Defending the church’s actions, MacArthur said that those who had called off in-person gatherings for the remainder of 2020 “don’t know what a church is and they don’t shepherd their people.”
Earlier that same month, Grace Community Church filed a lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and public health officials. At the time, Grace Community Church’s legal counsel said that COVID-19 restrictions were a First Amendment violation.
“This isn’t about health. It’s about blatantly targeting churches,” said attorney Jenna Ellis.
In 2021, MacArthur made remarks that seemed to contradict that legal reasoning, comments in which he referred to religious liberty as “nonsense.”
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“Religious freedom is what sends people to hell. To say I support religious freedom is to say I support idolatry. It’s to say I support lies, I support hell, I support the kingdom of darkness,” MacArthur said in a sermon. “You can’t say that. No Christian with half a brain would say, ‘We support religious freedom.’ We support the truth.”
In October of 2020, Grace Community Church faced allegations that an outbreak of COVID-19 cases had originated from one of their in-person gatherings, allegations which MacArthur staunchly denied.
“I have never heard or seen any evidence indicating that any of the people on that list believe they were infected with COVID-19 in some gathering at Grace Community Church,” MacArthur said. “A prayer-request list compiled by laypeople and distributed to members of an adult Sunday school class is not proof that staff people or other officials at Grace Community Church knew this information.”
“The Essential Church” website has not announced an anticipated release date.
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