Pastor John MacArthur Backs Down Not an Inch: If California Wants to Jail Him, 'Bring It On'

AP featured image — This 1975 photo from ABC shows Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in “The Enforcer”. The Class of 2014 thinks of Clint Eastwood more as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry urging punks to “go ahead, make my day.” This is No. 12 among the 75 items on this year’s Beloit College Mindset List, a compilation assembled each year meant to remind teachers that cultural references familiar to them might draw blank stares from college freshmen born mostly in 1992. (AP Photo/ABC) NO SALES

John MacArthur is doing his best Clint Eastwood…while the government threatens to cast him in Escape From Alcatraz.

As some of you recall, in July, the 81-year-old minister decided he was done with forsaking the assembling of believers:

“[W]e cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”

The following month, California’s Grace Community Church received a cease and desist letter for holding in-person services on their Sun Valley property.

Under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lockdown, the San Fernando Valley house of worship was threatened with daily fines of $1,000 if they didn’t get it together by not getting together.

Also on the menu: jail time for The Gospel According to Jesus author John.

MacArthur responded with a lawsuit, claiming the state was in violation of six different sections of its constitution.

In the complaint, the pastor noted the double standard of California’s attitude toward protests and church services.

In fact, he came upon a should-be-solid angle:

John MacArthur: “Welcome to our ‘peaceful protest’”: pic.twitter.com/knjNkwZ5x6

— Phil Johnson (@Phil_Johnson_) August 9, 2020

But last week, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction barring indoor meetings.

And on Tuesday, John appeared on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show.

His message was fierce.

And scriptural:

“We received a letter with a threat that we could be fined or I could go to jail for a maximum of six months. Of course, my biblical hero apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is the apostle Paul, and when he went into a town, he didn’t ask what the hotel was like, he asked what the jail was like because he knew that’s where he was gonna spend his time. So I don’t mind being a little apostolic if they want to tuck me in a jail.”

John MacArthur not worried about threats of jail for holding church services: "I'm open for a jail ministry … bring it on" https://t.co/DYr6pzGkue pic.twitter.com/vnZm9qyoSW

— Disrn (@DisrnNews) September 16, 2020

Mr. MacArthur ran down some numbers:

“We believe that the governor, the county, the city, and the health department are going against the Constitution,” MacArthur said in the Tuesday night appearance on Fox News. “And just to remove one obvious question, the rate of COVID in California is 1/100 of 1%. So 1/100 of 1% of 40 million people have COVID and that eliminates freedom to worship from the entire state.”

John insisted — the Constitution supports his church.

Furthermore, he’s got a friend in a high place.

Not that Friend; this one:

“I am so thankful that President Trump has told me personally that he supports the church as essential and the churches need to stay open. So, with the Constitution on our side and the president’s backing, we’re open.”

In August, the preacher confirmed he believes in authority far above Gavin Newsom:

“[W]e cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”

He also didn’t seem convinced of officials’ best intentions:

“History is full of painful reminders that government power is easily and frequently abused for evil purposes. Politicians may manipulate statistics and the media can cover up or camouflage inconvenient truths. So a discerning church cannot passively or automatically comply if the government orders a shutdown of congregational meetings—even if the reason given is a concern for public health and safety.”

And the preacher made clear — he’s at peace with persecution:

“As government policy moves further away from biblical principles, and as legal and political pressures against the church intensify, we must recognize that the Lord may be using these pressures as means of purging to reveal the true church.”

Such was still the case Tuesday night.

I give you Rev. Dirty Harry: