Canada's Nat'l Anthem: "God Keep Our Land...Free" Until March 25, 2026 (A MUST READ)

We were there. We saw it happen. We sat in the visitor’s gallery of the chambers in which the 343 Members of the Canadian Parliament meet. And then it happened, this past Wednesday, March 25th. A horrible antibiblical, antichristian bill passed. In an instant, freedom was lost. Religious liberty was trashed.

The bill now goes to the Senate. The Canadian is not like our Senate in the U.S. Our Senators are elected for six year terms. Canadian Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister for life. There are about 150 Senators, with maybe one tenth of them being conservative. In addition, it is not believed that the liberal Canadian courts will overturn it.
 
Read what happened below. And you can watch two of Canadian’s top faith and governmental leaders, one a former Member of Parliament, here: WPN 538A: Faytene Grasseschi, Stockwell Day

Watch a second video here of one Canadian pastor, and three persons who were in the chamber when the C-9 vote took place: WPN 538B: Pastor Philip Hutchings, Judy Wade, Suzanne Trites, Carol Hay

Allow me to give the background to this horrific vote.

Consider giving a tax-deductible donation to Well Versed, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, to continue bringing biblical principles of governance to government leaders and YOU!

WHAT HAPPENED IN CANADA
 
We attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, last week, on March 23rd and 24th. Then the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast began on the afternoon of March 24th and continued all day Wednesday, March 25th. 
 
I have written openly about my profound concern for the National Prayer Breakfast in our country, in Washington, DC. Let me explain it below before I share what happened at Canada’s Capitol, Ottawa, Ontario.

THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKAST IN THE U.S.A.
After his election in 1952, Dwight Eisenhower—who was named after Dwight Moody, the great evangelist of the 1800s—told a young evangelist named Billy Graham that the country needed spiritual renewal. Abraham Vereide, who had migrated from Norway to America in 1905, became a Methodist minister in Seattle. He soon realized that to see the changes he longed for, he needed to reach government leaders. By the 1940s, Vereide was discipling top government leaders in DC. He befriended Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, who agreed with Graham that a “Presidential Prayer Breakfast” should begin.

Billy Graham convinced a hesitant Eisenhower, who was quite private about his now Presbyterian—originally “River Brethren” Mennonite—faith, to do so. Joined by Pastor Richard Halverson (NOTE: I was a classmate of his son – Chris Halverson – when I was a student at Princeton Theological Seminary) the Presidential Prayer Breakfast was born in 1953, which had previously been known as the Senate Prayer Breakfast. The name was changed in 1970 to the “National Prayer Breakfast.” The National Prayer Breakfast has enjoyed enormous visibility, impact, and success, both nationally and internationally.

May I add a personal note? The first president I ever saw was Eisenhower, in 1952, when I was five years old. The only funeral gathering of a president that I ever attended was that of President Eisenhower, in 1969. And Senator Frank Carlson was a Kansas farmer, who lived only four miles from our farm. I am proud to say I knew him. Kansans were proud of them both.

BUT THERE ARE PROBLEMS
Certainly the 1950’s seemed to be demonstrating a type of awakening. However, with all the rekindled manifestations of spiritual fervor—“under God” added to the Pledge of Allegiance, “In God We Trust” added to our coins (both initiatives of President Eisenhower and Senator Frank Carlson), and a National Prayer Breakfast involving the highest elected officials in the nation, America did not become more inherently religious. 

To the contrary, since the 1950s the Republic has become more apostate. Or should we even label it pagan?

And in the midst of all the wonderful things that have come through the prayer breakfasts—and they are many—there have emerged two serious problems that I am calling “woke errors.” Why is this important to go over? Because the prayers of the leaders of a nation are very important to God, and they will have an impact on a nation. Hezekiah prayed for delivery from Assyria and it miraculously happened (2 Kings 19:19); Moses interceded when the Israelites sinned against God and deserved His wrath and the Lord was merciful (Exodus 32:11-14); David prayed for God’s blessing upon Israel and his son Solomon and the Lord responded (1 Chronicles 29:10-22); and Solomon prayed for wisdom to govern a great nation so that it will continue to be blessed (1 Kings 3:3-14). The prayers of the “mighty” matter. Proverbs 29:2 captures this, when kings are righteous (and pray), the nation is blessed.     

But when prayers of leaders attempt to manipulate God (like king Balak attempted to do through the pagan prophet Balaam), then God’s judgment is deserved (Numbers 22-24). 

God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:6-7); trifling with Him will not end well. Now, consider the two errors below, as we have finally arrived at one of the purposes for this newsletter, to caution regarding these missteps.
 
WOKE ERROR #1 IN THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST IN THE U.S.A.: “JUST PRAY TOGETHER”
In recent years, a usual and dangerous concept has developed in Washington, DC. Here is the view: So long as we—Democrat and Republican members of Congress—pray together, we can then go back out into our respective chambers and vote how we want. That is a tragic error.

The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to convince God to do things. The ultimate purpose of prayer is to bring ourselves into alignment with His will. “Thy will be done,” is a key phrase from the prayer Jesus taught His followers. Thy will, not my will.

When members of Congress pray together, assuming it is authentic prayer, it produces intimacy with God and conformity to His Word, His will, and His ways. Consequently, and this is key: If people pray together, and come into agreement with His Word, they will not then go out on the legislative floor and one of them vote to support the mutilation of children by so-called gender altering surgeries, or for the dismembering of babies in the womb, or for that for which God destroyed Sodom. Elected officials who pray together will—together—vote scripturally. 
 
TRANSFORMED LIVES
Let me ask a bizarre question: Can a woman be a prostitute and be a Christian? The answer is yes, for about fifteen minutes (figuratively speaking). As a new creation in Christ, she will soon realize that she can no longer do the things she used to do. It is true that she is not saved by ceasing to practice prostitution. She is saved by what Jesus did for her on the cross. However, the evidence, or the “fruit” of her conversion will be her transformed life.

I will now make the application: Can a member of the U.S. Congress truly be an authentic Christian and still vote to have penises cut off of little boys and breasts cut off of little girls in the name of so-called gender reassignment surgery? Yes, but only for the proverbial fifteen minutes. Conviction of the Holy Spirit will overtake them and, as a true and serious follower of Jesus Christ, they will repent and never vote that way again. Same with killing babies in the womb. Same with the violation of God’s sacred definition of one man-one woman marriage. No true follower of our Lord and Savior would ever vote to violate those and other foundational biblical principles.
 
WOKE ERROR #2 IN THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST IN THE U.S.A.: “IN THE SPIRIT OF JESUS”
Another myth, or should we say heresy, that has emerged in the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC is the notion that we all—Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs or even atheists—can gather and pray “in the spirit of Jesus.” (I am not making this up. That is precisely the thinking of the NPB in DC.) I have always loved the phrase “the Spirit of Jesus” from Acts 17:6—until I began hearing the phrase thrown around in conversations in Washington, DC.

I was quite puzzled by the way it was being used. What did they mean by “the spirit of Jesus?” Was it the Jesus of the Bible? Apparently not. The Jesus of the Bible was born of a Virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified for the sins of the world, died, was buried, resurrected on the third day, and is coming back someday as Judge. That is the biblical, actual historical Jesus.

Can a Muslim gather and pray in the name of that Jesus? Well, for starters, Muslims don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, or that He died on the cross for their sins. So the answer would be “no,” unless it is the prayer of repentance to come to Jesus. Or any other religion? Likely not. 

We do know that forming meaningful relationships with people who are of other religions is good and wise and Christ-honoring. Forming meaningful relationships with Leftist woke Progressives is a good thing as well. That is honoring to God. But thinking one can pray together “in the Spirit of Jesus,” while continuing on in violation of biblical truths, is delusional at best and heresy at worst. 
 
THE DANGERS
Once again, the reason for this newsletter is to help us all avoid the two “woke errors.” They are serious: 

• The first one regarding prayer tends to either equate Allah or other so-called gods of other religions with Yahweh of the Bible. Or it diminishes prayer to have no impact on how one votes, as if there is not a distinctly God-honoring, biblically grounded way to vote on issues. As a matter of policy, I will work with people of other religious to advance what I know to be biblical values. However (and this is an extremely important distinction), if the event involves public prayers with Muslims or Hindus, for example, I will not participate. Why? Because the people in the audience will perceive that I believe in the moral equivalency of our prayers. Or they will themselves wrongly assume that all prayers have moral equivalency, whether to Allah or to the 300 million gods of Hinduism. 
• The second error regarding the phrase “the Spirit of Jesus,” presents a nice, safe “interfaith,” multi-religious “Jesus” without His virgin birth, sinless life, death (atonement for our sins), burial, resurrection, and soon-coming return to earth as King. 

EQUAL NUMBER
Since the NPB in Washington, DC requires that an equal number of Democrats and Republicans are in leadership, that means that at least 50% of the leadership – the Democrats – of the “prayer” breakfast – somewhat more breakfast than prayer – are pro-abortion, pro-same sex (so called) “marriage,” (ala Sodom), and pro-transgender. If one went back 15 or so years, there were still pro-life, pro-marriage Democrats left in the Congress. But not anymore. What is worse, 39 out of the approximately 220 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted in December of 2022 for a definition of marriage for which God destroyed Sodom. Thus some of the Republicans are likewise unwilling to stand for historic, biblical, orthodox marriage. 
 
APPEAL
The prayer that God honors is the prayer from a broken and contrite heart, humbled before a holy and righteous God whose Name will not be shared with another. And when we pray, He changes us, and we conform to Him and His ways. That would include embracing His definition of one man-one woman marriage. That would include protecting life in the womb. That would include the recognition that God created only male and female, and that He did not make mistakes when He created us. 

We should obey Him. We should bow before Him. In repentance. In humility. Seeking His Ways. Walking in His commandments. And may we all diligently pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2), that they would faithfully and sincerely seek God’s will in prayer, and that they would not compromise in the two “woke” areas mentioned above.
 
NOW BACK TO CANADA – AND ITS NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST
When I arrived in Canada, I by accident (or providence) ran into a person who could tell me lots about the background of Canada’s NPB. I explained to her the challenges of the NPB in the U.S.A. She assured me that Canada’s NPB was not like that, not at all. I rejoiced, and thus, went to the events of the next day with great anticipation.
 
THE MEMBERS OF THE PARLIAMENT
Whenever I am at a meeting of political leaders, which is very often, as they are being introduced, I immediately google them, to see where they stand on the issues. Thus as each member of Parliament was being introduced, and as they shared their testimonies, or before they read Scripture, or before they led in prayer, I was finding out who they were, based on how they voted. 

Predictably, the Conservatives stood for marriage and life in the womb, although apparently in varying degrees. I say “in varying degrees” because eloquent Pierre Poilievre is the leader of the Conservative Party, and thus is the leader of the Official Opposition (against the Liberals). Yet, he is strongly (and sadly) pro-abortion. To see a video of him stating his pro-abortion views, click on the picture above or watch it here.
 
And the liberals, not surprisingly, were all pro-abortion and anti-God’s definition of marriage. The “gap” was glaring. They were with their lips seemingly extolling Christ and the Bible, while voting against both.

The most obvious example was Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney. He read from the Bible. The next day – the very next day! – his party voted to make it illegal for preachers to preach freely from that very book. Candidly, I was deeply grieved in my spirit. The same hypocrisy that is manifested in the National Prayer Breakfast of the U.S.A., was evidenced in Canada’s NPB. I was saddened.

But there was more. NOT ONE SINGLE MEMBER OF THE PARLIAMENT WHO WAS ON THE PLATFORM – CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL – SAID ONE SINGLE WORD ABOUT BILL “C-9,” WHICH WAS TO BE VOTED ON THE VERY NEXT DAY! NOT ONE. 
 
THE JERUSALEM PRAYER BREAKFAST
The Canadian NPB ended on March 24th, Tuesday late morning. The Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast began at 1pm the same day, conveniently in the same room of the Shaw (formerly Rogers) Convention Center. The Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast was founded 10 years ago by Albert Veksler. There have been 9 of them in Jerusalem and 29 of them in other influencer, capital cities, all over the world.

Rosemary spoke at the JPB on a very germane topic: Canada’s heroic November 2000 repentance to the Jewish people for their role in rejecting them in 1939 before WW2. Rosemary had come to Canada in 2000 and was part of that profound event, thus she could give a first-hand report. I later spoke, tracing the history of 2000 years of international antisemitism.

Stockwell Day, a former member of Parliament was introduced. He openly decried the horrific C-9 bill that was about to be voted on. Faytene Grasseschi, a discerning spiritual and governmental activist, led the whole group in a gripping prayer as she fell to her knees, weeping and literally crying out to God regarding the C-9 bill.

The next morning, several members of Parliament spoke. One of them – Andrew Lawton – pled with us to all be aware of how horrible this C-9 bill was. What the National Prayer Breakfast failed to mention even once, the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast mentioned numerous times.
 
THE VOTE
We were informed that the vote on Bill C-9 would be Wednesday afternoon, March 25th. I was determined to attend the vote.

The actual Parliament building is under a 10 year remodel, thus we went to the temporary chamber. We arrived in the visitors’ gallery at the Parliament approximately 5pm, in time to hear Member of Parliament Andrew Lawton give a brilliant and impassioned plea to defeat C-9. Many other Conservatives spoke against the passage of the bill. Liberals failed to counter any of the objections of the Conservatives with any specificity, but merely resorted to bizarre accusations that the Conservatives were merely trying us Bill C-9 to raise funds for their cause.  

At approximately 6:40pm, the vote took place. The antichristian, antibiblical C-9 passed 186 to 137.

Here is a video (with worship music added) of the Conservatives standing to cast their vote, with some of them holding Bibles as a sign of protest against this antiscriptural bill.
 
OBSERVATIONS
What shocked me the most was the fact that the galleries were essentially empty. I had called ahead, to try to reserve seats, concerned that there would be no room. We got there, and our little delegation of nine was it. But the galleries were 95% empty. I believe four other persons came later. There were approximately 200 seats. Almost all of them were empty. Somehow I expected that Christians from all over the nation, or at least from the city of Ottawa, with a metropolitan population of almost 1.5 million, would have filled the visitors’ gallery. I was wrong. I am not sure how to understand that.

We left the Parliament building after the devastating vote. It had gotten dark. The temperatures had dropped somewhat. The wind had picked up. It was snowing. Having lived in San Diego’s perfect weather for the past three decades, I could hard take the cold, especially the wind. My hands were almost numb trying to arrange for an Uber. But it was not the weather that bothered me. It was that I had just witnessed the loss of freedom in a nation that has, in years past, had a proud history of being a Christian-based nation.

SCRIPTURES IN THE BUILDING
What is amazing is Canada’s wonderful Christian heritage. The Parliament Building has many scriptures in its stained glass windows. A Canadian woman named Lynette Bloedow, who spoke at the JPB, has written a wonderful book on it, titled The Legacy of 25 Scripture Verses on Parliament Hill. In 2023, I interviewed Bob Beasley about his book titled One Dominion, which he co-authored with Paul Richardson, regarding Canada’s rich Christian history.

This history is borne out by the words of the introductory preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.” Those words were not written two hundred of years ago, like one might presume. They are a much more recent addition, enacted in 1982. To listen to Bob Beasley, click on this: WPN Call 251 (Bob Beasley)

Now, watch two of Canadian’s top faith and governmental leaders here: WPN 538A: Faytene Grasseschi, Stockwell Day

And watch a second video here of one Canadian pastor, and three other persons who witnessed in person the C-9 vote: WPN 538B: Pastor Philip Hutchings, Judy Wade, Suzanne Trites, Carol Hay