Pastoral Backbone: Rev. John MacArthur Defies the Court's Order
The nation's local authorities are highly selective in enforcing the lockdowns.
It turns out the black lives don't matter if the blacks are in the streets with BLM signs. Face masks are optional. Social distancing is optional. No one gets arrested for publicly defying the lockdowns.
The authorities seem to imagine the voters don't see their hypocrisy. Tens of millions of voters do.
This is from May 30. The location was the state capital, Sacramento. No arrests.
This is from July 25. There were a few arrests of violent protesters.
Rev. MacArthur called their bluff in an amusing way. This was Sunday, August 9.
Guess what? No arrests. Yet.
NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE
Rev. MacArthur has taken a hard-core stance. He will not conform to Los Angeles County's lockdown of churches. He preached this sermon on July 26.
Four times, Los Angeles County issued a restraining order against the church. It threatened both the church and Rev. MacArthur with a $1,000 a day fine.
This strategy temporarily was reversed. On July 25, a superior court judge issued a five page denial of the county's assertion of authority. There had to be an investigation. The defense attorney issued this statement.
“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.”
On August 28, the county announced that it will no longer lease parking space to the church. The church had been leasing this space since 1975. On October 1, any property found on the county's property will belong to the county.
On September 10, the judge ordered the church to stop meeting indoors. The church's members must wear face masks outdoors.
MacArthur has said he will defy the order.
If the church continues to meet, which I hope it will, that will force the county to send in the sheriff to arrest him and padlock the church. This will be on national news shows. It will be all over the Internet. It will be exceedingly bad publicity for the county.
It might even mobilize pastors around the nation to begin to resist. Let us hope so.
If the county refuses to arrest him, but still closes the parking lot, I offer these tactical suggestions on getting members to church after the remaining parking lot fills. First, recommend to church members that they place small identifiable flags on their cars' radio antennas. Second, roll out the Sunday school buses. Pick up people who park in public parking spaces that the church never leased. Third, call for volunteers to drive their cars to pick up members who have parked their cars on streets. Call this Operation Dunkirk.
CONCLUSION
This is reminiscent of the the fall of 1982: the locking of Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, Nebraska. The cause: the school had used uncertified teachers in its school, which was illegal. The story got national publicity. CBS sent Meredith Vieira to cover the story. The pastor was sent to jail for contempt of court. It was well-deserved contempt.
From around America, pastors and Christian leaders went to Nebraska to resist symbolically. I was among them. A friend of mine wrote a book about this: The Day They Padlocked the Church: Pastor Sileven and 1,000 Christians Who Defied Nebraska Tyranny in America's Crisis of Freedom: An Eyewitness Account. In response, I edited two volumes of articles in 1983: Tactics of Christian Resistance and Theology of Christian Resistance. You can download them here.
The case dragged on for over a year. In the end, a judge named Ronald Reagan exonerated him. The state then changed the law requiring certified teachers.
That was then. This is now.
Rev. MacArthur's resistance is a small battlefield in a war going on in dozens of states. The guidelines governing churches, state by state, are here. This is a war over sovereignty: church vs. state. We are living through the greatest invasion of church sovereignty by the state in American history. MacArthur has wisely decided to fight it in full public view.
How many local pastors will join him, either literally or judicially in their own congregations? How many congregations will join his? No masks. Side by side. Solidarity forever. We shall overcome.
It's crunch time. Who, whom?
Go back inside. Fill the pews. Bring smartphones. Wait for the police or sheriff to come. Post the arrest videos. Post the padlocking videos. If they arrest the pastors but not the members, members should stay inside and sing. Then they should go home and upload their videos on Facebook, YouTube, BitChute, and any of these rivals.
If there is an evening service, go back to church. Sing some more.
Do not forget: (1) God is sovereign. (2) This is an election year.
As for Covid-19. . . .
My article on why the church does not owe allegiance to the state in this matter is here.