John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sun Valley, welcomed his congregation Sunday morning in defiance of the state's order that the church remain closed because of coronavirus concerns.While there's been some delay, national media is beginning to cover the story. The Hill is not sympathetic."Good morning, everyone. I'm so happy to welcome you to the Grace Community Church peaceful protest,” he said, which was met with a standing ovation and cheers.
. . . "Are you glad to be here? Everything for us is based on the Word of God, right? And that means we are pro-life, pro-family, pro-law and order, and pro-church of the Lord Jesus Christ," MacArthur continued, before sharing that Chaplain Martin Morehouse of the Los Angeles Police Department would lead the church in prayer.
As I noted Monday, there was no evidence that Garcetti's order was being enforced. In fact, the Los Angeles police union has made it clear that it does not wish to participate in COVID related enforcement, such as Garcetti's order to turn off the water and electricity to social distancing violators:
“Mayor Garcetti wants to reimagine policing,” officials from the Los Angeles Police Protective League wrote in a statement, referring to the city ordinance passed in June seeking to create civilian teams to respond to non-emergency calls instead of police.“He should send his civilian staff to turn off people’s electricity & cut off their water. Let officers deal with the rise in shootings and killings in LA.”
Pastor Rob McCoy made a similar point in an August 11 YouTube update on the Godspeak Calvary Chapel legal situation:
McCoy, as I've noted, is anything but a bumpkin. The first few minutes of his presentation outline the current legal situation quite well. A key point was that since the sheriff did not enforce the restraining order last Sunday, the county went back to court Monday asking the judge to order him to enforce. The judge refused to do this. McCoy noted that law enforcement does not like to enforce such orders, as they damage community relations, and officers in fact worship at his and other such churches.
This recent Yahoo News story quotes Pastor MacArthur, who brings up an issue that should be, if it isn't already, on the minds of all religious leaders:
"Major public events that were planned for 2021 are already being canceled, signaling that officials are preparing to keep restrictions in place into next year and beyond," the pastor wrote in a widely shared post titled 'Christ, not Caesar, is head of the church.' "That forces churches to choose between the clear command of our Lord and the government officials. Therefore, following the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, we gladly choose to obey Him."For instance, New Mexico Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham has said she intends to extend COVID restrictions indefinitely:
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is now saying she’s going to keep the COVID practices in place even after a vaccine is available. Grisham says, “These are good public health behaviors that will prevent the spread of influenza.”A visitor sent me a "letter to the editor" from the UK that outlines the circumstances that seem more and more likely to continue indefinitely unless a range of remedies is aggressively pursued;
SIR – The rules for worshippers are now even more absurd than those described by Alan Cochrane (“Show me the evidence for these nonsensical restrictions on church services”, telegraph.co.uk, August 9).The restrictions, plainly focusing on churches, were imposed in March on the basis they would last a matter of weeks, but they continue with only mild relaxations through the summer, with no end in sight. It appears that civil disobedience will need to be one strategy, along with legal, electoral, and legislative remedies.We had planned to hold last Sunday’s service for our small rural church in the churchyard, with worshippers approximately five metres apart, meaning that face masks could be left off and, more importantly, that we could sing.
It then transpired that, even outside, this is not permitted. According to the Government’s guidance of August 4, only “professional singers” can perform in front of the worshippers; we’re not allowed to sing ourselves.
Interestingly, this document also states that face masks need only be worn “to reduce the risk of transmission (where two metres is not viable) between households”, but the Church of England tells worshippers that they are mandatory at all times.
