Thrown down.
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, which is pastored by influential theologian and author John MacArthur, announced Friday that it would continue holding in-person services, saying state mandates restricting worship are an overstep of government authority and thus they have no duty to follow them.
"Therefore, in response to the recent state order requiring churches in California to limit or suspend all meetings indefinitely, we, the pastors and elders of Grace Community Church, respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services," MacArthur wrote.
Go ahead, Gav. Arrest them. I dare you.
For those of you who don't keep up with such things, John MacArthur is an extremely influential voice in evangelical circles. I consult his Bible commentary all the time and I have to think that the possibility of MacArthur and other members of his church being hauled off to jail, particularly while leftist riots are allowed without any sanction at all, is only going to write a few more Trump ads for the fall election.
UPDATE: They mean it.
“We cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings,” the church, led for the last half-century by Pastor John MacArthur, explained in a statement on its website. “Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands” to meet together for worship. “The church by definition is an assembly,” the pastors and elders of the church explained. “That is the literal meaning of the Greek word for ‘church’—ekklesia—the assembly of the called-out ones.” As a result, “no earthly state has a right to restrict, limit, or forbid the assembling of believers.”
“Therefore, in response to the recent state order requiring churches in California to limit or suspend all meetings indefinitely, we, the pastors and elders of Grace Community Church, respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services,” they wrote.
Once to every man and nation and all that.
UPDATE: PLEASE do this, Gav. It would make me so happy.
5 comments:
You are exactly right, IMO. We keep hearing and reading (ok, mostly in com boxes at places like Instapundit, so consider the source) that people have been pushed too far and are going to stand up to these government ninnies like Newsom and his buddy Pritzker in Illinois, etc. etc., but the blue-state governors seem to have won all or nearly all of the lawsuits, and our nation of silent conservative sheep continues to grovel while the leftists appear to rule the day. It's going to take someone like MacArthur to re-awaken what looked like an actual groundswell back in May, before that idiot cop in Minneapolis screwed everything up. I'm sad to say there won't be any help coming from the Catholic hierarchy, at least 90 percent of whom are spineless hirelings who wouldn't know how to save a soul or stand up for Christ even if they suddenly remembered that's supposed to be their primary mission.
Additionally Frank, John MacArthur does not have a bishop telling him "no". There is no authority above him that can shut him down. I say, "You go John!" I think many faithful Catholic priests would be conducting business as usual of not for the bishops.
Dale, I agree, that’s a great point.
Re: " I think many faithful Catholic priests would be conducting business as usual of not for the bishops."
Our church would be meeting again if not for our stupid diocesan rules.
Re: Nevada - "This is a simple case. Under the Governor’s edict, a 10- screen “multiplex” may host 500 moviegoers at any time. A casino, too, may cater to hundreds at once, with perhaps six people huddled at each craps table here and a similar number gathered around every roulette wheel there. Large numbers and close quarters are fine in such places. But churches, synagogues, and mosques are banned from admitting more than 50 worshippers—no matter how large the building, how distant the individuals, how many wear face masks, no matter the precautions at all."
Well, of course. Churches are tax exempt, so there's no money to be made by letting them open.
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