It has been intriguing to witness the response of non-Christians towards churches that have remained open or attempted to open during lockdowns. Quietly, several have commended churches for their efforts-even admiring them-while a more vocal pack have shamed, bullied and hurled accusations. On our church’s social media platforms the public have accused us of trying to “make money” off our refusal to close, of trying to keep the church open so that “we could pass another collection plate”, or of acting selfishly by receiving fines that could have been better spent on the poor. One venomous radio show host-secure in his salaried job-even pontificated that I was being a “bad example” and would have served the community better by donating my legal fees to the poor. Notice the common theme in these accusations? They further the cultural lie that churches are all about the money. Our critics are clearly obtuse to the way church finances work, have a very ignorant view of basic economics if they have convinced themselves that being fined tens of thousands of dollars is a wise money-making strategy, and do not understand the convictions behind our actions. But their critiques do touch on something for us to consider: who is making money off of lockdowns, and does the fear of financial loss silence pastors and churches? One does not have to search very far for the answers: not only are big box stores and pharmaceutical companies profiting, health officials are profiting off of lockdowns too even as they chirp, “We are all in this together” from their exorbitant salaried perches. Many churches, hiding behind passages like Romans 13, remain silent because-in part-it is too financially costly to speak out.

Do Health Officials Profit from Lockdowns? 

Christians should not be a jealous lot when it comes to the financial compensation others receive for a hard day’s work. We should affirm those that serve us and would wish that they be well-compensated. But in a crisis of this magnitude, when hundreds of thousands of people are out of work and small businesses have been closed for months, there is something severely wrong when those calling the shots rake in massive profits as a direct result of the sacrifices they force others to make. Notwithstanding the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical profits that are expected from vaccines, and the fact that government officials have refused to take pay cuts while doling out loans and grants (our money), health officials across our province are collectively receiving millions in overtime pay even as they advocate for continued lockdowns. Telling examples, reported by multiple news outlets, include:

  • Toronto’s top physician, Dr. Eileen de Villa, who has been a strong advocate of lockdowns and vaccinations, and who is married to Dr. Richard Choi, who received money from Pfizer and Astrazeneca for his vaccine research.[1]
  • Dr. David Fisman, who received money from a teacher’s union to argue that public schools should remain closed. This man also sits on the COVID advisory committee to the Premier of Ontario and has advocated for lockdowns.[2]
  • Haldimand-Norfolk’s top physician-Dr. Shanker Nesathurai-grabbed an additional $160,000 in salary for his COVID-related overtime hours.[3]
  • London, Ontario’s top physician-Dr. Chris Mackie-received an additional $100,072 in pay for 611 overtime hours during 2020 as a result of COVID-related work. 47 other members of his staff also received overtime pay.[4]
  • Huron-Perth’s top physician received an additional $75,000 in salary.[5]
  • Oxford and Elgin County’s Medical Officer of Health received more than $62,000 in overtime pay.[6]

These officials (dubbed “heroes”), are already amply paid for their expertise and services but received massive pay-outs even as 355,300 Ontarians lost their jobs and thousands of small businesses remained forcibly closed. Under normal circumstances, additional compensation would be justified, but these officials only benefit as others directly lose through their historically-unprecedented rolling lockdowns. The conflicts of interest are undeniable making the injustice hard to stomach. 

There is something severely wrong when those calling the shots rake in massive profits as a direct result of the sacrifices they force others to make.

Perks without Liability

What makes these salary disclosures so maddening is the unwillingness of the same health officials to provide the public with a clear rationale for their decisions, even while innumerable people suffer under their dictatorial edicts. Officials refuse to provide peer-reviewed evidence for their numerous-and inconsistently applied-health protocols from people without political liability. Letters and requests for information go unanswered from health units that are quick to pounce should they receive one public mask complaint. One can only conclude that they will not provide evidence for the efficacy of lockdowns and health protocols because they do not have it or do not want to be held liable for the decisions they make. From cloth mask mandates, to 6-foot distancing requirements between cars during church parking lot services, to arbitrary percentage rules pertaining to church attendance, to inaccurate PCR tests, to conflicting reports about asymptomatic transmission, the public is forced to blindly trust a group of well-paid experts pulling us along a crooked path blindfolded. In all this, suicides, drug addictions, depression, fractured marriages, missed Gospel-opportunities, and insane increases in debt ravage our province. The same is increasingly true in every province across Canada.

Christians and Injustice

Historically, Christian people have been known as staunch advocates for societal justice because the Bible commands it (Rom. 12:20, Jam. 2:16). Christians have been at the forefront of feeding the poor, starting hospitals, educating children, ending slavery, ending infanticide, speaking out against usury, the rich abusing the poor, and caring for orphans. Even today, many churches like ours spend tens of thousands of dollars annually alleviating poverty in third world countries, protesting abortion, preaching on righteousness, and supporting pregnancy centres that minister to women in crisis. Notwithstanding liberalized expressions of Christianity that claim to engage in social justice by supporting radical LBGTQ agendas under the falsified premise of stopping discrimination, cultural marxist movements masquerading as anti-racist initiatives, and poverty-alleviation programs for able-bodied persons who refuse to work, authentic biblical Christianity has and must stand for biblical justice. That’s what we do! 

When Money Silences the Church

In addition to theological conflicts among Christian leaders over Church-State relationships, I now believe that many churches are remaining silent in the face of this injustice for fear of financial loss. Perhaps many churches are not even fully conscious of this, but consider the following: I know of churches that want to remain open but chose to close because they couldn’t risk the financial fines. Their convictions were silenced due to threat of financial penalties. I know of lockdown-compliant churches that took government financial subsidies during the first lockdown and are therefore indebted to the government. Their reliance on government money hinders them from reopening in contravention of health orders, even if they want to. Church boards have had to weigh the threat of having their church insurance removed for reopening-we were threatened as such-leaving them potentially vulnerable to outside litigation. 

Even as most churches have continued to boast strong financial support for 2020, and pastors continue to receive secure salaries, our neighbours are being financially devastated. As Jonathan Wellum wrote in a previous Pursuit of Glory article: “there is no other government in the world (operating below a national government) that has a higher level of debt as a percentage of their GDP than Ontario!”[7]  How can it be that the majority of Christian leaders remain silent as health officials profit and their neighbours suffer irreparable loss? Maybe our non-Christian opponents are partially right in their allegations about churches being motivated by money.

Healthy Reminders

When threatened financially, Christians need to be reminded that God will supply all of our needs (Phil. 4:19), that we are stewards-not owners-of the resources entrusted to us, and that no price is too high to pay for righteousness. But if we remain silent in the face of injustice, how can we expect the Lord to continue to bless us?  Let us then collectively repent of our silence and call for a permanent end to lockdowns, so that people are free to make a living. And may health officials across our country hear a forceful cry from the Church that calls upon them to implement viable Focused Protection Plans for the most vulnerable, while rebuking them for profiting off of the unnecessary suffering they have caused to healthy populations of people.