Tag: Court

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Church Drive-In Church Featured In-person Church News Righteous Defiance

The Newest Update on Jailed Pastor James Coates

Court stuff

While many believed that his conditions hearing was on Friday, February 26th, where the judge would determine whether or not James had to abide by release conditions that said he could not step foot on church property, it was not so. Rather, it was only the day that they filed/submitted the paperwork and applications.

Instead, his conditions hearing is set for Wednesday, March 3rd, with lawyer James Kitchen filing an application with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench seeking the pastor’s release until his May 3 trial begins. Furthermore, according to some sources, the court will reconvene with lawyers on March 5 for a case management plan.

How he’s doing in prison

An update from Erin Coates, James’s wife, posted on Friday the 26th on Instagram:

James is okay. He received his canteen (extra snacks and hygiene products) so he’s a little less hungry. The lack of activity is starting to affect him, he’s very active in both mind and body so this is hard for him. He used to filling his mind with deep theological truth day-in and day-out. I asked him why our phone calls were so short and he had informed me that he only gets 2 15 blocks of time out of his cell.

When he has to shower he only has enough time to tell me he loves me and he has to go. This was the case this morning a quick “I love you.” And “the Psalms have been sweet to me”. And he was gone. This is so hard for me. I have unlimited access to him since he opted to work from home to care for us.

What you can do to help

First off, you can pray. Pray for James, for his family, and for unity within the church body as they go through this. Pray that Alberta Premier Jason Kenny opens up the churches and stops singling them out from among other businesses and establishments to remain closed. Also, pray that the conditions of his bail hearing would go well on Wednesday.

For Canadians, particularly Albertans, call your MPs and representatives. Be kind, and polite, but call them, email them, or send them a letter in the mail. Here is a list of MPs along with their contact information. While they can’t intervene in James’ case at this point, they can intervene in and impact current health policies and legislation that are restricting other churches in the province to 15% capacity.

If you’re in Edmonton or nearby, there is a rally planned for 1:00 p.m. at the courthouse. Please attend if you can.

To conclude with words from Erin Coates:

I’m so thankful for each and every one of you. I have seen the Universal Body love us in a way that makes my heart leap for joy, a taste of our time in heaven…but actually together!

Until then; Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:7), God’s time, though it tarry, and God’s deliverance, though delayed, when it comes proves always to have been best: ‘My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him’ (Psalm 62:5)—Octavius Winslow

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Church News Righteous Defiance

MacArthur Reflects on Recent Court Ruling: Shares News about New Parking

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church (GCC) gave a brief update to his congregation yesterday morning during the morning service, touching on the Church’s ability to stay open for the rest of the year, news we mentioned here, and commenting wryly on their parking situation.

I want to express my profound gratitude for the Lord for the way he has protected our church all these weeks. It is really amazing. This week was the seventh time that we have been brought into court. And we’re still here. And the court basically put no compunctions on us whatsoever. The reason is that all the efforts to hold us in contempt of court were for violation of health orders or to take away our parking lot can’t be adjudicated until the first amendment issue is dealt with, religious freedom, and that is a wall that the county has not been able to climb or go around.

So we’re still here and we have more parking than ever.

The parking comment is especially salient. The county announced several weeks ago that they were cutting GCC off from one of the parking lots they had been renting, ending a lease that had been in effect for 45 years, in an effort to force them to meet in fewer numbers, and prompting their lawyer Jenna Ellis to say:

The Church has peacefully held this lease for 45 years and the only reason the County is attempting eviction is because John MacArthur stood up to their unconstitutional power grab. This is harassment, abusive, and unconscionable.

While that is still an ongoing logistical issue to navigate, earlier in the service one of the announcers shared with the congregation the good news that Valley Beth Israel, the synagogue east of the church, has agreed to let the GCC use their parking between lot between 7:00 am and 1:00 pm, giving them additional much-needed space.

This will give the church nearly 100 additional parking spots and will certainly alleviate some of the pressure put on GCC, particularly with the lease set to expire before the next service.

As always, you can listen in to the original comments from MacArthur on the Bible Thumping Wingnut below, along with helpful commentary and context from Tim Hurd who has been aggregating and then sharing the segments.

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Church News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur Updates on the Threat of Jails, Fines, and calls Masks ‘A Bacterial Zoo you Have over your Face’

John MacArthur appeared for a brief interview on the Todd Starnes show on Monday afternoon, posted below, to give a minor update on how his church is handling things and the latest word the progression of the court case.

At first, it was the threat of 90 days in jail, then the last time I saw it it was 6 months in jail, but that hasn’t been activated yet. In fact, we had the sixth hearing in court on Friday- six times the county has taken us to court- and the judge has still not ruled on that. So there’s really been no outcome yet that could be measured in terms of a fine or contempt or jail or whatever, so, they can’t seem to get what they want. The county can’t. They’ve been frustrated six times in court but we’ll see what comes next.

MacArthur mentions that two of the health inspectors were believers and they joined in the service during their inspection duties, as well as complimented MacArthur’s son in law on a singing piece. MacArthur mentions that 90% of the health department is disgusted at what they’re doing to Grace Church, a statistic that was first unearthed by Tim Hurd at the Bible Thumping Wingnut, which we also covered here.

MacArthur reiterates that none of his congregation of several thousand have died from it or have been hospitalized despite meeting for 8 weeks, commenting:

Well look, here is the latest statistic. This came out in court Friday. If you’re living in California, here’s the chance you’re going to die from COVID. This was presented to the court. One chance in 19.1 million. That’s the chance you’re going to die from COVID in California currently.

Starnes asks MacArthur what he thinks ultimately is happening with everything that was experienced in terms of COVID, the culture, and the role of the Church. MacArthur shares:

This is not a response to a virus…this is control. We all know that masks are basically a bacterial zoo you have over your face. They’re not healthy. Medical doctors have told me 30 minutes of one of those you gotta get rid of it. So this is about control. This is all part of the strategy. This plays into the same strategies that are being played out on a number of fronts to bring down the country that we’ve always known, to limit our freedom.

I think if you want a socialist country, you have to get rid of the capitalist and they’re doing a number with this on small businesses. It’s almost like a variation of the bolshevik revolution where you take everybody’s business over with the government and you can see moves being made in that direction.

But I think a lot of it has to do with the election. You would say, ‘well is this some kind of conspiracy being orchestrated by one person?’ I don’t know anything about that, but I do know these things play into the chaos, the utter chaos and disillusionment they have generated on other fronts, and this is just of one those additional operations that is making life miserable for Americans and I think they want to blame the president for it.

In further developments, PJ Media is reporting that:

“Los Angeles County has expressed its intention to haul Grace Community Church (GCC) Pastor John MacArthur back into court, attempting to secure a contempt ruling against him, which would involve hefty fines. On Monday, an LA superior court judge punted on contempt, but the county told MacArthur’s lawyers that it intends to refile charges in another court.”

Continue to pray for Pastor MacArthur and all the brothers and sisters at Grace Community Church.

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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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Church Coronavirus Featured

Pastor John MacArthur and GCC Represented by All-Star Legal Team

The Thomas More Society announced in a press release that “nationally renowned attorneys Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri will represent Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California, as Special Counsel.”

Grace has been the target of unconstitutional religious discrimination by the City of Los Angeles and the State of California, amid the state’s order to cease in-person church assembly indefinitely after they launched an in-person service to a packed crowd two weeks ago, drastically exceeding restrictions placed on houses of worship having indoor services.

We wrote about John MacArthur’s decision to shut down HERE and released a barn-burner of a podcast offering support and criticism of the timing of Graces’ eventual decision to open HERE.

The Thomas More Society has taken on the case in response to the city of Los Angeles issuing a cease and desist letter that threatened Grace Community Church and Pastor MacArthur specifically with a daily fine of $1000 or arrest.

The Thomas More Society is a “not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty” and has argued all the way up to the Supreme Court.

They have assisted “thousands of clients including some of the nation’s most renowned pro-life and religious leaders: David Daleiden, David Bereit, 40 Days for Life, Lila Rose and Live Action, and many more.”

According to the press release, of the two lawyers:

Jenna Ellis is a constitutional law attorney, Senior Fellow at the Falkirk Center for Faith & Liberty, and an allied attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom. She is the senior legal adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, private counsel to President Donald Trump, and served on his legal team for the 2020 impeachment trial. She regularly contributes to national media on television and print as a legal analyst.

Charles LiMandri is a constitutional law attorney, religious freedom expert, and Special Counsel for the Thomas More Society. He began the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund in 2012 and has litigated high-profile cases in California for decades, including the ACLU’s effort to remove the Mount Soledad Cross and San Diego’s effort to force firefighters to participate in a gay pride parade against their sincerely held religious beliefs.