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.
