good enough." As of Jan. 22, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security required that all foreign travelers, including Canadians, must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the country via land and ferry ports of entry. "Anyway, while we're here, we want to do something interesting. Want to try to do something that I don't know was ever done over here, right in front of the border. And that is, we want to sing ‘Amazing Grace.' I'm here with some friends," Tissen continued.
Church of God Restoration and its congregation of less than 200 people had repeatedly clashed with authorities over church gatherings, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in fines. In November 2020, federal law enforcement blocked the church's parking lot to prevent parishioners from attending a drive-in service.
"In Ephesians, it says that we're fighting against spiritual wickedness in high places and principalities and powers," Tissen told Fox News Digital at the time of his arrest. "That's it, right now, what we see. And they're after all of us who are giving to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. But now, Caesar wants that which belongs to God. And as Christians, we just cannot. We cannot comply with that," he added. |
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