A lawsuit launched against Santa Clara County by Calvary Chapel and its Pastor Mike McClure alleges that the government used a private company to track people’s attendance at church via their cell phones, Faithwire reports.

The church alleges a Geo-fencing tool that tracks cell phone data usage and is often used by police was employed by the government to track church members.

However, when police want to use Geo-fencing they need to obtain a search warrant, which in turn puts limits on how long and where it can be used.

The church further alleges that Geo-fencing was used on church members without a search warrant and added that the government did not use a similar system on secular businesses.

Geo-fencing uses GPs and in some instances even IP addresses to build a virtual fence around a particular geographical location. This allows it to track the movement of individuals via their cell phones within this location. According to reports it can locate a person’s position within three meters 95% of the time.

In its statement of claim, the church alleges:

“This operation took place over a year with seemingly no oversight, boundaries, or limitations – meaning Defendants could track churchgoers in the sanctuary, prayer room, or bathroom.“

“This type of expansive geofencing operation is not only an invasion of privacy but represents a terrifying precedent if allowed to go unaddressed. As it stands, Defendants assert that, as long as they call it research, any level of government can target and spy on any individual or group at any time for any duration. The government can then wield any collected data against said individuals or groups who oppose their orders.”

The city has denied this allegation, but according to one report, a city official admitted they used geo-fencing at the church, but added the government was not tracking individual members.

• READ: San Jose church that paid $1.2 million in COVID fines is now suing county for unconstitutional surveillance

In a statement to CBN, Pastor McClure said they launched the lawsuit, because not only do its church members have the right to privacy so do all religious people in America.

In an article on Substack, journalist David Zweig reported that the county also employed “stakeouts, forced in-person monitoring of prayer groups and other intimate activities,” the Christian Post reports.

If these allegations prove to be true, it is disturbing that government officials feel they have the right to spy on church members.

But it is not surprising considering Jesus and the disciples encountered the very same thing.

Of course, their enemies did not have the same technology as available today, but the scribes and chief priests sent in spies pretending to be followers of Christ in order to record what He was saying.

²⁰ And so they watched Him closely, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could hand Him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. (Luke 20:20 NASV)

At times, it appeared that these spies even purposefully asked questions of Jesus, so they could entrap and accuse Him (Matthew 22:15-22).

READ: ‘A Terrifying Precedent’: Calvary Chapel Sues CA County for Tracking Attendance of Churchgoers AND California church sues county for allegedly spying on members during pandemic shutdown