‘Worship Protests’ Are Bringing Revival To America’s Troubled Cities
By: Sean Feucht
The seed author is exactly right. Things are happening in America to Christians and the church that until recently no one thought possible. The political left is trampling upon separation of church and state and blue cities and blue state leaders are using their emergency powers to persecute the church and use the power of the state to compel religion in what it must and must not do. There is no place for that in the America as founded by our founding fathers and the original intent of their written documents. The persecution of the church we have witnessed in majority Muslim, Hindu, and state atheism nations around the world is beginning to be duplicated in America by secular progressives in political power here. They will be resisted and we will meet and grow and we will speak out against such repression in ways done by the author including in Washington DC tonight as well as events in every blue city in America as well as some red ones in Blue states like our shared home city, Redding, Ca.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
‘Worship Protests’ Are Bringing Revival To America’s Troubled Cities
Something is happening in America, and it should sound the alarm for every confessing Christian. Simply put, hostile efforts in many cities now threaten to suppress the First Amendment rights of all people to exercise our faith freely. In unprecedented acts of government-authorized injustice, Christians are being told they cannot gather for worship, they cannot sing songs of praise, and they cannot observe church ordinances.
Just last week, politicians in Seattle installed temporary fencing and security guards around Gas Works Park to prevent us from holding a “ Let Us Worship ” public outdoor service. Similarly, at Cal Anderson Park, Antifa protesters shouted obscenities, intimidated worshipers, cursed out my wife and four children, and damaged our equipment.
While followers of Jesus are being told we cannot worship in public spaces, violent paid rioters are taking over our streets and being given license to occupy and destroy entire sections of our cities. Churches are being covered in graffiti and even burned while civic leaders call for defunding the police. Never did I dream that this would happen, and never have I been more determined to do something about it.
The Church Is Being Persecuted Here in America
For the past 20 years, I’ve taken my entire family all over the world in support of the persecuted church. These efforts have brought greater exposure for dictatorial regimes and their anti-Christian tyrants in places such as North Korea, Iran, China, and Islamic Africa. In some parts of the world, Christians routinely face prison and even torture for nothing more than simple acts of faith, such as reading their Bibles, praying, and peaceably gathering with other believers to worship.
Now in major cities across America, godless politicians are adopting tactics that more closely resemble those of jihadist ayatollahs than men and women who are sworn to uphold the rule of law. Earlier this year in Kentucky, an elected leader tried to “criminalize” the celebration of Easter and would have gotten away with it if not for a federal judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, who blocked him.
In Virginia, the governor tried to stop Christians from gathering to worship under penalty of arrest and imprisonment. In Minnesota, the attorney general enforced the governor’s executive order that banned churches from worshipping but allowed dog groomers and golf courses to remain open.
In my home state of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and many large-city mayors have ramped up their fight against the freedom of religion. As I write this, elected officials in Sacramento and Los Angeles are wringing their hands in desperation as they try to figure out how to shut down church leaders such as Grace Community Church’s John MacArthur.
In Portland, one of our brothers was stalked by an armed “protester” and shot at point-blank range while bystanders looked on with their phones, recording the whole thing. The victim, 39-year-old Jay Danielson, had weeks before joined hundreds of Christians who came to Oregon’s largest city for one of our “Let Us Worship” gatherings.
Truly, the actions of militant, anti-Christian forces, who want to shut down our churches, silence our worship, and even shoot our fellow believers in the streets, have stirred the soul of the American church. Where we have stood in solidarity with Christians around the world whose hostile governments threaten their religious freedom, we now stand with each other on our native soil.
I keep telling myself and my fellow Christians from every walk of life that this isn’t what America was founded to be. This isn’t how we are supposed to live. I will not stand idly by and watch it happen.
America Needs Revival
The American experiment, now approaching its 250th year, has proved our ability for more than two centuries to withstand foreign attacks from rogue states that despise and reject the freedoms we hold dear. What we face now is not a new threat; it is just no longer a foreign threat. The present madness has arisen from our own soil, cultivated and encouraged by our own politicians.
All across America, however, Christians are rising up. In recent weeks, thousands upon thousands have gathered and marched to assert their God-given freedoms. I’ve stood before them, armed with only a copy of the Bible and a simple guitar. People have asked me why we are holding these “worship protests” across the country, and the answer is simple: God is moving, and our nation needs it now more than ever in my lifetime.
In Seattle, a self-proclaimed satanist came to protest our worship, met the glory of God, and gave his life to Jesus. He is not alone. Thousands of hurting people have encountered the love of Christ in dozens of America’s most troubled cities through the simple act of gathering together in worship.
The church I believe in ministers to the sick and hurting; it doesn’t hide in the darkness. Jesus touched contagious lepers, and our fellow Americans need His healing touch right now. They need the bold, warm embrace of God’s love.
We are just getting started, with worship gatherings planned in Madison , Minneapolis, Kenosha, Chicago, and many more — culminating in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25. I refuse to seek permission from politicians to adhere to my calling, the church’s calling.
Let me be very clear: Our fists are not held up in defiance; our hands are lifted in praise. Our voices are not raised in shouts of hatred, but our songs of hope and prayers for revival are piercing the darkness around us. God is not finished with America yet.
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'Worship Protests' to Gather 15K on DC's National Mall
A protest against the global coronavirus pandemic shutdowns blocking worship is planned for the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday night and thousands are expected to attend, The Hill reported.
The National Park Service has granted a permit for the event, which is part of California-based Christian singer Sean Feucht's "Let Us Worship" tour, and might draw 15,000, per the report.
The mere size of the protest is impressive, considered the basis for the protest is against the stoppage of church and worship gatherings throughout the U.S., most specifically those hardest hit by shutdowns and the pandemic.
"For all permit applications, we discuss a COVID-19 mitigation plan with the event organizers, but that plan is not a requirement for or condition of the permit," an NPS official told CBS affiliate WUSA. "While the National Park Service strongly encourages social distancing, the use of face coverings and other measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, we will not require nor enforce their use."
Feucht described his tour events as "worship protests" in an op-ed for The Federalist.
"In unprecedented acts of government-authorized injustice, Christians are being told they cannot gather for worship, they cannot sing songs of praise, and they cannot observe church ordinances," Feucht wrote.
https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/993611?section=politics&keywords=worship-national-mall-pandemic-protest&year=2020&month=10&date=24&id=993611&oref=www.newsmax.com
I can’t wait to livestream this event! While the author and worship leader live in the same home town I’m a sympathetic nonmember of the mega church here he’s a part of. I support his efforts to protect religious liberty and to bring God back to Americas secular urban centers.
Great, another superspreader event! Maybe Jesus will prevent them from getting Co-Vid . . . oh wait!
Just like the Pro abortion, pro LGBTQ women’s march there last week was?
Now in major cities across America, godless politicians are adopting tactics that more closely resemble those of jihadist ayatollahs than men and women who are sworn to uphold the rule of law. Earlier this year in Kentucky, an elected leader tried to “criminalize” the celebration of Easter and would have gotten away with it if not for a federal judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, who blocked him.
In Virginia, the governor tried to stop Christians from gathering to worship under penalty of arrest and imprisonment. In Minnesota, the attorney general enforced the governor’s executive order that banned churches from worshipping but allowed dog groomers and golf courses to remain open.
In my home state of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and many large-city mayors have ramped up their fight against the freedom of religion. As I write this, elected officials in Sacramento and Los Angeles are wringing their hands in desperation as they try to figure out how to shut down church leaders such as Grace Community Church’s John MacArthur.
In Portland, one of our brothers was stalked by an armed “protester” and shot at point-blank range while bystanders looked on with their phones, recording the whole thing. The victim, 39-year-old Jay Danielson, had weeks before joined hundreds of Christians who came to Oregon’s largest city for one of our “Let Us Worship” gatherings.
Truly, the actions of militant, anti-Christian forces, who want to shut down our churches, silence our worship, and even shoot our fellow believers in the streets, have stirred the soul of the American church. Where we have stood in solidarity with Christians around the world whose hostile governments threaten their religious freedom, we now stand with each other on our native soil.
I keep telling myself and my fellow Christians from every walk of life that this isn’t what America was founded to be. This isn’t how we are supposed to live. I will not stand idly by and watch it happen.
https://thenewstalkers.com/vic-eldred/group_discuss/10812/worship-protests-are-bringing-revival-to-americas-troubled-cities#cm1442388
The political left is trampling upon separation of church and state
That has got to be a joke.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and many large-city mayors have ramped up their fight against the freedom of religion
Total paranoia. Freaking bizarre.
To paraphrase W, that's some weird shit.
Sorry but you don’t get to seriously question the sanity of people for simply daring to disagree with you on a given issue. The people and points of the article are exactly right despite your comments to the contrary.
Of course he dose. He verifies your very purpose here.
Of course they aren't, but if it gives you a purpose to tilt at windmills, so be it.
You presume to assume I have a purpose here? One somehow unique among all the other members here?
it’s not tilting at windmills to defend our first amendment peaceable assembly, free speech, and free exercise there of rights.
It is because the attack is imaginary.
I do get to call out paranoia when it's obvious.
It is quite real. My favorite religious rights group Alliance Defending Freedom is constantly in court defending churches and congregations from actions by blue city mayors and blue state governors to restrict our 1st amendment rights. There is no denying the fascism of blue city and state mayors and governors toward believers.
There is no paranoia on our side. Sean was factually correct in all that he wrote about what some governments have done to persecute the church
Yet another, 'christians' are being repressed seed.
"Paranoia" is characterized by "delusions and feelings of extreme distrust, suspicion and being targeted by others."
Yep, it fits. Perfectly.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7QOjVOWesXI
So they're protesting for the right to spread COVID-19 at their events and then bring it home to the rest of us? No wonder church attendance has been dropping in recent years. They're killing themselves off.
Anybody who gathers in numbers without masking and social distancing is too stupid for words.
Seems the Darwin Awards have become a team sport with the far right.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N2AgVA4_V40
"Too stupid for words" is an understatement.
What blue city mayors and Blue state governors are doing to Christians is too stupid for words.
They aren't doing anything. The best word to apply here is still paranoia.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQkbRpBKHI
From the number of outbreaks and deaths associated with religious gathering, it seems as though the leaders of these religious gatherings are trying to kill off their membership.
Of the 220,000 deaths from Wuhan virus only a tiny fraction have come from people getting it from other people while in church. Also in this leaders case, the events are outdoors and those events cases are far fewer still. This disease will not be allowed to be a tool in order to be used by secularists to control the freedom and choices of believers.
Link?
No links, why bother?
I gave him four links from multiple breakouts in the past few weeks and he pooh poohs them.
The statistics in his head supersede common sense and a basic instinct to survive.
This is just one case. I can post many more for you to peruse but I doubt if you would.
‘This Is All About Jesus’: A Christian Rocker’s Covid Protest Movement
Sean Feucht, a Trump-aligned guitarist and failed congressional candidate, has traveled the country channeling the frustration of Americans who chafe at health restrictions on religious worship.
When Covid hit the West Coast in the spring, churches were quickly linked to outbreaks of the virus. The governors of Oregon, Washington and California were the first to institute bans on social gatherings of more than 250 people. California closed all houses of worship. The restrictions generated a backlash. Even after Governor Gavin Newsom allowed houses of worship to reopen at limited capacity, three churches sued the state of California in April, arguing that their First Amendment rights were being violated; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the state’s favor. In late May, 1,200 California faith leaders signed a letterinforming Newsom that they would resume in-person gatherings at the end of the month.
“Most pastors said, ‘You’re kidding me. I have a sanctuary that seats 2,500, and I can only have 100 people?’ Many of them said ‘no,’” says Robert Tyler, a Murrieta, California, lawyer whose firm has prepared other lawsuits against Newsom.
Then came the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which led millions of Americans to take to the streets in protest. Some church leaders noted that protestors, unlike worshippers, were allowed to gather in massive crowds without social distancing.
Feucht seized this moment, quickly organizing a series of concerts that he called “Riots to Revival,” in places that had seen large protests, including one on June 5 in St. Louis, Missouri. Three days later, Feucht tweeted a photo from a one-on-one meeting with Hawley, Missouri’s junior senator, in his D.C. office. The next day, Hawley wrote to Attorney General William Barr asking for an investigation into what he described as the violation of religious Americans’ civil rights, while state officials were “encouraging protests, giving preference to one form of speech or gathering over another.” (A spokesperson for Hawley’s office said there had been no response to the letter.)
On June 14, Feucht appeared in Minneapolis along with several other musicians, for what they called a “unity revival” concert about 50 feet from the site of Floyd’s death. Feucht, who said he had been invited to the site by Black pastors, was criticized for trying to co-opt the tragedy and for staging a concert loud enough to drown out other activity at the site. While Feucht has said, “Yes, Black lives matter,” he also has called the BLM movement a “fraud” and criticized it on Facebook for being pro-abortion rights and for supporting what he called “radical gender theory and the complete denuclearization of family.”
When he broadcast his Minneapolis and St. Louis appearances on social media, Feucht said Instagram then blocked his posts for violating community guidelines. Hawley tweeted about it on June 23: “Cancel culture meets #BigTech. Now @Instagram is censoring a Christian worship leader who wants to post videos of praise and worship from places where there has recently been unrest. And that doesn’t meet ‘community standards’? Can’t wait to hear an explanation for this.” (A spokeswoman for Instagram said no content was removed from Feucht’s account, and that it was another user whose posts were blocked.)
Feucht was beginning to establish himself as a poster boy for conservative cultural causes, and he continued to build on his momentum. After Newsom levied another ban, forbidding singing or chanting in churches, Feucht, wearing Bob Dylan-style sunglasses and a black hoodie, staged a defiant concert along the Golden Gate bridge in early July. More than 300 people showed up, and Feucht splashed photos of the event on social media with a new hashtag: #letusworship.
Worshippers perform baptisms at The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Gardens in Kerrville on October 4.
Fashioning himself a leader of a “new Jesus movement”—a reference to a Christian revival in the 1970s—Feucht began traveling the country. He staged a rally in New York at Washington Square Park, which featured baptisms in the park fountain. In August, after months of protests nationwide, he held gatherings in Portland and Seattle, intended, he said, to counteract the “narrative of burning and destruction” in the news.
One rally in Redding drew thousands of people, including some members of Bethel Church. Attendees were mostly maskless and packed together. Afterward, Bethel put out a statementmaking clear that Feucht did not represent the church, and conceding that a safety plan “did not get implemented to the level it needed to be at this gathering.” Aaron Tesauro, the church spokesman, told me Bethel was not involved in the rally.
On September 6, Feucht held a concert in sweltering heat on the steps of the state capitol in Sacramento. One of the first speakers was state Rep. Shannon Grove, a Republican representing Bakersfield who showed up despite being under a quarantine order. (Grove’s office, which applied for the permit for the event, did not respond to a request for comment.) Feucht claimed 12,000 people were present; the California Highway Patrol estimated 3,000. Regardless, state officials condemned the event. “It does not help to have thousands and thousands of people not practicing physical distancing or social distancing not wearing masks,” Newsom said, “when literally someone can lose their lives.”
Beyond statements like these, Feucht managed to pull off his gatherings without much trouble throughout the summer. (“He’s like a combination of Teflon and the Artful Dodger,” Doni Chamberlain, publisher of a local news site in Redding, told me. “He’s like Bethel’s naughty little brother.”) But at a second concert in Seattle, on September 7, city officials shut down the park where the event was held, hurriedly throwing up a fence and stationing park officials at the entrance. Local pastors secured a spot a half-block away and came up with a unique solution: Instead of a gathering—which was banned because of Covid restrictions—they labeled the concert a “protest,” which was protected by the First Amendment....
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/25/sean-feucht-christian-rocker-covid-protest-movement-431734
Prove it that religious gatherings is a major cause of death among the 220,000 plus who have died so far.
Reading and understanding is critical. I didn't say anything about it be a major cause now did I MAGA?
Keep trying to spin comments and various facts and you are going to get so dizzy you won't be able to stand up.
Don't lie. Nobody claimed it was a MAJOR cause. You're going for another strawman argument.
No One said that, did they?
Please be honest here.
There were and are avoidable deaths, correct?
You should be on top of this because it involves faith, right?
When there are wild fires and the smoke is visible, no one has a problem wearing a mask, right?
Why is it so damned hard to wear a mask when you can't see the pathogen
despite overwhelming evidence to the benefits?
So why the effort at limiting the personal freedom of religious believers and our right to freely associate, assemble, speak, sing, and freely exercise beliefs as they see fit. There is no long term exceptions to first amendment freedoms for our citizens. Fortunately the peaceful protest we are having tonight in DC is on federal and not city land so the local fascists in DC were powerless to try to prevent our peaceful protest.
Why didn’t you all constrain and control your Sides peaceful protests that were more important than the disease all summer long. Having allowed that and inflicting that upon the country June to present causes blue politicians and their supporters to lose all credibility with the rest of us and for us to view your sides efforts against us and our gatherings with nothing but sheer and utter contempt and a hardened resolve to utterly defy any and all mandates you all try to inflict upon us. A Biden Presidency will only stiffen the resolve toward total defiance across red America
"total defiance across red state America"
Red state America needs to prioritize reviving their middle class after decades of failed Republican trickle-down economics, prioritize adding to the health insurance rolls since their Republican-led governments refused to expand Medicaid to cover millions of uninsured citizens and come together with their fellow Americans to build up and improve the country instead of acting like petulant children. Of course, that might be too much to ask from people who openly proclaim: "I would rather be a Russian."
Lost so badly that you're trying to change the subject again? Give up and abandon this thread, you lost and you know it.
No. The persistence of the anti theists here on this seed in denial of the reality that is happening across blue America to religious people trying meet is proof that it’s happening as the seed author said. So, no, I’m not giving up on the seed nor caving to coercion. I not only stand by its content, I double down on it and that it is the truth about what secular left political leaders are doing to churches and synagogues across areas they have power over. Your move along, there’s nothing to see here script will not work here!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGwXZLSJ1Mw/?igshid=1s6h1on7xakfv
The victimhood is strong in these statements.
Why didn't "you all" ? Why didn't "you"?
Possibly, until the adults take over again.
Your threats are pathetic, anti patriotic and anti American.
The fact that you cannot see this virus as a national threat to our collective health is simply amazing.
Rules have been made to help people survive and yet people like you demand to congregate and take their chances.
then they are simply STUNNED to come down with the virus,
and in many cases die, usually followed by a family member or two
and you want to stand on you rights and make divisive comment after comment
reinforcing your belief that you are a victim.
That is beyond sad.
Why should we obey hypocrites with double standards? We won’t!
When the rules are not the same for everyone then the people impacted by the hypocrisy and double standards react to how we are being treated. Bottom line is that it’s better to live free and take some chances by personal choice than to have our lives, actions, liberty, freedom, and choices dictated to by you and yours.
The rules were voted on when this site was believed to be predominantly conservative and apply to all who participate here.
Don't like it? Don't let the door hit you where ... on your way out.
Everyone else manages without the constant meta/drama/victimology.
You’d like the echo chamber, wouldn’t you? Sorry, thats not happening. As if the losing side of a vote is ever forever quiet about it and never advocates for change...Eventually MBFC will re rate enough conservative sites “questionable” and eventually we conservatives may become frustrated enough by that to grant you your echo chamber wish.
We sure as heck aren’t going to comply with your rules or listen to you when your own side doesn’t have to abide by the covid rules
It’s a threat. One we are more able to handle now because of actions Trump took. It’s no longer severe enough to justify mandates or shutdowns.
You say with, presumably a straight face, as the third wave creates record cases and record hospitalizations.
The market is uneasy because it fears more lock downs, not from Biden, but Trump.
How much did you lose today because of Trumps Covid response of McConnell's refusal to do a stimulus package?
6, 5, 4 % ? What's your financial pain tolerance?
The reason we don’t have any more stimulus is only because of Pelosi holding the American people hostage to democrat agenda items having nothing to do with the pandemic. As to the next wave, we are in much better shape to handle it because of Trump. The vaccines are almost here. Trump will not shut down the economy. As to losses I can tolerate, well if Biden wins Tuesday I won’t have to worry about it because I won’t be in it when he’s President. Since I’m 60 my portfolio is already fairly conservative.
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of Christians from all over the country assembled on Sunday evening to worship on the National Mall to intercede for the nation amid an ongoing pandemic and tense election season.
As part of worship artist Sean Feucht's multi-city nationwide tour called Let Us Worship, the Sunday event was the 45th place the California-based musician had led worship, often in places where violence and discord have manifested earlier this year such as Seattle, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon. A cold drizzle periodically rained down on the crowd with temperatures in the 40s.
Feucht explained from the stage that the Let Us Worship movement was in part born out of alarm and distress over California Governor Gavin Newsom's policies related to the shutdown of churches, particularly his words prohibiting singing. These draconian measures, he said, have caused many in the Church to react in fear and intimidation but the Church should be comprised of the least fearful people.
Participants who drove to or flew into the nation's capital for the event spoke of the importance of the times and the dire need to pray and worship given the tumultuous political climate.
Gail Hawkins, who co-pastors New Life City church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband, Alan, said in an interview with The Christian Post that she had been watching what Feucht had been doing and felt compelled to make the trip to D.C.
"Something struck a chord in me that I needed to be here this weekend," she said, "so we just followed the lead of God and we came."
"And the timing of the event, we just know that God's at work. And we feel like we're in the west [part of the country] where we're separated from the seat of government but we're not separated because we're all on one accord and we're all praying and seeking passionately the hand of God in this nation."
"And if felt like 'for such a time as this' that we had to be here," she said, referencing Mordecai's words to Queen Esther in the book of Esther.
Standing in a throng of worshipers singing the popular anthem "Way Maker" by Nigerian artist Sinach, Rhoda Mehl from Rosemount, Minnesota, told CP she felt that the spiritual significance was "breaking the heavy yoke of the heavy [spiritual] chains that were binding and suffocating the nation."
"We get to come and sing outside and praise the Lord from the bottom of our hearts. That is what our nation was founded on — liberty, on freedom ... Our worship is our weapon.
"We're here standing 'peacefully protesting' by praising God, believing that this is His war, that this is His battle. And He will win."
She came to Washington because she was disturbed by how churches were being closed and their voices silenced.
read more: https://www.christianpost.com/news/35000-gather-for-let-us-worship-dc.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRwD2Y7C0s
One would think “God’s house” would be the safest place to be, if God gave a rat’s ass about anyone. Of course this is not true at all. God’s house has proven itself to be a good place to catch COVID-19 and die, or possibly get shot and killed by a lunatic or extreme racist. How do God’s supporters respond? By demanding unfettered access to the den of disease. Go figure.
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Something right out of the French Revolution.
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I answered you [deleted]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=awkO61T6i0k
As if Churches are any bigger spreaders than the local grocery store or drug store. We simply insist on being able to meet and sing and pray in church with the same rules for capacity as every other essential indoor place people can be at. The same for our outdoor events compared to any other outdoor event.