Facebook/Tony Spell Tony Spell, a Louisiana pastor who refuses to stop holding mass, said "true Christians do not mind dying" from the coronavirus.
Tony Spell, the infamous Louisiana pastor who refused to shut down mass during Palm Sunday, said that “true Christians do not mind dying” during a TMZ interview on Wednesday about holding masses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Spell is the leader of Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge. He was issued a misdemeanor summons on six violations of an executive order for holding services after March 16, when Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards banned gatherings of 50 or more people to stop the deadly spread of coronavirus, according to NBC News.
Spell Says True Christians ‘Fear Living in Fear’
When asked if he would feel like he had blood on his hands if one of his churchgoers died from the coronavirus, Spell told TMZ no. “The day that we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for God is with us. Then he said, ‘fear not because I am with you,’” he said. “Then the Bible teaches us to be absent from our bodies to be present with the Lord. So like any revolutionary, zealot or pure religious person, death looks to him like a welcome friend.”
Spell added: “True Christians do not mind dying. They fear living in fear.”
Spell said the only reprieve people have from quarantine is attending mass. “People that prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom. People have been locked in their homes now for 23 days like prisoners,” he said. “The only fit they have to their emotion is coming to the house of God and worshiping like free people.”
Most churches and religious organizations have opted to use Zoom while the pandemic sweeps the nation, but Spell said it doesn’t work. “If it worked then why did America spend billions and billions of dollars on churches?” he said
When Spell was asked what he would say to a family if one of their members died from coronavirus after attending one of his gatherings, he said, “They died like free people. Fighting for their convictions.”
Spell said he has members who have died from cancer and HIV/AIDS. When TMZ said coronavirus isn’t the same as cancer because coronavirus is preventable, Spell replied, “Scientists need to know that God gave us a strong immune system. … They say everyone’s gonna get it. Well if everyone’s gonna get it, let’s get on with life.”
Police Chief Says Spell Will Continue His Large Gatherings
Spell said more than 1,200 gathered for his masses on Palm Sunday, some traveling from up to 100 miles away.
“We don’t get our rights to worship freely from the government we get those from God,” Spell told CNN. “We’d rather obey God than man.”
Spell, however, might be inflating his numbers, Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran told NBC News. “He has done that since day one,” Corcoran told the publication. “At the most, he had 500. Between the two.”
Corcoran said Spell does not plan on stopping his large gatherings. “Instead of showing the strength and resilience of our community during this difficult time, Mr. Spell has chosen to embarrass us for his own self-promotion,” Corcoran said.
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