Early on in Minnesota's pandemic restrictions, Lynd, Minnesota, gym and restaurant owner, anti-vaxxer, anti-masker and anti-shutdown order citizen Larvita McFarquhar invited pastors to use her space at Haven's Garden for worship, but she recently said no one took her up on it (discussion with California anti-masker Peggy Hall begins at the 8:14 mark).
Her blessings seem to have improved, as the screenshot at the top of this post illustrates.
Who is Darryl Knappen? He recently earned headlines around the state of Minnesota with a now-deleted YouTube posted on the Cornerstone Church's channel. In January, Forum News Service newspapers reported in Alexandria, Minnesota, pastor urges martial law in video viewed more than 56,000 times:
A Douglas County, Minn., pastor called for a citizens' militia to form to support local law enforcement and said he expects President Donald Trump to order martial law
The Rev. Darryl Knappen of Cornerstone Church in Alexandria, Minn., made the comments in a Saturday, Jan. 9, video titled “Is Martial law coming soon? Listen up.” He posted the video to Facebook just days after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that occurred just after a Trump rally in Washington, D.C. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick was overpowered and beaten by rioters, and died Jan. 7, according to The New York Times.
...In the Jan. 9 video, Knappen says he would have been a member of the Black Robe Regiment, a group of clergy encouraging their parishioners to fight tyranny during the American Revolutionary War.
“I was tempted to wear my black robe today to open it up and show my AR-15 underneath it,” he said. “But I thought that would be way too graphic for any of you or Facebook to allow. … I would have been a part of that movement back then and I may be a part of that movement today.”
He says that the country’s enemies are “vast and wide” and include the deep state, globalists, Marxists and communists. He voiced support for a recent theory about election fraud, that Italian military computers changed votes on American voting machines.
On Nov. 12, a national coalition of election security officials — which included the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Association of State Election Directors — announced that "there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," per reporting by USA Today....
On Monday, Knappen told Forum News Service that he would be disappointed if Trump does not announce martial law, but that he would recover.
“If President Trump does not enact martial law and the insurrection act, perhaps both, in the next few days, he will be violating his oath of office to protect the Constitution of the United States,” he said. “I could not be more serious. I am deadly serious. If he does not do that — and I have every expectation that he will do that — if he does not do that, he will be violating his oath of office, which he promised he would never do.
“I will ask the Lord to give me grace, which he’s done before and he gave me grace under President Barack Obama to be a good citizen and God will give me grace to do it again.”
The Star Tribune reported in Minnesota pastor says on video to be ready to 'arm up' as a citizen militia force:
A west-central Minnesota pastor has unleashed a flurry of praise and condemnation after a posting a Facebook video telling citizens to be ready to "arm up" and saying that he expects President Donald Trump to enact martial law.
After reading from scripture, Darryl Knappen, pastor at Cornerstone Church in Alexandria, tells Facebook viewers to buckle up their "emotional seat belts … We're in for a very bumpy ride in the next 10 days," he says at the end of the 13-minute video, posted just days after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, hoping to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the next U.S. president.
The video, which has spread far beyond the town of nearly 14,000 residents 140 miles northwest of the Twin Cities, has racked up more than a 1,000 comments since Knappen posted it on Jan. 9. Some applaud him for "honesty" and "courage."
"Thank you for inspiring me," said one post.
"God bless you pastor," said another. "This is absolutely awesome to hear."
Others, however, castigate him, calling him delusional, a disgrace and despicable.
"As an Alexandria resident, I am disgusted by your attempt to incited [sic] fear and violence in my community. You are the problem. Shame on you," said one post. . . .
Knappen recorded the video in his church. He speaks calmly as he tells viewers that's he's speaking out because he considers it a spiritual matter.
"If I was back in colonial times, my heart would be thoroughly attached to be a member of the black robe regiment — pastors who led the way in colonial times … to shake off the totalitarian regime of England."
Knappen tells listeners he was tempted to make the video while wearing his black robe and opening it to show his AR-15 rifle.
"But I thought it would be way too graphic for all of you or for Facebook to allow," he said. "I would have been part of the movement back then and I may be part of that movement today."
Knappen, recounting unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and a "deep state," said he expects Trump to enact martial law and/or the Insurrection Act. But if Trump doesn't, he will be violating his oath of office to protect the U.S. Constitution, he said. "I'm deadly serious," he said.
There is a need, he said, for patriots to be ready "to arm up" and be part of a citizen militia to back up police and sheriffs to "protect our freedoms."
He seems nice. Without mentioning his name or the church, 33 Alexandria area pastors put out a public statement Jan. 18, advocating peace and unity, while condemning violence and threats of violence.
Not long after, Forum chain papers reported in Minnesota church removes controversial video of pastor urging martial law:
A controversial video posted online of a Minnesota pastor urging martial law, calling for citizen militias and talking about his AR-15 has been taken down by his church.
Cornerstone Church of Alexandria, Minn., removed the video of its pastor, Darryl Knappen, from its website and Facebook page.
The video, posted Jan. 9, had received about 100,000 views and drawn both support and condemnation. The Minnesota Constitution prohibits private militias and state law prohibits people from associating together "as a military company with arms" unless they're part of the National Guard, the U.S. military, or with the consent of the governor. . . .
An October video remains on Cornerstone's Facebook page of Knappen using a Sunday sermon to endorse Republican candidates for public office, despite the federal Johnson Amendment, which prevents churches and other nonprofit organizations from endorsing specific candidates.
“I’m violating the 501(c)(3) and I don’t care," Knappen said in sermon. "There are hundreds of churches just like us all around the country. If you want to send my sermon in to the IRS, I invite you to do that, you’re welcome to. Let’s see if they come after us. Good luck. We’ll take you to court. You’ll lose.”
Knappen could not be reached for comment.
Knappen seems the perfect fit for Haven's Garden's guest list. As we reported in McFarquhar: freedom fighter or attention addict?, McFarquhar had Sheriff Richard Mack as a guest:
We're not sure how often Haven's Garden has been open since the ruling--or even before it--but a well-known figure on the radical right was a guest star at a January 29 event. In Fines increased for Haven’s Garden owner, the Marshall Independent's Deb Gau reported:
. . .A flier posted on McFarquhar’s Facebook page on Wednesday said an event featuring food, live music and guest speakers is planned on Jan. 29. The speakers include conservative radio host Sam Bushman and former Graham County, Ariz. sheriff Richard Mack.
Mack is the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and author of “The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope.” Mack also successfully challenged provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that using county sheriffs to perform firearm background checks as part of the federal “Brady Bill” was unconstitutional.
There's more to Mack than that brief sketch. At the Marshall Project, Maurice Chammah reported in The Rise of the Anti-Lockdown Sheriffs:
. . .Although sheriffs generally enforce state laws, in 1994, a group of sheriffs in Arizona and Montana sued the federal government, challenging a law that required them to perform background checks on people who wanted to buy handguns. The Supreme Court ruled in the sheriffs’ favor. One of the sheriffs, Richard Mack of Arizona, went on to found the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, which advocates that sheriffs not enforce all laws they believe to be unconstitutional. In 2016, Mack was a prominent supporter of the Bundy family during their standoff with FBI agents over their right to let cattle graze on public lands.
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