When Christ & Compliance Collide: Taking a Biblical Stand | Pastor James Coates | Ep. 268
Kindled Podcast | Truth and Grace, Boldly
Haley Williams
4.5 • 627 Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does the Christian do when allegiance to Christ collides with government's demands for compliance? Pastor James Coates shares some of his story of doing just that in Canada when the federal government closed his church's doors.
We discuss Christian engagement in politics, the difference between the mission of the church and the mission of individual believers and how the church can exhort government to do its biblical duty before God, plus so much more!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | AI is incredible. They can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style. |
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| 0:23.3 | It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. |
| 0:26.4 | Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slack back to Kindled. |
| 0:45.4 | I have a very interesting and encouraging conversation for you today with Pastor James Coates. |
| 0:50.7 | You may recognize his name and remember his story. |
| 0:53.8 | He was jailed around the COVID-19 pandemic up in Canada and for refusing to bow to government. So he has some encouraging words for us today as believers in the thick of a much different conflict. As we've been watching this unfold, the unrest, the riots in |
| 1:14.2 | Minneapolis, the protests just yesterday on Sunday, the protests in the Twin Cities Church. |
| 1:23.0 | It's just getting crazier by the day. And as Christians, it can be confusing to know exactly what |
| 1:28.6 | our role is to be engaged and to advocate for our civil government to do righteously and to act |
| 1:37.5 | justly and to pursue truth. But I think that Pastor Coates' words will bring a lot of clarity to that topic. So, |
| 1:45.5 | as always, these interviews get recorded. This was actually recorded almost a month ago. |
| 1:50.1 | Or no, wait, actually, maybe even longer. And yet, here we are with the timing of when it was to |
| 1:55.2 | release as always, you know, God knows what he's doing. And I'm just thankful that there are sound and faithful pastors |
| 2:04.3 | and men of God that are willing to step into the arena, willing to say the hard truths, |
| 2:09.8 | and to just encourage all of us to be wise with how we are conducting ourselves in these very |
| 2:14.6 | evil days. So I know you're going to get a lot out of it. |
| 2:17.9 | I will not say anything else other than just reminding you to subscribe to the show |
| 2:22.8 | wherever you're listening, whether that's on the podcast app, or if you'd rather watch, |
| 2:27.1 | we are on YouTube. Go find this episode over there. Come find me on Kindled on Instagram at |
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