Päivi Räsänen Finnish MP in Bible hate speech trial

Finland's Yle TV broadcast a live report from a press conference on 14.11.2023 from the Parliament's Small Parliament, where a Finnish member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen commented on the decision of the Helsinki Court of Appeal on the charge of incitement against a national group. I watched this briefing, not immediately live, but afterwards in the YLE arena. In this article, I will share my thoughts that came up when I watched and listened to Päivi Räsänen's press conference.

The charges against Päivi Räsänen are in the Finnish Criminal Code under the heading of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which means that they are serious charges. The Helsinki Court of Appeal dismissed all three charges against Päivi Räsänen, as well as Juhana Pohjola's charge. Päivi Räsänen was grateful to God and to all the people who supported her. The Räsänen's case may yet go to the Supreme Court, or it may not. Räsänen was sure that she had not committed any offence against the law in her statements, which she had not. That is how it happened now, but in the years to come, the writings and statements that Päivi Räsänen has made in her tweets, pamphlets and statements about homosexuality being a sin according to Biblical teaching will be condemned as hate speech and a crime against humanity.

In the Western world, and also in Finland, developments are moving rapidly in a direction in which more and more values in accordance with the teachings of the Bible are being removed from the legislation and replaced by ungodliness and sin-promoting laws. According to the Bible prophecy, in the last days all nations on earth will begin to persecute the disciples of the Lord Jesus who love the God of the Bible in truth. This will come about because the values and laws of the societies of the world will favour sin in many ways and every effort will be made to pervert the truth of the Bible.

The case of Päivi Räsänen is like a storm warning of what is about to happen maybe very soon. The time may not be far off when, for example, in the Western world at large, calling homosexuality a sin will become a punishable offence, i.e. a crime against humanity. For now, we can still rejoice that in the case of Räsänen, true justice prevailed, namely the truth of God's Word, because according to the teaching of the Bible, homosexuality and its practice are a sin. But, very soon, believers who love the Lord Jesus in truth will have to get used to being persecuted and imprisoned for their faith. Now every believer who loves the Lord Jesus in truth must begin to prepare for the coming days of persecution and stand as firm as Räsänen has stood today in defending the truth of God's Word concerning what the Bible says about homosexuality.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Päivi Räsänen's statements and writings have not insulted and defamed homosexuals, and that Räsänen did not intend to insult homosexuals. Now the Finnish law was still on Päivi Räsänen's side, but in the days to come we will not be able to enjoy freedom of speech in Finland, where you can publicly believe in the truth of the Bible, where you can call sin as a sin. This era of freedom of speech will soon come to an end. I cannot say how many more years we have left of freedom of speech, but it will not last for many more years. It may be that even in a few years we will lose the freedom of speech to speak the truths of the Bible, but time will tell how many years we have left of freedom of speech.

Päivi Räsänen said that in 2019 she could perhaps very easily have avoided everything that has happened if she had repented and renounced her words and writings. Päivi Räsänen made the decision that she would stand by her writings and her words, believing in the teachings of the Bible, whatever the consequences are. Päivi Räsänen did not retreat from her conviction of faith. We will soon be in a time when everyone who loves the Lord Jesus in truth will find themselves in the same situation as Päivi Räsänen is in now, but with the difference that in the days to come we will not be declared innocent in the courts, but 'guilty'. This is what you must start preparing for now, if you love the Lord Jesus in truth. In the coming days of persecution, you will be given the opportunity to deny your faith in the truth of the Bible, but if you love the Lord Jesus in truth, you will not deny your faith in the truth of the Bible, but will be content with what will happen to you, even if it puts you in prison.

The Lord Jesus said in the Bible prophecy that in the last days (referring to the time just before His second coming) when iniquity takes over, the love of many (referring to the apostasy of believers) will wax cold. This word iniquity in the prophecy, in the light of the original text, means most of all to be without the law of God. According to the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, shortly before His second coming, all nations will begin to persecute the disciples who love the Lord Jesus in truth, and in addition the world will drift into a state where it is without the law of God, having superseded all the truth of God's word and replaced it with a lie, which will become the basis of the law of societies. It should be obvious that a believer who loves the Lord Jesus in truth will not deny his faith in the Lord Jesus under any circumstances, but will be prepared to go to prison or die for his faith.

Päivi Räsänen said at the press conference that never before in history have we had a criminal trial of this kind, where the Bible texts were discussed and sin was debated and discussed for hours. Räsänen explained how the court has for the first time weighed whether the teachings linked to the Bible can be presented and expressed agreement with them. I am 59 years old today, and I have seen since the 1990s how legislation based on God's word has been dismantled and removed. Usually the process is the same: First, something is raised for the first time that you want to repeal. The first few times things don't change, but the idea is planted in people's minds that things can be another way.

This is how you gradually begin to shape and manipulate people's minds to accept the new and remove the old. As this process is dragged back and forth, suddenly the new idea is accepted by the majority and the old ideas and legislation (also based on the Bible) are repealed and replaced by legislation that tells things differently than the Bible on which the law was previously based. Often this is done by saying we now have "new scientific knowledge" to replace old and outdated knowledge and understanding. In this way, the legislation previously based on the revelation of God's Word is then also abrogated and replaced by legislation that is contrary to the Word of God. And when this happens and the legislation changes in many respects, it will make it possible to make believing certain teachings of the Bible a punishable offence. This development is now taking place in Finland with regard to homosexuality and its being declared a sin.

Päivi Räsänen said that this process began in June 2019 with a tweet in which she asked the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which had signed up to support the Pride event, that if the church teaches against its own foundation, against its own charter, then it destroys trust in the Bible as the word of God, so that it is no longer just a question of marriage, but also of human salvation for eternal life. This led to a criminal complaint by a citizen against Päivi Räsänen. In total, there were five criminal complaints, of which the national prosecutor prosecuted three.

Päivi Räsänen read out a police statement at the press conference about her pamphlet, in which the police stated that "If some of the views expressed in the Bible were considered to constitute a crime of incitement, the distribution or making available of the Bible would also be punishable as a crime of incitement".

The way I see things going in the coming days (test and study) will go like this. The Bible will not be considered a banned book, and especially not the so-called liberal translations that are no longer based on the truth of the whole Bible. Any interpretation or understanding of the Bible that is based on the truth of God's Word will be banned and the penalty for speaking the truth of the Bible will be punishment, hate crime against humanity, etc. In other words, if you bring forth distorted information from the Bible, that is, if you distort the revelation of the Bible, you will not be punished, you will be patted on the back and praised as a good person, but if you speak the truth of the Bible, especially in relation to marriage and sexual matters, you will be considered an evil and criminal person.

When Päivi Räsänen said that the vision of classical Christianity does not arise from hatred, but from love of neighbour, it is true that the revelation and teaching of God's word do not arise from hatred, but first from God's love and then from love of neighbour towards neighbour. In Finland, for example, the majority of Evangelical Lutheran Church workers accept homosexuality contrary to the revelation and truth of the Word of the Bible. In Finland, a small minority of Evangelical Lutheran Church workers believe in the truth of the Bible, for example, in that they consider homosexuality and its practice to be sinful. Every person saved by God through faith in the Lord Jesus who considers homosexuality a sin within the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a member of that Church will in the days to come be a minority that is persecuted by the Church.

The very best solution would be for a believer in the Lord Jesus to resign and leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church, whose leadership and majority of its employees accept a wide range of sins and teachings contrary to the Word of God. Based on the truth of the Bible, the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church lives in the sin of accepting the sins of ungodliness. The Bible teaches that believers in the church must not be under the leadership of ungodly men, but under the leadership of the Lord Jesus and under the leadership of shepherds who love the truth of God's Word. A person who favors the sins of ungodliness cannot be the spiritual authority of any believer according to the Bible. Räsänen's and many other disciples of the Lord Jesus should draw conclusions and follow the Lord Jesus with and in the company of those who love Jesus in truth, who have not yoked themselves in religious leaders who are under the power of ungodliness.

Päivi Räsänen told how the prosecutor still in the court of appeal claimed that she had stated that LGBT people are inferior or that God did not create homosexuals as He has created heterosexuals. These allegations by the prosecutor were unfounded and untrue. Päivi Räsänen has not said that LGBT people are inferior, nor that homosexuals are not created by God. Under Finnish law, if a witness or expert makes a false statement under oath or affirmation, he or she must be sentenced to a maximum of three years' imprisonment for making a false statement in court. What is peculiar here is that the prosecutor, contrary to the law, falsely accuses Räsänen without any punishment, even though the prosecutor has lied in court and given false testimony about Räsänen. This shows, at least to some extent, the bias of the Finnish courts, and it is strange that the prosecutor can accuse people in court by lying without anyone intervening as required by law.

The Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin and against the will of God, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Lord Jesus said that if anyone looks at a woman with lust, he has committed adultery (sin) with her in his heart. The Lord Jesus took the concept of sexual sin very far, for you can commit sexual sin merely by looking lustfully at your neighbour, which is the same thing as sexual desire for your neighbour.

From the teachings of the Lord Jesus and the Bible, we can understand that a homosexual tendency without a practical sexual act is already a sin. This means that we are mistaken if we say that homosexuality is not a sin, but that the practice of homosexuality is only a sin. Since God created sexuality between a man and a woman in marriage, in a permanent relationship, then to embrace and identify with the wrong sexuality is already sinful, even without practicing sexuality contrary to God's will.

Päivi Räsänen told a press conference how in the district court hearing the prosecutor said that Räsänen's doctrine of loving the sinner but hating the sin is offensive and insulting to human dignity, because one's actions cannot be separated from one's identity, i.e. if by condemning the actions one condemns the person and considers him or her inferior to others. Such a statement is very peculiar and strange from a legal prosecutor who tries to prosecute people in court according to their actions, which can lead to a sentence where a person is sentenced according to his actions suspended or unconditional imprisonment. If a person is convicted in court for theft, betrayal,fraud, manslaughter, or murder etc. and sentenced to imprisonment, the act that led to his conviction does not make him inferior to other people.

Obviously, there are some acts that are not acceptable according to Finnish law or the teachings of God's Word, but all human beings always have the same dignity regardless of their actions. In truth, there are no inferior people in this world, but all people everywhere in the world are equally worthy and created in the image of God, and at the same time sinners before God. Every human being needs salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus, so that he or she can receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the blood and the atoning work of the Lord Jesus.

The example of Päivi Räsänen in court was truly brilliant, where she told how she had five children and loved them all equally, even though she sometimes had to reproach one of her children for her actions, which did not mean that she considered this child inferior to her other children or that she did not love her.

I, too, do not accept the deliberate insulting, slandering or vilifying of homosexuals. According to the truth of the Bible, it is not slander or deliberately insulting anyone to say that homosexuality is sinful and against the will of God. God Himself has ordained the practice of sexuality for a man and a woman in marriage, in a permanent relationship, and to bring this to light and call it sin is to love one's neighbour. I understand that a person who is pleased for a sin can feel very much offended if someone, in a loving way, says that his affection is sinful and against God's will.

According to the teaching of the Word of God, we are all sinners created by God and we need repentance and a change of mind and faith in the Lord Jesus to have our sins forgiven because of the blood of the Lord Jesus and His atoning work. Therefore, when a believer speaks about sin, it is not a demonstration of his own "excellence", but he does it out of love for God and for his neighbour, because unrepentant sin and unbelief, life without participation in the Lord Jesus' work of salvation, separates man from the fellowship of God and ultimately eternally, unless man is willing to abandon his unbelief and sins and believe in the Lord Jesus.

Salvation from the slavery of sin to the adoption of God through faith in the Lord Jesus is a merit of God's grace and the atoning work of the Lord Jesus, not any merit of man's own works. Therefore, a person in a healthy and biblical faith never tries to rise above his neighbour when he talks about sin and God's salvation, but knowing his own sinfulness and God's grace, so when he talks about sin and God's salvation, he always does it with respect for his neighbour, because he knows his own sinfulness and God's grace. No man is better than another as a sinful man, for there is only one truly good and perfect one, which is the God of the Bible.