Tag: John MacArthur

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Breaking: John MacArthur’s Church Adds 1000 New Members Since COVID-19 Shutdowns + Other Updates

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.”

Be sure to subscribe to The Bible Thumping Wingnut for more videos and commentary on these updates.


Full Transcript and video below:

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.


For the video click here.


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Church Drive-In Church Evangelical Stuff In-person Church Righteous Defiance

A Health Update on John MacArthur

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. (3 John 1:2)

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church (GCC) in Sun Valley, California, who is normally in the news for an on-going battle with Los Angeles County Health Officials to keep his church open amidst California Governor Gavin Newsom’s shutdown orders, has a few people saying his name for a different reason.

Speculation about MacArthur’s health comes in light of him missing preaching two weeks in a row, as well as people not understanding what sort of schedule he keeps.

Historically, John MacArthur takes 8 weeks off preaching duties in July and August, but those months were bumped up to the fall given the heat from COVID-19 and the government threatening to shut down the church. With GCC going to court and receiving a reprieve for several months, MacArthur took off most of October and November. He returned to the pulpit for three weeks, and now has been absent for two.

MacArthur was initially supposed to preach on Sunday, January 3rd and have Steve Lawson preach the evening service, but those plans were changed, and MacArthur was taken off the schedule and Lawson replaced him in the morning slot.

In a brief message from Pastor Tom Patton before the service, he explains:

…And we have the privilege this morning of having Dr. Steve Lawson with us in our pastor’s stead…This gives our pastor John a little more time to rest and prepare for Shepherds’ Conference. I know that seems kind of early (March 3-5, 2021), but Shepherds’ Conference is right around the corner, just so you know. It’s moving fast upon us as the days unfold, so please be in prayer for leaders all around the word…

Tim Hurd of The Bible Thumping Wingnut Network, who like us at Protestia is a huge fan of MacArthur and GCC – having been blessed for years by the man and ministry – has been graciously following along and updating his audience on how things are coming along in these dark times with this Church serving as a beacon in the darkness.

With Hurd being friends with several GCC members and having “insider access,” he explains he was informed that the reason MacArthur needs rest, apart from being 81 years old, is that he is sick with a bit of the stomach flu.

He does NOT have COVID-19.

Dr. Steve Lawson made a few comments during his own message, mentioning his esteem for pastor MacArthur. He describes GCC as having the greatest pastor on planet earth – how he has been raised up by God at this moment in history to be the leading voice of evangelicalism and the last man standing. He says:

There is one strong man, an atlas, who is upholding the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, and that’s the man who stands in this Pulpit. May God bless him. May God strengthen him. May God hold him up. May God give him another hundred years.

To that we say, “yea and amen.”

See the full video below, and subscribe to Tim’s channel and hit the notification bell for the edification of your soul.

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Coronavirus Featured News Righteous Defiance Shutdown

Hypocrite! LA County Sup. who is Forbidding John MacArthur’s Church from Opening Breaks Own Rules

One of the LA County Health Supervisors who has been fighting to keep John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church closed, and whom the church is seeking to subpoena for a deposition for her role in levying fines, taking away their parking lot access after nearly 50 years of use, and levying massive fines against the California megachurch, showed herself to be the interminable hypocrite when she engaged in activities she voted to make illegal.

The tyrannical government pawn Sheila Kuehl voted 3-2 to close all outdoor dining in her county, saying that it was a “most dangerous situation” and that “the servers are not protected from us, and they’re not protected from their other tables that they’re serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working,”

Yet mere hours before this new shutdown law went into effect, she was out on the town, eating at an outdoor restaurant Il Forno Trattoria and indulging in the same behavior she just made illegal because of how “unsafe” and “dangerous” it was.

According to her spokesperson Barbara Osborne, when asked about her hypocrisy, she acknowledged that Kuehl

…did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible. She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue. She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and sadly will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit.

The LA County Supervisor is one of the women that Pastor John MacArthur asked his congregants to contact back in August, asking her for some form of reason and sanity and to relent from her wicked ways and say some variation of the following:

Dear Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. We respectfully request that you cease your attempt to enforce your order against Grace Community Church. We stand together as Christians in our constitutionally protected fundamental right that Church is essential. Our government is obligated to protect our liberties and freedoms, especially our free exercise of religion, and we ask you to fulfill that obligation to us.”

Sheila Kuehl
Phone: 213-974-3333
sheila@bos.lacounty.gov

As far as the court case goes, Grace Community Church’s attorneys are seeking to get her deposed because they want to ask her about “any and all actions taken by the County of Los Angeles against Grace Community Church of the Valley, including evidence regarding the basis, motivation, and reasons for such actions.”

The County lawyers, however, are supremely opposed to the notion and so far it has not been ruled on.

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Church Evangelical Stuff News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur, Grace Community Church, and the Strip Clubs

Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church (GCC) are readying themselves to go to court and fight for their right to have church services now that they have a trial date, which is set for January 15th, but a recent ruling on strip clubs being open may be the key to the case in showing how absurd these restrictions really are.

Two weeks ago, on November 6th, Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil of the San Diego Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order against the tyrannical Governor Gavin Newsom and San Diego County, stopping them from enforcing their shutdown restrictions against the strip-club, “Pacers Showgirls.”

The court found that the strip clubs’ ungodly entertainment of women shamelessly dancing in the nude is “constitutionally protected speech” and decided that “the harm to the strip clubs if the application is denied is greater than the harm to the government if the application is granted.”

How lovely.

Paul Jonna, a lawyer at the Thomas Mores Society, which is representing Grace Church, explained the relationship between both entities staying open when he told ONN:

The county is trying to hold the [Grace Community Church] in contempt for violating the court’s preliminary injunction, so there is actually a trial set now for January 15 where the court will hear testimony and consider whether to hold Pastor MacArthur and the church in contempt for holding indoor services in defiance of the court’s preliminary injunction order. So, our position, the church’s position, is that the order is unconstitutional.”

We have currently pending multiple petitions at the U.S. Supreme Court we could hear next week or next month. We could get the five justices we need to enjoin these restrictions, because we previously had four in a different case we were involved in. But with Justice Barrett on the Court, these restrictions could easily be enjoined with five votes…”

[As fas as the strip clubs go], they said that the dancing was protected speech. So, I mean, the absurdity in California right now with judges saying there’s constitutional protections for strip clubs and not churches, we’re quite confident that ultimately this will get sorted out the right way.

This is a constitutional travesty that must be immediately rectified. As one California judge aptly noted — you can’t treat a church like a hair salon because churches are entitled to greater protection under the Constitution. And you certainly can’t treat a church like a strip club. In California, churches are being treated worse than strip clubs. The constitutional right to worship God is infinitely more important than any right to entertainment.

MacArthur, commenting on the moral freefall of America that allows this to happen, said in an interview with Laura Ingraham:

America is in a moral free fall. Just look at it as I would as a pastor. You murder the babies in the womb. If they survive the womb, you try to seduce them into transgender sexual deviation when they’re young. If they survive that, you corrupt them with a godless education. If they survive that, you have divorce in the family and if they grow to be adults, you drown them in a sea of pornography. This is a nation so far down in the sewer of immorality and wickedness that nothing surprises me. In fact, I would be shocked if a judge said, ‘Open all the churches and close all the strip clubs.’

Just a quick run through history. Go back to Julius Caesar. Go back to Napoleon. Go into the modern era. Every revolution – including Hitler’s revolution and the revolution in Russia – every revolution took place in a time when the powers of the people in authority were enlarged because of a supposed emergency. Power-hungry people are using this emergency to gain greater power. This is historic. This is nothing new, and if people don’t fight back, they’re going to fall victim to whatever the intention of this revolution is.

Pray for GCC and Pastor MacArthur as they ready for battle.


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Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

LA County Clears John MacArthur’s Church in Outbreak Probe, But Master’s Seminary is Running Hot

Grace Community Church (GCC) has had their recent outbreak restrictions lifted by the LA County after three part-time associates and two staff members became ill with COVID, according to a press release on the Church website, but the County is saying, “Not so fast,” when it comes to whether or not the Sun Valley megachurch is complying.

The LA Times released a story a few weeks ago mired in hysterics, to which they claimed that an “outbreak” had occured at GCC. It was later revealed to have been three part-time associates, and then later two more staff.

Jenna Ellis, special counsel for the Church, said this at the time:

Three very mild positive tests among more than 7,000 people is hardly news. 0.0004 or 0.043% is not an ‘outbreak.’ The L.A. Times and others’ grossly misleading and fear-mongering headlines aim to mischaracterize Grace Community Church as irresponsible and a superspreader.

Now that several weeks have passed, GCC released a statement on their website, informing that the outbreak restrictions have been lifted:

Outbreak Restrictions Lifted

We are glad to announce that we received a notice from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Thursday, November 12, saying that we have been cleared of COVID-19 outbreak. After a thorough investigation, Public Health officials have decided to rescind all outbreak related requirements and restrictions on Grace Community Church.

We don’t exactly know what particular and specific precautions were being applied, but we do know that the Church is not complying with most previous restrictions, as they are still holding church services indoors, filled to capacity, and are not social distancing or wearing masks.

Warren Throckmorton reached out to LA County to get a comment on GCC’s news, and they sent this statement:

Public Health’s investigation into the Grace Community Church worksite COVID-19 outbreak was recently concluded.  The Church is still required to follow all current Health Officer Order requirements for places of worship, which include outdoor services, as well as all applicable infection control protocols for all activities that occur on the Grace Community Church campus.  Public Health has found that Sun Valley has among the higher rates of COVID-19 transmission in the County of Los Angeles.  Compliance with the required infection control protocols by Grace Community Church will lessen the risk of COVID-19 transmission to its employees and visitors.

So even as the “outbreak” at Grace Church winds down, things are beginning to heat up at The Master’s University and Seminary- which is overseen by GCC. While not particularly as public as the Church itself, they have 14 cases between 130 staff and some 2100 students.

At this time there have been no reports of hospitalizations or deaths.

To see a good commentary and more information, check out the video below:

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Church Coronavirus Featured News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur to Battle in Court Tomorrow: This is What’s Going Down

John MacArthur, the Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church (GCC) in Sun Valley, California, is scheduled to be in court tomorrow to discuss his upcoming contempt charges and trial stemming from the church’s decision to defy a court order insisting they shut down indoor services in order to comply with Governor Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 lockdown restriction.

Instead of submitting to the government’s will, the church deliberately continued to have church services, despite being ordered not to and disregarding a September 10 injunction. The County wants them to be found in contempt for flouting the injunction. The church argues that the injunction was granted on the faulty premise of an unconstitutional order, and should have rightly been ignored.

On September 24th, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff ruled against LA county for the fifth time. Rather than adjudicate the contempt charges, GCC lawyers argued that MacArthur and GCC were first entitled to a full-blown trial on the merits of their lawsuit challenging Gavin Newsom’s shutdown orders, proposing that “a final determination on the constitutionality of the orders must occur before the County could seek contempt against MacArthur for merely holding church.”

The judge was persuaded and agreed. Special Counsel Jenna Ellis explains in a statement from the Thomas More Society:

This is significant because no person can or should be held in contempt of a constitutionally invalid order. Los Angeles County continues to presume that its order is valid, with utter disregard for First Amendment protections. It’s tyranny to even suggest that a government action cannot be challenged and must be obeyed without question. This case goes to the heart of what our founders designed for the purpose of legitimate government—not to be above the rule of law. Pastor MacArthur is simply holding church, which is clearly his constitutionally protected right in this country.

It was a brilliant tactic. With LA’s Superior Court suspending civil trials the rest of the year, this decision effectively let GCC continue holding services for months without being bothered- at least until January 2021 at the earliest. Though it cost the church substantially in legal fees, it guaranteed them the freedom to have their services unimpeded.

The court date tomorrow then is to discuss the extent, scope, and merits of the trial. When it is scheduled to start. How long it will last. What it will cover, and who will be deposed.

One specific matter of contention is the deposition list. Lawyers for GCC are seeking the depositions of LA County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis and one of their supervisors, Sheila Kuehl. County lawyers argue that such information is not needed, preferring to only have the case assessed on the merits of the contempt of the injunction.

In their court papers, GCC lawyers want to ask Davis to “explain in detail why you have not sought a temporary restraining order against any political protesters or protest organizers,” and have him elaborate on why the church was seemingly singled out, and why Davis specifically sought an injunction rather than fines or citations. They state:

Plaintiffs have refused to produce Dr. Muntu Davis for a deposition, despite him being a named plaintiff and the signatory to a key declaration. By so doing, plaintiffs attempt to render themselves the finder of fact on the issue of contempt and to strip defendants of any ability to effectively defend themselves.

The same thing goes for Kuehl. The church’s attorneys want to ask about “any and all actions taken by the County of Los Angeles against Grace Community Church of the Valley, including evidence regarding the basis, motivation, and reasons for such actions.” The County lawyers, however, are supremely opposed to this, arguing:

Defendants’ attempt to kick the can down the road until after a trial on the merits should be rejected. The contempt proceeding should proceed now and should be limited to defendants’ challenges … as to whether this court exceeded its jurisdiction in issuing the preliminary injunction order, i.e., whether the order is void on its face.

As things happen behind the scenes, there has been no further comment from MacArthur about the trial since the 81-year-old pastor took a break from preaching duties on October 5th, following his long-standing habit of taking about a month off each year.

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Church Featured News Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur on Grace Church Opening ‘We Don’t Want to Kill People’

John MacArthur, speaking on the Falkirk Podcast about the Church being essential, talked about the insanity of California’s COVID response behavior, responded to criticisms that Grace Community Church being open is killing people, and discussed whether or not he would feel personal responsibility if he gave someone COVID-19 and they passed away. The transcript is below, as well as a video uploaded by The Bible Thumping Wingnut.

The whole state of California is deceived about reality. We were in court today and our attorneys presented a statistic to the court that is staggering. The statistic is this: if you’re between the ages of 50 and 64 in California, you have a 1 in 19.1 million chance of dying of COVID, and yet this whole state is locked down in the most severe level, and even though the numbers are dropping they’re not going to let anyone out of that severe level because the flu might come to and mix again and whatever, and so on the statistical basis alone, this is just completely arbitrary.

When we heard about the ridiculous…models coming out of the Imperial College in the UK that millions were going to die, millions were going to die, we said ‘well we don’t want to kill people.’ I mean that’s ridiculous. Even though we don’t think the flu is sovereign, we think people live and die based on the purposes of God, so I’m not trying to spend my life making sure I don’t kill people, I’m trying to spend my life making sure that everybody who’s gonna die hears the gospel. So I’m not in charge of death, and even if I have a bug and somebody got that bug and died, I didn’t kill that person, that is God’s design, that’s for him to decide.

…You have a 1 in 100th of 1% chance of getting COVID in California. So I just say that because we get accused of putting people in danger, when that is the big lie. You know-‘put on your masks and shut-up and do what we tell you’ is the mantra. Our people don’t believe that. And they believe our job is not to prevent people from getting the virus, it’s to prevent people from going to hell, and so we’re going to meet and we have seen just unbelievably incredible resuls.

…Historically speaking we love to make heroes out of people who bucked the power. Those rebels are historic. Martin Luther, John Calvin, whose seminary was called the ‘school of death’ because so many graduates went to France, preached the gospel, and got killed. John Knox who gets thrown in a dungeon. These are all heroes to us until it comes in our lifetime. And we want to identify with these great reformers and puritans who went through the expulsion, you know they threw them all out of their churches. We want to identify with that kind of heroic Christianity until we’re trying to avoid a virus?

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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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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.