Last week, President Trump declared that churches, synagogues, and places of worship were essential and called on them to reopen across the country.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has grown too fond of her emergency powers told reporters on Friday this was “foolish and dangerous.“ She said, “I think we have to realize that virtually everything he says has a political undertone and basis for it.” Would somebody please hold up a mirror? She continued, “Look, we are working with our faith community, just like we’re working with businesses to set up very specific guidelines to help them to be able to reopen safely.”

She added that the President has had to “walk back various proclamations he has made during the coronavirus crisis” and “seen his assertions get undercut by people who are wiser than him on some of these issues.”

Courtney Lewis, the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in the Southside of Chicago, spoke to radio host Todd Starnes on Sunday and told him he had been delivering his sermon “when he heard loud banging on front doors. It was the police and they were denied entry into the sanctuary.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, he told Starnes, had “dispatched three squad cars and two unmarked cars filled with armed officers. A representative from the mayor’s office was also present.” He noted it was “like the Soviet-style KGB.”

They had been sent to shut down the service. Lewis said, “The only thing she hasn’t done yet is beat the doors down and arrest our members.” Until Sunday.

The pastor also explained that the ushers had been “instructed not to open the doors during the services — per protocol. Thankfully our doors were locked as a normal safety precaution we take each service to protect our members from the escalating gun violence in Chicago.”

He said as parishioners arrived for the service, “an individual in an unmarked car with tinted windows was seen filming and photographing” them. “The mayor wants to educate everyone into compliance – which means intimidate.”

“All we are seeking is the same consideration and trust that is being tendered toward the liquor stores, abortion clinics, and Walmart,” he said.

Following the service, Pastor Lewis wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney John Lausch pleading for help and protection against the city’s Democrat mayor and her jackbooted thugs. The Letter of Grievance can be viewed here:

He told Lausch that they have been following CDC guidelines and they’ve held “online services, outdoor services, and engaged in social distancing. All church members must also have their temperature taken before entering the sanctuary.” He wrote:

We are trying to follow the laws of man as much as reasonably possible but when the laws of man conflict with the laws of God I as a pastor have a duty to follow the laws of God. We will not be intimidated by this overhanded government bully, but we are requesting the assistance of our president and our Justice Department in correcting this grave miscarriage of the law.

Christian pastors are under attack in Chicago and need help.

This is not the first time Lightfoot has made the news for her heavy-handed tactics during this crisis. Here is an example from earlier this month.

Lightfoot’s office issued a warning to Chicagoans not to hold parties in their homes. She wanted her constituents to know she was not playing. They were to stay home (in their own homes). In the video below, she tells them:

Now, I’ve directed Superintendent Brown to order all police districts to give special attention to these parties and this is how it’s going to be. We will shut you down. We will cite you and if we need to, we will arrest you and we take you to jail. Period. There should be nothing ambiguous about that. Don’t make us treat you like a criminal. But if you act like a criminal and you violate the law, and you refuse to do what’s necessary to save lives in the city in the middle of a pandemic, we will take you to jail. Period.

I’m not playing. Stay home (your own home). Save lives.https://t.co/jPUdaRsoTp pic.twitter.com/bStBdWKIVT

— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) May 3, 2020