LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - March 19, 2021 - The wife of Canadian pastor James Coates, who was jailed for holding church services amid COVID lockdowns, spoke out passionately about her husband’s ordeal, saying, “It really should be shocking to people” that a Christian pastor is behind bars.

“Well, I think there’s been a war, like a boiling frog for a while, I think our freedoms have just been slowly stripped from us and, so slowly over time that we didn’t even realize it, and so when something like (an unlawful) health order is put in place that takes away your freedoms, it’s not shocking to people. It really should be shocking to people that there is a pastor in jail right now who’s given his life to sacrifice and love other people to worship God,” said Erin Coates.

Erin said that her husband’s imprisonment has shown her Canada now is not the same country in which she was raised. “This is definitely not the nation that I grew up in,” she said.

Erin said that she believes Christian pastors are being targeted in Canada. “Well, I have to believe that the enemy is singling him out, we have a real enemy who really hates the Lord Jesus Christ and really hates the blood-bought body that he purchased on the cross and has given new life to. Yes, we have an absolute real enemy,” said Erin.

Erin spoke about her husband’s condition in jail, saying that he has faced trouble with food, and it has been hard on his mental state.

Coates is the pastor of Grace Life Church in Spruce Grove, Alberta, and has been in jail since February 16. He was imprisoned for defying unlawful local COVID health orders in Alberta, after refusing to agree to bail conditions that block his release unless he agrees to not hold church services amid severe unlawful coronavirus lockdowns.

Current Alberta COVID rules state that churches and other places of worship can operate at no more than 15% of the capacity allowed by the building fire code. Masks are mandatory, as are the sanitation of hands and keeping away from other people.

On Wednesday, Coates’ legal team - the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) - announced that he will soon be released from prison, after Alberta Crown prosecutors agreed to drop most of his charges.

It is expected Coates will be released on March 22, without any conditions. He still has a May 3-5 trial in Provincial Court for the last remaining charge.