Xavier is right, this shouldn't be how it works. I would be more angry if my friend died before my eyes than if my friend was just punched.
Wouldn't it just be easier to use a plugin for this? Why bother using a command block that requires you to do something physical in the world to turn something off when you can just type a command or change a config file and have it not be affected by which chunk the command block is in etc.
Not only this, but if you fall into a player made lake where he/she just put a layer blocks over the lake and covered it with water then removed the layer of blocks so that the water would flow down and fill the lake then you will find it impossible to swim up, since the water under the first layer of source blocks is actually flowing down.
This only ever happened to me after I synced my account with a mojang account. And it only happens when I have no internet and have to play offline.
The popular and useful bukkit plugin Essentials has "power sign" function allowing players to click on signs that will run commands without having to establish individual permissions.