Category: Righteous Defiance

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More California Churches Under Fire for Worshipping, Fined Thousands of Dollars

(LifeSiteNews) – Two California churches are facing thousands of dollars in fines for singing and worshipping in person amid ongoing controversy over Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.

Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks received $3,000 in fines for holding a total of six services across two Sundays, and North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara was fined $5,000 for singing during two services, the Desert Review reported.

Newsom has banned indoor religious services (along with various types of secular gatherings) in 29 counties representing 80 percent of the state’s population in the name of containing the spread of COVID-19. Numerous churches have defied the order, including Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, Cornerstone Church of Fresno, Destiny Christian Church of Rocklin, and Harvest Rock Church of Pasadena.

“North Valley Baptist is failing to prevent those attending, performing and speaking at North Valley Baptist’s services from singing. This activity is unlawful,” read a cease-and-desist letter Santa Clara County sent to the church. “The county understands that singing is an intimate and meaningful component of religious worship. However, public health experts have also determined that singing together in close proximity and without face coverings transmits virus particles further in the air than breathing or speaking quietly.” 

“The county demands that North Valley Baptist immediately cease the activities listed above and fully comply with the Risk Reduction Order, the Gatherings Directive, the State July 13 Order and the State guidance,” threatened the letter, which also revealed the county had sent agents into services to spy on the proceedings. “Failure to do so will result in enforcement action by the county.”

In a video address published Monday, Pastor Jack Trieber of North Valley Baptist explained that his church bent over backward to comply with government mandates in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“We wanted to err on the side of safety, so we shut down everything” from bus ministries to Sunday school to prison ministries to rest home outreach, he said. But the area turned out not to be a hotspot, so the church eventually reopened. Even so, he stressed, North Valley Baptist still requires its congregants to wear masks and maintain social distancing while indoors.

“You can’t have any law against assembling in God’s house. None. I know we have a Constitutional right to worship, but we have a Higher Power that we answer to. I have a biblical mandate. We have obeyed authority in this church. We’ve always obeyed authority. But when local authority begins to disregard this authority, we go with this book (the Bible) right here.”

“The same governor who encourages mass protests, bans all worship and is now fining churches for their right to assemble and…

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Editor’s Note. This article was written by Calvin Freiburger and published at Lifesite News. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

Breaking! MacArthur Prevails as Judge Denies LA County’s FOURTH Attempt to Shut Down GCC

John MacArthur took home another ‘W” this afternoon when California Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff issued a new five-page opinion, denying the County of Los Angeles’ much-desired restraining order against the church and Pastor John MacArthur.

In a press release by the Thomas More Society, the firm whose members are representing John MacArthur and GCC, Special Counsel Paul Jonna explained:

“The court correctly concluded that Los Angeles County’s renewed application for a temporary restraining order was both procedurally and substantively defective. This was their fourth unsuccessful attempt to obtain a court order prohibiting indoor worship services at Grace Community Church. We look forward to fully vindicating our clients’ constitutionally protected rights in subsequent proceedings for this important case.”

Responding to news of winning the recent legal skirmish, John MacArthur said in a statement:

“We are very grateful to Judge Beckloff for his reasoned opinion and for taking great care to review this very important matter. As I said in my declaration to the court, we see this action against us as an illegitimate misuse of power. It should shock the conscience of every Christian that churches are coming under assault from our own government simply for holding church. Church is essential.”

Jenna Ellis, one of President Donald Trump’s lawyers and one of the bulldogs defending MacArthur and Grace, was very direct in her condemnation of the whole affair, issuing a public statement pointing out the stunning hypocrisy that the church is under greater restrictions than strip clubs and that this power-grab will not stand.

“This should signal to LA County that California courts will not quickly or easily trample the constitutionally protected rights of churches.

We maintain that their health order is unconstitutionally burdening the right of churches to worship, and there exists no rational basis, much less a compelling interest, to try to shut down indoor services at this point, particularly when the county is allowing strip clubs to operate and massive riots to take place – and not seeking restraining orders against them.

We look forward to making those arguments at a subsequent proceeding, where we will ask the court to properly check this power grab by Los Angeles County and the State of California’s executive branch.”

The next step in this ongoing fight is a hearing set for September 4, 2020.

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Featured News Righteous Defiance

Pastor John MacArthur Files Declaration Against LA County for FOURTH Attempt to Shut them Down

The battle between Los Angeles County and the Lord’s Faithful continued Monday, with cantankerous county officials trying for *the fourth time* to get Grace Community Church (GCC) to make like Beth Moore and go home, taking them to the courts and seeking to shut them down from having indoor worship services of more than just handful of souls.

In a declaration filed by Pastor John MacArthur, the church states that they view the worship ban as “nonsensical” and an attack on their faith which requires worship. They write that meeting outdoors is not feasible, and that “Grace Community Church’s sanctuary is a spiritual refuge for our congregation” of which the county has no right to deprive them, arguing that ultimately, their imposition to not have the church down is asking them to sin, which they are not willing to do.

Pastor MacArthur continued in that vein, getting more personal and passionate, seeking to encapsulate the importance of GCC.

Our church is not an event center. It is a family of lives who love and care for each other in very intensely personal ways. So essential to personal well being that people rushed back as soon as they could. The utter unnecessary deprivation of all our people by completely shutting down the mutual love and care that sustains our people in all the exigencies, pressures, and challenges of life was cruel. And after 63 years of sacrificial kindness to our city, to be repeatedly threatened with court-ordered efforts to shut Grace Community Church down when no one is sick, reveals an inexplicable preference for a mostly harmless virus over the life-enriching and necessary fellowship of the church.

We will update this post after the court’s ruling.

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Church Featured Righteous Defiance

Donald Trump Calls John MacArthur, Thanks him for ‘Taking a Stand’

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church (GCC) has received a phone from President Donald Trump in the midst of his fight to stay open for services, with the President thanking Dr. MacArthur for taking a stand as the two of them discussed the unbiblical notion of Christians voting for Democrats.

Pastor MacArthur revealed details of the surprising phone call during a recent interview with Ryan Helfenbein of Liberty University’s The Falkirk Podcast.

Not last Sunday but the Sunday before, [President Trump] called me after the Sunday morning service, and he was very gracious, and said “I just want to thank you for taking a stand. Church is essential, and I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing.”

The conversation turned from the president thanking GCC for resisting efforts from the Los Angelas County Board to shut them down while facing over $20,000 in fines for their continued defiance, to the issues of the evangelical vote.

And then we talked a little bit about why, from certainly a biblical standpoint, Christians could not vote Democrat.

Because there’s no way a Christian can affirm the slaughter of babies, homosexual activity, homosexual marriage, or any kind of gross immorality – no way we could, you know, stand behind a candidate who was affirming transgender behavior, which of course is really the reprobate mind of Romans 1.

Explaining the rationale for this, MacArthur explains to Trump:

So I said ‘these things aren’t even political for us, sir’. I said ‘these things are biblical, these things are laid down by the word of God. And we love God, we desire to honor him and upholding righteousness in a society is what a church is supposed to do’ and so I said ‘any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election because it’s not just an individual, it’s an entire set of policies that Christians cannot in any way affirm.’

There is no word on whether MacArthur took the opportunity to talk about spiritual things with Trump or to share the gospel with him.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

Breaking: CA Prosecutors Threaten New Criminal Charges for Megachurch Congregation: ‘Your Compliance is Mandatory’

A megachurch in California, once battling for the right to have church services and stay open, is now battling to not go to prison or be fined into oblivion, as California prosecutors have levied threats of criminal charges for each individual congregation members, amounting to thousands of individual $1000 fines and jail time for up to a year for violators.

In a letter dated August 13, 2020, the Prosecutor’s office in Pasadena informed Harvest Rock Church, led by the defacto head of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), Pastor Ché Ahn, that they were revved up and ready to criminally charge every congregant member who chose to show up at the church, including the pastor, the staff and parishioners, if they did not immediately desist worshipping together on the Lord’s day.

The letter is to remind you that violations of these Orders are criminal in nature. Each day in violation is a separate violation and carries with it a potential punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine per violation.” [emphasis added]

Your compliance with these orders is not discretionary, it is mandatory. Any violation in the future will subject your Church, owners, administrators, operators, staff, and parishioners to the above-mentioned criminal penalties as well as the potential closure of your Church.”

According to Liberty Counsel, the firm representing the church:

Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s unconstitutional COVID-19 orders. The governor’s orders prohibit all in-person worship, including home Bible studies and fellowship. This ban applies to about 80 percent of the population. In the remaining 20 percent, limited in-person worship is permitted but no singing and chanting. Harvest International Ministry includes 162 churches in California and 65,000 affiliate churches and ministries worldwide. 

Though Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church has garnered most of the attention and publicity for being restarting their services after a lengthy shutdown, hundreds of Churches in California have been defying Newsom for weeks and months before GCC ever did, if many even closed at all.

Harvest Rock Church opened its in-person services back in late May, joining 1200 other pastors in a day of defiance that set the date for reopening their services despite shutdown orders. They launched a lawsuit against the state in June, and have been a thorn in the side of government officiants wanting to shut them down since.

Let us hope that the actions of Harvest Rock Church would stiffen the spines of disobedient congregations not yet open, or give courage to biblically sound congregations already open and facing similar government tyranny.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

Breaking! Vindication For MacArthur as Judge finds ‘There is no court order’ against Grace Church

Los Angeles County Superior Court announced late Thursday that there is no court order prohibiting Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church (GCC) from holding indoor worship services, despite threats from the county, and rejected the county’s attempt to sanction GCG and hold them in contempt over its defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.

Though Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff ruled in the church’s favor, the next salvo will soon be fired, as the County plans to seek another restraining order against Pastor MacArthur and GCC in a hearing scheduled for Monday.

We reported in an earlier story that the County is seeking $20,000 in fines and sanctions from GCC for 8 separate violations, desiring to hold them in contempt. This ruling by the Judge continues an escalation between the church and the County hell-bent on shutting them down.

Special counsel Jenna Ellis, one of the lawyers representing GCC, said in a statement:

“We are pleased with the outcome today. Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff correctly found there is no court order prohibiting Grace Community Church from holding indoor services. LA County continues to harass and target Pastor MacArthur.

Having failed to get a court order to shut down the church they have sought three times, they’re going to try again by hauling us back into court. Ironically, LA County said in its application for contempt that, ‘Grace Church cannot thumb its nose at the court when decisions don’t go its way,’ yet that’s precisely what LA County is now doing themselves. We will simply continue to defend our client’s constitutionally protected rights because church is essential.”

The battle between MacArthur and the County of Los Angeles was kickstarted when the County sent a letter on July 29, informing GCC that their recent decision to restart in-person services after nearly 5 months closed was a prosecutable violation, as the State Public Health Officer issued an order prohibiting indoor operations at a variety of establishments, including churches and other houses of worship.

The County also threatened them with massive fines if they chose not to comply, which was around the time that they procured legal counsel.

MacArthur, for his part, said that regardless of everything else happening, and no matter what fines are given or who may come against them, they will continue to have their regularly scheduled Sunday morning church service:

We’re not meeting … because we want to be rebellious. We’re meeting because our Lord has commanded us to come together and worship Him.

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Breaking Featured Righteous Defiance

LAPD Police Chief Tells John MacArthur: ‘We will NEVER Shut you Down’

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church, a California-based megachurch that has been defying state and local laws and ordinances by having indoor, fully packed, non-socially distanced, non-masked services, announced that he received an internal memo from the Los Angeles Police Department reassuring his congregation that officers would not be showing up to enforce any health department or court ordered mandates that threatened to shut them down.

The good news comes in the midst of a week of high drama for GCC. They initially received threats of fines of $1000 if they did not shut down, then retained high profile legal counsel, then received a court injunction allowing them to remain open, which was then overturned in an appeals court late Saturday night just hours before their services were to commence.

In an interview with conservative commentator Todd Starnes, posted below, John MacArthur begins by explaining part of their rationale for re-opening their Sunday morning services and deciding to join with hundreds of other California Churches that either never shut down or had been reopened for months:

If the constitution didn’t allow us to meet, the bible would still command us to meet. But we have that support for the biblical right in our constitution, which really doubles down on the legitimacy of doing exactly what we did. We’re not violating the law – the people who are trying to keep us out of Church, they’re violating it [the law] by violating the constitution.

After commenting on how wonderful it was to have the children back in services, along with explaining their reaction to the various court hearings and appeals and why they have chosen to respond as they did, Pastor MacArthur divulged this information:

One footnote, Todd. I got an internal memo from the Police Department, and what it said was it went through the police department, the LAPD, and it said, ‘for the health department and the county, any decisions that you make with regard to sanctions on any church, don’t call us. We will not be involved.’ The chief of police told me there’s no scenario the police will ever come and close down Grace Church.

Macarthur later released another short video where he reiterated the same thing, emphasizing the church’s close ties to the police and that they will never be shut down:

“The police love Grace church. I’ll tell you that. All last week we had them here for training. I talked to the Chief of the police in LA, he said this to me: ‘There’s no scenario that I can imagine, in which the police would ever come against Grace Community Church. We are concerned with the law, not health ordinances.’ They’re our friends, we’ve been their friends for years. I just received another plaque from the LAPD for the service we rendered to them and have for many years.

So they feel like they’re under attack by the politicians who are supposed to be the fathers of the society, but they’re murderous. They’re killing babies at 364 a day in California, in the womb, which is the most obvious case of premeditated murder there is, and they’re turning over every righteous standard in this society they can.

So they have forfeited the right to call themselves a government that protects the good and is a terror to the evil. They flipped that. The police for us are the last agency of that. We’re standing with them as they’re being attacked and with the churches right to continue to meet to be salt and light in the word.

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Featured News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur and GCC Defy Govt and hold Regular Services after Last Minute Court Order Rescinds Exemption

John MacArthur and the Elders at Grace Community Church defied government orders and held their regular Sunday morning services yesterday, without masks and without socially distancing, after a late-night, last-minute appellate court decision removed an exemption they were given on Friday by Superior Court Judge Gregory Alarcon to have service, so long as they complied with masks and social distancing.

“We’re having church. It’s actually hard to figure out exactly what the city is trying to do, with us and to us, but we know they don’t want us to do exactly what we’re doing right now.”

Said MacArthur, during his opening few minutes, further explaining what was happening and the current state of Grace Community Church as it pertains to the government.

“And we’re not meeting because we want to be rebellious. We’re meeting because our Lord has commanded us to come together and worship him.
There was a court order that granted this church and this church alone the right to meet indoors, and the powers of the city were not happy about that. They were going to be asking us to do two things; social distance and wear masks, that was until yesterday when city…we agreed, look, we’ll comply for a few weeks, they asked that for three weeks. We’re not wanting to be defiant. We will do what is reasonable.

That was not enough for the city, so they went to the appellate court at the last minute on Saturday late and had that order removed.

The California Court of Appeal, led by Judge James Chalfant, issued a stay of the previous judge’s order, ruling that the dangers and risk of catching and transmitting the novel coronavirus outweigh the right to hold services, with the 4-page report summarizing:

“As between the harm that flows from the heightened risk of transmitting COVID-19 (namely “serious illness and death”) and the harm that flows from having to conduct religious services outdoors instead of indoors, the balance at this early stage favors issuance of a stay.”

In a statement, Los Angeles County said it was “pleased that the California Court of Appeal recognizes the vital importance of our Health Officer Orders in protecting the lives and health of our residents as we work to slow the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.”

The county so far has shown every indication that they will pursue their July 29 cease-and-desist order, where they declared the church would be subject to fines up to $1,000 and 90 days in prison for each indoor service.

Pastor MacArthur continued:

So, the good news is you’re here, you’re not distancing, and you’re not wearing masks. And it’s also good news that you’re not outside because it’s very hot out there. So the Lord knew you needed to be inside and unmasked. So he did us that gracious favor.

They don’t want us to meet, that’s obvious. They don’t want to work with us, they just want to shut us down. But we’re here to bring honor to the lord. They’re not our enemy, we understand that. The bible tells us to pray for their salvation, and we need to be faithful to do that.

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Featured News Righteous Defiance

CA Congregation Travels 2 Hours To Face Arrest so Other Church can Worship, Defying Judge’s Orders

A judge who issued a restraining order against a California church opening during the pandemic and who threatened to arrest and fine the first 1000 people who showed up, had his plans thwarted when another church came to rescue, with members driving over 150 miles to attend the service and be counted as among the first to be arrested, sacrificing their bodies and freedom to free up members of the church under fire to attend and worship unmolested.

The move comes after a California judge declared that anyone who gathered under the church roof of Godspeak Calvary Chapel would be severely punished, issuing a restraining order against the church and its pastor, Rob McCoy after the local government sued McCoy and his church for holding in-person services of up to 200 people, which violates Covid-19
shutdown restrictions.

The attorney for the county also demanded that Pastor Rob McCoy be thrown in jail for opening his church this past Sunday and also requested that the judge order armed police officers to physically block entrance into the church to prevent congregants from attending.

Liberty Counsell President Matt Staver, whose firm is closely following the proceedings, explained that this was the first time that there has ever been such an order placed against a church.

The judge issued a restraining order against him, the church, and 1 through 1,000 John Does. He issued the order and said ‘anyone acting in concert with any of these individuals.’

The John Doe orders and the in-concert language means that anybody who dares go into that church building, at any time in the future, until this judge gives his blessing, will be held in contempt of court. There are already penalties and fines of $1,000 a day, and now this contempt that they would hold over you, for going into the building for worship or prayer, would result in you going to jail as well under this court order.

This has never happened before in America.

At the news of the fines and the restraining orders issued to potential John Does, 2500 people attended the service on Sunday. Staver recounts:

Part of this group was another church that drove two hours to this church to be the first 1,000 people to be arrested so that the people inside could have their worship services.”

It is an incredible thing that church members from another congregation, whose church wasn’t being attacked and subjected to this persecution, drove two hours to stand outside in the parking lot during the services to voluntarily receive citations or face arrest so others could worship inside, in defiance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s tyrannical and anti-christian policies.

We at Pulpit & Pen commend the courage of all involved.

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Featured News Righteous Defiance

California Judge Issues Restraining Order Against Anyone Attending Megachurch

A California judge has declared that anyone who gathers under the church roof of Godspeak Calvary Chapel will be steeply punished, issuing a restraining order against the church and its pastor, Rob McCoy.

The order was granted by a Ventura County judge after the local government sued McCoy and his church for holding in-person services of up to 200 people, which violates Covid-19 shutdown restrictions.

Appearing on the Todd Starnes Show, Liberty Council President Matt Staver, whose firm is closely following the proceedings, explained that this was the first time that there has ever been such an order placed against a church.

The judge issued a restraining order against him, the church, and 1 through 1,000 John Does. He issued the order and said ‘anyone acting in concert with any of these individuals.’

The John Doe orders and the in-concert language means that anybody who dares go into that church building, at any time in the future, until this judge gives his blessing, will be held in contempt of court. There are already penalties and fines of $1,000 a day, and now this contempt that they would hold over you, for going into the building for worship or prayer, would result in you going to jail as well under this court order.

This has never happened before in America.

Last week, Pastor McCoy said that they intended to gather no matter what is thrown at them, or what restrictions are placed on them, saying in the video:

Come to church, and if you’re one of the first thousand, you win a prize. You will get a citation. It will be a misdemeanor. It will go on your record. Be mindful of that.