The most important events in Against the Tide TV and the Megachurch project in 2021

Pastor Chojecki was sentenced to 8 months of community work for criticizing the Catholic Church and President Duda! 

For the first time in the history of Poland, a secular court tried a Protestant pastor for criticizing Catholic dogmas. According to the prosecutor's office, Pastor Paweł Chojecki, editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV, insulted the religious feelings of Catholics and insulted the objects of Catholic religious worship with statements consistent with Protestant theology. The prosecutor's office also charged him with insulting the Polish president and praising the initiation of a war of aggression against North Korea. [Article]  [What the pastor is accused of

Our community started an online #SupportPastorChojecki campaign, the aim of which was to express support for pastor Paweł Chojecki and oppose the punishment of people for their religious beliefs. [Article]

Support also came from abroad. Kind words for Pastor Chojecki came, inter alia, from Solomon Yue, vice chairman and CEO of Republicans Overseas – an organization grouping members of the Republican Party living outside the US, an American pastor Bob Kraft, Chen Guangcheng – a Chinese dissident, Chapman Chen – a founder of Hong Kong Bilingual News, Halmurat Harri Uyghur – a pro-freedom Uyghur activist, founder of UyghurAid.

The largest anti-communist organization in the world, The John Birch Society, published a video on its channel. Art Thompson, former head of the Society, presented the case of pastor Chojecki and expressed support for him and encouraged Americans to send letters of support for the pastor to the President of the Republic of Poland, the Minister of Justice, the Polish Embassy in the USA, as well as the Lublin court, where the case is pending. The judge who is conducting the case of Paweł Chojecki confirmed that the court in Lublin received over 400 e-mails in one day!  [Article]  [Movie]

On June 10, the District Court in Lublin issued a verdict in the case of pastor Paweł Chojecki. The pastor was sentenced to 8 months of restriction of liberty in the form of community service. The court also ordered him to pay the costs of the trial of almost 21 thousand PLN. Attorney Andrzej Turczyn and two other lawyers representing Pastor Paweł Chojecki filed three appeals against the judgment of the court of the first instance. So far, no date has been set for an appeal hearing. 

The Dutch newspaper “Nederlands Dagblad” published an article in which Herman Veenhof extensively described the case of the pastor's charges, trial, and sentence. He also presented the life and activities of Paweł Chojecki, as well as the mission and goals of Against the Tide TV and the Megachurch project. Herman Veenhof also appeared on our TV. He also spoke about his motivations for covering the pastor's case. [Article]

Pastor Paweł Machała, as part of the campaign of support for Pastor Chojecki, went on a bicycle journey throughout Poland. The campaign was called "TOUR de FREEDOM – freedom of speech for everyone!". Covering hundreds of kilometers every day for at least 3 weeks, he met people from different parts of our country and talked about the shameful verdict of the Lublin court. 

[Movie who is Pastor Chojecki]  [Pastor Chojecki’s statement and appeal]

[Pastor Chojecki’s appeal to protestants

[Report from the first trial]  [The trial – continuation] [The trial – prosecutor’s demand[Appeal against the verdict

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Pastor Paweł Chojecki, editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV, sent a petition to the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki regarding the boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. This is how he justified his decision: "The people of Poland have been respected for centuries for standing up for freedom, not only their own but also someone else's. The motto "For our freedom and yours" and the ethos of the "Solidarity" movement oblige us not to support the criminal regimes that are currently committing genocide, violating fundamental freedoms and human rights, and are aimed, like Hitler and Stalin, at conquering the whole world." [Article]

Please, pray for the success and publicity of this petition in Poland.

Our TV has been speaking out about the danger posed by the totalitarian regime of communist China for many years now. In China, there are still concentration camps where people are killed because of their religious beliefs, organs are illegally taken from prisoners and sold on the black market. On our television, we have broadcast special programs dedicated to this topic. We talked to journalist and activist Frances Hui from Hong Kong, who spoke about the Chinese terror. Thanks to our Taiwan correspondent, Hanna Shen, who has been dealing with the subject of Communist China for many years now, we can work even better to provide Poland with the information about the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

On September 29, the District Court in Warsaw decided that Polish Television should apologize to the Protestant New Covenant Church in Lublin for calling it a "mysterious Lublin sect". This court case is about the events from two years ago and the interview of Senator Jacek Bury. In October 2019, TVP Info published an article entitled "Senator of the Civic Coalition was a member of the mysterious Lublin sect". The judgment is not final, the defendant has appealed. 

During the hearing, the head of the TVP Info portal - Samuel Pereira, who did not apologize for spreading untruths about the KNP, and pastor Paweł Chojecki were questioned. The official apology was to be posted on the TVP website and its Twitter, as well as sent to our church - in writing with the signatures of the people responsible for this event.  [Article]

Pedophilia and sex scandals in the Polish Catholic Church

We also talked a lot about pedophilia in the Catholic Church, its moral decline, and the lack of authority in the young generation. We created many programs and interviews on the condition of Catholicism in Poland and the world. We held several debates on matters of faith and spirituality of Poles. One of the first discussions had the title "Apostasy or reform of the Church?". Its participants were: Prof. Michał Łuczewski, sociologist and psychologist from the University of Warsaw, Emil Parafiniuk, a priest and a director of the National Organizational Office of World Youth Days, Jakub Horbacz from the Tertio Millennio Institute, pastor Paweł Chojecki and attorney Artur Nowak, the lawyer for victims of pedophile priests.

The second debate was about whether religion should be removed from schools. In December, we organized another debate under the title "Religiosity of Poles in 2021". It was attended by: ethicist and philosopher Prof. Magdalena Środa from the University of Warsaw, pedagogue and sociologist Prof. Mariusz Jędrzejko from the Center of Social Prevention, pastor Paweł Chojecki, head of the Against the Tide TV, catechist Fr. Damian Wyżkiewicz, Alicja Defratyka, an economist and author of the ciekaweliczby.pl project, Krzysztof Gwizdała, head of the apostazja.eu portal on apostasy, Chrystian Szpilski from Lewica Razem and editor Daniel Flis from Oko.press.

Last year, a premiere of a new book by the Against the Tide publishing house – “I won with a pedophile priest” took place. Bartłomiej Pankowiak in a frank conversation with Kornelia Chojecka talks about how he managed to win against a pedophile priest, why today he no longer feels like a victim, and what impact his departure from the Catholic Church had on his faith. Not only is it the first interview in Poland with a priest’s victim of this kind, but an inspiring story of a young man who deals with the past and "reaches a mindset in which he wants to live" again!

We also started a new campaign #WkurzeniNaKościół. This initiative is addressed especially to people who are disillusioned with the Catholic Church and depart from God and turn to atheism. Our goal is to show them an alternative – the way to the true God of the Bible. We want to say "stop" to the cover-up of pedophilia by the hierarchy, the hypocrisy of the bishops, and the usurpation by the clergy of exclusivity in the representation of God.

New edition of Bible Workshops (Warsztaty Biblijne)

In November 2021, we completed the project "Bible in the Time of Plague" which had been hosted by Pastor Paweł Chojecki since March 2020. Reading the Bible together and having a sense of community was meant to be an encouragement and support for us during the difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic. At first, we had meetings seven days a week. Together we read six books of the Bible and published nearly 250 episodes of the program. 

After the Gospel of Matthew, we returned to broadcasting Bible Workshops on Fridays at 7:30 pm. The workshops are interactive, we try to make as many people as possible participate in them. We have already invited Marlon Couto Ribeiro, a Brazilian living in Poland, Professor Mariusz Jędrzejko, Zdzisław Miara, a missionary of the Mt 28 initiative, a representative of Crown business education company, Ireneusz Dawidowicz, a pastor from the Baptist Church in Białystok and a psychologist, Lutheran pastor Leszek Czyż and Joe Łosiak, an American missionary and collaborator of Franciszek Blachnicki.

Interview with Joe Łosiak, associate of Fr. Blachnicki, the founder of the Oasis Movement in Poland

During the interview recorded while he was in Poland, Joe Łosiak told us about his first impressions when he came here in 1974, about meeting cardinal Wojtyla and sharing the Gospel with him, as well as about the phenomenon of the oasis movement.

 

 

VII Congress of the viewers of Against the Tide TV "Poland and the World After the Chinese Pandemic"

This year, we organized the 7th Against the Tide Conference. The motto of the event - "Poland and the world after the Chinese pandemic" – was also the main topic of the speeches. Also this year we had the opportunity to listen to distinguished guests from all over the world. The lectures were given by: Art Thompson, former head of the John Birch Society, the largest anti-communist organization in the world, General Ben Hodges, Hanna Shen, Manyan Ng, head of Epoch Times Europe, and Elmer Yuen, an anti-communist activist and businessman from Hong Kong.

The most prominent moment of this year's conference was the debate "Poland after the Chinese pandemic", which was attended by several personalities from the world of politics, medicine, media, and science. The debate was divided into three thematic parts: economy, health, and society.

Guests from Poland and abroad

Many politicians from Poland and abroad have appeared on our television. We also invited people of culture and media, actively involved in political and social activities.

Among others, we hosted the former Finnish Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen, who spoke on our television about her faith and the trust she has in Jesus. [Article]

September 11, 2021, marked the 20th anniversary of the attack by Islamic terrorists on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We hosted Daniel Pipes – historian, founder of the Middle East Forum, and son of President Ronald Reagan's advisor. [Article

Pavel Novotný, a Czech politician of the SPOLU coalition, appeared in our programs multiple times.

We also talked to Mr. Matas Maldekis - Member of the Lithuanian Parliament, Chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group on Relations with Taiwan.

We hosted the mayor of Prague's largest district, Ondřej Kolář, who was one of the targets of attacks by Putin's agents for anti-communist actions and had to hide under the protection of Czech special services.

We also interviewed Mr. Zhihui Li, a Chinese Falun Gong activist who was released from Polish custody. As one of the few media outlets, we publicized the case of Zhihui Li, extradition of whom communist China demanded. Handing Mr. Li over to the CCP could have meant the death sentence for him. In our programs, we hosted his lawyer Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki and a representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights. The environment of our TV also organized a campaign of writing letters of support to Zhihui Li. [Article]

We also had the opportunity to talk to John Godson, a pastor, former member of the Polish Parliament.

Against the Tide TV media productions

2021 was full of media productions. One of our greatest successes was the award of our two films at the International Catholic Film and Multimedia Festival in Niepokalanów. The productions "Righteous Among the Nations" and "Had God abandoned Auschwitz?" were honored with second place.

On March 1, the premiere of the documentary film entitled "How did I become a Cursed Soldier? Memories of Maksymilian Jarosz" directed by Marzena Chojecka took place.

In January, Against the Tide publishing house published a Polish translation of a book by Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson "Replacing Darwin. Made Simple". The book was translated by Dr. Małgorzata Gazda.

 Based on Andrzej Patalon's comic book "Apocalypse Now", a film animation was also created.

Megachurch summer camp 2021

In August, after more than a year of pandemic, the summer camp of the Megachurch project took place. Christians from all over Poland, Europe, and also from the United States met again to study the Word of God and give glory to their Savior, as well as to simply spend time with each other. We witnessed thirty baptisms and heard many testimonies of conversions to Jesus. Every day, the participants traveled to different towns in the region to preach the gospel and to talk to the people they met on the street.

Another academic year of the Lublin Bible University

In October, the new academic year began in the Lublin Bible University project. The courses conducted this year are: basic course, Christian life, History of the Church, Sharpening the Focus of the Church, foundations of family life, course: How to study the Bible.

 

 

The fifth anniversary of Against the Tide TV

 This year we also celebrated the fifth anniversary of Against the Tide TV. On February 1, 2016, we started daily live broadcasting. In a special episode of the program, we recalled the history of our TV, the backstage of programs, we reminisced and discussed plans for the future.

 

 

SUMMARY

The year 2021 was one of the most difficult years for our Television, but as you can see from the outcome, God, despite the difficulties, gave the TV both development and great enthusiasm for even greater momentum in our activities. In December 2021, three years have passed since the beginning of the campaign of more than 1,000 of our viewers financially supporting our TV.

Together with you, we run ahead!

Each subsequent month is a hard fight to achieve all our goals. We have ambitious plans for the future. The achievement of these goals largely depends on your commitment and your contribution to supporting the Against the Tide project.