Santa Clara County, California, imposed some of the harshest Covid restrictions in America. A church and its members defied them — and became the targets of an unprecedented surveillance operation
"...the Unit struck an agreement with the law-abiding church next door to Calvary for the officers to set up camp there for their operations."
Collaborators. A church participating in the repression of religious expression. What's the name of this church, and what is the name of the person in that church who agreed to this?
Also, what's the point of redacting the names of the enforcement officers in the screenshots of court documents? These are public officials, doing taxpayer-funded work, and their names appear in public records. They should be named, along with their direct supervisors. Beyond "Santa Clara County," who did this?
I am minister of the church about which these claims are made, and I can tell you that at least this part of the article is false. I and other members of church leadership were well aware of what was going on in the conflict, and purposefully chose to take no part. In fact, I asked the officer(s) to not use our property for their surveillances, and they complied.
Thank you for the clarification Alexander. Kudos to you for your courage to correct the record, or at least add contextual perspective.
Most law abiding, or naive people would naturally consent to a request from government officials to use their outdoor property for something as innocuous as “surveillance”. So it’s understandable how someone from your church may have actually complied. That being said, it’s inspiring to hear that you and some of your other leaders rebuked their request. Thank you for that effort. Hopefully the truth can be revealed by the OP as it’s important for you to know as well.
And because you mentioned your personal interactions, can you share which agency these officers were representing? Curious if this was a function of the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, San Jose PD, or an ad hoc commissioned entity?
There’s a story of a church is Germany next to the railway lines. When the trains packed full of Jews on their way to camps would stop on Sunday and their cries could be heard in the church. The congregation would sing hymns very loud to drown out the cries. You see, it was not their business….
That's what I said. If you know anything about me or check my Twitter over the past two years, my attitude is actually more sympathetic than not for Calvary. But we are a small church just making ends meet, and literally cannot afford to get involved with the conflict between these two sides.
There was only one just side and you couldn’t be bothered to stand up and be counted. Shame on you. First they came for Calvary, but we weren’t part of that church, then they came for... Next time when the State comes for you, you should pray those at Calvary have the courage of the convictions you clearly lacked. Evil prevails when good men stand by and do nothing.
You know very little about me or the experiences and difficulties our church, or any Bible believing church experienced in the past 2-3 years in California, "Spartacus". Thankfully, the Lord knows everything, and I am subject only to His righteous and fair judgment.
Really? I guess your god is not big enough or strong enough to take on this fight. My God is the Lord Almighty, King of Hosts. He is more than able, perhaps you should switch your allegiance to Him.
I think none of you can judge when you know so little about the other church. . I read stories online that the churches were rivals but without evidence I assume it was just story-telling. As far as I can tell it got caught up only because of the government actions.
Hey, thank you for your understanding. On the internet, people love to think of everyone in extremes but the reality has more nuance. We at Central have always striven to try and avoid being involved with an ongoing and viral nationwide story right over the fence. It is the very definition of "not our business". As a Christian, however, I have regularly prayed for "the church over the fence" and the county, that all matters can be resolved in a peaceful and just way.
lol, you didn't open your Church for your people? You failed your people during the time of need and showed yourself to be a follower not a leader. You should resign.
I would also like to encourage you to, instead of treating the right to freedom of worship as "not your business" that you reach across the fence to your brothers and sisters in Christ in the church next door and in the churches down the street and across the city from you, and create an association dedicated to the legal defense of your collective freedom of worship that can stand up for you in the courts.
I suggest this because, having done this once and very nearly gotten away with it except for a brave handful of churches, your county and state are going to try it again. There will be a NEXT TIME.
Freedom of Religion, the right to worship as you see fit when and where and how you see fit, should not be surrendered to anyone.
As the Apostles said in the Book of Acts, "We ought to obey God rather than man." And God commands us to meet and fellowship with our fellow believers as often as we can arrange it.
I could wish for your sake and the sake of other smaller churches like yours, that the medium-sized and large churches had all stood up for the sake of their congregants and the sake of the Gospel, and afforded you greater legal cover. If they had, if all of the churches had then been able to stand together, the county would have had to back down, and so much faster.
As it is, I understand your concerns about being persecuted and punitively pursued beyond your means to fight back in the courts. It's insane that in The Land of the Free that should have to be a concern, but it has become an unfortunate reality for so many of us.
For some reason I am not seeing my earlier reply, so not sure if it is showing up. There are multiple legal documents with sworn testimony and signed declarations by enforcement officers clearly laying out how the church next-door explicitly gave them permission to use their property to surveil Calvary
Given the choice of believing bureaucrats or the neighboring church, the last three years has made it obvious that bureaucrats can’t be trusted at all. With anything.
They perjure themselves and falsify documents with no repercussions at all. I believe the church.
".....multiple legal documents with sworn testimony and signed declarations by enforcement officers...."
may have been fabricated to suit their "purpose" - I was thinking the same.
As you suggest - after what we have seen these past few years, it is reasonable to make that "leap".
Accusing the Minister of being dishonest may seem the "obvious answer", however, may not be the correct answer.
Hopefully, we will soon be learning the extent of the lies and deception we have endured these past few years. One thing for sure - it will not be pretty.
Did you contact this church before publishing your article? Considering the potential impact of the assertions you made in the article, this would seem like standard journalistic practice.
David, thank you for the exceptional story. Would you please consider releasing the specific documents & affidavits containing the identities of all of the enforcement group? I understand the information exists in the public domain but it’s very cumbersome and time consuming for the interested parties to locate this information on our own. If not the documents, then perhaps specific web links? Thank you again, to you and Chris for undertaking this immensely valuable work and sharing it with the world. You are all on the right side of history and this story will be relevant for generations.
Well, we were never asked our side of the story. I suppose the story of our "involvement" is minor compared to the other bigger claims in this report, but still! It is what it is. Thankfully, other reporters have come to ask our side of things.
I'd guess that this sort of sentiment is why Zweig chose to omit their names.
These people were just functionaries (whose names are nonetheless in the public filings) and the names of the people actually responsible are given or are widely known. They are the ones susceptible to political pressure (the way "wrath" should be expressed in a civil society).
Two films for your benevolent sentiments: “Ordinary Men” and “The Lives of Others”. Condoning the acts of malicious functionaries is tantamount to complicity in their crimes. Consequences are a function of justice in a civil society.
I agree. But the people whose names have been omitted here are at least one level below the strata of functionaries whose behavior we need to change, and, either way, the solution is not to unleash the "wrath" of the general public on them.
It's certainly a judgment call, and I just think Zweig's decision is a perfectly reasonable one.
...ummmm...one level below the strata of functionaries---and paid $219/hour with taxpayer monies (emphasis), which is a dozen levels above the paygrade of the overwhelming majority of Americans.
That's why you disclose: the public's right to know how and by whom/for whom such monies are being used.
Thanks David! This is great reporting of a truly terrible story. In the America I want to live in Cody is rotting in prison for the rest of her life.
I wish I knew about Calvary earlier on. I barely made it to Fall 2021 when the shot mandates were reaching peak insanity. I started attending Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, CA for all the reasons many of the folks you interviewed here did. It was also going against state orders and filled with maskless worshippers. I’d been a moral atheist for 47 years and certainly never thought I’d find a home in an evangelical church, but that’s what happened. I’m not going to Destiny any longer as it was too far from Berkeley, but both my wife and I are at church every week, in a small couples group together, and attend the men’s and women’s ministry events each week. I’ve never been so connected to other people in my life. It is wonderful.
After nearly everyone, from my in-laws to my best friend to the parents of the kids that I had coached for over a decade kicked us to the curb for not getting the shot, we were very broken people. I can forgive them, but all those old people are still gone, presumably because they are now embarrassed for turning into Nazis just like the Santa Clara Health Department did, and now ALL of the data is on the side of those that remained unafraid and charted a course of their own. All my Christian friends are here, unafraid, living normal lives and loving people deeply. Maybe one day these others will come back to me, but I’m only looking forward now with a new and deep connection to God. As hard as it was to live through, I’d not change a single thing.
What a life!
Check out Toby Rogers post from yesterday. It’s related to the topic.
What a beautiful story in the midst of darkness. Praise God for those that stood firm and through that, many found hope through Christ. Thanks for sharing!
thank you for sharing your story! It is a sad situation that is going on with all the gaslighting and hate, but the TRUTH will set you FREE! God has not given us a spirit of fear! They meant it for EVIL but God is working this for His GOOD!
I love this quote as it say so much about the evils that have been inflicted on people over the last 3 years:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
"I, for one, support the full brunt of totalitarian overreach being brought against any individual or group that does anything that I don't personally approve of."
Signed,
The Vast Majority of California Residents in 2021 & 2022
Our family thought and prayed long and hard about this and decided in early summer 2020 that attending in-person church services was the best way we could actively love our neighbors in a time of major anxiety and fear.
As those you interviewed noted, I too felt as though I was forced into what was now classified "criminal" activity by my local authorities. While shopping malls, liquor stores, and weed shops were fully open, church doors around our city were forced to remain closed. I was watching my own family and friends suffer and decided it was time to humbly protest by going, being present with others, praying together and....gasp....singing together.
For that decision I was derided by local authorities and even other Christians. Dark times.
I will never regret my decision to continue meeting together with my fellow brothers and sisters in a moment of fear.
First, NPIs are now known to have been ineffective. More importantly, they were never known to be effective. None of the impositions inflicted upon people for the purpose of "public health" were capable to attaining their goals. And, generally, government authorities were aware that their demands wouldn't have any effect. A public health authority should have likewise been aware of the science, which did not (and still does not) support these NPIs as effective tools to combat an airborne virus. Because the NPIs were incapable of reaching their public health goals, they were arbitrary, and therefore unlawful/unconstitutional.
Second, the NPIs not only did not work, they were counter-productive. They caused harms that resulted in people demanding the fellowship to be found in a church. The county created a vicious feedback loop that was bound to cause harm directly to individual people, or to the community (by the violations of the NPIs, as they saw it, but because the mandates were intrinsically ineffective, those harms didn't materialize, leaving the only, actual harms - those that directly resulted from the county mandates - it wasn't even a wash).
And here is why authorities were so insistent in the enforcement of their declarations (and to me, evidence that they knew the NPIs were ineffective):
"Each of the congregants I spoke with mentioned that while they were not dismissive of the harms of Covid, they were in church week after week, with hundreds, or more than a thousand other people, and there was nothing noticeable happening. In Calvary’s declarations they point out that there is no evidence that church attendees had a higher rate of Covid infections than the community at large."
Government authorities could not allow gatherings, such as in the church, that would eventually demonstrate COVID wasn't the threat it was being presented as. People were punished for violating the rules, because their violations threatened to expose the NPI regimes as fraudulent. Remember when an "expert" declared that the Sturgis motorcycle rally would result in 250,000 COVID cases? I do. I also never saw a follow-up by anyone attempting to demonstrate that those cases materialized. The Sturgis rally defied the predictions, and threatened to unmask the COVID NPI regime as useless. Too many incidents like this, and the jig would be up. Calvary Church had to be crushed, lest the rest of the community realize that the mandated NPIs weren't necessary for public health and safety.
Churches & gyms were shut down while massage parlors were allowed to stay open & protesters were allowed to gather in massive numbers on city streets. It was straight out of 1984.
I am glad this subject is finally being discussed and showing the wild overreach this one church experienced. I debate with my parents who are in their 70's on this topic from time to time. Often starting with a little story called, 'Daniel in the Lions Den'. Or, "Do you think Jesus or the apostles would have bent the knee like so many did?". My own church still does not pass an offering plate but provides the WEF approved QR code on their big screens. I shudder watching a handful of folks break out their cell and snap a quick pic of the larger than life digital tracker. I often wonder what percent of funds they are losing weekly abandoning the practice of passing the plate/basket. Sad. Sad that the one group that have moral and constitutional values, packed up their things so quickly and kiss the boot of the same institution that will be looking to close their doors down the road. I'm sure 'Superspreader' was used on a loop when "covering" this one brave church/pastor, yet I don't recall this article mentioning attendees parking next to cold body storage trucks or dodging people falling over on their way in. Thank you for your reporting and for their bravery, during a time which this could have ended much quicker if more churches did the same.
when we lived in NYC, we attended the famous St Barts on Park Ave. we still get appeals for dollars in the mail even though we've moved and can no longer attend. but imagine my shock and extreme disappointment to get a form letter one day stating that all volunteers in the soup kitchen and the homeless shelter run by the church would have to be fully vaccinated and would have to show prove of said vaccination in order to help out and can you send money please!
absolutely disgraceful! i took the letter and scrawled all over it "didn't jesus hang with lepers?" and other such sarcastic criticisms, stuck it in an envelope and mailed it back to them.
my BF, generous soul that he is, was still tithing to them even after we had moved. their ostracism of the unvaccinated put an end to that foolishness. they'll never get another penny from us
Wow. I refused to go during the lockdowns until churches relinquished their facial covering requirements. Which while writing still blows my mind that any church would have a requirement of attendees. Reminding me of the oldschool Baptist church I grew up in that would shame those as not well dressed as others during Sunday service. Not to their faces of course, just the typical Baptist way, behind their backs while strolling past the Pastors Parking spot next to the front door.
I'm glad that you've decided to take a stand David. I'm not sure what's different now than it was when I initially contacted you back in the fall of 2021. As you'll recall, I essentially begged you to do the right thing as an investigative journalists and tell the American people the truth about early treatments. I believe you had the respect and reputation to save countless lives here in America and around the globe by providing the scientific proof on early treatment and the coordinated efforts to censor medical research not only in America but around the globe as well, but you didn't take action. I sent you countless emails with detailed information about the amazing results from Uttar Pradesh where every home, in every village, of over 240 million people received a "home medicine kit" that included ivermectin. The distribution of those kits was praised and actually helped in the distribution process by the WHO yet they refused to confirm the contents of the kits. I even had a photographic imagine of the insert in the kits. I also provided front page newspaper reports from the region that noted that ivermectin had saved the lives of the citizen's of the region and essentially ended the pandemic within 3 months time. And that was with the more deadly Delta variant. I also shared the accusation by the Indian Bar Association who charged the leaders of the WHO with "crimes against humanity" by interfering with the acceptance and mass distribution of ivermectin in India and around the globe. Yes, one can say better late than never but I'm curious how you're feeling about the actions you failed to take back then. You had asked me to stop emailing you, which I did. You also stated you were very busy getting your book written. I'm also curious how that turned out for you? I suspect your readers might be as well.
It’s an interesting back cast and I agree with your points about ivermectin and other early treatment options, many of which I was on prophylactically and through my acute covid illness.
My family was brutalized living in Berkeley, CA unvaccinated and loud about it, and my 14 year old was even assaulted and given a concussion in school for our decision. We lost my wife’s best friend to the shot on 4/6/21 and I never stopped telling people about the dangers of this experimental product. A mutual friend put me in touch with David and he listened to our story, and we had a great conversation about all that had taken place. We have much in common and getting his ear to discuss our situation was deeply meaningful to me. It is my impression that we all did what we needed to in order to make it through. For some that included a bit of hiding out in order to avoid the madness of the community. I believe David is in a community like Berkeley filled with narrative zealots. I have often thought it may have been a wiser decision to have taken a lower profile and avoided the hostility directed at my family. Writing about alternative treatments, as much as I wish every reporter on earth had done so, was career and community suicide. I don’t think it is fair to judge someone overly harshly for this decision. What matters is what happens next. Now that those that fought the narrative have been proven correct on nearly every point, can we get the support of the mainstream news outlets. As this article demonstrates, I believe David Zweig may become one of the most important voices to get us to the other side where the truth of it all comes out. From what I have seen he deserves our support as this hopefully comes to fruition.
Thank you for that thoughtful reply Dan. I have been supporting the FLCCC since before they even formally became the FLCCC so I've had a front row seat to the nightmare. My work was to try to get journalists to learn the truth and efficacy of early treatment as we all naively believed once Biden was in office, the science would be respected and treatment would be approved. Then it became political and unfortunately the Dems got on the wrong side of history. I had been a lifelong liberal democratic activist. I watched this team of the most respected critical care physicians get trashed so that they could save lives. David was not willing to risk anything, as others have. He was not supportive at all, at the time. I am glad to hear that he was indeed helpful to you personally so I'm grateful to learn that. I'm not suggesting it was ever an easy choice. Like you, I lost friends and family. I live in the most democratic area in Oregon and was a social pariah for being unvaccinated. Sometimes it's necessary to put one's needs aside and do whatever is necessary to save lives of human beings. Yes, it's a huge sacrifice but others have made it. I wrote a substack sharing my truth about such a topic. As a retired psychologist, I asked myself, if I was still working due to financial realities, would I have risked my license to save others. Although I stated that I had hoped that I would, I concluded that it's impossible to know for sure. As you astutely saw, I'm still angry with David. I don't however agree that he'll ever be one of the most "important voices to get us to the other side". He lost his chance for that while others have indeed stepped up. One thing I've been working hard to overcome during my adult life. I've been a grudge holder for decades. It's time for me to see this as part of that issue. Thanks for the nudge:) I wish we lived in the same state so that we could connect.
I respect & admire your efforts. The confusion of science with politics has been the worst thing to happen in the 21st century (so far). It's destroyed my faith in some institutions I used to revere. Among them NIH, CDC, NPR, PBS, and just about every news & medical publication in America.
Your grudge is quite obvious. Just an observation, but while it was ok for you to refuse to take the jab it’s not ok for David to refuse to write the article you demanded he write?
We're talking about saving countless lives. There are consequences to the decisions we make. It took great courage and sacrifice for many physicians to save lives of their patients during the pandemic. By providing early treatment with FDA approved off-label drugs, they risked their careers, medical license and reputation to do so. David had a chance to be a hero. He passed. I'm just saying......
I'm lucky. None of my vax'd friends or colleagues beat me about the head for my decision. So I hold no grudges at the family/friend level. But at the local, state, national, and international levels, yes oh very much so.
Wow that's a powerful story. It's true that a lot of people who originally got it wrong are now jumping on the bandwagon as though they have new information when it's actually old information. But at this point I tend to appreciate even those who are grandstanding on an issue they originally got wrong. Truth has to get out somehow, and the early voices (McCullough, Malone, Bhattacharya) were censored out of existence. So now the "cleansed" group is allowed to speak the message. Ok, but the message needs to get out.
I agree Helen that the truth must get out! For me, there's also an issue of trust. Can we really trust someone who failed to stand up and do the right thing? I'm struggling with this question. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if well respected journalists like David banded together and refused to continue the lie. It reminds me of the people who stayed in the Trump administration but then tried to sell their back stories, for profit, once the administration ended. Again, if those on his cabinet and those in the West Wing had all banned together to tell the truth of what they were observing, they could have prevented considerable harm to our democracy. The same is true of physicians. By banning together, perhaps in each hospital, they could have had significant power over the administration who were not in any position to lose their medical staff. Instead, they each protected their financial well being rather than the health of their patients. Could anything have been more unethical or egregious?
This snark needs to go..."None of the people I interviewed thought Covid was a hoax, or that the vaccine was a conspiracy by Bill Gates, or any other nonsense that has so often been ascribed to anyone who didn’t want to follow every Covid rule without questions." Cause conspiracy theorists should be denied civil rights. The concept that someone who argued against the consensus is demeaned in this way is poison as we move forward unraveing this operation. This gate keeping had got to go.
To anyone with the intellect to understand what really occurred, it is clear with certainty that covid was a flu (SARS-COV2) turned into a pLandemic. The pLandemic having two primary purposes, a. set the conditions to steal the 2020 election, and b. to force the injection of millions of people with an experimental potion, the total effects of which is still unknown and may be never known (although it is clear all cause mortality is off the charts now), while paying for it all with the massive redistribution of tax dollars to the animals who precipitated this, among them, the monster Bill Gates and his cohort Fauci.
Honestly the doctors I've encountered over the past 5-10 years are increasingly neutered by the system they are part of. It's one large bureaucracy, thanks in part to Obamacare, that tells them what they can and cannot do. All couched in "quality of care" jargon. Also increasingly they are young and from foreign countries whose cultures don't necessarily foster a stand-up-to-tyranny mentality. I escalated my request for HCQ and/or Ivermectin through my PCP to the top of Palo Alto Medical Foundation (now "Sutter Health") and got a stone wall.
which is why i only go to doctors who don't take insurance and i pay out of pocket, even though i am on medicare. obviously if i get hit by a bus and need surgery, i have to be "in the system" but for everything else i steer clear of the large bureaucracy which now has a code to report an unvaccinated person
"...the Unit struck an agreement with the law-abiding church next door to Calvary for the officers to set up camp there for their operations."
Collaborators. A church participating in the repression of religious expression. What's the name of this church, and what is the name of the person in that church who agreed to this?
Also, what's the point of redacting the names of the enforcement officers in the screenshots of court documents? These are public officials, doing taxpayer-funded work, and their names appear in public records. They should be named, along with their direct supervisors. Beyond "Santa Clara County," who did this?
I am minister of the church about which these claims are made, and I can tell you that at least this part of the article is false. I and other members of church leadership were well aware of what was going on in the conflict, and purposefully chose to take no part. In fact, I asked the officer(s) to not use our property for their surveillances, and they complied.
Thank you for the clarification Alexander. Kudos to you for your courage to correct the record, or at least add contextual perspective.
Most law abiding, or naive people would naturally consent to a request from government officials to use their outdoor property for something as innocuous as “surveillance”. So it’s understandable how someone from your church may have actually complied. That being said, it’s inspiring to hear that you and some of your other leaders rebuked their request. Thank you for that effort. Hopefully the truth can be revealed by the OP as it’s important for you to know as well.
And because you mentioned your personal interactions, can you share which agency these officers were representing? Curious if this was a function of the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, San Jose PD, or an ad hoc commissioned entity?
“Not our business” Wow. Just WOW!
There’s a story of a church is Germany next to the railway lines. When the trains packed full of Jews on their way to camps would stop on Sunday and their cries could be heard in the church. The congregation would sing hymns very loud to drown out the cries. You see, it was not their business….
Sounds like standard Holocaust fairy tales.
"and when they came for me, there was no one to speak for me."
That's what I said. If you know anything about me or check my Twitter over the past two years, my attitude is actually more sympathetic than not for Calvary. But we are a small church just making ends meet, and literally cannot afford to get involved with the conflict between these two sides.
There was only one just side and you couldn’t be bothered to stand up and be counted. Shame on you. First they came for Calvary, but we weren’t part of that church, then they came for... Next time when the State comes for you, you should pray those at Calvary have the courage of the convictions you clearly lacked. Evil prevails when good men stand by and do nothing.
You know very little about me or the experiences and difficulties our church, or any Bible believing church experienced in the past 2-3 years in California, "Spartacus". Thankfully, the Lord knows everything, and I am subject only to His righteous and fair judgment.
Small and you'll stay small because you chose fear of man over fear of God, unlike your neighbour.
Really? I guess your god is not big enough or strong enough to take on this fight. My God is the Lord Almighty, King of Hosts. He is more than able, perhaps you should switch your allegiance to Him.
Why did you mighty God allow the covid fraud to be carried out?
So money is more important than God, we see.
I think none of you can judge when you know so little about the other church. . I read stories online that the churches were rivals but without evidence I assume it was just story-telling. As far as I can tell it got caught up only because of the government actions.
You don’t understand God or our constitution.
Hey, thank you for your understanding. On the internet, people love to think of everyone in extremes but the reality has more nuance. We at Central have always striven to try and avoid being involved with an ongoing and viral nationwide story right over the fence. It is the very definition of "not our business". As a Christian, however, I have regularly prayed for "the church over the fence" and the county, that all matters can be resolved in a peaceful and just way.
You're a coward.
lol, you didn't open your Church for your people? You failed your people during the time of need and showed yourself to be a follower not a leader. You should resign.
I would also like to encourage you to, instead of treating the right to freedom of worship as "not your business" that you reach across the fence to your brothers and sisters in Christ in the church next door and in the churches down the street and across the city from you, and create an association dedicated to the legal defense of your collective freedom of worship that can stand up for you in the courts.
I suggest this because, having done this once and very nearly gotten away with it except for a brave handful of churches, your county and state are going to try it again. There will be a NEXT TIME.
Freedom of Religion, the right to worship as you see fit when and where and how you see fit, should not be surrendered to anyone.
As the Apostles said in the Book of Acts, "We ought to obey God rather than man." And God commands us to meet and fellowship with our fellow believers as often as we can arrange it.
Well said!
I could wish for your sake and the sake of other smaller churches like yours, that the medium-sized and large churches had all stood up for the sake of their congregants and the sake of the Gospel, and afforded you greater legal cover. If they had, if all of the churches had then been able to stand together, the county would have had to back down, and so much faster.
As it is, I understand your concerns about being persecuted and punitively pursued beyond your means to fight back in the courts. It's insane that in The Land of the Free that should have to be a concern, but it has become an unfortunate reality for so many of us.
Good points!
Thank you. I appreciate this response.
For some reason I am not seeing my earlier reply, so not sure if it is showing up. There are multiple legal documents with sworn testimony and signed declarations by enforcement officers clearly laying out how the church next-door explicitly gave them permission to use their property to surveil Calvary
You've found a story that's even more interesting than it looked at first glance. If memories are beginning to change....
Given the choice of believing bureaucrats or the neighboring church, the last three years has made it obvious that bureaucrats can’t be trusted at all. With anything.
They perjure themselves and falsify documents with no repercussions at all. I believe the church.
Yes - if you are suggesting that perhaps the:
".....multiple legal documents with sworn testimony and signed declarations by enforcement officers...."
may have been fabricated to suit their "purpose" - I was thinking the same.
As you suggest - after what we have seen these past few years, it is reasonable to make that "leap".
Accusing the Minister of being dishonest may seem the "obvious answer", however, may not be the correct answer.
Hopefully, we will soon be learning the extent of the lies and deception we have endured these past few years. One thing for sure - it will not be pretty.
Did you contact this church before publishing your article? Considering the potential impact of the assertions you made in the article, this would seem like standard journalistic practice.
David, thank you for the exceptional story. Would you please consider releasing the specific documents & affidavits containing the identities of all of the enforcement group? I understand the information exists in the public domain but it’s very cumbersome and time consuming for the interested parties to locate this information on our own. If not the documents, then perhaps specific web links? Thank you again, to you and Chris for undertaking this immensely valuable work and sharing it with the world. You are all on the right side of history and this story will be relevant for generations.
Mike McClure is the Pastor of Calvary Chapel San Jose.
I can't believe I'm actually asking this question, but how did the reporter get such a critical detail wrong?
Well, we were never asked our side of the story. I suppose the story of our "involvement" is minor compared to the other bigger claims in this report, but still! It is what it is. Thankfully, other reporters have come to ask our side of things.
I'm 100% sure there will be a full-page retraction published
Doubtful. If the writer felt we weren't important enough to interview, I doubt he feels we are important enough for a retraction.
Thank you for this emphasis! Name these nazis. Let them feel the wrath of their crimes
I'd guess that this sort of sentiment is why Zweig chose to omit their names.
These people were just functionaries (whose names are nonetheless in the public filings) and the names of the people actually responsible are given or are widely known. They are the ones susceptible to political pressure (the way "wrath" should be expressed in a civil society).
Two films for your benevolent sentiments: “Ordinary Men” and “The Lives of Others”. Condoning the acts of malicious functionaries is tantamount to complicity in their crimes. Consequences are a function of justice in a civil society.
I was thinking of The Lives of Others as I was reading.
I agree. But the people whose names have been omitted here are at least one level below the strata of functionaries whose behavior we need to change, and, either way, the solution is not to unleash the "wrath" of the general public on them.
It's certainly a judgment call, and I just think Zweig's decision is a perfectly reasonable one.
...ummmm...one level below the strata of functionaries---and paid $219/hour with taxpayer monies (emphasis), which is a dozen levels above the paygrade of the overwhelming majority of Americans.
That's why you disclose: the public's right to know how and by whom/for whom such monies are being used.
He has disclosed the fact and the "by whom". That's all that is relevant.
And yes, I agree that it's a ridiculous hourly rate.
At $219/hour, too.
What country was this? When I finished reading this lengthy article I forgot which country he was talking about.
East Germany, I think.
Chris, Calvary is at 1175 Hillsdale Avenue in San Jose. it looks like the church next door is Church of Christ Central, on Foxworthy Ave.
Crown of Life Christian Church is also right across Hillsdale. I've emailed Calvary to see if they know and will say.
Thanks David! This is great reporting of a truly terrible story. In the America I want to live in Cody is rotting in prison for the rest of her life.
I wish I knew about Calvary earlier on. I barely made it to Fall 2021 when the shot mandates were reaching peak insanity. I started attending Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, CA for all the reasons many of the folks you interviewed here did. It was also going against state orders and filled with maskless worshippers. I’d been a moral atheist for 47 years and certainly never thought I’d find a home in an evangelical church, but that’s what happened. I’m not going to Destiny any longer as it was too far from Berkeley, but both my wife and I are at church every week, in a small couples group together, and attend the men’s and women’s ministry events each week. I’ve never been so connected to other people in my life. It is wonderful.
After nearly everyone, from my in-laws to my best friend to the parents of the kids that I had coached for over a decade kicked us to the curb for not getting the shot, we were very broken people. I can forgive them, but all those old people are still gone, presumably because they are now embarrassed for turning into Nazis just like the Santa Clara Health Department did, and now ALL of the data is on the side of those that remained unafraid and charted a course of their own. All my Christian friends are here, unafraid, living normal lives and loving people deeply. Maybe one day these others will come back to me, but I’m only looking forward now with a new and deep connection to God. As hard as it was to live through, I’d not change a single thing.
What a life!
Check out Toby Rogers post from yesterday. It’s related to the topic.
https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/fighting-the-spiritual-battle-on
What a beautiful testimony. I am so happy for you and your wife.
Jesus is the Truth, and He sets free all that are so inclined.
This is not the first time that society entered a dark age, and the church is what got it through.
What a beautiful story in the midst of darkness. Praise God for those that stood firm and through that, many found hope through Christ. Thanks for sharing!
Praise the Lord! Glad you found Jesus!
Welcome to the family! Your story makes me very happy. Praise God.
thank you for sharing your story! It is a sad situation that is going on with all the gaslighting and hate, but the TRUTH will set you FREE! God has not given us a spirit of fear! They meant it for EVIL but God is working this for His GOOD!
What church in berkeley do you attend? I need a church 😊
I drive out to a church in Castro Valley.
I love this quote as it say so much about the evils that have been inflicted on people over the last 3 years:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
― C. S. Lewis
That is a great quote. And perfectly sums up living in California.
They should have been watching French Laundry - I heard there were some bad violations there...
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"I, for one, support the full brunt of totalitarian overreach being brought against any individual or group that does anything that I don't personally approve of."
Signed,
The Vast Majority of California Residents in 2021 & 2022
Thank you for reporting on this David!
Our family thought and prayed long and hard about this and decided in early summer 2020 that attending in-person church services was the best way we could actively love our neighbors in a time of major anxiety and fear.
As those you interviewed noted, I too felt as though I was forced into what was now classified "criminal" activity by my local authorities. While shopping malls, liquor stores, and weed shops were fully open, church doors around our city were forced to remain closed. I was watching my own family and friends suffer and decided it was time to humbly protest by going, being present with others, praying together and....gasp....singing together.
For that decision I was derided by local authorities and even other Christians. Dark times.
I will never regret my decision to continue meeting together with my fellow brothers and sisters in a moment of fear.
Thank you for your reporting!
I admire your courage, hope I would do likewise.
Two things in this article strike me.
First, NPIs are now known to have been ineffective. More importantly, they were never known to be effective. None of the impositions inflicted upon people for the purpose of "public health" were capable to attaining their goals. And, generally, government authorities were aware that their demands wouldn't have any effect. A public health authority should have likewise been aware of the science, which did not (and still does not) support these NPIs as effective tools to combat an airborne virus. Because the NPIs were incapable of reaching their public health goals, they were arbitrary, and therefore unlawful/unconstitutional.
Second, the NPIs not only did not work, they were counter-productive. They caused harms that resulted in people demanding the fellowship to be found in a church. The county created a vicious feedback loop that was bound to cause harm directly to individual people, or to the community (by the violations of the NPIs, as they saw it, but because the mandates were intrinsically ineffective, those harms didn't materialize, leaving the only, actual harms - those that directly resulted from the county mandates - it wasn't even a wash).
And here is why authorities were so insistent in the enforcement of their declarations (and to me, evidence that they knew the NPIs were ineffective):
"Each of the congregants I spoke with mentioned that while they were not dismissive of the harms of Covid, they were in church week after week, with hundreds, or more than a thousand other people, and there was nothing noticeable happening. In Calvary’s declarations they point out that there is no evidence that church attendees had a higher rate of Covid infections than the community at large."
Government authorities could not allow gatherings, such as in the church, that would eventually demonstrate COVID wasn't the threat it was being presented as. People were punished for violating the rules, because their violations threatened to expose the NPI regimes as fraudulent. Remember when an "expert" declared that the Sturgis motorcycle rally would result in 250,000 COVID cases? I do. I also never saw a follow-up by anyone attempting to demonstrate that those cases materialized. The Sturgis rally defied the predictions, and threatened to unmask the COVID NPI regime as useless. Too many incidents like this, and the jig would be up. Calvary Church had to be crushed, lest the rest of the community realize that the mandated NPIs weren't necessary for public health and safety.
remember joe biden wishing us all a winter of severe illness and death? that also never happened
Please establish what you mean by NPI in your first paragraph.
NPI = Non-pharmaceutical interventions (masking, social distancing, lockdowns, etc.)
Thank you!
Precisely. Thank you for making the main point.
Very well said.
Churches & gyms were shut down while massage parlors were allowed to stay open & protesters were allowed to gather in massive numbers on city streets. It was straight out of 1984.
Proving it was not about a virus at all. Never.
We need Nuremberg trials for the scum that perpetrated this persecution. Now.
I am glad this subject is finally being discussed and showing the wild overreach this one church experienced. I debate with my parents who are in their 70's on this topic from time to time. Often starting with a little story called, 'Daniel in the Lions Den'. Or, "Do you think Jesus or the apostles would have bent the knee like so many did?". My own church still does not pass an offering plate but provides the WEF approved QR code on their big screens. I shudder watching a handful of folks break out their cell and snap a quick pic of the larger than life digital tracker. I often wonder what percent of funds they are losing weekly abandoning the practice of passing the plate/basket. Sad. Sad that the one group that have moral and constitutional values, packed up their things so quickly and kiss the boot of the same institution that will be looking to close their doors down the road. I'm sure 'Superspreader' was used on a loop when "covering" this one brave church/pastor, yet I don't recall this article mentioning attendees parking next to cold body storage trucks or dodging people falling over on their way in. Thank you for your reporting and for their bravery, during a time which this could have ended much quicker if more churches did the same.
when we lived in NYC, we attended the famous St Barts on Park Ave. we still get appeals for dollars in the mail even though we've moved and can no longer attend. but imagine my shock and extreme disappointment to get a form letter one day stating that all volunteers in the soup kitchen and the homeless shelter run by the church would have to be fully vaccinated and would have to show prove of said vaccination in order to help out and can you send money please!
absolutely disgraceful! i took the letter and scrawled all over it "didn't jesus hang with lepers?" and other such sarcastic criticisms, stuck it in an envelope and mailed it back to them.
my BF, generous soul that he is, was still tithing to them even after we had moved. their ostracism of the unvaccinated put an end to that foolishness. they'll never get another penny from us
And I forgot --- Good on you for calling them out! We need to continue to do so. Never forget any/all harms that were done, no matter how small.
Wow. I refused to go during the lockdowns until churches relinquished their facial covering requirements. Which while writing still blows my mind that any church would have a requirement of attendees. Reminding me of the oldschool Baptist church I grew up in that would shame those as not well dressed as others during Sunday service. Not to their faces of course, just the typical Baptist way, behind their backs while strolling past the Pastors Parking spot next to the front door.
Incredible reporting. I’ve subscribed!
I'm glad that you've decided to take a stand David. I'm not sure what's different now than it was when I initially contacted you back in the fall of 2021. As you'll recall, I essentially begged you to do the right thing as an investigative journalists and tell the American people the truth about early treatments. I believe you had the respect and reputation to save countless lives here in America and around the globe by providing the scientific proof on early treatment and the coordinated efforts to censor medical research not only in America but around the globe as well, but you didn't take action. I sent you countless emails with detailed information about the amazing results from Uttar Pradesh where every home, in every village, of over 240 million people received a "home medicine kit" that included ivermectin. The distribution of those kits was praised and actually helped in the distribution process by the WHO yet they refused to confirm the contents of the kits. I even had a photographic imagine of the insert in the kits. I also provided front page newspaper reports from the region that noted that ivermectin had saved the lives of the citizen's of the region and essentially ended the pandemic within 3 months time. And that was with the more deadly Delta variant. I also shared the accusation by the Indian Bar Association who charged the leaders of the WHO with "crimes against humanity" by interfering with the acceptance and mass distribution of ivermectin in India and around the globe. Yes, one can say better late than never but I'm curious how you're feeling about the actions you failed to take back then. You had asked me to stop emailing you, which I did. You also stated you were very busy getting your book written. I'm also curious how that turned out for you? I suspect your readers might be as well.
It’s an interesting back cast and I agree with your points about ivermectin and other early treatment options, many of which I was on prophylactically and through my acute covid illness.
My family was brutalized living in Berkeley, CA unvaccinated and loud about it, and my 14 year old was even assaulted and given a concussion in school for our decision. We lost my wife’s best friend to the shot on 4/6/21 and I never stopped telling people about the dangers of this experimental product. A mutual friend put me in touch with David and he listened to our story, and we had a great conversation about all that had taken place. We have much in common and getting his ear to discuss our situation was deeply meaningful to me. It is my impression that we all did what we needed to in order to make it through. For some that included a bit of hiding out in order to avoid the madness of the community. I believe David is in a community like Berkeley filled with narrative zealots. I have often thought it may have been a wiser decision to have taken a lower profile and avoided the hostility directed at my family. Writing about alternative treatments, as much as I wish every reporter on earth had done so, was career and community suicide. I don’t think it is fair to judge someone overly harshly for this decision. What matters is what happens next. Now that those that fought the narrative have been proven correct on nearly every point, can we get the support of the mainstream news outlets. As this article demonstrates, I believe David Zweig may become one of the most important voices to get us to the other side where the truth of it all comes out. From what I have seen he deserves our support as this hopefully comes to fruition.
Thank you for that thoughtful reply Dan. I have been supporting the FLCCC since before they even formally became the FLCCC so I've had a front row seat to the nightmare. My work was to try to get journalists to learn the truth and efficacy of early treatment as we all naively believed once Biden was in office, the science would be respected and treatment would be approved. Then it became political and unfortunately the Dems got on the wrong side of history. I had been a lifelong liberal democratic activist. I watched this team of the most respected critical care physicians get trashed so that they could save lives. David was not willing to risk anything, as others have. He was not supportive at all, at the time. I am glad to hear that he was indeed helpful to you personally so I'm grateful to learn that. I'm not suggesting it was ever an easy choice. Like you, I lost friends and family. I live in the most democratic area in Oregon and was a social pariah for being unvaccinated. Sometimes it's necessary to put one's needs aside and do whatever is necessary to save lives of human beings. Yes, it's a huge sacrifice but others have made it. I wrote a substack sharing my truth about such a topic. As a retired psychologist, I asked myself, if I was still working due to financial realities, would I have risked my license to save others. Although I stated that I had hoped that I would, I concluded that it's impossible to know for sure. As you astutely saw, I'm still angry with David. I don't however agree that he'll ever be one of the most "important voices to get us to the other side". He lost his chance for that while others have indeed stepped up. One thing I've been working hard to overcome during my adult life. I've been a grudge holder for decades. It's time for me to see this as part of that issue. Thanks for the nudge:) I wish we lived in the same state so that we could connect.
I respect & admire your efforts. The confusion of science with politics has been the worst thing to happen in the 21st century (so far). It's destroyed my faith in some institutions I used to revere. Among them NIH, CDC, NPR, PBS, and just about every news & medical publication in America.
Your grudge is quite obvious. Just an observation, but while it was ok for you to refuse to take the jab it’s not ok for David to refuse to write the article you demanded he write?
We're talking about saving countless lives. There are consequences to the decisions we make. It took great courage and sacrifice for many physicians to save lives of their patients during the pandemic. By providing early treatment with FDA approved off-label drugs, they risked their careers, medical license and reputation to do so. David had a chance to be a hero. He passed. I'm just saying......
Lovely honesty. Again, thank you.
I'm lucky. None of my vax'd friends or colleagues beat me about the head for my decision. So I hold no grudges at the family/friend level. But at the local, state, national, and international levels, yes oh very much so.
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Wow that's a powerful story. It's true that a lot of people who originally got it wrong are now jumping on the bandwagon as though they have new information when it's actually old information. But at this point I tend to appreciate even those who are grandstanding on an issue they originally got wrong. Truth has to get out somehow, and the early voices (McCullough, Malone, Bhattacharya) were censored out of existence. So now the "cleansed" group is allowed to speak the message. Ok, but the message needs to get out.
I agree Helen that the truth must get out! For me, there's also an issue of trust. Can we really trust someone who failed to stand up and do the right thing? I'm struggling with this question. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if well respected journalists like David banded together and refused to continue the lie. It reminds me of the people who stayed in the Trump administration but then tried to sell their back stories, for profit, once the administration ended. Again, if those on his cabinet and those in the West Wing had all banned together to tell the truth of what they were observing, they could have prevented considerable harm to our democracy. The same is true of physicians. By banning together, perhaps in each hospital, they could have had significant power over the administration who were not in any position to lose their medical staff. Instead, they each protected their financial well being rather than the health of their patients. Could anything have been more unethical or egregious?
Thank you for this. Plenty of shame to go around, it seems.
This snark needs to go..."None of the people I interviewed thought Covid was a hoax, or that the vaccine was a conspiracy by Bill Gates, or any other nonsense that has so often been ascribed to anyone who didn’t want to follow every Covid rule without questions." Cause conspiracy theorists should be denied civil rights. The concept that someone who argued against the consensus is demeaned in this way is poison as we move forward unraveing this operation. This gate keeping had got to go.
To anyone with the intellect to understand what really occurred, it is clear with certainty that covid was a flu (SARS-COV2) turned into a pLandemic. The pLandemic having two primary purposes, a. set the conditions to steal the 2020 election, and b. to force the injection of millions of people with an experimental potion, the total effects of which is still unknown and may be never known (although it is clear all cause mortality is off the charts now), while paying for it all with the massive redistribution of tax dollars to the animals who precipitated this, among them, the monster Bill Gates and his cohort Fauci.
I agree. The conspiracy theorists were right as you story showed.
I lived in Santa Clara through it all. A hellish dystopia.
And they were singing. Oh my! Makes me wonder what the government actually wanted to achieve in banning church services.
Honestly the doctors I've encountered over the past 5-10 years are increasingly neutered by the system they are part of. It's one large bureaucracy, thanks in part to Obamacare, that tells them what they can and cannot do. All couched in "quality of care" jargon. Also increasingly they are young and from foreign countries whose cultures don't necessarily foster a stand-up-to-tyranny mentality. I escalated my request for HCQ and/or Ivermectin through my PCP to the top of Palo Alto Medical Foundation (now "Sutter Health") and got a stone wall.
which is why i only go to doctors who don't take insurance and i pay out of pocket, even though i am on medicare. obviously if i get hit by a bus and need surgery, i have to be "in the system" but for everything else i steer clear of the large bureaucracy which now has a code to report an unvaccinated person