Category: Righteous Defiance

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Drive-In Church News Righteous Defiance

A Gallery Of The Faithful Gathering For Church Amid Pandemic – Album Twenty Six

The twenty-sixth album in an on-going series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).

For previous albums: 

Album #1Album #2Album #3Album #4Album #5Album #6  Album #7  Album #8  Album #9  Album #10  Album #11  Album #12  Album #13  Album #14  Album #15  Album #16  Album#17  Album# 18 Album #19  Album #20  Album #21 Album #22  Album #23 Album #24 Album #25

These churches are using FM transmitters to pipe audio to the cars directly, are preaching outside, or are back in their buildings having in-person services. Some with masks. Some without masks.

All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.

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Church Featured Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur to Congregation: ‘You People are Getting Me into a Lot of Trouble’

Pastor John McArthur received another standing ovation from his congregation yesterday, with everyone standing and cheering for nearly 30 seconds as he made his way to the pulpit and shared a short pre-sermon address.

Macarthur will frequently use this ‘opening comments time’ to give an update on the current court case or to share information or brief thoughts with the congregation on current events or other things related to the day or to the church. These are not always captured as part of the online sermons that get posted, and so our friends at Bible Thumping Wingnut has recorded them and posted the video below, which we’ve transcribed.

“You people are getting me in a lot of trouble.” [Laughter and cheers from congregation]

Welcome to Grace Community Church on this Lord’s day. Psalms 67 says

God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us— 
That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
For You will judge the peoples with uprightness
And guide the nations on the earth. 
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.

God blesses us, till all the ends of the earth may fear him.

Father, we offer you our worship in this hour. As those who come before you unworthy, and yet joyfully welcome because we come in the Saviors name. Bless our fellowship and our worship together. Amen.

While not much to update in this case, we don’t know of the ‘You people are getting me in a lot of trouble.’ is related simply to the fines they are incurring, or something else.

Meanwhile, one of the special counsels representing MacArthur and Grace Church, who also happens to be one of President Trump’s Lawyers, pointed out that hundreds were gathering to mourn the loss of Chief Justice Ruth Ginsberg. She noted they were gathering in large groups without adhering to social distancing, which was fine to her, but like large BLM protests, these are encouraged and allowed while churches remain closed. It needed not be said that if the church gathered in the way that these mourners did, they would be in contravention to Governor Gavin Newsom’s lockdown orders and would be fined.

While Grace church was fined another 500$ this week for gathering, an appeal is expected from GCC early this week and we will also be informed as to what further consequences the Los Angeles County and the Judge will impose on the church for ignoring the court’s orders prohibiting them from gathering if it will be simply monetarily punitive, or if the threat of arrest is legitimately on the table.

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Church Featured Righteous Defiance

Louisiana Pastor Faces 3 Years in Prison for Defying Church Lockdown Orders. Arraignment set for Tuesday

Tony Spell, pastor of the Life Tabernacle Church, leaves East Baton Rouge Parish jail after posting bond in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Louisiana authorities arrested the pastor on an assault charge on Tuesday after he admitted that he drove his church bus toward a man who has been protesting his decision to hold mass gatherings in defiance of public health orders during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Rev. Tony Spell, the pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, is set to be arraigned on Sept 22 for six misdemeanor charges incurred in the early months of the pandemic for refusing to abide by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ lockdown orders.

At the time, in the months of March and April, Rev Tony Spell gained national prominence and notoriety for being known as the pastor of the ‘Last Church In America Still Open’ where the Church never shut down and had in-person services without any social distancing, weekly drawing hundreds of congregants, and possibly being the only church in his state never to close. This resulted in him getting arrested, being fitted with an ankle monitor, and defying the restrictions place on him and preaching anyway.

These particular 6 gatherings that he’s being charged for, which at the time exceeded the 10-person limit set by the Democratic governor, each carry a penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Though this scenario would happen, if the governor and prosecutors were hellbent on it, they could charge Rev. Spell for each of the 80 services he conducted in direct contravention to the orders, each with a sentence of up to six months, resulting in 40 years in prison. The fact that such a sentence is even a theoretical possibility is terrifying.

Rev Spell has released a statement, saying in part:

“…At the state level, the state legislature makes the law.  While the Governor may be authorized to issue emergency orders, he cannot make law. It should be clear that no emergency order of a Governor can lawfully take away our constitutional rights under the First Amendment, which includes Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of Assembly.  Any attempt by the Governor to do so is ultra vires, or outside the law and of no effect.”

“When the Governor had the Chief of Police of Central come and arrest me in the sanctuary of Life Tabernacle Church, that arrest was totally unlawful.  When District Judge Fred Crifasi ordered me not to preach in church on Sunday morning, ordered that I be confined to my home, and ordered an ankle bracelet attached to my leg, all of those things were unlawful too.

“Here at Life Tabernacle, the persecution of our congregation and me personally continues, but I will not bow to the state and agree that the Governor has the lawful authority to bar me from the pulpit, or close down our church — or any church for that matter!”

Rev. Spell’s attorney, Jeff Wittenbrink, relayed that the defiant reverend will enter a plea at the time of the arraignment and we expect him to plead ‘not guilty.’

As a bit of insider baseball, Spell’s Lawyer contacted us here at Protestia wanting to know why we referred to Rev Spell as a heretic in one of our responses, writing: “Pastor Spell has stood up for our God-given rights to worship and assemble freely since the beginning of the Wuhan virus.   I recently saw a reply to a friend that you made saying that he was a “heretic.”   I read your “About P & P News” section.  My question:  exactly how is Pastor Spell a heretic?”

Our response is simple. For as much as we admire his courage, we would never advise anyone to worship with this group on any day of the week, much less during a pandemic. In fact- any true believer would run screaming like a banshee from this hellacious cauldron of blasphemy.

Services of the self-declared “Apostolics of Baton Rouge” are riddled with the worst excess of pentecostal concoctions. Imagine 30 middle-aged women dancing at the front during worship while waving hands and lavender flags to the irksome beats of Hillsong, and you get the picture.

If that by itself wasn’t enough to shudder the spine of even the reformed-est of men, their statement of faith paints an even clearer picture of theological decrepitude: that of Oneness Pentecostals who deny the Trinity, who believe water baptism using a certain formula and baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues to be the conditions for salvation, and who hold to the doctrine of sinless perfectionism.

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Church Featured Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur Says Calif. Lockdowns Based on ‘False Science.’ Compares Tactics to Hitler and Nazi Regime

Pastor John MacArthur appeared on Eric Metaxas show to update on things were at with Grace Church, providing nothing new in terms of teh case, but he did provide a bit of information on how things are progressing internally.

Speaking against the impossibility of his church gathering outside in any practical sense, as social distancing protocols would leave them with only 300-400 congrats allowed to attend, MacArthur blasted Governor Gavin Newsom’s unscientific basis for locking the state and churches down, comparing the same justification that California is using to the ones that the Nazi’s used in Germany.

Hitler used false science. Hitler used false science about race as a people, about black people and about jewish people. He tried to basically use that false science to lock down the Reichstag in Nazi power. That is essentially what’s happening in California and even across the country, the false science of this virus is being used again as a club by the governor of California and others across the country to affect the political change they want to see.

Speaking to anecdotal evidence, MacArthur relays that they’ve met for 9 weeks and don’t know anyone in the congregation of 7000 who have had COVID and disputes that it should be properly classified as a pandemic in the first place, given the low number of deaths comparatively. MacArthur shares that Grace Church being open has been met with overwhelming support by congregants and guests who have been attending his services in great numbers have been encouraged and given hope to to see other brothers and sisters holding the line.

We are absolutely shocked at the number of people pouring into this church who have not been here before, filling up the worship center, filling up the chapel, filling up a tent in the parking lot, going into other buildings. Several hundred thousand devices are connected for online. We’re now broadcasting every service in six languages around the globe.

People want to hear the truth and they want hope in the midst of what seems a bleak kind of history for them. They see churches kind of folding up under the pressure and it frightens them if their own churches aren’t gonna stand and hold the line, where will they turn? So there’s almost a rush, there’s an exhilaration in the people that are coming here and freely worshipping the Lord.

It’s not normally that they can defy the government, but they watch this government collapsing in every sense that they hold dear, and for them to be able to take a stand against that and know its right because they are obeying Christ is an exhilarating spiritual experience, and there’s a joy here that’s beyond what I’ve seen in 50 years.

One member who attends Grace Church estimated perhaps 5500 people attended one of the earlier services after they first opened up again, and that many people attending were not members, but either Christians wanting to go to church whose local churches are not open, or were attending to encourage Pastor MacArthur. He even recounted “I met a couple who flew in from Texas just to participate in a Sunday meeting time.”

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Church Featured Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur on Defying Courts: ‘I Don’t Mind Being a Little Apostolic if they want to Tuck me into Jail…Bring it on’

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church appeared on Laura Ingraham ‘The Ingram Angle’ last night for a brief chat and update on his situation with being ordered to ceast and desist from having indoor services . Explaining why it’s so important to stand up to onerous edicts, Macarthur stated that the government leaders are going against the constitution and reiterating that the odds of getting the novel coronavirus are 1/100th of 1%, saying it’s not a legitimate basis for eliminating worship.

“The constitution supports us, and by the way, I am so thankful that President Trump has told me personally that he supports the church as essential, and that the churches need to stay open. So with the constitution on our side and the president’s backing, we’re open.”

Ingram references Kamala Haris saying that the United States needs to have a ‘time of crisis’ mentality as they did during World War 2, where society sacrificed for the needs of the collective. In this case, shutting down churches where the coronavirus may spread for the sake of the community. Ingram asks if that’s where America is now, and MacArthur rejects the idea

“The church preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ- that Jesus died and rose again and is the only source of eternal salvation. The church doesn’t exist to make sure it navigates around politicians whims, the church exists in the world to preach the saving gospel of Christ. We’re not concerned about the flu, we’re concerned about eternity, eternal life, salvation, and the more dire circumstances become in the world around us, the more critical, the more essential the church becomes and the more important the gospel becomes.

I’ll tell you something, our church is literally flooded with people. We have them in every nook and cranny, jammed together, inside, outside, on several floors, in our children’s education building, in the gym, in a tent outside. They’re flooding the place to hear the message of forgiveness and salvation in a time where fear is being propagated on every street.”

Ingraham, a Roman Catholic, says that admires MacArthur’s conviction, courage and strength, describing it as admirable and inspiring and relates how disappointed she is that her own Church has rolled over and has been hesitant to return. Praising MacArthur for his willingness to preach and face jail time, she asks whether or not Gavin Newsom threatened to do anything to MacArthur personally for defying his orders.

No, not personally, but we received a letter with a threat saying that we could be fined or I could go to jail for a maximum of 6 months. 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 into jail. I’m open for a jail ministry. I’ve done a lot of other ministries and I haven’t had the opportunity to do that one, so bring it on.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

Exclusive: Calif. Health Department Church Investigator Reveals Details of Grace Church Visits


The BibleThumpingWingnut, (BTWN) friends of the channel who host the Polemic Report and who have been routinely been posting regular breaking updates to the Grace Church saga, have been in contact with a worker for the LA County Health Department tasked with overseeing non-compliant churches who are refusing to shut down as per Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders.

This worker’s identity has been verified to be authentic and has provided BTWN with exclusive information not seen anywhere else. We read from the provided letter, which has been modified to protect the identity of the worker, where he shares more details of this particular case, but also reveals the support that Pastor MacArthur has within the LA County Health Department who are talked to enforce the policies against their will and desires.

“Good afternoon sir, I am a new listener to your network. I work for the L.A County Health Department. I can email you from my government account if you would like me to verify. I have been assigned to investigate churches.

Today, Grace community allowed the health department inside and we got paid to sit through church. The dream come true. The health department will write up Grace community Church for $500 every Sunday for violating the health officer order, just letting people worship inside.

In the past, the LA County Health Department was penalizing the church for two different things. One was interfering with the duties of a health officer, not allowing them inside. The other was, breaking the health officer order by allowing people inside.

Both of those fines equal to $1,000, $500 for each. Now that Grace is letting the health department in, the maximum they can get fined is $500. I think it’s funny that the court ruled in favor of the county, but now every week the penalties will be less and less.

Many churches are accepting the $500 fine every week so that they can have indoor services. Do you have any questions? If so let me know. Obviously I am super busy with all this nonsense but I’m happy to help in any way.

I will say, MacArthur does state a lot of things that are misleading and some that are straight out wrong. But I am on his side 100%.”

Tim Hurd, the man behind BTWN doing the Lord’s work, then asks the worker a few clarifying comments and receives these answers.

Q: How many health officials visited Grace today?

A total of two health officers visited Grace today. I do not mind you sharing what I share with you, but please keep me anonymous. You can say “a guy that works for the health department” or whatever you choose, just keep my name anonymous. Me and two other guys work all the churches in the county. Two of the three of us are strong Christians. I am involved with five other churches every week.

Q: Are you a born again Christian?

I am a Christian. Christ is the center of my life and the only reason I do what I do. I have two children and I stay at home life, by the grace of God I am what I am.

-How much of the info you’ve included in your email can I share publicly?

Anything I tell you, you may say. And I will keep you updated with everything that I know. I think it is important that people know what is going on on the level where the rubber hits the road. Honestly, 90% of the health department is disgusted by laws that are being implemented. It’s just the tip of the spear that makes laws, and then embarrasses us by making us enforce it. For the record, there’s a lot of people who do not enforce things because they do not believe it is right.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur Defied a Court Order this Morning and Had In-person Services. This is what Happened

Pastor MacArthur defied a preliminary injunction against him and Grace Community Church by an L.A court that prohibited them from having indoor services, setting himself up to be charged with a $1000 fine and face jail time for refusing to abide by the court ruling.

Speaking in front of a packed congregation, MacArthur was greeted by an almost 30-second standing ovation, with the church cheering him and thanking him for not bowing to Los Angeles County Health official’s efforts to shut him down.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1305199224607268865


MacArthur addressed one of the main questions he was receiving; why not just abide by the court order and have outdoor services, which they are allowed to do? The Shepherd explaining that to do so would practically and destroy their services and their ability to properly and effectively preach the gospel and serve the congregation. He said:

“You people are out of control. Are you happy to be at church?

Before we begin, the question has come up a number of times about why Grace church does not just comply with the orders that have been laid down for churches. And I thought it might be helpful to give you the list of things that are required of us as a church so that you understand how utterly impossible that would be. Here are the basic orders.

-No indoor meetings at all
-Pre-registration of every person who comes on the church property
-People only allowed on church property for scheduled events
-Every person who comes on the property is to be screened and have their temperature taken at the entry
-We all must maintain 6 feet of social distance at all times everywhere, including the parking lot and the restrooms
-Every other parking space must be left vacant
-Marked pathways to maintain social distance.
-Keeping people apart by staff monitors
-Everyone always wearing a mask
-Restroom monitors to control 6 feet social distancing at restrooms
-Tape on the ground marking distance
-Signs indicating these mandates and also full exposure on social media
restrooms are to be used during the service to minimize the rush. That would be interesting.
-No hymnbooks
-No communion
-No offering containers
-No pew bibles
-No singing
-No hugging
-No shaking hands
-Disposable seat covers changed between services
-And the services have to be shortened (laughter from congregation) that’s not a problem for me, right?

And based upon the separation, we could only meet in the tent with a maximum of 350-400 people (GCC has 10 times that on a regular Sunday) You can see these are the requirements that would completely shut the church down. Anyone who comes in contact with someone outside their family for more than 15 minutes must self-quarantine for 2 weeks.

Obviously this is not constitutional, but more importantly it goes against the will of the Lord of the church who calls us to gather, amen? So look at the person next to you and say ‘I don’t know who you are but I’m so glad I’m sitting next to you.’

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Featured News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur set to have Church this Morning in Defiance of Court Order: Here’s the Punishment he Faces

John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church (GCC) has indicated that he will have indoor services this morning, in defiance of a preliminary injunction granted by a Los Angeles judge that prohibits him from doing so.

On Thursday L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff sided with the public health officials hell-bent on shutting down CGG, giving the adversarial officials a win after a string of losses against the church.

The judge overseeing the case ruled that the MacArthur-led megachurch would be barred from having indoor services this coming Sunday as well as every other Sunday for the foreseeable future, arguing that the church being open is an “immediate threat to public health and safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

With the County obtaining a preliminary injunction, it means that GCC cannot meet indoors until it is resolved, but may still meet outside, so long as they socially distance, wear face masks, and meet in smaller groups. Judge Beckloff wrote in his decision:

But MacArthur has indicated he will defy those orders, telling Shannon Bream in a Fox News interview friday night “We’re going to have Church on Sunday. There is absolutely no reason not to have church as far as safety goes….Plus we’re under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and he says have church, and we’re gonna have it.“

In an op-ed posted this morning by pastor MacArthur on the Daily Wire, he elaborated on his motivations for defying the injunction, writing:

Churches must keep the priorities in order. We cannot sacrifice robust spiritual health, the preaching of the gospel, and the gathering of the church for worship under the power of divine truth in order to guard people from something that is only slightly more threatening than the seasonal flu. We don’t ‘save lives’ in any way that counts for eternity by putting a muzzle on our public proclamation of the Word of life.

Speaking of the commission and purpose for the church, MacArthur asks:

Could anything be more callous than to cause people to fear a virus and then shut them off from the only source where they can have that ultimate fear finally and completely removed?

We, the church, cannot relinquish our duties before God in order to appease the arbitrary, mercurial, and onerous restrictions of a governor who imposes rules on others that he does not even follow himself. Our fear of forsaking the assembly of believers greatly surpasses the fear of being infected by COVID-19 (much less the fear of whatever consequences we might face from government officials). We will put nothing in the way of those who come to church for fellowship, instruction, worship, and the sanctifying benefits of hearing God’s Word proclaimed.

…May the Lord give us all wisdom, courage, and love to honor Him as so many of our spiritual ancestors have done in much harder times than these.

It is not completely clear whether or not the church will have outdoor services, however. So far everything MacArthur has said has indicated that they will not, but rather will continue as usual with their indoor gathering, perhaps buoyed by the knowledge that their lawyer Jenna Ellis has filed an appeal on Friday to contravene the injunction.

As for punishment for intentionally disregarding the court injunction by Judge Beckloff, we read:

  • “If a court issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction in an action brought pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b), ordering a defendant to refrain from conduct or activities, the order issued shall include the following statement:  VIOLATION OF THIS ORDER IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE UNDER SECTION 422.77 OF THE PENAL CODE .
  • Section 422.77: Any willful and knowing violation of any order issued pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 52.1 of the Civil Code shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.“

GCC has so far has amassed over $20,000 in fines for having indoor services and singing during those services, an act outlawed by Governor Gavin Newsom’s shut down order. While we imagine they won’t waver about paying the $1,000, there is a very real threat that they could put pastor MacArthur in jail, based on the willful disobedience and open rebellion he has to the judge’s orders.

Given how rapacious the County has been in seeking to have them shut down – being the 5th time they’ve brought this motion forward, as well as canceling a 45 year parking lease, it would not surprise us to see MacArthur led out in handcuffs in the next several weeks. It’s not overly likely, given the severe nature and optic of such a move, but it is not outside the realm of possibility, given how crazy everything has become.

Pray for Grace Church and Pastor MacArthur.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

MacArthur Plans to Defy Recent Court Ruling this Sunday ‘We’re going to have Church’

John MacArthur and Jenna Ellis appeared on Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream last night, where the 80-year-old preacher currently embroiled in a battle with L.A county health officials over his church having indoor services, elaborated on what his plans were for this coming service, after a Judge gave the county a preliminary injunction and ruled he was to cease having indoor services at full capacity.

“We’re going to have Church on Sunday. There is absolutely no reason not to have church as far as safety goes. A statistic- one in 100th of 1 percent of Californians have COVID. That’s the number. And yet no one in the entire state of California is allowed to go inside a church. Doesn’t make sense. Plus we’re under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and he says have church, and we’re gonna have it.

Shannon points out that the law is not discriminating solely against churches but also affects any other large gatherings, but Ellis disagrees, saying that it is targeting churches because the state doesn’t have the same restrictions and enforcement on other large gatherings like protests, which they have lauded and encouraged participation in, nor did the ruling acknowledge or consider any meritorious constitutional arguments they claimed.

“When the government is allowed this type of broad, and arbitrary, unlimited and indefinite power, then our rights become mere privileges. And for the judge to characterize this simply as the county ‘allowing’ these types of worship services, that’s not for the county to decide. That’s why our founders put ‘free exercise of religions’ as a fundamentally, constitutionally protected right, so we’re going to stand up for pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church because he’s absolutely right, he gets to hold church.  

Ellis noted that she will file a formal notice of appeal tomorrow

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

Breaking! Judge rules John MacArthur And Grace Church May NOT hold Indoor Services this Sunday

L.A. County officials are celebrating after L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff sided with the public health officials hell-bent on shutting down Grace Community Church (GCC), giving the adversarial officials a win after a string of losses against the Church.

The judge overseeing the case ruled Thursday that the MacArthur-led megachurch would be barred from having indoor services this coming Sunday, as well as every other Sunday for the foreseeable future, arguing that the church being open is an “immediate threat to public health and safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

With the county obtaining a preliminary injunction, it means that GCC cannot meet indoors until it is resolved, but may still meet outside, so long as they socially distance, wear face masks, and meet in smaller groups. Judge Beckloff wrote in his decision:

While the court is mindful that there is no substitute for indoor worship in the ‘spiritual refuge’ of a sanctuary, the court cannot ignore the County Health Order does not dictate a ban on worship…

[Furthermore] The potential consequences of community spread of COVID-19 and concomitant risk of death to members of the community, associated and unassociated with the church, outweighs the harm that flows from the restriction on indoor worship caused by the county health order.

While both he and Judge James Chalfant had denied four of the county’s previous bids for a temporary restraining order against the church, the county was able to persuade them on the fifth time. He writes:

“The county persuasively argues congregants of the church are not isolated amongst themselves, but circulate within the county outside of their times together in religious worship. All citizens of the community therefore — even those who do not worship at the church — would be at risk of infection through community spread.”

The order also requires that GCC allow public health officials into their church and onto their property to carry out inspections and ensure the church is in compliance. According to court documents, the church has not allowed them to do this up to this point.

There have been no updates yet or comment from Special Counsel Jenna Ellis of the Thomas More Society, who is representing MacArthur and the Church.

Pray for Grace Community Church and the wisdom of the elder board.