Open Doors and Victories with Prime Minister Harper and Calgary Stampede

There is nothing more exciting to us than to once again give testimony of our amazing God, that sees the end before the beginning and that makes the impossible possible. Truly there is nothing impossible with God.

This year’s barbeque with the Prime Minister was an even bigger success than last year’s. God opened the amazing door for myself, Jim Blake, Bogdan and my wife to be able to represent His Kingdom among the political and business leaders of this country.

There were over 30 cabinet ministers, countless MLAs, MPs, Senators, influential members of the business community, media personalities and us, the representatives of God’s Kingdom. This year, we saw an increase of divine appointments, by God’s grace. We were able to talk with different cabinet members about Linda Gibbons (for those that don’t know the story, we encourage you to Google her name. She is an elderly grandmother that fights for the rights of the unborn, holding a sign outside abortion clinics which has a picture of a baby and reads "Why mommy when I have so much love to give." For that she has spent in total over seven years in jail. Particularly one member of parliament was really touched by the story and asked us to forward him more information).

The Prime Minister gave a very good speech, in which he stated, "There is much more to Canada’s role in the world than our capacity to support our allies or to deliver aid to the needy," … "We also have a clear purpose, and that is to stand for what is right." … "No longer does this country just go along with everyone else’s agenda. … We know where our interests lie and who our friends are." Wow, with a Prime Minister like this we, in this country, can accomplish a lot, not just maintaining the status quo, going with whatever is popular, but actually taking new ground in the area of righteousness.

We had opportunity to discuss not only the ongoing issue of abortion, but also freedom of speech, so called political correctness and charter related issues. Overall, we were greatly blessed by the response we were receiving. Again, we were able to talk to our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and his wife Lorraine, telling them that we on a regular basis pray for them, we were able to bless them at the meeting and we also once again invited them for the March for Jesus 2012. My wife, shared with Lorraine Harper that she was praying that God would strengthen her, in this political and public life that they are leading. The interesting part is that with God, there are no coincidences. God orchestrated our meetings within the barbeque, to the minute detail.  

We were seated at the table with the minister of transportation, Dennis Leblanc, and his wife. Whilst sitting at table, with Dennis and all the others, I was sharing about the upcoming generation and the need for them to be challenged. I also spoke of how they are sick and tired of hypocrisy. I told them that they need leaders that they can follow and trust. It was a good day all around, with great opportunities to share of the righteousness of our King.

God is continuing to elevate us to a position of influence and it looks like every year, as we are doing our best to walk faithfully with what he has given us for that year, that the next year, he gives us more to climb and conquer. Think about it, what better place is there to go to meet with some of Canada’s most influential people than at a laid back, celebratory event, where everybody is on a high from a, majority government, election win. God placed His cabinet ministers, to speak of His government, righteousness and amazing love; that He has for both the poor and the rich, for the powerful and the not so powerful.

Street Church Defended Itself Against Calgary Stampede at Court of Queens Bench

For the second year in a row, Calgary Exhibition took us to court to preventing us, not only from marching in the Calgary Stampede Parade, but also seeking to have all volunteers of Street Church and all associated with Street Church banned from all Calgary Stampede venues and grounds. For the second year in a row, they brought false accusations, lying statements and affidavits, that were manipulated and phrased in such a way as to create a false emergency, and force the hand of the courts to place a permanent injunction on the ministry, preventing us from being anywhere near Stampede activities.

In the affidavit, of Steve Foster, Senior Manager of the Calgary Exhibition, from page 3, section 14, he deliberately lies and states that we broke the previous injunction from 2010, to create a false fear that we would do it again, when we did not break last year’s injunction at all, but rather honoured all of the terms laid out. The impression that was to be left in the mind of the judge is that this man is a dangerous law breaker, defiant to the courts, and all authorities of the land. What was fleshed out in the proceedings is the exact opposite, our lawyer Michael Bates, valiantly defended the truth and demonstrated that we are not law breakers, and used as one of the proofs that I passed federal screening and was allowed to attend last year’s Prime Minister’s barbeque.

It was interesting to see that David Swanson, in his malice against the name of Jesus, was blinded to the extent that he lost all perspective, swearing under oath that I Artur Pawlowski, in fact, now get this, am indeed, over seventy years old. The odd thing is that I met with him personally on a number of occasions face to face. You see how their hatred overtook their reasoning?

On page 5, section 20, of the affidavit, they then go so far as to falsely swear that I was served with papers I had not received by the time he had signed the sworn affidavit. David Steele, the lawyer, from Bennett Jones LLP, went out of his way to manipulate documentation with false information and spectres, to get what he wanted, but the judge saw right through it.

There were many more manipulations that were involved in this case, on the part of the Calgary Stampede, and if you ever would like to see the full documentation relating to this issue, please feel free to contact us directly.

Victories

The judge gave us an overwhelming victory, to the point that Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Ltd, must now pay all over legal costs in defending our rights and reputation. He also plainly stated in the courtroom, when he announced his verdict, that the claim was completely unsubstantiated and invalid. Praise God!

Now look at God’s favour. This ruling did not yet give us the permission to march in the parade, but also did not ban us from participating. So we started further negotiations. We were fully prepared to demonstrate along the parade route. We had made banners, and had already staked out our spot along the route. At eight o’clock at night, the day before the parade, I had a special meeting with a negotiation team from the Calgary Police, trying to organize a co-operative way of how we could proceed with the protest. During the two hours of conversation, the police officers did their best to negotiate for us an entry in the parade. As part of the Stampede’s suggestion for a compromise, which was truly a slap in the face, they proposed that we start marching from Sixth Street, since they did not want the Prime Minister, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, to see the name of Jesus. To this insult, we gave our answer; a resounding NO! That would be intolerable.

At this point, the other side was unwavering in their steadfast denials of our requests and pleas. The meeting ended after 10 pm with an understanding that we will proceed with a full protest along the parade route.

At 6:30 in the morning, we received a phone call from the negotiating police officer, telling us that we had been given approval to participate in the Calgary Stampede Parade. Dressed in our Knights costumes and medieval accessories, brandishing our swords and shields, we were able, once again, to lift the name above all names, Jesus the King of kings. The response from the crowd was absolutely beautiful. Tens of thousands, when they saw us started to clap. Many were shouting back, we are believers too, bless you! One man even told us that our float was the most beautiful float in the parade.

One interesting development was that although the Calgary Stampede actively opposed the name of Jesus walking in the parade, because as they have repeatedly stated "the name of Jesus offends", they allowed a large float with bold letters on the front "ISMAILI MUSLIMS". Even though they tried to silence us, God made a way for us to have the best position in the parade. We had the very last entry in the parade. So the very last thing that people saw when they came was J E S U S in bold letters all the way across the road. Praise the Lord. He elevated His name above every name for all to see.

Once again, we saw that God makes a way where there seems to be no way. We saw that our God, The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, made the impossible possible, and He deserves all the glory and honour and praise. But what we also saw was that God rewards the persistent. God doesn’t just say, pray to me and I will do it all. NO, God wants us to partner with Him, defiantly tearing down the strongholds of the devil with our weapons of warfare and with our deliberate and consistent marching while taking ground from the father of darkness. We truly see that no weapon formed against us prospered, but not by sitting in our living rooms. Jesus said, "Go OUT!" and we did. He said "Conquer" so we swung our sword and by the power of God we cut off the head of Goliath, once again. God taught us that the spoils go to His victors.

You see, with all the excitement, I call it craziness, about the duke and duchess coming to our city, you have to understand, they are just men, like you and me, and that they will return to dust, just like you and me. They were highly respected, honoured, welcomed, but just men. The Lord holds the lives of all men, including earthly "royalties", in His hands. They live, they laugh and they can visit different countries because He allows them to. So while the Stampede accepted, with excitement, earthly royalty, they with passion, hate and exclude the King of kings and Lord of lords, but God had His way.

 

God granted us some major victories, but don’t kid yourself, the war still goes on, their is still ground to be taken, the battle never ends. So our question to you is this… What ground will you take from the enemy? How will you stand up and be counted? Which territory around you is occupied by unrighteousness and what can you do to change that? Can you truly say in your heart and before God, that you are doing all that you can to take that ground out of the hands of the enemy? To change a nation, God needs His people active everywhere, whether in politics, in the education system, social welfare, media, or whatever other venue you can think of. God has YOU there, so GO without shame and forward the Kingdom of God.

Let us leave you with the words of Paul, and let us all echo those words:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16