Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church brought the house down when he opened up his service with an iconic introduction to his congregation, leading to 20 seconds of raucous cheering and clapping, even as California law enforcement agencies looked on and took pictures and collected evidence of the church in defiance of the states law lockdown laws.
“Good morning everyone, I’m so happy to welcome you to the Grace Community Church peaceful protest.”
MacArthur continued:
“Are you glad to be here? Everything for us based on the word of God, right? And that means we are pro-life, pro-family, pro law and order, and pro church of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
MacArthur then triggered another sustained round of clapping and cheering by announcing that Chaplain Martin Morehouse of the Los Angeles Police Department would lead the church in their opening prayer. After a thirty-second ovation, Morehouse began:
Good morning. As Pastor said, I am Chaplain Morehouse with the Los Angeles Police Department Chaplain Corps. I would like to share two verses of Scripture with you and then pray for the church. Psalm 91:14: “Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him. For he acknowledges My name.” James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
Lord, thank you for another day to wake up and praise your mighty name; and Lord, I ask you to please, put such a strong wall and mighty shield of protection around this mighty church that no outside influence can harm it. I also ask that all the pastors, elders, and the whole congregation of Grace Community Church have the wisdom, and the faith, to weather all of the things going on, in church and outside church.
There were also reporters on-site, chronicling the event
According to Jenna Ellis and the legal team representing the Church, GCC received a cease-and-desist letter ordering them to stop all services immediately, under penalty of daily $1000 fines and even up to the arrest of MacArthur if they don’t discontinue services or comply with state laws capping capacity.
While the response from many to MacArthur’s bold stance seem to be overwhelmingly positive, there was some dissent, with one person commenting:
Not trying to nitpick, as I do sorta love it, but there’s no need to frame it as a protest, even if just in jest. This is unabashedly a church-service. Full Stop. It is Christ-worship. It is not a protest and we don’t need to mimic conservative talking points or use semantic loopholes to categorize our services this way to tweak the hypocritical media who support protests but not church services.
[Editor’s note: Why not use legal loopholes? Paul did before the Sanhedrin council…]
