SUN VALLEY, CA – Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California is pushing back against orders coming down from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office threatening to lock him up in jail if he holds in-person worship services.
Pastor MacArthur’s message to the governor is:
“Bring it on.”
John MacArthur not worried about threats of jail for holding church services: “I’m open for a jail ministry … bring it on” https://t.co/DYr6pzGkue pic.twitter.com/vnZm9qyoSW
— Disrn (@DisrnNews) September 16, 2020
During an appearance on Fox News, the pastor explained some of the threats that have been levied against him for the services that he’s been holding at the church:
“We received a letter with a threat that we could be fined or I could go to jail for a maximum of six months.”
Keep in mind, we’ve seen thousands of people gathered to protest who haven’t been arrested for simply gathering.
We’ve witnessed Nancy Pelosi fall victim to the infamous “set up” of defying lockdown and mask orders in California – but Heaven forbid (pun intended) people congregate to worship.
Pastor MacArthur continued from there, in an almost elated tone, that he’s not remotely concerned about these kinds of threats:
“Of course, my biblical hero apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is the apostle Paul, and when he went into a town, he didn’t ask what the hotel was like, he asked what the jail was like because he knew that’s where he was gonna spend his time. So I don’t mind being a little apostolic if they want to tuck me in a jail.”
In the pastor’s mind, if he happens to get booked into jail for simply holding church services, he’ll see it as an opportunity to share The Word in a space in which he’s yet to share it:
“I’m open for a jail ministry. I’ve done a lot of other ministries and haven’t had the opportunity to do that one, so bring it on.”
Grace Community Church has been entangled in a back and forth with the state of California during the pandemic. This has resulted in a cease-and-desist letter being sent to the church about holding in-person services and the church responding with a lawsuit.
Furthermore, Pastor MacArthur has been somewhat trolling officials within the California state government who have threatened the church with $1,000 daily fines and possible jail terms for its senior leadership.
In a video shared on Twitter on August 9th, the pastor addresses his congregation and says the following to those who gathered:
“Good morning, everyone. I’m so happy to welcome you to the Grace Community Church peaceful protest.”
John MacArthur: “Welcome to our ‘peaceful protest’”: pic.twitter.com/knjNkwZ5x6
— Phil Johnson (@Phil_Johnson_) August 9, 2020
In the video, the crowd erupts in applause when Pastor MacArthur describes the service as such.
You’ve got to admit that the manner in which Pastor MacArthur referred to one service as a “peaceful protest” and later observed the possibility of being jailed as an opportunity to spread a positive message shows just how clever and optimistic the man is.
Americans have been hounded literally for months about how the riots are OK because the protests are “mostly peaceful” – they even came out with some strange report talking about how the protests were “93 percent” peaceful.
Thus, protests have been overwhelmingly unchecked and not stopped because people have the right to peacefully assemble. Well, in the United States, as of September 17th, there have been 6.65 million Covid-19 diagnoses and 197,000 deaths collectively. That’s an over 97 percent survival rate – but the church can’t have their peaceful assemblies.
And don’t even get me started on the number of Covid-19 deaths that presented comorbidities. Spoiler alert – it’s the overwhelming majority that hosted medical conditions contributing to death.
Aside from the numbers related to Covid-19, which the pastor mentioned on Fox News as well, he also explained that there are perceived Constitutional violations in play with Gov. Newsom’s lockdown orders.
“I am so thankful that President @realDonaldTrump has told me personally he supports the church as essential.”
– Pastor @johnmacarthur on @IngrahamAngle#ChurchIsEssential pic.twitter.com/9PnyUd5oYQ
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) September 16, 2020
“We believe that the governor, the county, the city, and the health department are going against the Constitution. And just to remove one obvious question, the rate of Covid in California is 1/100 of 1%. So 1/100 of 1% of 40 million people have Covid and that eliminates freedom to worship from the entire state.”
Pastor MacArthur says that when it comes to religious liberties and the right to assemble for services, he noted that “the Constitution supports us.” And to be honest, this author supports their rights to assemble in church as well.
Not that it should ever come to this, but Law Enforcement Today told the story of one group of worshipers who outsmarted a state government:
North Versailles, PA – Since the beginning of the Coronavirus, there has been a debate as to what is “essential” and what is not.
Obviously grocery stores such as Walmart are considered essential, as they sell a variety of necessary goods. However, it was ruled early on, that houses of worship were not.
On June 26th, Christian worshipers in Pennsylvania came up with a way to outsmart their Democratic governor by gathering and holding service inside a Walmart.
Nancy Halford, a Walmart employee, stopped what she was doing to join the singing and record the event, and the video has now gone viral.
This is brilliant, a church was not allowed to worship because of buracrats decree so they went to a Walmart to do it pic.twitter.com/nTeqoqPSLE
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) August 6, 2020
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced on April 3 that houses of worship were not essential. He said:
“Individuals should not gather in religious buildings or homes for services or celebrations until the stay-at-home order is lifted.”
The Walmart video has shown that there is absolutely no reason why houses of worship should be closed. If people can safely gather at a Walmart to worship, then it is absurd to suggest that the actual house of worship is any more dangerous.
This is not the first time worshipers took to Walmart for service. In Holly Springs, Mississippi, the First Pentecostal Church had planned a drive-in Palm Sunday Service, however, weather did not cooperate. About 45 members of the congregation went inside the church to worship while being socially distant.
About halfway through the service, police officers showed up to try to disperse the congregation.
Pastor Jerry Waldrop broke the news saying:
“Well, we have some guests showed up and said we have to disperse. I told them to come in and we’d run y’all off.”
Waldrop did not take this well, and asked his parishioners to go directly to Walmart in order to prove a point that if worship can take place there, it can take place anywhere.
The pastor said:
“When we dismiss here, we’re all going to Walmart and go in,”
He continued:
“I want to prove the point that they’re not enforcing the law.”
As directed, the parishioners headed directly to Walmart, which was crowded with customers. Although they were not disrupting anyone, they were again targeted when the mayor showed up.
Waldrop said:
“The mayor had entered the building and he pulled me aside and said, ‘I need to talk to you.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ He was telling me we couldn’t be in the store.”
Waldrop said that the mayor insisted the church had broken some protocol by being in the Walmart but couldn’t be specific about which one.
This just further affirms the bias that is taking place across the country in the name of “safety” and “quarantine.” Liquor stores and marijuana shops were deemed essential, but houses of worship were not. It seems as though politicians are using this time to abuse their power in the name of the pandemic.
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