It has been three years since we founded the Cántaro Institute, and four years since Daniel Lobo (Editorial CLIR) and Julian Castaño (Westminster Chapel) sat with me over lunch while we overlooked the Costa Rican tropics. We discussed that day the need for a reformation and renewal of the Western church and culture. Daniel had his feet in Ibero-America, Julian and I had our feet in North America — whether it was the Hispanosphere or the Anglosphere, there was a need for such a reformation and renewal. In time, Daniel, Julian, and I became the founding directors of our present Institute, dedicated towards meeting that need. We did not believe that we could actually reform and renew the church and culture, that is God’s work. But we could do our part in paving the way toward reformation and renewal by helping the church in the recovery of its mission. And this recovery is made possible by inheriting our rich protestant tradition, informing the church of the relevance and comprehensiveness of the gospel, and inspiring God’s people to explore the depths of God’s Word and its diverse applications. Everything we have published, everything we have communicated, everything we have organized since our Institute’s founding in 2020, has been towards this end. And at the three-year mark, despite the long intermittent periods of inactivity due to the pandemic, we have begun to hit our stride. This year Liam Wilson and Andrew Mouck have joined the board of the Institute. We have also gathered together several like-minded associates to help bolster the Institute’s work, with Vishal Mangalwadi (Truth & Transformation), Dr. Scott Masson (Tyndale University), and Josué Reichow (L’Abri Fellowship) being our first associates for our operations in the Anglosphere; and Joe Owen (Respuestas en Genesis), Dr. Adolfo García de la Sienra (Universidad Veracruzana), Nathan Díaz (Fish Studios), and others for our operations in the Hispanosphere. With increased production in our publishing, media creation, and events, the regular and wide consumption of our free annual Iberoamerican Journal for Christian Worldview: La Fuente, and our coordinated efforts to build relationships with other like-minded organizations, there has been a great deal of optimism amongst our team, and those whom we minister to, as it concerns the growth of the Institute and the assistance we can provide for the church at large.
As I think back to that first conversation in Costa Rica, where the vision of the Institute was born amongst us three, I remember making a comment about the direction of the church and culture of Canada. At the time, both Julian and I resided in Toronto with our families. And while Canada is much bigger than Toronto and Southern Ontario, what happens culturally in Southern Ontario is generally indicative of the direction of the whole country. There are most certainly outliers if we really want to nitpick, but not in relation to the comment I had made that day. What I had said was that: Canada was well underway to becoming the capital of Paganism in the West. And that was no exaggeration. Canada had already been adrift from its Christian heritage and convictions well prior to our generation, but our decadence was accelerating and becoming more pronounced. A fitting description may be that “…Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). Abortion, for example, was still a norm, but the Bill for euthanasia was, at the time, before the legislatures and about to be passed without any meaningful opposition. Then there were measures introduced to protect queer ideology and those who embraced them, and censorship laws that prevented free speech and access of information. Any state establishment (or sanction) of a new religion (though, nothing is new under the sun) has historically been enforced by means of punitive measures. It is precisely how the pagan state exercises its authority, by establishing new norms accompanied by coercive measures for mass compliance. Picture this: You are essentially told, as a citizen or resident, to live a certain way (acceptance of new norms), to say things a certain way (acceptance of new language, e.g. preferred pronouns, etc.), and if you do not comply, then the state will find ways to make you pay. How else can the state establish a “new” religion without the use of coercive methods? It reminds me of ancient Rome and its insistence that cultures that it conquered had to adopt its religious beliefs in addition to their own (e.g., the imperial cult, the Roman pantheon, etc.).
As I’m writing this today, we are now at the close of our national religion’s pagan “holy” month: Pride. And you will be surprised how few churches in North America this month have touched on the matter of biblical sexuality, coupled with how many have remained silent! I am not even considering those who have yielded to the state religion and now fly the rainbow banner — such communities cannot biblically be called “churches.” What our nation, Canada, has become is in large part due to the church’s inaction over the past century. And by inaction, I mean its senseless retreat from cultural engagement, the result of a misunderstanding of the gospel, our mission, and a pessimistic, unbiblical eschatology. These are all things I wish to touch on in future posts. But first, I should clarify in what context my comment was made in regard to Canada becoming the capital of paganism in the West. It was made after careful reflection of the fears collectively expressed by the pastors of Costa Rica. And, it would turn out, it was the fear of churches throughout Ibero-America as they witnessed their predominantly Catholic culture and its traditional values crumble away in the face of radical liberalism, cultural Marxism, and religious syncretism. Their respective countries are now following in the footsteps of our nation’s rebellion; but for their nation-states, it is not too late to right the ship. While North America’s ship (in terms of its culture) is as good as sunk, and our work is now one of salvaging, restoring, and renewing, Ibero-America’s ship is still afloat, though with glaring holes in its hull. The painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, “Shipwreck” (1854), comes to mind. It sinks evermore into cultural decadence, and it seemed always destined to sink with Roman Catholicism at the helm. But the church can yet recover a biblical understanding of the gospel, its mission, and a hopeful, biblical eschatology. While what we may do in North America for the reformation and renewal of both the church and culture may take several generations, Ibero-America has the hope of realizing this much sooner — but the clock is ticking.