Louisiana Pastor Defies House Arrest, Holds Sunday Service Amid Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Order

A pastor in Louisiana, who was placed under house-arrest for repeatedly flouting social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus crisis, stepped out and hosted a Sunday service with a significant number of attendees.

In a video, Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge was seen strolling in the midst of over 100 congregants while extolling the greatness of Jesus. The pastor nor the participants were wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

“Shouldn’t nobody be scared right now but the devil,” he was heard saying. “God gave you an immune system to kill that virus. Come out of your hiding, America. Worship like free people.”

People began leaving the church after the service was over while some were seen chatting outside the front doors, many disregarding the social distancing guidelines to maintain at least 6 feet distance. People were also seen hugging one another and shaking hands, the Associated Press reported.

Spell was arrested under aggravated assault charge on April 21 for backing a church bus in the direction of a man who was protesting his decision to hold mass gatherings in defiance of the state’s stay-at-home orders. He walked free later after his wife bailed him out.

He appeared before a state judge Friday but adamantly refused to comply with the government’s ban on in-person religious services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus landing himself in house arrest on Saturday. Per the order, all non-essential businesses, including the churches, were required to stay shuttered and limit gathering to no more than 10 people.

It was not immediately known if he was nabbed for violating the order on Sunday.

Spell was facing at least six misdemeanor counts last month for violating the governor's stay-at-home order. He told Fox News after his arrest that he was exercising his first amendment rights and a mandate from Jesus Christ.

The pastor allegedly appeared intent on violating the judge’s order in a video posted on Saturday by Central City News. “America, wherever you are, if I do not do what I’m doing right now, I would have to repent to Jesus Christ for what he did for me,” he was heard saying in it, while sitting at his home, playing the piano, and singing hymns flanked by four other people. A man, at the tail end of the video, walks into his house, gets to him to sign some papers, and fits him with a monitoring ankle bracelet.