Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell, who brought 27 busloads of worshippers to Life Tabernacle Church on Sunday after being charged last week with six misdemeanor counts for defying the state’s ban on public gatherings amid the coronavirus crisis, told TMZ that his parishioners “do not mind dying” if it means they’ve done it for God and their freedom.
Said Spell: “Like any revolutionary or like any zealot or like any pure religious person, death looks to them like a welcome friend. …. True Christians do not mind dying, they fear living in fear.”
“People that prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom,” Spell added. “People have been locked in their homes now for 23 days now like prisoners.”
Asked how he would respond if one of his parishioners died of COVID-19 after worshipping at Life Tabernacle, Spell responded: “They died like free people, fighting for their convictions. People die in my church of cancer, HIV/AIDS… Who knows what is preventable? Scientists need to know that God gave us a strong immune system and the only way we’re going to destroy this virus is for… they say everybody’s gonna get it, and if everybody’s gonna get it, then let’s get on with life.”
