California pastor holds “protest against Satan” as COVID laws threaten freedom of religious assembly
Here is what the evangelist had to say…
UPDATE— 08/17/2020: Pr. Batchelor contacted the author of this article to reiterate that “this…was a cheerful parody to our members here,” and that, “It had nothing to do with ‘evading bans on church gatherings.’ ”
During this time of COVID-related bans on assembly, one pastor in California is encouraging Christians to “exercise [their] First Amendment rights” by “peacefully protesting against the devil, sin, lawlessness, hate, and evil of every kind” in his church’s parking lot.
Pastor Doug Batchelor, an evangelist who is well-known among Seventh-day Adventists, has been questioning the lockdowns imposed on church gatherings for several months. His posts have brought attention to the double-standards of COVID restrictions as they are applied to secular versus religious gatherings, and have been “liked” and shared many thousands of times on Facebook.
The post reads:
PROTESTING THE DEVIL!
(Our church found a creative way to assemble safely on Sabbath without violating California bans on church gatherings. We are still allowed to gather and protest in California, so…)
PROTESTING THE DEVIL!
Dear Granite Bay members,
You are heartily invited to exercise your First Amendment rights to participate in peaceful gatherings and freedom of speech by joining in a heartfelt protest on Saturday, August 15, at 10:00am.
As true Protestants we will be peacefully protesting against the devil, sin, lawlessness, hate, and evil of every kind. (Satan especially dislikes a peaceful protest.)
During this gathering we will be …
• Reviewing our protest manual (which may look quite similar to a Bible)
• Rehearsing our protest slogans and songs (which are sometimes confused as hymns)
• We will be accepting contributions to underwrite our protest cause (might look like a church offering)
• Petitioning the highest authority with our protest (which could resemble prayer. Just saying.)
Our protests will not be very loud because we are hoping to disturb the devil and not our neighbor.Because this is a protest against Satan there will be no looting, littering, blocking traffic or burning buildings or flags. Smiling at others is encouraged and this protest is open to all like-minded citizens of God’s kingdom.
Remember, the most effective way to protest the Devil is to worship Jesus, so please join us in the Granite Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church parking lot to protest against the devil’s diabolical behavior since he took office. We plan to keep protesting every week until Jesus sets up his own administration.
Our peaceful protest will begin at 10:00am and should conclude by 11:15am.
As always, keep in mind the current government health and coronavirus safety recommendations.
Pastor Doug
WHERE TO VIEW ONLINE SERVICES:
https://www.facebook.com/dougbatchelor
https://www.facebook.com/granitebaysda/
AFTV
The preacher commented that his local church, Granite Bay Hilltop SDA Church, has “been safely and carefully meeting outside for a month now with no problems,” and that the unusual announcement was merely to “have some fun with the wording.”
