POST FALLS - Speaking to a Republican group, Coeur d'Alene church leader Paul Van Noy warned that America is on the road to Babylon.

But it's not there. At least not yet, so there is still time to stand up and fight for religious freedom.

The senior pastor of Candlelight Christian Fellowship was a guest at the Panhandle Pachyderm Club's Friday meeting at Red Lion Templin's Hotel in Post Falls.

"We're seeing the problems all around us," he said.

He cited the case of the Colorado bakery owner who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

This month, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a lower legal commission that the owner violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act when he declined to make a cake for two gay men's wedding reception.

The business owner, a Christian, argued his refusal was based on religious opposition to gay marriage. The appeals court said he must create cakes for same-sex celebrations.

"In the same way we have the Hitching Post (Wedding Chapel) problem in Coeur d'Alene," Van Noy said. "We have the bakery over in Oregon, with my friends Aaron and Melissa Klein," who were fined for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.

Van Noy said Christians, and Republicans, should push back, and not bow down to secular legal and government institutions.

He said the Kleins won't pay the fines, and he is proud of their stand.

"It reminds me of Peter and John and Paul and others who said, 'We are not going to bow,'" he said.

People need to recognize, through cases like these, what Christians and socially conservative people are really faced with today.

"What we're dealing with is the same spirit in the homosexual community, the aggressive homosexual community, that's in ISIS," Van Noy said. "It's the demonic forces that are saying, 'You're going to do it our way, and you're going to like it, or else,'" Van Noy said. "Unh uh, we're not going to bow."

He sought to clarify with The Press that he isn't homophobic or Islamophobic, and he values the freedoms of all individuals and groups.

"But if a Muslim guy comes to me and says, 'Look, you're going to do it my way - or else,'" he said, "now we have a problem. That is the loss of our freedom, and that is what we're seeing."

He said if freedoms are lost, it's the fault of voters. They are the ones who choose representatives - from city halls to the halls of Congress and the White House.

"I'm not at all wanting to be cited as homophobic," he said. "I'm not. What I am is for the liberty and justice for all that we just pledged about."

That "all" includes Hitching Post owners Don and Evelyn Knapp. They filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the city of Coeur d'Alene because of its anti-discrimination ordinance. They argue that performing same-sex marriages violates their religious beliefs.

"Their freedom is being taken away," he said.

Van Noy told the Republicans he isn't running for office. He plans to simply continue preaching.

His message, he said, will be one that stands by these business owners, and others, who are forced by governments and courts to violate their deep and genuine religious beliefs.

He asked the Republicans to join him.

"Help me do this by not saying, 'Well, just make them a cake, it doesn't matter,'" Van Noy said. "That's the same thing as getting on your knees in front of a 90-foot statue and saying, 'Well, I'm not bowing in my heart.'"