All across the nation, stores, restaurants, offices and more are closing down to "flatten the curve" and reduce the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. The national recommendation is to reduce gatherings to 10 or less people including churches. Plus, even some local governments are restricting that. But one Baton Rouge Pastor, Tony Spell, doesn't think that churches should be restricted to gathering together--no matter what the number.
“We feel we are being persecuted for the faith by being told to close our doors,” said Spell, who told The Washington Post. He still had his Life Tabernacle Church going with more than 300 people worshiping.
His congregation was visited by officers who said the National Guard would be coming to their next service if the church didn't comply with the governor’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, Spell said he was told.
“There is a real virus, but we’re not closing Planned Parenthood, where babies are being murdered," he said. “If they close those doors today, we’d save more lives than will be taken by the coronavirus.”
Spell quoted scripture that calls for gathering — Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 18:20.
But Matthew 18:20 reads as so - "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” There is no mention that says you have to have a large congregation in order to "feel the spirit" or have "the presence of Jesus."
And Hebrews 10:25 reads, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Once again, it doesn't depict having to have a large congregation or meeting hall in order to spread the gospel. As a matter of fact, wasn't it Jesus who only had 12 disciples? But I digress.
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“We’re a Pentecostal denomination, and when we gather and pray the Holy Ghost comes in the midst. There are healings, signs, wonders, some things done together in the church that can’t be done in a live stream," he said.
So, are we to think that God, the one who is all powerful, omnipresent and omniscient cannot change lives through the internet? Does he truly believe that the internet can stop the love, spirit and power of Jesus Christ? Sorry, once again, I digress.
Meanwhile, around the globe, a major evangelical church in Brazil has won a court battle to remain open despite warnings that large gatherings will help spread the coronavirus.
The ruling came days after a prominent bishop from another evangelical church told followers not to worry about the pandemic because the devil was trying to create fear.
Religious leaders around the world have closed places of worship to help slow the spread of the virus, but many evangelical and Catholic churches remain open in Brazil, where seven people have died from COVID-19 and there are 654 confirmed cases.
Even before the court ruling, Pastor Silas Malafia,... head of the Assembly of God Victory in Christ church said his church would stay open.
“If everything closes, there will be a little door open in my church and I will be there,” Malafia said in a video on Thursday.
Bolsonaro, who recently dismissed coronavirus as a media “fantasy”, has provoked widespread condemnation by defying medical advice and making public appearances with crowds of supporters.
“We have to to reduce the circulation of people – and even more so in closed environments – to reduce the spread of the virus,” said Ralycon Teixeira, an infectious diseases specialist at São Paulo’s Emílio Ribas hospital.
So what do you think? Should churches stay open or close during this pandemic?
Tasha Cobbs says "We Don't Talk Enough About Mental Health in Church"
Before 2014, many haven't heard of the name of Tasha Cobbs outside of her hometown, but it all changed with one song.
Cobbs released an EP late in 2014 and it reached No. 1 on the Top Gospel Albums chart. The singles "Break Every Chain" and "For Your Glory" also reached No. 1 on the Hot Gospel Songs charts. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, Tasha Cobbs took home Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance, winning her first Grammy. Cobbs was awarded the Gospel Artist of the Year, at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards.
With all this success, you'd think she had it made. But it was there was a deep, dark depression behind that scenes that almost silenced Cobbs forever.
"Under the covers I would tell myself things like, ‘Nobody wants you, they only want you for your gifts; they only want you for your talents. People only want you for what you have to offer but nobody is giving back to you,’" confessed Cobbs. "Of course it was all untrue. I had so many people around me who loved me, but for some reason I was stuck in this place of rejection where no matter how good I am or how much I do, or how much I offer, it felt like it wasn’t enough. I would cry for hours. Sometimes I wouldn't even know why I was crying. It was just a heaviness that comes over you that you just cannot explain."
"During that time, something in my spirit said, ‘Tasha, you have to do something about this.’ It was just a moment where I felt like I couldn't move forward in my career and in my ministry if I kept allowing myself to be in this place. I thought, ‘At some point somebody is going to find out and it's going to get much bigger than what I'm able to handle.’ So I got up to do some research and I started studying depression. I called my cousin Shaniqua, and my pastor, to tell them I thought I knew what was wrong with me. I immediately found a therapist so that I could begin talking about what was happening with me.
My therapist diagnosed it as depression. I know what you’re thinking: Tasha Cobbs, Grammy-winning gospel singer, depression? Yes, depression."
"Going to therapy was new for me," admits Cobbs. "I didn’t know anyone who went to therapy – or so I thought. We don’t talk about mental health enough in our churches or our culture. I remember being weary of even doing it. When I started going to therapy I only told my closest friends and family. They were all very supportive. They would call and say, ‘Did you go to your appointment today? What happened? Did you have a breakthrough?’ But I know some people don’t have...
...that kind of support system— especially in our culture—and they suffer in silence. We need to fix this. Our culture and churches in general, should put more focus on depression and people who struggle with mental health. From what I've experienced in sharing my testimony with different people it's something way more prevalent than we acknowledge, and I am willing to stand on the frontline as a leader in our culture and address the mental health issues we have been ignoring.
"I still go to therapy. It's not as consistent as it was back then, but once a month or so, I'll meet with my therapist to make sure we're still on point. It's something I believe in and it's something I encourage. I believe that there are people in this earth that God has really graced to be able to help us through every situation in our lives, along with His strength, along with His power."
For more on depression and how to deal with it, click here.
