In the article, "A Time for Civil Disobedience, a Response to Grace Community's Elders," Jonathan Leeman and 9 Marks disagree with John MacArthur's action to defy Governor Newsom's orders. Here is my take. Leeman grossly minimized the real situation. He wrote, "Do we want to spend down our capital on pandemics? He is saying that the government controls as a result of this virus are not a very big deal. In other words, don't spend your capital on small potatoes. Instead, wait for the big one. 

What? He wants a bigger issue? We've just experienced the greatest usurpation of church authority in my lifetime. Leeman minimizes the reality of what has happened. In California, the government is governing the church by telling her exactly what to do in her meetings. Governor Newsom is tampering with sacred things that God commands. Let me qualify this: I do believe the government has some authority over a church, but it is limited to prosecuting evildoers in the church for Biblical sins, including the leaders, as well as protecting the safety of the people in the church in time of a killing plague, war or extreme emergency for a limited period of time until the danger passes. This is not what is happening in California.

The heart of the problem before us and John Macarthur is not the virus. The heart of the problem is that the state is telling the church what to do when there is no real plague. The death rates are very low. What John Macarthur did, had very little to do with this virus. It had to do with who has authority over the meetings of the church. The church has one supreme king and she is obligated to order herself under the highest authority in the land - God Himself.

Now that pastors have accepted restrictions from Caesar on the basis of fear of this virus, what's next? The next wave of restrictions can now come from almost anywhere... vaccines, climate change, equality, LGBTQ? If you can use a virus to control the church you can use almost anything. So far the ungodly usurpations have been aimed at the jurisdictions of the Church and the family. I expect these will be the defining battles for the Church in the days ahead. You can read Leeman's article here:

https://www.9marks.org/article/a-time-for-civil-disobedience-a-response-to-john-macarthur/