Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle in Baton Rouge, is a dangerous man. That’s been amply established by his open flouting of both Louisiana’s statewide bans on mass gatherings, common sense, and every standard of decency that is known by continuing to hold in-person church services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
But on Tuesday night, Spell revealed that he’s a full-on lunatic. In an interview with TMZ, Spell claimed that a true Christian should be willing to die of coronavirus.
Tony Spell, leader of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, tells TMZ ... he thinks true Christians do not mind dying from COVID-19. He insists that what they fear instead is living in fear. As he puts it, "People that can prefer tyranny over freedom do not deserve freedom."
He's also not flinching at medical experts suggesting most of the nation will eventually contract the virus, even if only mildly. Spell's reaction is, "Let's get on with life."
Watch the whole thing here.
Spell claimed that Christians are supposed to be “absent from our bodies to be present for the Lord.” For that reason, true Christians should believe that “death looks to them like a welcome friend.”
When asked if his flock would rather come to church and risk catching coronavirus, he replied that people who prefer “disgrace to danger” are headed for hell, and those who “prefer tyranny to freedom” don’t deserve freedom. When asked what he would say to the loved ones of someone in his church who died of coronavirus, Spell replied that this person would have died a free person.
Watching this, I can’t help but get an image of Jim Jones telling his followers, “Don’t be afraid to die!” Indeed, the only difference between Spell and Jones is Kool-Aid.
If you’re wondering how so many people can go along with this crackpot, it has to do with the nature of Spell’s church. It turns out that Life Tabernacle is part of an offshoot of Pentecostalism called Apostolic Pentecostalism, also called Oneness Pentecostalism—indeed, his church calls itself “The Apostolics of Baton Rouge.” My ex-wife was Apostolic, so I know quite a bit about them—though it doesn’t appear that Spell is part of the biggest Apostolic denomination, the United Pentecostal Church.
Apostolics believe that “Father,” “Son” and “Holy Spirit” are just different titles for Jesus. They’re also known for uber-strict standards of dress. Women aren’t allowed to wear pants, makeup or jewelry or cut their hair; men are to be clean-shaven and short-haired. Although these standards are officially treated as a matter of personal conviction, in practice there is strong social pressure to comply. Additionally, disobeying your pastor is tantamount to disobeying God. That’s why you see so many people following Spell like rats following the Pied Piper.
Even more troubling than Spell’s willingness to let his own flock get sick in the name of Jesus is the total lack of consideration for anyone else in Baton Rouge who could potentially be infected with this. Vox recently put together a video that shows just how deadly coronavirus can be.
Two parts of this video should make your hair stand on end. For one thing, coronavirus’ basic reproduction number, or R0—the basic measure of how contagious a disease can get—is anywhere from 2 to 2.5. That’s more than the flu’s 1.3. But if someone with coronavirus infects two people, and those people each infect two others, as many as 2,000 people could catch it after ten rounds. Moreover, anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of coronavirus patients will end up going to the hospital.
Let’s say it nice and slow for Tony’s benefit—this is why we’re dealing with these heavy-handed social distancing measures. Even the most robust health care system would buckle if a disease this contagious were to spread unchecked. No doubt those numbers are what ultimately led to the wave of stay-at-home orders that were enacted after spring break.
These numbers are also why Spell’s course is so reckless and dangerous. There has to be a way to take him off the streets. And if anyone gets sick or dies of coronavirus and it can be traced back to Life Tabernacle, this video from TMZ ought to be exhibit A in any civil or criminal case against Spell.