A major win my friends on the battlefield of religious liberty against government overreach, mandates, lockdowns, as the media tries to keep these under the radar.
The state of California and Los Angeles County are each paying $400,000 to end litigation by Grace Community Church alleging that COVID-19 restrictions on in-person worship infringed on its constitutional right to religious freedom.
The county Board of Supervisors approved its share of the settlement at a Tuesday meeting, bringing the total it has spent on the litigation to $1.35 million, City News Service reports. The settlement money is coming out of its public health budget.
Pastor John MacArthur pastors one of the biggest churches in America, just not in California in his Grace Community Church. He’s been fighting the lockdowns, and almost lost it all waiting too long to pull the trigger against the tyranny that is Gavin Newsom and the State of California.
They have been to court several times, and the tyrannical monsters in Los Angeles Country tried to shut him down. They even issued ridiculous fines, shut off the churches water and electricity, and finally tried to take the step of cancelling their parking leases!
As you remember, they allowed Black Lives Matter and Antifa to riot and cause $9 billion in damages last summer, while arresting people for going to church. The lovely government we had in liberal states was out of control.
The following is from RedState.com
On May 31, 2020 (Pentecost Sunday), Harvest Rock Church (HRC) in Pasadena, CA, and a coalition of churches represented by the Liberty Counsel took the step to either meet for worship outside or to open their doors for indoor and in-person worship.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s November 2020 decision in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo slapped back on COVID-19 government mandates affecting religious in-person worship, lower court rulings on similar cases were required to fall in line. A majority of those cases were coming out of California. This ruling not only changed the trajectory of the L.A. County v. Grace Community lawsuit but the HRC lawsuit as well. I reported in May that HRC had prevailed in its lawsuit, and Newsom and the State of California were required to pay 1.35 million in damages and attorneys fees. As a crucial part of this settlement, the Liberty Counsel obtained a permanent injunction against discrimination and shutdowns for ALL religious institutions.
Now the tyrants with the State of California and LA County must pay MacArthur and Grace Community Church $400,000 each.
At the beginning of his sermon on Sunday, MacArthur let his congregation know that the pending lawsuit had been settled, and made it very clear that the entire settlement would be going to Thomas More Society, who did not impose any legal fees in the midst of their battle.
“So nothing will come to us, except the affirmation that the Lord preserved and protected us through this,” MacArthur said.
MacArthur also revealed that he, his wife, and members of his congregation had contracted, and survived, COVID during this period. MacArthur had some provocative things to say about COVID vaccinations and natural immunity. You can listen to this here.
