By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Friday, October 23, 2020

Public health officials in Los Angeles said Thursday that they have confirmed at least three cases of COVID-19 connected to Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. 

Officials investigating the COVID-19 infections told the Los Angeles Times that they will be working closely with the church to limit the transmission of the virus but did not provide any other details.

Places of worship in L.A. County, where the church is located, are required to report to the county Public Health Department when there are at least three coronavirus cases within a span of two weeks so the agency can determine whether there is an outbreak, the Times reported.

The Christian Post reached out to MacArthur and his church for comment but a response was not immediately available.

It does not appear that the announcement has affected current operations at the church.

Owen Strachan, an associate professor of Christian theology and director of the center for public theology at the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, revealed on Twitter Thursday…

John Piper suggested in a new piece for his site, Desiring God, that he may not be voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the presidential election.

“I think it is a drastic mistake to think that the deadly influences of a leader come only through his policies and not also through his person,” Piper writes. “Flagrant boastfulness, vulgarity, immorality and factiousness are not only self-incriminating; they are nation-corrupting.”

Piper says he is not making an endorsement and he doesn’t intend to “dictate how anyone else should vote.”

He said he is “baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality (porneia), unrepentant boastfulness (alazoneia), unrepentant vulgarity (aischrologia), unrepentant factiousness (dichostasiai), and the like, to be only toxic for our nation, while policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.”

He said voters should consider the person and how he impacts the nation, not just in policy, but in his character and convictions.

“This is true not only because flagrant boastfulness, vulgarity, immorality, and factiousness are self-incriminating, but also because they are nation-corrupting. They move out from centers of influence to infect whole cultures.”

In supporting a person who is unrepentant, Piper says Christians…

Three individuals in a California megachurch that has opposed pandemic health restrictions have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The health department said it will work with the congregation, Grace Community Church, to determine if the virus has spread further, the Los Angeles Times reported. John MacArthur serves as the church’s pastor.

The Houses of worship are required under county rules to report to the health department when three individuals among the staff or attendees test positive for the virus within 14 days. It is not known if the individuals work at the church or are members or attendees.

The congregation, which has several thousand members, has battled the county in court over restrictions that limit the church to outdoor worship and require the wearing of masks. Grace Community has defied the county’s rules and has met indoors, without social distancing and without requiring masks.

A judge in September upheld the county’s health restrictions and issued an injunction prohibiting indoor worship at the church. Grace Community subsequently defied the order.

MacArthur has said he’s willing to go to jail over the church’s stance.

“We received a letter with the threat that we could be fined or I could go to jail for a maximum of six months,” MacArthur said last month on Fox News’ The…

Former Florida State Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden recently recovered from COVID-19 and thanked his friends, family, and fans for their prayers and support, Faithwire reports.

“I want to thank all the many, many people who were thinking of and praying for me over the last few weeks. I just went through a battle with COVID-19 and God just wasn’t ready to take me home yet to be with him,” Bowden said in a statement that was tweeted by Logan B. Robinson. 

Bowden, who turns 91 in November, went on to talk about his treatment, saying that he had an opportunity in America to be treated where in other countries he may not have been.

“I had the opportunity to be treated for Covid-19 with drugs to include Remdesivir. At the age of 91, in many other countries, I might not have been treated. In America, I was.”

In the statement, he wrote that his biggest priorities in life are God and family, saying “I have always said that the only thing you can take to heaven with you is your kids, and for 71 years of marriage, Ann and I have tried to live our lives and share our Christian faith with them so that, one day, we will all be there together.”

He also talked about how great America is as a country, and how he isn’t ashamed to be proud of his country. “America is the greatest country this side of heaven. We have the freedom to pursue our faith in…

The United States joined 31 other countries Thursday in signing a document emphasizing the equal rights of men and women and declaring there is “no international right to abortion.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration was co-sponsored by the U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Hungary and Uganda and represents 1.6 billion people and every region of the world, supporters of the document said. It was signed during a joint virtual ceremony.

“In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning,” the document says.

The declaration involves three primary issues: promotion of equal rights for women, opposition to abortion for family planning, and the recognition of the need for universal health coverage.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States has defended the dignity of human life everywhere and always,” Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said in a statement. “He’s done it like no other President in history. We’ve also mounted an unprecedented defense of the unborn abroad.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration, Pompeo said, “protects women’s health, defends the unborn, and reiterates the vital importance of the family as the foundation of society.”

The document declares:

• Any changes “related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the…

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden displayed sharp differences on coronavirus response, energy, immigration and a host of other issues Thursday night during their second and final presidential debate.

The event at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., was far more civil than the first debate, partially because the candidates’ microphones were muted when it wasn’t their turn to speak. The two candidates agreed on little.

Asserting the nation needs to open back up, Trump said the recovery rate for individuals who contract the coronavirus is 99 percent, and 99.9 percent for young people.

“We can’t keep this country closed,” Trump said. “This is a massive country with a massive economy. People are losing their jobs. They’re committing suicide. There’s depression, alcohol, drugs at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. There’s abuse, tremendous abuse. We have to open our country. I’ve said it often: The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself, and that’s what’s happening. And [Biden] wants to close down. He’ll close down the country if one person in our massive bureaucracy says we should close it down.”

Biden said the nation can “walk and chew gum at the same time.”

“The standard is, if you have a reproduction rate in a community that’s above a certain level, everybody says, ‘Slow up. More social…

Author and megachurch pastor David Platt garnered national headlines back in June 2019 when he prayed over President Donald Trump on the main stage of McLean Bible Church.

The prayer, which came after Trump made an unexpected visit to the D.C.-area congregation, elicited strong reactions from people on social media, as well as within McLean itself.

The fallout from the decision to pray over the polarizing Trump inspired Platt to write and release a new book, titled Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask.

Released last month, Platt wrote in the introduction of the book that he felt “compelled to write this short book as we approach a presidential election in our country.”

“I don’t want to see the church further divided or the name of Christ further defamed. Instead, I long to see a united church that exalts the name of Christ in this toxic political climate,” he explained.

“My hope is to fuel deeper affection for Christ while fostering healthier conversations among Christians as we…

John Piper has issued a blistering condemnation of President Donald Trump, warning Christian voters that the president’s “deadly behavior” will lead the U.S. to “destruction of more kinds than we can imagine.”

On Thursday, the influential pastor and writer published what he referred to as a “long-overdue” blog post in which he pondered the implications of the 2020 election. 

Without mentioning Trump by name, Piper said he is “baffled” over the fact that many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality, boastfulness, vulgarity, factiousness, and the like, to be “only toxic for our nation,” while policies that endorse “baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.”

Piper, who pastored Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for almost 33 years, reminded Christians that “it is not a small thing to treat lightly a pattern of public behaviors that lead to death.”

He pointed out that all of these sins are mentioned in the Bible and are “deadly” enough to…