More than 90 pastors have declared they will 'never again' shut down their churches. Is your pastor one of them?



A coalition of more than 90 American pastors from different denominations have boldly declared they will "never again" comply with government orders to close their churches.

Taking up a biblical rallying cry from Acts 5:29, these clergyman say, "We must obey God rather than men," and have signed on to a statement declaring that the government violated the U.S. Constitution by ordering churches to cease meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The purpose of the document is to provide a muster point for clergy," said Pastor Stephen Mannion of Faith United Methodist Church in Lancaster, New York. "The 'Acts 5:29 Statement' declares to the government: 'Don't try to close the Church again. It won't go so well next time.'"

Churches and other houses of worship were forced to shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic when government-issued "stay at home" orders required "non-essential" public places to close. While some religious organizations objected at the time, citing First Amendment concerns, the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2020 declined to take up their cases and permitted lockdown orders to remain in effect.

As a result of government restrictions, many church leaders had to innovate and embraced technology to deliver live-streamed worship services over the internet. But in-person Bible studies, small groups, counseling services, Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and a multitude of other Christian ministries suspended their activities. Many Christians contend that suspending these services came at a great cost. Deaths associated with alcohol, drugs, and suicide spiked 20% in 2020, claiming the lives of more than 186,000 Americans.

Mannion told TheBlaze in an interview that the government overstepped its authority during the pandemic.

"Bodily autonomy and parental rights [were] often stripped away, livelihoods were lost, dedicated service men and women where forced to retire or be cut from our armed forces, students were robbed of an education, and all for an [infection fatality ratio] of much less than 1%," Mannion said.

He explained that the idea to draft the Acts 5:29 Statement and invite other ministers to sign it came to him after reading "God vs. Government" by authors Nathan Busenitz and James Coates. The book recounts the efforts of pastors John MacArthur and James Coats to defy lockdown orders in Canada and the United States.

"The Church should have spoke up more on these issues. As for overreach more specific to the Church: It is beyond the God given authority, and Constitutional authority, of the Government to restrict numbers or attendance at worship," Mannion said.

He drafted the statement along with Rev. Bill Cook, founder and CEO of America's Black Robe Regiment, an organization of politically active Christian pastors dedicated to preserving "the Blessings of Liberty." It is based on Hebrews 10:25 and Acts 5:29, Bible verses that instruct Christians not to neglect to gather together for worship and forbade obeying laws that violate God's commandments.

So far, 93 ministers from 29 states have signed the statement, which declares that government officials "clearly transgressed their lawful authority in executive action that prohibited public meetings or mandated the wearing of masks and 'social distancing.'"

"As a national coalition of pastors and churches, we reject any Presidential or gubernatorial decree requiring us to disobey the word of God. We will resist any attempt by a Federal, state or local official to restrict or prohibit the free exercise of our Religion or place restrictions thereon," the statement reads.

During the pandemic, legal experts and public health authorities argued it was right and constitutional to order houses of worship to close to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"Religious gatherings are not immune from in effect becoming petri dishes of infection. The potential negative, even catastrophic, consequences resulting from these gatherings are obvious, even if one lacks advanced training in epidemiology," law professors Sanford Levinson and Eric Segall wrote in an April 4, 2020, blog post for the American Constitution Society.

But Mannion and the signatories of the Acts 5:29 Statement dispute those arguments, highlighting the hypocrisy of letting so-called "essential" businesses like Walmart remain open while churches were closed.

"The Church was never a super spreader. Walmart was open with 400 people walking around, but the church could only have 25, and then 0? 'But Walmart is a necessity'. So is the Church. The soul is of infinite more value than the body," Mannion said.

"Jesus said, 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?' The local church is more than capable of taking necessary precautions suitable for it's building and attendance numbers. NO one is forcing anyone to go to church. Each person can make their own risk/benefit assessment without bid daddy in Washington telling him/her what they can and can't do."

The organizers of the statement have set a goal of recruiting 5,000 signatories. On Jan. 1, 2023, the signed statement will be sent to local, state, and federal officials informing them that the undersigned ministers will never close their churches on the government's orders again.

View the full statement here.

No more quarantines or test-to-stay in schools, CDC reveals sweeping changes to COVID-19 guidance



The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Americans no longer need to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, a sweeping announcement that rolls back several of the agency's pandemic recommendations.

In new "streamlined" guidance released Thursday, health officials removed the distinction between vaccinated Americans and those who are not up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, meaning the CDC's guidance is now the same for everyone.

The agency says that individuals exposed to someone with COVID-19 no longer need to quarantine and should instead wear a high-quality face mask for 10 days and get tested after five days. Those who test positive for the virus should isolate while they are sick and come out of isolation once they test negative.

Additionally, testing to screen people for COVID-19 is no longer recommended for anyone who does not have COVID symptoms.

Protocols for schools have also been updated. The CDC has ended its "test-to-stay" strategy, which required that children exposed to the virus test negative to continue in-person learning at school. The agency also removed the recommendation that kids in different classrooms avoid mixing.

While health officials emphasized that the pandemic is not over, they said that new vaccines, treatments, and therapeutics have reduced the risk of severe illness to the point that society can now live with COVID.

“We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools—like vaccination, boosters, and treatments—to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19. We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation," the CDC's Dr. Greta Massetti said in a statement.

"This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives,” she added.

A growing number of Americans say they've already returned to living their lives without disruption from COVID.

Four in 10 Americans say they have returned to their "normal, pre-COVID-19 life," according to a new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. This is an increase from a prior survey in January when only 16% said their lives were back to normal.

A majority of Americans (54%) also said they never or rarely wear a mask when indoors with people who are not from their household. This is the first time a majority has said they never or rarely wear a mask since the question was first asked in September 2021.

“After more than two years of experience with Covid-19 and its effects, the public is largely aware of the nature and risks of infection,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. “A consistent percentage does not believe a pre-Covid normal will ever be restored. But a growing number have returned to their pre-Covid life. One can only hope that those in each group have accurately calculated the risks and benefits that their decision entails.”

Interestingly, there was a partisan and gender split between who reported they had returned to normal and who said they were still living with pandemic restrictions.

Survey respondents who are male, who report being or leaning Republican, who say they aren't regularly wearing masks, or who indicate they are less worried about getting COVID in the next few months were more likely to say their lives had already returned to normal.

Respondents who are female, who say they are Democrats or lean Democratic, who are 65 and older, who regularly wear masks indoors around non-household members, or who are more worried about catching COVID were less likely to report that their lives have returned to normal.

Horowitz: States must pre-emptively nullify any WHO international pandemic regulations



“And now is a time when things are shifting. We’re going to — there’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it. And we’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.” ~Joe Biden, March 21, 2022

Any Republican running for any office this year without mentioning his intent to fight the global pandemic treaty or regulations may as well run as a Democrat. In the past, odious global agreements threatened our national sovereignty. This one will quite literally abrogate our individual sovereignty as human beings and make us all lab rats in the hands of wicked global elite oligarchs.

On May 22, the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the next step in its nefarious pandemic treaty and the quest to use “public health” to expand the WHO’s power over sovereign states. Representatives from 193 nations, including the U.S, will be attending. Interestingly, the only country not invited is Taiwan, of course, at the behest of its Chinese puppet masters. What is the nature of this pandemic treaty agenda?

On Jan. 24, 2022, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, explained the treaty was a “priority” to “urgently strengthen WHO as the leading and directing authority on global health, at the center of the global health architecture.” In chilling words he laid out the guiding principle of this wicked plot. “We all want a world in which science triumphs over misinformation; solidarity triumphs over division; and equity is a reality, not an aspiration,” he added. He concluded, “We are one world, we have one health, we are one WHO.”

Until now, the Biden administration appeared awfully quiet about this treaty, unlike some of the other recent international climate treaties about which officials have been quite vocal. However, it has come to light that several months ago, the Biden administration quietly sent the WHO several amendments to a 2005 international health regulation to be considered at the May 22 meeting about the treaty. At the time, the White House never issued an official statement or held a press conference. The draft was not made public until mid-April.

What is the nature of these amendments? They would essentially allow the director-general of the WHO to declare a public health emergency in a country and unilaterally coerce its citizens to take certain actions. The proposed amendment deletes a critical sentence from Article 9 of the 2005 International Health Regulations: “WHO shall consult with and attempt to obtain verification from the State Party in whose territory the event is allegedly occurring…”

What could be the benign reason for the Biden administration erasing an existing requirement that the WHO first consult with the government of that particular country before making a determination? If there was any doubt about the motivations of these amendments and the direction in which they want to take our sovereignty, look at the next proposed change:

The Biden administration wants all the emergency declarations to be mandatory and cut out all views of the concerned state.

The amendments are also designed to truncate the period of time for approving this travesty. The current WHO regulations provide for an 18-month grace period during which a nation may withdraw its “yes” vote for the amendments. The Biden administration draft proposal would truncate that period to just six months.

There are numerous other additions proposed to the 2005 regulation that strengthen the hand of the director-general, as well as the creation of a new compliance committee that can be used to bully states that don’t cooperate. Under the proposed amendments, the WHO would be tasked with developing an “early warning criteria for assessing and progressively updating the national, regional, or global risk posed by an event of unknown causes or sources …” Unknown causes could encompass anything under the sun.

The salient fact here is that rather than publicly supporting a new pandemic treaty, the Biden administration is trying to use the global momentum for such a treaty to strengthen existing regulations the U.S. already signed on to. The administration will never get 67 votes in the Senate to ratify a formal treaty of this nature. So they are seeking an end run around the Treaty Clause of the Constitution by strengthening this existing agreement.

In a memo from the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, the Biden administration lists 20 countries plus the 27-member European Union as supporting the amendments. Those 20 countries are: Albania, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Japan, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay.

The solution is very simple. Every Republican running for state or local office must pledge to pass a resolution pre-emptively declaring these regulations null and void. Only something ratified by 67 senators has the force of law. Any international hocus-pocus is dead on arrival.

Notice how the Biden administration just held a “global Covid summit,” in which they all unanimously warned about the really bad pandemic this fall that will be worse than what we experienced.

This is the 2-minute summary of the 4-hour 'Global Covid Summit' which took place yesterday\n\nThe global leaders who have lied & pushed a vaccine only strategy all verbally committed themselves to working together via a WHO pandemic "intergovernmental body"\n\nCommon people wake up!pic.twitter.com/sbPkxXU66M
— The Pezant Journalist \u23f3\ud83d\udc41 (@The Pezant Journalist \u23f3\ud83d\udc41) 1652505896

They are clearly grooming the public to accept a Shanghai-style concentration camp created by the global governments. China is gaslighting an even more severe response to what officials seem to know is “coming” next, just as they did in January 2020 in Wuhan. Now is the time to nip the shoots of arbitrary tyrannical powers in the bud before they blossom. Congressional Republicans must commit to blocking all of the WHO’s funding in this upcoming budget bill. State legislatures must be ready to convene and prohibit – and even criminalize – the implementation of any international standard on pandemics. It’s also time for congressional Republicans to create a joint committee along with representatives from each state legislature to investigate which entities were behind the original pandemic. It would certainly shed light on those who seem to have foresight about the next one.

If we are still complacent this time around, after everything we’ve learned and experienced the past two years, we deserve the fate that awaits us.