Officials in Los Angeles County have sent Pastor John MacArthur a letter threatening fines and possible arrest if he continues to hold in-person church services in defiance of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's lockdown order. Still, Pastor John MacArthur remains committed to in-person worship services.

"We will obey God rather than men," MacArthur said in a video statement Friday. "We're going to be faithful to the Lord and we're going to leave the results to Him. Whatever happens is going to be what He allows to happen. But He will be on our side because we will be obedient and faithful to His word."
“We will not bow to Caesar,” he added. "The Lord Jesus Christ is our king."

Officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have threatened MacArthur with “repercussions such as fines and even possible arrest” if his church doesn’t comply with state orders, the Rev. Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, wrote on Facebook.

The LA County department’s Environmental Health division "is investigating and will be reaching out to the church leaders to let them know they need to comply with the Health Officer Order,” Religion News Service reported.

"We will meet as the church of Jesus Christ because we're commanded to do that. We will sing, we will pray, we will fellowship, we will proclaim the Word of God far and wide and even around the world through this livestream opportunity that we have," the pastor stressed.

Commenting on churches, including megachurches, that have chosen to shut down until January, MacArthur said, "I don’t have any way to understand that other than they don’t know what a church is and they don’t shepherd their people, but that’s sad.

"And you have a lot of people in Christianity, who seem to be significant leaders, who aren’t giving any strength and courage to the church, they’re not standing up and rising up and calling on Christians to be the church in the world as I said last week."

The pastor also addressed "misinformation" about his church and ministry regarding the Paycheck Protection Program.

He clarified that the federal government “did send us money; we did not receive that money. We sent it back … We did not receive a dime from the federal government.” This is similar to Amazing Facts, who also received PPP funds, and then returned them to the federal government.

In an earlier statement, MacArthur and elders of the church said they "respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services."

“Government officials have no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders,” MacArthur wrote. "Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands."

Grace Community Church is making efforts to accommodate all persons as they take various precautions during the pandemic.

About a thousand extra seats will be kept outside the church building for those who may want to sit in the open. The church will also provide sanitizers and masks for those who want them.

MacArthur noted that they want to be as "gracious as we can be to as many people as possible" and be welcoming to all — whether people want to remain at home and watch online, attend in person but prefer outside seating, or wear masks or not wear masks.

"We don't want anybody to feel unwelcome. We don't want anybody to feel like an outsider because they sit outside or because they decide to wear a mask ... That's all fine. That's all temporary. That's all superficial kinds of things," he said.

Nevertheless, "We will obey God rather than men," MacArthur said in a video statement Friday. "We're going to be faithful to the Lord and we're going to leave the results to Him. Whatever happens is going to be what He allows to happen. But He will be on our side because we will be obedient and faithful to His word."

“We will not bow to Caesar,” he added. "The Lord Jesus Christ is our king."

It is inspiring to see Christian courage displayed, we see so little of it nowadays.

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“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).