Colorado baker and cake designer Jack Phillips shared his current battle with another case that concerns his Christian convictions on creating cakes.
Speaking to Brandon Showalter on The Christian Post's Life in the Kingdom podcast, Phillips revealed how God has provided for him throughout the legal struggle. Jake Warner, a legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the firm that represents the Christian baker who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop, joined the interview.
Showalter noted the media's bias on covering his case but the cake designer said that he is grateful for every opportunity to explain his side through interviews.
He is currently facing a lawsuit against a gay lawyer, Autumn Scardina. In June 2017, the latter asked him to create a cake, celebrating his gender transition. But because of its message that defies his Christian belief, Phillips declined.
They just had a bench trial and waiting for the judge's ruling. He said that preparing for and undergoing the said trial was difficult for him but the process has also shown how the grace of God played out.
Warner said that activists today are trying to use laws against people who disagree with their beliefs.
"One of the concerning trends that has developed recently is that government officials are certainly overreaching to apply public accommodation laws to punish people that they disagree with. But now activists are starting to do the same thing and that's exactly what happened in Jack's most recent case," he said.
"This attorney is essentially trying to weaponize state law to punish Jack whom he disagrees with on important life issues like gender identity. And that's wrong. The government shouldn't have that kind of power and as a culture, we need to embrace free speech and tolerate differences of opinions because that's key to any free society. Once that goes away, then that's when all kinds of other trouble [come] in," the lawyer explained.
Phillips said that the legal battle is directed to him and his faith, adding that he was treated unequally with other bakers in their town who were able to decline messages on cakes that go against their beliefs.
He recalled how he became a Christian, encountering the Holy Spirit in his car one day. He then remembered the Sunday school lessons he heard when he was a boy, wherein Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for his sins. At that moment, he gave his life to Christ.
The cake designer said that his faith drives him in everything that he does, guiding him in his interactions and treatment with people, especially in his marriage. Through reading the Bible, he realized that marriage is a "sacred event."
He admitted that he felt confused with the aftermath of his action to decline creating a cake for a gay couple in 2012, when people bombarded him with rude phone calls. He was bothered with a thought that everybody hates him. But the Lord spoke to him through the passage in 2 Timothy 1:7, saying that God did not give him a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
He then understood that God was in control of the situation. He stressed that he never regretted his decision to stand firm for his faith.
Warner is confident that the court will uphold the freedom of everyone to express their messages consistent with their "deepest voice."
Phillips said that God has provided for them with everything they need, especially throughout the legal process, having been assisted by the ADF for free.
He disclosed that he was threatened by the lawyer who sued him that if he wins the current lawsuit or it gets dismissed, Scardina will do the same as he did in 2017 to start "all over again." But the cake designer declared that he is ready, holding that "God is able to handle everything" that comes their way.
In conclusion, he advised that Christians who want to do the right thing in the business or corporate world should draw a line on their beliefs and stand for it. Citing 2 Chronicles 16:9, Phillips said that God is looking for a person who is fully committed to Him, promising them with strength.
