The province of British Columbia has announced that they are extending their pandemic restrictions “indefinitely,” with all churches prohibited from gathering for services under threats of crushing fines and jail time.
The province, which has a population of 5.1 million people and has had 1259 COVID-19 related deaths, all but 65 that occurred in nursing homes, made the announcement on Friday, after passing a midnight deadline.
“Right now, we need to stay the path,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, the woman in charge who is controlling policy. “We need to protect the progress we have made and not squander our progress.”
In BC, all non-essential gatherings have been prohibited for months, as well as any interaction or social gathering with anyone not within a “core bubble” that may only include a maximum of two people from one other household. Bars are allowed to be open, as well as dine-in restaurants.
For churches though – not a chance. The province has banned all church gatherings and has been aggressively ticketing and fining those who seek to gather. Weddings, funerals, and baptisms are permitted with a maximum of 10 people, so long as they don’t include a reception.
Doctor Henry further stated that it was only when she saw a “diminished impact from the virus” that discussions could begin over when that timeframe might be to re-open. She warned there are no guarantees, and in fact, things may get more regressive and restrive if they continue to see COVID-19 variants emerge.
I will be continuously reviewing the data that we have to see if we can do it earlier. But I want people to start thinking: It’s not going to be, ‘Yay, we’re out of this, we’re back to normal.’ It’s going to be, ‘Can we slowly and thoughtfully find an increase in those social connections that we all really want?’
The Supreme Court ruled late Friday that the California government cannot ban and prohibit indoor church services, giving a small victory to churches that have been defying the government and staying open, while also only being a half-measure that will continue to invite persecution.
Church-hating tyrant Governor Gavin Newsom’s office issued revised guidelines for indoor church gatherings services on Saturday. The new missives allow the people to gather but continued limiting attendance at 25% capacity. It also left in place restrictions on singing, chanting and social distancing, with fines in place for those who disobey.
Newson’s office stated that they will continue to enforce the ban on worship and capacity limits, citing that it is for the church’s own protection, with press secretary Daniel Lopez, saying in a statement:
We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place and, after reviewing the decision, we will issue revised guidelines for worship services to continue to protect the lives of Californians.
The court victory, which will benefit all churches, has largely been driven by Che Ahn of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena CA, who has sustained criticism for almost a year while embroiled in on-going expensive litigation against the state in order to lift the ban. He was ebullient after the victory but said it’s not over yet.
While we have come under fire from some community members, we stand firm that the fruit of meeting in person lies in the spiritual, emotional and physical healing that worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ has brought to so many throughout the world.
Commenting on the awfulness of California blanket ban, Chief Justice John Roberts said of the case “that the maximum number of adherents who can safely worship in the most cavernous cathedral is zero—appears to reflect not expertise or discretion, but instead insufficient appreciation or consideration of the interests at stake.”
As far as the singing ban and still being in place, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas stated that they would have kept California from enforcing its singing ban, yet Justice Amy Coney Barrett disagreed, speaking on behalf of her and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
She wrote that it wasn’t clear whether or not the prohibitions on singing were being applied “across the board” and that “if a chorister can sing in a Hollywood studio but not in her church, California’s regulations cannot be viewed as neutral.” While the ban could remain, for now, she said that the churches who sued ought to “submit new evidence to a lower court that the singing ban is not being applied generally.”
The forty-sixth album in an ongoing 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).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
The forty-fifth album in an ongoing 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).
Police in the small town of Aylmer, Ontario have been going door-to-door out in the cover of night and handing out fines for $880 to any congregants who attended an in-person church service last week, an act deemed illegal by the conservative government.
In all, 47 fines were given out, totalling $41,360.
Footage from the ticketing was uploaded by Herbert Hildebrandt, the son of the Aylmer Church of God Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, the church at the center of the controversy.
We featured this church back in May 2020, where at the time the government was refusing to let them gather for a drive-in service, where all the windows would be rolled up and the sermon would be piped through their FM station.
On their Facebook Page, Aylmer police say that the fines were given not only to those inside the church but outside the church as well, possibly in their vehicles.
In Ontario, the tyrannical Premier Doug Ford who was elected on a populist, man-of-the-people, the right-wing conservative platform has made it illegal to gather in groups of more than 10 people for “non-essential” activities like Church.
The province of 15 million people has been on lockdown for nearly a month and has had 6072 COVID deaths in the last 11 months. Of those, all but 230 occurred in those ages 60 and up, and those almost all exclusively in long-term care homes.
A church in Canada that has continued to gather for services in defiance of lockdown orders and despite the pastor and elder team being handed tens of thousands of dollars in fines, and whose church faces $10,000,000 in fines for being opened, may have their congregating come to an end, as police and politicians publicly state there is a plan in place to prevent them from gathering.
Premier Doug Ford, the Conservative Premier of Ontario was asked about what he thinks should be done with Trinity Baptist Church, one of a handful of churches in a province of 15 million who are continuing to open their doors for worship. Presently gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited, irrespective of the size of the church and its capacity to safely hold them.
I think it’s careless and irresponsible for them to host this, especially when we are in the situation we are in right now…I’d really encourage them not to do this. They aren’t being responsible. I discourage this 100 percent…Please don’t continue doing this. There will be consequences…
The Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said, “all options are on the table” in regards to the church gatherings and Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin made the most ominous threat of them all, explaining that they have something up their sleeve and that there will be a plan in place to prevent the church from furthering gathering.
Larkin has been criticized by many for being TOO SOFT on the church, with many demanding that his officers enter the sanctuary and break up the service. While he has demurred from that up to this point, suggesting that dispersing several hundred people would be a health risk to his officers, that may be back on the table. He explains:
We will develop a plan to ensure and prevent any further services from happening…I feel very confident that to prevent any further gatherings and to ensure the community that all of the approaches we’ve been taking has been strategic, it’s been well planned, well co-ordinated…But we do intend to take action.
Suggested action would likely be to fine every church member and visitor seeking to attend the service $1000 if they refuse to stay away, barricading the roads to physically prevent vehicles from entering the parking lot, or arresting the pastor, elders, and wayward congregation members if they don’t leave the church.
There has been no comment from Trinity Church yet about the newest threats.
A Church in Canada facing a $10,000,000 fine for holding in-person services in the middle of a province-wide lockdown held service again on January 24, in defiance of a court order compelling them to comply with the shutdown regulation. The regulation prohibits churches from having 10 people for services, irrespective of how large the church building is.
Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario held services again yesterday, after having a drive-in service the previous week. Police have previously charged the entire elder board of 6 on two separate occasions for violating Section 10.1 of the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), and now they are facing fresh charges and a third count of violating the lockdown rules. If convicted the minimum fine for each charge is $10,000 and the maximum $100,000 fine. Because the Church is considered a corporation, they face $10,000,000.
The Waterloo Police Department said in a statement that “We are working together with @ROWPublicHealth and @RegionWaterloo by-law officials to ensure appropriate action is taken” and noted that there are already heaps and heaps of charges facing this church.
Pastor Jacob Reaume explained in a press release why they were opening again despite such crushing and debilitating monetary threats.
“We have now been under some type of government restrictions for ten months. Christ’s public earthly ministry lasted roughly three years. We have been impeded by our government from fully discharging our duties for ten months now, almost one-third of the time Christ spent publicly ministering to the crowds and to His disciples. I contend that that is far too long. I further contend that our government’s timeline and our government’s objectives in this effort can no longer be trusted. They regularly change deadlines of lockdowns ending even as they regularly change goals….
We have, since our founding, provided an essential service to our members and to our community. We intend to continue to proclaim in word and deed the mercy of our Saviour, the forgiveness of sins by the cross, and the hope of eternal life in Christ to a broken world. Please come. Please be welcomed. Please have hope. Please know that you are loved.”
Independent MP Randy Hillier, one of the only members of parliament who has been critical of lockdown rules instituted by the Conservative Party, took a photo from inside the Church, where he was attending.
Yup, we are going into a hard time as a nation. It’s probably time (or beyond time) to start preparing now. Because our podcast on Prepping 101 went so viral, and we’ve had tons of requests for the collection of JD’s prepper PDFs and manuals he mentioned during the broadcast, we’ve decided to make it available to Expositor-Level patrons.
Our Expositor-Level patrons at Pulpit & Pen receive a book in the mail each month, and this is the first time the book wasn’t purely theological. And, for that matter, it’s the first time the book hasn’t technically been a book.
All patrons who sign up prior to February 1 will receive in the mail a flash-drive (a $10 value itself) chocked full of hundreds of PDFs and manuals on self-sufficiency. In addition, it will also have dozens of rare Puritan theology books for your edification.
You can sign up as an Expositor-Level patron here.
Also remember, if the $49.95 a month is too much for you, you can always sign up still as a $5.95 pulpiteer for complete access to the full podcasts, $19.95 a month to attend Bulldogmatic Bible Study, or $34.95 a month for free stuff from the Reformed Gear store.
Pastor John MacArthur has returned to the pulpit after several weeks of absence. Rumors from rumor mongers have been whispering scurrilous lies against the faithful leader of Grace Community Church, claiming that he had COVID-19 and was hiding it from the congregation and all that. These have all been responded to and debunked by our friend Tim Hurd here.
But Macarthur, calling the previous week a day of God’s providence, shares with the congregation that he watched the live services and thanked God how the pastors giving the messages were all speaking either about exalting Christ, pressing to the goal, the glory of Christ, the majesty of Christ, etc.
If you were kind of tuning in to watch Grace Church last week you would have said ‘what election,’ ‘what’s going on politically?’ ‘What pandemic?’ ‘What virus?’ Christ is all in all. Amen?
The Lord did an amazing providential work because we didn’t plan all that. But Christ was exalted at Grace church and the kingdom of God is in no way linked to the kingdoms of men.
And this is what sets the Church apart. Jesus said ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ We face another inconsequential event politically in a few days – meaningless to the kingdom – and we’re here again today to worship our King.
Commenting that it’s rare and painful to go a few weeks without preaching, due to his love of the word and congregation, he then lists some things to be recognized. Here they are, in bulletpoint form: The video can be seen below.
Says this is a season unlike any other, where everything has been taken out of their control, with people being forbidden to meet, sing, fellowship, have social events, attend funerals, weddings, etc.
Details the saga of the multiple court cases and legal struggles, including having 8-9 court hearings.
Says they’ve been fined every Sunday since August, but the money has been put into an escrow account so the LA County Health Department can’t get their fines, and they have not been paid yet.
Court appearance canceled this week, with another canceled next week, and the judge is saying “don’t come back to me with this.”
Says there is no more scrutinized church in the USA than GCC.
LA Times, ABC, and CNN tried to discredit them.
“Ungodly bloggers tried to discredit us. They’ve said terrible things against us. Lies. Misrepresentations. Inaccuracies. And if they were all honest they’d have to retract everything, because it’s just amazing how the Lord has protected us.”
The church is flourishing like never before.
They have 3000 people who plan to show up for Shepherds’ Conference in a few weeks. MacArthur says they weren’t sure if hotels would be allowed. But with recent court rulings and the church being essential, the hotels will be open and all the attendees will have places to stay.
11 attorneys have been doing tons of legal work: cost to the church is $0, with everything being done pro-bono.
Church has not had an offering or passed plate in 10 months, but the congregation gave more since March 2020 than any 10 months in the history of the church.
The Lord has grown church immensely, with the GCC gaining 1000 new members in the last 10 months.
MacArthur says they have a new evangelical term: “Grace Refugees” which refers to new people or members who had no other church to go to, so they came to GGC as “refugees.”
This is the closest thing to the experience of the church in war. We’ve been under a massive assault. And it took all the prerogatives out of our hands in some ways.
Now all of a sudden, all kinds of people were telling us what to do, what we could do and couldn’t do. This has been a season of trials without any equal in my rather long life. Everything has been taken out of our control. So many attacks. I told somebody that you might think we feel like a cork in the surf, bobbing up and down with each new wave.
Forbidden to meet, forbidden to sing, forbidden to fellowship, forbidden to have social events, forbidden to be with each other, forbidden to have funerals, weddings. Los Angeles County told us we could not meet. To make sure that we got the message they sued us. They filed an indictment against us essentially.
And they have find us every Sunday since August for violation. By the way, that money went into an escrow account, because they can’t get to it. Because it’s held up in court. And I’ll say more about that in a minute. But just so you know, we’ve been fined every Sunday since August.
October came around and the city tried another approach. They declared to us that after 45 years of leasing the land across the wash for parking, that we had 30 days to vacate that. This was another attempt to shut us down coming from another angle. There was no reason given in the letter. But we had 30 days to comply.
Well, no court would honor that either. So they tried the health route, and no court would validate that. They tried the cancellation of a parking lot contract, the court wouldn’t honor that. Went through eight or nine court hearings, as you know, one was canceled from this week and another one canceled in the future. The judge is saying, “don’t come back to me again with this.” They couldn’t succeed in any of these. They tried every way to close Grace Church.
And I think it’s true that there is no more scrutinized church in the United States than Grace Community Church. I have been on some of these TV programs. And you’ve seen me there. While you see me on TV with those people I’ve never been with any of those people. I’m sitting in the back of a van because of COVID looking into black hole, talking to somebody in New York, and hoping I can make sense out of what I’m saying.
It has brought about some amazing incidents. A technician, one of those evenings said to me, “my life isn’t what it ought to be,” after we did the video. “Can you pray for me? Would you pray with me?”
ABC tried to discredit us. CNN tried to discredit us. The LA Times has tried numerous times to discredit us. Ungodly bloggers tried to discredit us. They’ve said terrible things about us. Lies misrepresentations, inaccuracies. And they’ve all, really if they were honest, would have to retract everything.
Because it’s just amazing how the Lord has protected us, isn’t it? Hey, we’re here. Sorry, world. You’re there and I’m still here.
I just wondered what once in a while what Satan is saying – “What’s this MacArthur guy got?”
What I have is divine grace and protection just as you have right? When I think about ministry, I have to say I don’t, I can’t say that in my years here I’ve ever seen anything like the flourishing of the hand of God in ministry through all of this.
Let me just let me just run down some things because I think it’s important for us, isn’t it to remember what God has done? Put up a banner and say, The Lord has helped us.
Early August, got into the lawsuit. Since then, we’ve had inspectors religiously visit us. Fifteen times. Supreme Court has issued two decisions favorable to churches. Los Angeles County was forced to change the guidelines to permit churches to meet.
And oh, by the way, there’s a little caveat to that. We have 3000 people gonna show up here in a few weeks for Shepherd’s conference. We weren’t sure about hotels, because they’re not able to be open unless it’s essential. Thank you, Supreme Court. Hotel Association says, “Hey, Supreme Court says you’re essential. All those hotels are available.”
There has been an immense amount of legal work done by Jenna Ellis and 10 other attorneys. Total cost to that to the church: Zero. And oh, by the way, you guys are getting a bad habit. We haven’t had an offering in 10 months. We haven’t had an offering in 10 months. We haven’t passed the plate in 10 months. And you have given more in the last 10 months than any 10 month period in the history of this church. Now we’re gonna retrain you. Just stunning.
In the middle of a lawsuit, the Lord has grown our church. If you came to Grace Church during the last 10 months, put your hand up. So this was a very, very small, tiny local church until COVID. You see how many hands raised? They’re out in tents, out in the patio? A thousand people and a thousand new members. Baptisms. Did you hear the testimonies and baptisms Sunday nights?
There’s a new evangelical term. I love it. It’s “grace refugees.” It’s the people who had no other church to go to. So they came here as church refugees. And aren’t we happy about that and aren’t we blessed? The Lord adds to his church. We’ll take you, whoever you are, even if you’re a Presbyterian refugee.
A man who was arrested and charged for singing worship songs in public, unmasked and without social distancing has had all charges against him dropped, according to a January 09 court ruling.
Gabriel Rench, a deacon of Christ Church in Moscow City, Idaho and host of Cross Politic, was arrested last September for worshipping in public at a Pslam Sing gathering. The event consisted of around 150 congregation members assembling to sing three acapella hymns and then the doxology at Moscow City Hall. Details of the case went almost instantly viral and gained even more national attention when President Trump tweeted about it.
Rench was cited for violating Public Health Emergency Order 20-03, which stated that:
“Every person in the city of Moscow must wear a face covering that covers their nose and mouth when in any indoor or outdoor public setting where the 6-foot physical distancing is not able to be maintained with non-household members.”
In accordance with Moscow City Code Section 1-11-10, any person who knowingly violates the provisions of this order may be charged with a misdemeanor. The maximum penalties for this offense are up to 6 months in the county jail and a $1,000 fine.
Special Counsel Michael Jacques, who is part of noted religious freedom defender Thomas More Society (Who also are representing John MacArthur and Grace Community Church) said in a press released that the City of Moscow “violated its own ordinance when police officers wrongly arrested Rench and the others.”
The city of Moscow, Idaho, appears to have been so anxious to make an example of Christ Church’s opposition to their desired COVID restrictions that they failed to follow the mandatory exemptions articulated in their own laws.
The Moscow City Code allows the Mayor to issue public health emergency orders, but exempts ‘[a]ny and all expressive and associative activity that is protected by the United States and Idaho Constitutions, including speech, press, assembly, and/or religious activity. Mr. Rench and the other worshippers who were arrested had their constitutionally protected liberties violated and their lives disrupted – not only by the inappropriate actions of law enforcement officers, but also by city officials who did not immediately act to correct this unlawful arrest.
There is no word yet on the other two people arrested and whether or not their cases will likewise be dismissed.
