231 – Aug. 19 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

We Ought to Obey God Rather than Men

 

1950 – Three special law enforcement officers were sworn in by the La Sarre Police Department, in the Province of Quebec, Canada for the express purpose of corralling the activities of the street preachers in Montreal.  A sixteen-year-old Catholic youth heard the police give specific orders not to hit the pastor on the street but to take him to a private lot and beat him there.  At 8 pm that night the street preachers began their service, the police came and in defiance of the Canadian Constitution ended up beating the pastor four times, then  arrested him along with others, as he continued to preach the gospel of Christ.  During those years quite a few Baptist preachers were imprisoned in Quebec.  Among the better known men were, Wilson Ewin, Lorne Heron, Murray Heron, and Dr. William L. Phillips.  All together, these men and others served a total of forty-five sentences.  Quebec actually passed laws making the preaching against other religious beliefs in public and on Radio or TV a crime.  (This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp.  455 – 56) Prepared by Dr. Greg Dixon