The Protest Movement In Canada

This presentation is an offering of thought concerning the ongoing Truckers Protest that is widespread in Canada but uniquely centered in Ottawa, our capital city.  The concept of counting the cost before any undertaking is commenced is the focus here.

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I named this podcast Side Roads because I wanted it to be that. Actually, a side road to depart from my main podcast and the subjects I deal with there from time to time is occasion required. Today is such an occasion, I'm going to present a podcast today on the protest movement in Canada.

I will put this on the Side Roads podcast because this is a departure from the tone, from the focus of my main podcast. Now I'm going to present this as observations. This will be an offering.

This is not an imposition. We each have our personal responsibility for our decisions. I respect that we have been given freedom.

The freedom we have been given is that we would decide personally, where we stand on certain subjects and topics. And this is the way it should be. God has given us this freedom.

It's our responsibility to respect that freedom in one another. Now that doesn't mean because we have freedom to make these decisions in terms of where we will stand, what position we will take on the issues that confront us. We have been given the freedom to do this, but we will be held accountable for the decisions that we make.

And so, I'm encouraging us all this morning to think about this very seriously. And don't take freedom, the freedom you have, to make your own decisions. Don't take that freedom for granted.

Realize that you will be held accountable for the decisions and determinations that you make. I'm going to address some comments on the protest movement in Canada. I approach everything, I approach it all from a biblical Christian mindset, perspective, and world view.

And I'll begin with scripture, as I always do. I begin with Luke chapter 14, verses 28 through 30. These are the words of Jesus.

For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does he not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Now, the tower is a very obvious place of defense.

It's high. It's observed by everyone. The purpose of a tower is to make observations from that vantage point.

The purpose is that it would be a place from which a defensive posture could be taken. But it's very obvious to everybody. You don't hide the tower.

And Jesus is basically saying very clearly that before you do things, you need to calculate the cost. And he is, the immediate context is the cost of discipleship, the cost of becoming his follower. But this applies to everything that we do.

We need to count the costs. And if we have insufficient to actually accomplish our objective, what we end up doing is making ourselves a laughingstock, exposing ourselves to ridicule. And people will say they started something, that they were not able to finish.

My thoughts this morning involved the Truckers, basically all who are involved in protest movement now, but especially those who are referred to as the Truckers. And what was the cost when they sat down to determine their objective and what they would do when they planned their protest? What cost was this to them?

And for the supporters, anyone who supports this movement and this protest, what cost is that to you? And have you counted the costs? The protest began, as I understand it, the Truckers protest began as a protest against mandates.

That these mandates were unreasonable, that the mandates were punitive, and these mandates actually did not, they defied science. The mandates claim to be following science, but since there were different opinions on the science, and some opinions that were contrary to the official position taken by leaders and leadership, those opinions, of course, were dismissed. But it doesn't mean that those opinions were dismissed by everyone.

A great many people in Canada question the science, so-called science of these mandates involving vaccines and requirements to receive the vaccine and restrictions imposed for not having received it. And so there was a great protest against these mandates, and you could say then, were these protests reasonable? And I believe the answer to that is yes.

It's reasonable to protest injustice. What you believe to be unjust, is that reasonable to do that? And I say yes.

However, was it reasonable to involve trucks? And I say, okay, well, the trucks were involved. These were mandates that were imposed on truckers, bringing goods to and from the United States of America, cross border.

This is, of course, a huge part of our economy that involves truckers. And they make their living driving these huge rigs. Was it reasonable then that trucks could be involved in the protest?

And I would say, okay, yes, I can see it as being reasonable. What was the objective of the protest from the very beginning? Was the objective to inform, was the objective to inform Canadians of a position and of mandates that were considered to be unjust?

I'd say that kind of objective would be well founded. Was the objective to persuade, to inform, and to persuade, and to appeal to the majority? I can understand that if these were the costs that were being measured, then I believe they could have completed the objective and been successful in this endeavor.

Was it a request that was being made? When they came to Ottawa, was it a request for an audience with political leaders? Was it a request for an audience with the Canadian people?

A request is different from something that is imposed. And so, was it an imposition? Was it an imposition or was it a request?

Now, this is the part, I believe, where this protest movement got off track and went wrong and began to not calculate actually the costs involved, not count the costs, and be oblivious to the costs that actually they would sustain. When they began to occupy public property, by occupying when they took their huge trucks and moved them into Ottawa, other places, but I'll focus largely on Ottawa, because that's still ongoing as I share these thoughts. When they began to occupy public property, were they really counting and evaluating and thinking that through carefully?

I'd say no, they're not. Very unwise to occupy public property in the way that they determined to occupy it. And to make demands, and to basically say, we'll release this property when our demands are met.

And when the mandates are taken away, and when the vaccines are not required, and there were various demands that were made and are still being made. The point is now that this is not a request for an audience, but this is an occupation of public property. Demands are being made, and unless the demands are met by political leadership, then the property will continue to be held.

Is that something that has been carefully evaluated in terms of the costs? I say no. No, that's very, very foolish.

Extremely foolish. That's a cost that they cannot afford. It's unreasonable.

How would you feel if someone were to occupy your property, property that belonged to you? This is public property, but the property in Ottawa is property that the public at large has a right to. It is not property that is, that a minority or someone holding a demand has a right to occupy using large vehicles that are very difficult to move and saying when our demands are met, then we will move our vehicles.

This is unreasonable. This is not counting the costs, because what this would do and what this will prove to do over time as this mindset continues among the protestors is this will alienate the larger public, because the majority of people in Canada will view that as unreasonable, and rightly so. The protestors then will label themselves.

They will label themselves as trespassers. They will label themselves already have, as nuisance already have, and they will define themselves and label themselves as unreasonable. Is this what they set out to do?

Surely not. Because if they did set out to do this, then they did not count the costs, and they will not be able to finish what they started, and they will subject themselves to ridicule and blame for having not properly evaluated the cost. Another cost that I believe they did not count sufficiently is being aware of the moment.

I believe they are unaware of the moment in which they find themselves. They find themselves protesting in the capital city of Canada in the midst of an authoritarian spirit. The political leadership in our country has an authoritarian spirit.

Now, this authoritarianism is moving throughout the Western world and is moving very and very active in our country, in Canada. And our presiding political, including our Prime Minister and those governing with him are very much motivated by this authoritarian spirit. And in this sense, the protesters then, the truckers, are playing into those hands.

They're playing into those hands. Emergency measures that have been passed is something that would not have occurred had the costs been evaluated more intelligently. But now, what's happening is, this protest is playing into the hands of an authoritarian spirit.

And the authoritarian spirit will say, thank you very much. Now you have made it possible for us to do this, this, and this and cement a kind of control and authoritarianism within the Dominion of Canada. You now will end up, people like you, who think the way you do this, you being the truckers and the protesters at large, you will have less freedom when you leave than you had when you came.

Is that counting the costs? Surely not. And the tragedy of this is that the majority of the public in Canada will tend to agree with the political leadership.

Otherwise, they would not agree with that, with those kinds of measures. They would view them as harsh and extreme. Many will still view them as harsh and extreme, but it remains to be seen what the majority opinion is among the people of Canada.

Because I believe that the protest, the Truckers protest, has lost some of its credibility with the Canadian people because of an unreasonableness that accompanies it. And we are likely to end up with the majority of the Canadian people being in agreement with these political leaders. And these political leaders are authoritarian individuals motivated with an authoritarian spirit.

This is the way authoritarianism gains control within a society and does it in a democratic way. It's almost unbelievable to see this occur. Could this have been seen in advance?

Yes, if there was wisdom applied, and if the costs were to be counted accurately and intelligently, then all of this could have been seen in advance. And an appeal could have been made to the people of Canada that could have won the hearts and minds of an increasing number of the majority of the population of Canada. That would have been a good return on this investment, on this protest.

But as it is occurring now, it may be that the public opinion, majority public opinion in Canada would be in agreement with the political decisions made by the Prime Minister and those in his political party. What about us? Those of you who have and are supporting the protest, the Truckers movement and the protests surrounding it, have you counted the costs?

If you have supported this and have continued to support it and are supporting it now, then you are encouraging this tragic outcome that is just ahead of us. There is the tragic outcome that is unfolding. And your support, when you could see that something was not properly evaluated and the costs of the action was not wisely considered, then you are supporting this outcome.

Think about it. We need to think. What we are doing is we are bringing upon ourselves in Canada the opposite of what we desire.

We want more freedom, and we are standing up in a political protest demanding freedom, but we are going about it in a very unintelligent, foolish way. And what we are going to end up with is less freedom rather than more. We are playing into the hands of an authoritarian spirit.

Think about it. Think about it. I will close some of my offering and some of my thoughts this way.

And I am speaking now to Christians. I am speaking to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you consider yourself to be a Christian, a believer, a follower of Jesus, then you are not your own.

And you do not have the right to make your mind up based on your own personal preferences. You don't have that. You must consult Him and His Word and His Spirit.

And your decisions must be governed by that consultation. Let me close with this thought. There is nothing amiss in Canada, nothing amiss.

There is nothing wrong in Canada that a genuine revival would not cure. And your calling, as a believer in Jesus, is to promote such a revival. That's your calling.

Your calling is evangelism. Your calling primarily is not political protests. It's none of that.

All that will work against your primary calling. Your calling is to promote a revival. Think with me as I finish this.

Imagine a great Holy Spirit revival. A revival of Christianity where men and women across the Dominion of Canada, young people, came into a right relationship with Jesus. What would happen immediately would be a change in their mind, change in their values, change in their way of thinking.

The consequence of that would be good quality decisions when it comes time to vote, when it comes time to make disagreement with official policy known. There would be great wisdom involved in it. There would be great success that would follow it.

But beyond that, when you have people within the dominion of Canada coming to Jesus in large numbers, and that's what you would have in a genuine revival of Christianity. That's what you would have. Then you would have overnight wonderful, wonderful fruit, and that fruit would be to the glory of God, and that fruit would be to the benefit of mankind and the citizenship of Canada.

Then what you would have as a consequence of that is when it comes time now to go to the ballot and the privacy of the ballot, then you would have wise decisions. To begin with, you would have a different kind of individual actually running for political office. You would have individuals who are called to do that and will be prospered in that.

And you will have individuals within the population who will recognize that and vote with a very, very different kind of mindset. There's nothing wrong in Canada that a revival of religion, Christianity, would not cure.