Los Angelas County is deadly serious about bringing John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church to the knee, moving to hold the California megachurch in contempt after they held three separate morning services on August 16th, defying a last-minute court order that specifically forbade them from doing so, saying that even they must comply with the state’s lockdown restrictions.
The county is alleging that Grace has committed eight separate acts of contempt, to which they owe $8,000 for those acts (at a fine of $1000 each) as well as an additional $12,000 in fines for violating the court orders (at a fine of $1,500 each) – bringing the total owed to $20,000, and growing if they go ahead with any more services, which MacArthur has indicated he intended to do this Sunday.
The order, which lists both Pastor MacArthur and his church as defendants, also rakes them over the coals for flaunting the violation and thumbing “its nose at the court when decisions don’t go their way.”
Jenna Ellis, the lawyer representing MacArthur and the Church, responded in a press release:
“The LA County Board of Supervisors has decided to continue their unconstitutional attack against Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. They are now asking the court to hold the church in contempt for simply being open for worship last Sunday. Pastor MacArthur is standing firm that church is essential and has no plans to yield to this tyrannical board, which is clearly defying the constitution’s mandate to protect religious liberty.”
