By Michael Hernandez
NEWBURY PARK—”A leader’s finest hour is when they answer the cry for help,” said Godspeak Co-Pastor Rick Brown at the 9 a.m. Sunday service. “During a time of crisis, when we are oppressed by an oppressive government, leaders’ step-up and lead,” said Pastor Brown who used Judges 4 and 5 as his main text referencing two women from the Bible: Deborah (a prophetess and judge and wife of Liapidoth) and Jael (Heber’s wife who killed General Sisera with a tent peg).
“Deborah tells Barak (son of Abinoam), ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulunn’ (Judges 4:6) ‘and I will deliver him (General Sisera) into your hand’” (Judges 4:7).
“So, on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan,” (Judges 4:23-24).
People “fall into sin and experience oppression and they (then) cry out to God,” said Pastor Brown. Does that sound familiar today, he asked? before playing a video clip that has gone viral of Angela Marsden, owner of The Pineapple Hill Saloon in Van Nuys, that was closed down by L.A. city officials as part of an executive order made by L.A. County Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Wednesday, Nov. 25 (the day before Thanksgiving) to shut down restaurants.
Pastor Brown then defended religious liberty by stating: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
“The Supreme Court ordered California judges Thursday (Dec. 3) to follow its lead in blocking stringent coronavirus restrictions on houses of worship, as the high court did in a New York case last week. The justices’ unsigned order sending a California church’s challenge (Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena) back to lower courts likely will stop Gov. Gavin Newsom from prohibiting most indoor religious services,” said Pastor Brown.
“Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten,” the court’s unsigned majority opinion said. “The restrictions at issue here, by effectively banning many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.”
According to Pastor Brown, if we lose the First Amendment, the next Amendment lost will be the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) so it is imperative that “we rise up and express ourselves in peaceful ways before we lose this experiment entrusted on the American people.”
Historically, four of America’s founders said the following stated Pastor Brown:
George Washington: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican mode of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
Thomas Jefferson: “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the breath it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the cycle of our facilities.”
James Madison: “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
John Adams: “But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away,” is the duet, sung by both Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:12). It’s time to wake up America. Wake up California. Wake up Ventura County,” said Pastor Brown.
“Oppressive government destroys businesses and brings lawlessness. Look at the curfews (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and see what is coming to America? We need to safeguard elections from fraud. We are not people of hate but we’re citizens of liberty. God has given us our Constitution and allowed us to be citizens. We are blessed to be born in America.
“I have fallen in love with Jesus and I have fallen in love with the founders of our nation, said Pastor Brown, who said he was born in Idaho but came to socialist California. “Your citizenship is in heaven. If you believe in Jesus, your name is in the Book of Life. But you are also a citizen of the United States of America.”
(Editor’s Note: To view Godspeak Calvary’s Sunday service with Co-Pastor Rick Brown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frbFu5qyKXs. Filming of “Biblical Citizenship in Modern America” will happen at a special event featuring Rick Green, Tim Barton, and Kirk Cameron on Dec. 16th at Godspeak Calvary from 6-9 p.m.)
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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