A Finnish politician who previously oversees police as the home minister recently interrogated her with a “hate speech” accusation to support biblical marriage, while telling a meeting in Berlin that officials later opposed her faith.
After serving as Finland’s Home Minister, Parliament Pavi Lesanen has found herself undergoing various interrogations starting in 2019 in the face of hate speech charges, she said in a public interview with Sissy Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of Berry Graham’s grandfather.
“Every time I was questioned at the police station, the police asked me the possibility that I would give up on what I believe and abandon it.”
The pressure from the police included giving Räsänen in two weeks to remove social media posts about understanding the Bible of sexual relations. She refused.
“I don’t need that time. I don’t. I stand up to these righteous things. I will not apologise for what the apostle Paul said. It’s not just God’s Word. That’s not my opinion. It’s God’s Word and what he teaches.” “It was so ridiculous that I felt it was unrealistic to sit in a small room in a police station. In fact, I was the Minister of the Interior in charge of police several years ago.
After being acquitted twice for hate speech, Räsänen, who was awaiting her third trial, has since shared surprise at the legal attacks directed at her, believing it was “somehow a battle with Finnish Christian values.”
She said officials “released a very progressive liberal article many years ago, and therefore the church demanded that same-sex couples and others be married,” so they detected an undercurrent of ideology in the prosecutor’s office.
Her court battle began in June 2019 when she learned that the leaders of the Finland evangelical Lutheran Church had decided to support the Helsinkigay Pride Event.
“And if church leaders took that position, they were worried about people’s trust, especially the weakening of young people,” Resanen said. “And it’s not about gender or marriage anymore, but also about salvation.”
Praying for direction in which she responded, she received a “very clear vision.” “It’s time for me,” she said to the Lutheran Church position as a public political figure in the country.
Räsänen photographed Romans 1:24-27 about the statement of the apostle Paul regarding the practice that homosexual practice is the result of “sinful desires.” She updated her Twitter account with biblical photos and used it to ask Lutheran leaders how their decisions gave the Bible.
Someone filed criminal charges over a social media post and police began an investigation. The matter was quickly made public as Räsänen was a famous MP, and the unknown enemy filed further criminal charges for her writing, including a previously published pamphlet on Genesis.
“And then there was a police questioning and the prosecutor ordered the police to continue the investigation despite not finding the crime in my booklet,” Resanen said. “And I was in court in the Helsinki District Court and the Court of Appeals, where I won. I was acquitted.”
Three judges in the two courts found no crime in any of her works, but prosecutors appealed to the Finnish Supreme Court, ruled that on April 19th he would grant a third trial.
“And now I’m waiting for a decision (the Supreme Court),” she said.
Two previous trials in the Helsinki District Court and the Court of Appeals found that Räsänen, an 11-year-old grandmother, was not guilty of hate speech. She was criminally charged with sharing Christian views on marriage and sexual ethics in a 2019 tweet on Twitter (now X).
She was also accused in connection with her church’s 2004 pamphlet, which she wrote about Genesis’s book, saying “the man and woman he created.”
“The prosecutor has not appealed a third charge based on his appearance on a radio program and has acquitted the Court of Appeal in the final lawsuit that claim,” the Legal Advocacy Group Alliance Defending Freedom International said in April. “Only the remaining two prices are eligible for this latest appeal.”
The legal battle gave Räsänen ample opportunity to share her faith. The first police questioning included 13 hours of questioning, she said, involved officers asking officers to take the Bible and share her interpretation.
One police officer asked a very theological question, she said.
“He said, ‘What are the messages in these verses? And what are the messages in the Roman chapters? And what are the messages in the Roman book?” “I asked the police, “Do you really want to hear that?”
Räsänen had the opportunity to share the gospel with police officers.
“He’s such a lovely cop and we had such a good conversation, so I’m grateful,” she said. “We had the Bible and started in Genesis and went through the Bible.”
Räsänen added that her ongoing court battles have drawn more widespread coverage in Finnish media. Roman biblical poetry, the issue of sin, and the gospel became topics of discussion about television and radio programs.
“There were dark moments, but what gave me so much joy was this resistance that opened up opportunities to talk about the gospel, for example, at courts, police stations, live broadcasts from courts, and press conferences,” Räsänen said. “And I’ve been very encouraged by many messages, for example, when I was talking on the radio, talking about this story, and listening to giving an invitation to follow Jesus, they prayed after this and then became Christians.”
Graham Lynch thanked Resanen for standing firm for God’s Word.
“I have no doubt seen you over the last few years and God has chosen to fight this battle for all of us.
Resanen said that Christians live when they have to defend freedom of speech and freedom of faith.
“Even though we have these freedoms in the constitution, they are no longer self-evident,” Räsänen said. “But, for example, we see that Finland’s hate crime law is being used against Christians.”
As a result, she said legislators and others must defend free speech.
“But I want to encourage all Christians that are time to use these rights, because the more we become silent, the more space we are for using these rights, and the smaller it is,” she said.
The biggest threat is “self-censorship” about biblical norms of marriage and gender, she said.
“That’s when I have these contradictory and painful issues today about the value of life, marriage and gender,” she said. “I think it’s time to teach the confused generation we have today what men and women are and what the Bible teaches about this.”
Räsänen encouraged representatives of the Berlin parliament, facing future persecution, to remember that “God is very good.”
“He is so abundant in his goodness that he gives him 100 times more joy and blessing than the suffering that he may suffer in these ordeals, and I would also encourage him to be bold in teaching the Bible on these painful, localized issues,” she said. “It is especially important for young people to be able to be fully trusted in the message of the Bible, because it is how they trust Jesus, the only way they can go to heaven, the salvation.”
