Harvest Rock Church, the charismatic personality cult of Che Ahn, which is part of the Toronto Blessing charismatic movement, is under fire for publicly defying a state order to not hold church during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harvest Rock is the tongues-speaking, pogoing, slain-in-the-spirit, gold dust blowing, hysterical laughter, has people who bark and roar like lions, has miraculous instantaneous gold and silver tooth fillings during services, and much much more. If people thought the Worldwide Church of God was crazy, these people trump us to the extreme.
The Pasadena Star-News ripped them a new one on July 22, 2020, in an article after Harvest Rock and other churches sued the State for prohibiting them from free worship.
Pasadena church should stop the singing, for now, and pray to protect its flock
By Larry Wilson | lwilson@scng.com | Pasadena Star News PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
Pasadena’s Harvest Rock Church, which took over the already (at least in classical music circles) hallowed ground of the Ambassador Auditorium when the Worldwide Church of God blew town, says it has a constitutional right to hold services indoors. And to sing. Except that it doesn’t, on either count.
And it takes a lot of hubristic gall to claim special infecting privileges in the midst of a worldwide pandemic spread by large groups of people getting together, especially spread by singing when standing shoulder to shoulder, an otherwise fun and spiritually uplifting practice that early on in the novel coronavirus crisis infected 28 and killed two of the members of the Skagit Valley Chorale after rehearsal in Mount Vernon, Washington.
Singing is the best part about going to church. Some day it will be again. That time is not now. So it’s awfully sad to see Harvest Rock suing California’s governor for the right to spew a deadly virus on the same day we also report Pasadena’s first relatively young death — age 30 — from COVID-19.
It’s sad because the church pretends government interferes with faith when it’s trying to stop people from suffering and dying. Isn’t your faith strong enough to support that?
The church, as one would in this case, cites the First Amendment, that same good stuff that protects newspapers: “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.”
And if you were the church’s lawyer, you would highlight for the judge that clause about “prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” obviously. But what you would be ignoring is the precedent in jurisprudence akin to your free speech rights stopping when it comes to falsely yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater. Just because we won’t stand for “abridging the freedom … of the press” doesn’t mean we get to likely infect people with a disease in order to stay free. We’d have to find a workaround if we were.
Pastors live for having a flock in front of them, and so I get why Harvest Rock’s Pastor Ché Ahn says: “As a pastor, I believe we’ve been essential for 2,000 years.”
But these are unprecedented times. Even if we don’t love it, even if we’d all like to get together and belt out a song, we don’t get to be so selfish. Instead, we get to Zoom. It may be the pastoral equivalent of kissing your sister — wait, don’t do that! — but that’s what other churches are doing.
Be responsible to your flock. Drop the lawsuit. Stop holding in-person services indoors. Save lives, and there’ll be more people to preach to when we get to the other side of this.See other stories about this:
‘We’ve Been Essential For 2,000 Years’: Pasadena Church Holds Indoor Services Despite Coronavirus Warnings
Harvest Rock Church Files Federal Lawsuit Against Newsom's Church Ban
Here is an article from The Journal: News of the Churches of God about Harvest Rock's acquisition of the Auditorium:
Im confused. Why dont all the charismatic faith healers just HEAL all the Covid stuff and create a tremendous stir for Jesus Christ! ??
ReplyDeleteAnybody who DEFIES the COVID hoax has to have something on the level.
ReplyDeleteWhy not sing with masks on? That's what COGWA is asking its members to do.
ReplyDeleteBut I learned today that COGWA is scrapping all live choirs for the Feast of Tabernacles. They'll be virtual, with in-person solos or families singing special music.
Not true.
DeleteCOVID is no deadlier than the influenzas of recent years. Governments have used it as an excuse to implement Marxist policies, which includes no church for everyone. For instance, all this equal 'free' (wait for the coming tidal wave of inflation) money from the government. And everyone acting by permission rather than by right. In many ways it's worse than Stalin's communism, as he allowed people to go to the parks and to the beach.
ReplyDeleteThe ACOG ministers must be salivating with envy at the power being exercised by the politicians.
Yep! We're heading for a leftist, democratic socialism. The Democrats will control the presidency and both houses, and the anti american anarchists will march, steal, tear down statues, destroy government buildings, burn books, and kill policemen. Hell, we're already there!
ReplyDeleteMind Numbing Dichotomy:
ReplyDelete- very fancy building for such trashy goings on -
What would mad-Herbert think of this in his $100m tithe-folly-palace?
yeah they're kooks, but using the CDC's own criteria the epidemic is over....the number of cases have dropped below the bar set to define an epidemic.
ReplyDeletethe flu is a much greater danger to life than covid19 ever was.
and, I was hoping to find something on Flurry's latest insanity...that he had actually changed the day of Pentecost because he had said it was on a Monday....but now it's on a Sunday because he says so.
ReplyDelete(technically, it's partly on Saturday and partly on Sunday of the Roman calendar)
HWA's temple. All the damage to members' lives.
ReplyDeleteThem not closing due to covid does not make them heretics, barking and the laughter part does. Gavin Newsom is the enemy.
ReplyDelete