Paul's Passing Thoughts

There seems to be a battle brewing in California in the midst of the present American cultural war. What is going on today is literally the cold war version of the American Civil War. Sunday, day before yesterday, Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace to You ministry and his Grace Community Church officially defied the California lockdown order. 3,000 church members showed up, without masks, and with a total disregard for social distancing.

Full disclosure: I am no fan of John MacArthur for many, many reasons that I will not state here because it is off-point; but nevertheless, I am a fan of what will happen if Governor Newsom is foolish enough to not count the cost of this battle. It will be a political disaster and the best thing to happen to Donald Trump since the 2016 election. Newsom is smart; I am guessing he will find a face-saving way out of this one, but we will see.

Fact is, as a matter of metaphysics, governments only have the power granted to them by the people. For example, if half of the Chinese people united and told the Communist Party to cram it, there is absolutely nothing they could do about it. You can’t kill everybody, and you can’t put everyone in jail.

Fact is, if all of the churches in California unite, or even half of them, and tell Newsom to take a long walk on a short pier, there is nothing he can do about it except expose himself as a powerless two-bit despot.

MacArthur doesn’t have the fighting fundamentalist clout he used to have, but he still has plenty. He is beloved worldwide, and the last person on earth Newsom would want to coronate as a martyr. It will not go well. The lockdown probably has Grace to You Ministries (GTY) a little strapped for cash, which in my estimation is really behind the defiance, but if Newsom shutters MacArthur’s church by force, money will come pouring in from all over the world for a legal fund. Not only that, MacArthur’s clout will certainly embolden many other churches and California will be inundated with lawsuits and stay orders.

Also, the Constitution is clearly on the side of GTY, and MacArthur is no stranger to fighting the government in court and has won every time. Attorney’s will be lining up coast to coast to represent GTY pro bono. This is a looming political disaster for California Democrats. And if you watched MacArthur on Tucker Carlson last night, you now know how persuasive MacArthur is. MacArthur is seen as the premier elder statesman of church in our day, and executes the persona to perfection. He has already made Newsom look like a fool when they have appeared on TV programs together in the past.

For what it’s worth, and probably not realized by the Democrats, the Evangelical vote has been swinging heavily their way since the emergence of the New Calvinist movement (circa 1970). MacArthur is an avid supporter of the New Calvinist movement. This movement, which has totally taken over the Evangelical church, is dissatisfied with how little it can control people under American jurisprudence. Most New Calvinist leaders are openly leftist which is a huge shift from the 1980s. New Calvinism is a return to an authentic John Calvin Geneva style theocracy. New Calvinists are not for the Democrat platform per se, but are more against what they refer to as the evil, “American Dream.”

That is, until the government started locking down their churches. Before this, the New Calvinists were more than happy to take the position that God is sovereign and nothing happens unless God wants it to. In sermon after sermon, American individualism was labeled as the haughtiness and pride of totally depraved humankind. This was a convenient message because nothing sells like salvation and most of these ministries are flush with cash, but the lockdown has simply lasted longer than they ever dreamed it would.

Now, the narrative has shifted from the sovereignty of God to, “We must obey God rather than man,” and, “Christ is head of the church, not the government.” Interestingly enough, MacArthur stated last night on Tucker Carlson’s show that the main point is the American Constitution, while GTY statements make “obeying God rather than man” the main point. You see, the evil “American Dream” isn’t so evil all of a sudden. Freedom endowed to mankind by God according to the American Constitution, in the past, was merely a freedom to do nothing but evil, but now, not so much. I have been writing about the New Calvinist movement since 2007, so I am well versed in the ongoing hypocrisy and how the theology is constantly adjusted to fit reality.

If Newsom decides to step in it, that is, the biggest pile of dog doo one could ever step in, how much will it help Trump? That’s hard to say, but I think it’s significant. I believe the lockdowns have shifted a vote away from Democrats they didn’t realize they had.

To whatever degree that vote is, a showdown with the elder statesman of Evangelicalism will greatly escalate the shift, and show the American public at large that the Democrats are little more than paper two-bit tyrants who are not worthy to be feared.

John MacArthur is not the barber in Ohio, the hair stylist in Dallas, nor the gym owners in New Jersey. Get your popcorn ready.

paul