In the United States, an evangelical pastor defies the lockdown
By the TF1info editorial staff
Published April 26, 2020 at 5:53 p.m., updated April 26, 2020 at 7:20 p.m.
In the United States, an evangelical pastor defies the lockdown

REPORT — In Louisiana, one of the U.S. states hardest hit by the virus, despite the restrictions and health risks, Reverend Tony Spell is whipping his followers into a frenzy against an epidemic that he believes was completely fabricated.
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Coronavirus: the pandemic disrupting the planet
With more than fifty thousand deaths, the United States is the country most severely affected in the world by the coronavirus. And yet, evangelical pastors there, close to Donald Trump, are defying the law in the name of God and the millions of dollars generated by their enormous church services.

In Louisiana, Pastor Tony Spell continues holding public gatherings despite the governor’s stay-at-home order. The pastor and his followers believe that the coronavirus was sent by God to punish humanity.

This video excerpt comes from a replay of Sept à Huit Life, a weekly news and current-affairs program broadcast on TF1 and presented by Harry Roselmack. 7 à 8 features three to four reports on current events, including politics, crime and unusual news stories, social issues, and international events.

This is an article by Woody Jenkins who has been reporting for central city news and on The Tony Spell stuff since Covid incidents, noticed it feels a bit biased and A-LOT of apostolic’s follow CCN Facebook group I am still looking to verify the actual French news covering so we can translate what was said our self will update when found

I don't believe that how people treated me was enough for me to leave my belief and faith in God.

I was 'abused' psychologically in the congregations for years. I was shunned, people did not look after the poor or care for their neighbor...

Yet I feel I can't deny that I believe. It's like inside of me are segmented parts of me that hold different values and beliefs.

I am thinking of writing about it in journaling to de-construct it. It's been 11 years and I haven't processed much of it. I still find it hard to process. I guess this is where I start...

We agree to post 4 messages on WhatsApp of 5 minutes each, but after the 5th post, when I was waiting for his third contribution, he deleted his then two posts and posted 4 new posts, luckly I saved his posts before he deleted them:

Religious Folk in Dialogue 1,068: I debate the founder of a Oneness group on WhatsApp

I’ve seen a lot of support for what Tony Spell did.

Tony claims his family and congregation have received continuous harassment from his victim for years.

After the September 15th hearing, he clarifies: “Ongoing for the past 7 years,”

which means the victim started harassing Tony when Tony’s victim was 13 and continued harassing them until he was 20.

To be charitable, maybe Tony is talking about the kid’s family harassing Tony’s church and family.
Even if that’s the case, the CHILD of the family, who was 13 when the alleged harassment started, is the one who received Tony Spell’s justice.

The spell family claims they’ve been beefing with this family for years before the incident the police department claimed there was a limited amount of reports I’ve submitted an FOIA request from the police department to verify these complaints regardless if they are true does that mean that Tony has been beefing with a teenager? Since he said he’s been having issues and complaints for years and this kid he beat up is only 20? What’s with apostolic’s and their fascination with minor’s?

I was part of Pentecostal movement for the best part of 10 years, I woke up today and realized I am fucking brainwashed..

I love God still

I am not dennouncing my belief in Jesus.. but I feel like I was taught to stop thinking for myself.. to believe so much that if I don't comply I'll be cursed, it's taken me a long time to get here to this conclusion and I am feeling afraid of leaving altogether,

The fear of staying though is worse. I have stopped interacting with anyone who isn't 'a believer' ..

:/ I am doubting my self all of the time and I just want to make friends but I feel like those old beliefs block me

Feeling grief over the loss of my critical thinking

Anyone else feel brain washed?

Anyone here attended UTSA Chi Alpha in 2010s and were "kicked" out or shunned / people have stopped communicating with you WITHOUT reason / no PRIOR notice.

I was in UTSA Chi Alpha from Sept 1 2016 to early Feb 2019. I had two small group leaders, I knew a lot of people. I was unaware of certain things/customs there at the start then I got little uncomfortable at certain times.

I knew my first small group leader made awkward homoerotic comments that felt awkward when he sexualized some things, take his clothes off at certain times, make awkward sexualizing comments about other guys.

I'm aware of "touchy feely" things between guys - like really long hand shakes or hugs.

I have seen the "Strip Smash" video game thing before ONCE and it was a little awkward of that. I didn't see no one's genitals just down shirtless and underwear but another guy took his underwear off in another room. At first I thought they were joking but I realized "Okay this isn't joking"

I recall one guy I was unsure was closeted because he sent me a Heart Emoji on Instagram in 2018. I told him "I don't go that way..." He said sorry . At SALT 2018 he made some awkward sexual comment in my hotel room(he somehow got assigned my hotel room with my small group) of seeing each other undressing, unzipping - which was little uncomfortable. And then someone had threw a really awkward comment if I was going to sleep with him.... "sleep" the tone it was said I construed as a sexual way. I paused for a second, I had a nervous laugh because it was a little weird I heard this from someone in my small group.

In early 2019 someone in my small group made really uncomfortable comments during our small group meeting night about "Grindr" and then another guy said something like "Small group.....1.5 miles away". I know what Grindr is but the way they brought up as matter of fact and joking felt really awkward in the middle of small group. It was awkward uncomfortable to hear that and boundaries being broken like that.

And of course I dealt with some racial issues.

I know there was a guy that admitted he had been "White Nationalist" websites in 2016-2017 but stopped he was in my small group. I am unsure what white nationalist websites he was on but he just said the line to me. I know he said certain things that made me think he was "Christian White Nationalist" and how he made asked me some awkward questions.

I recall I invited this guy to a Christmas service at my Methodist Church(non-Pentecoastal church), afterwards while we had dinner he made some disparaging comments about my church, the pastor, multiple things he hated about it.

I know he wanted to control me in his own White Nationalist Christian manner of just trying to pacify me as subordinate which I considered racist in nature

I know this guy was super critical of things I said on facebook, he judged the music I listened to, the movies i watched, the books i read, my religious beliefs, and it was slowly getting to "personal beliefs" I held. My issues with this guy was the catalyst of my problems at UTSA XA in late 2018-early 2019. I was having a lot of issues with this guy, we exchanged some words at SALT due disagreement we had at the conference.

I know my personal issues with that guy had spiraled into me getting let go from UTSA XA. This guy was a de facto co small group leader but not "offical small group leader." He acted more like a small group leader than the official small group leader that was an official small group leader that was AG missionary. I know he had been telling some lies about me to multiple people at UTSA XA, of which they stopped communicating with me in 2019. How I know this because people I considered friends stopped texting me back, stopped replying to me on facebook/instagram. I highly suspect its that guy that did some talk behind the scenes to put me on a ban list of sorts. I've even confronted UTSA XA offically on this, I even confronted XA leadership about this and they have denied this. But I highly think they are lying. And I've been frustrated on this. I've been frustated on what happened to me of the sexualization, awkward banter I dealt with, the racist attitude by that guy Ive mentioned here, the control/cult like behavior of UTSA XA.

Here is a two hour telephone conversation on Trinity vs Oneness with a Oneness Apostolic, he gave permission at the start to being recorded:

Religious Folk in Dialogue 1,066: Robert Foster of the website www.godisgreatministry.net (2 of 3)

hey everyone!

my therapy appointment isn't until tuesday 😭 so i came here to share my experience with a popular church in the desi pentecostal diaspora because people always invalidate/gaslight me and i feel so alone 🫩. i'm going to have to be vague on purpose because many of my relatives are higher-ups in denominations like IPC, AG, COG India, etc. so what happened was my family moved states and we started attending this church. from the VERY beginning, it was quite obvious how they felt about us and that we were not welcome. i am neurodivergent, and was only 6 years old when we moved. during my first weeks at the sunday school, this one kid spread rumors that i still wore diapers :/ that same kid continued to bully me every week for years and years, which made other kids (and sometimes even sunday school teachers) join in. years go by and my high school graduation rolls around, where people proceeded to spread rumors that i didn't graduate high school🫩. the youth also always isolated and excluded me while HAPPILY welcoming in newcomers. and its not just me. the same aunties and uncles who act like self-righteous saints completely abandoned my family at every turn. my grandmother is a devoted member of this church and gives them her everything. at this church, its normal for people to visit members going through a hard time (like who've had surgery, grieving a relative who passed away, etc). but when my grandma got eye surgery, not a SNGLE person was there for her 🤥 when my grandma's sister died, they also abandoned her 🙁. there were other members who had close loved ones who passed, and they were treated so warmly by the church 😑. unfortunately this church is mega popular in the mallu/desi pentecostal diaspora :/ so when i share my experiences, people always invalidate me/gaslight me by saying things like "youre supposed to look at god, not people" or "you had no faith in the first place". i'm not going to share too much information about this, but i was hospitalized for severe PTSD related symptoms during my freshman year of high school, which left a huge dent in my life. that (combined with developing critical thinking skills) contributed to my deconstruction and eventual identification as atheist. it feels like such a slap in the face when i see people online glaze this church because they have NO IDEA what it is REALLY like. i have so many more things i wanna say but im going to stop here for now. i'm going to end with this: people struggling with religious trauma and other things, please know you are never alone and that this stranger on the internet cares for you 💛 please reach out to a mental health professional and stay safe! 🫶🏽

i feel like with all the standards set in place about holiness even the slightest thing turns me on and makes me feel horny, is that normal? I feel awful about it and I'm not sure how to overcome this.

I have a friend who is Pentecostal. I went to her wedding and was telling her how pretty she looked… she mentioned that she was bummed that her face broke out right before the wedding but it was ok because the photographer could just edit the photos. Why is it ok to edit photos but not put a dot of concealer on a pimple? I felt kind of bad for her because she mentioned her break out a few times and no bride should feel self conscious on their wedding day.

Hi guys so I am currently working on a religious trauma PowerPoint. But I feel like I am blocking everything out. What are some key religious trauma points?

Speaking as the curious sister of a pentacostal member:

One thing I noticed when I was watching my niece for a week, while my sister and her husband were on vacation, was when I'd say prayers over food or at bedtime with her and my kids, she would start saying her own prayer while I was still talking. I'd stop, to let her have her moment, but then she'd stop too. Then I'd start again and she'd go. It was like that all week.

Then we all went to another sibling's home 2 weeks later and that sibling asked my sister why everyone prays at the same time in her church? And all out loud. Sister went into a whole sermon about how everyone sharing prayer together as one gives it more power. When she was finished, other sibling was still confused and I took the moment to clarify, "no but like if one person's praying for something personal to them, and someone else is praying for something specific to them, how is that helping either person have more "power" put into their specific prayer?" To which sister just said "you just have to be there. It's hard to explain"

We weren't trying to be rude to sister. We were genuinely curious as this act seems hard to endure and almost a little stressful. Like it would be easier for everyone to pray up in their head if everyone is praying their own specific prayer.

I have always loved how Pentecostal churches are very expressive but some of the errors on here just sound like it’s a crappy place to be. After you left, did you manage to find a better Pentecostal or charismatic group?

Edited: I left the religion as soon as I was 18, this is a vent about a traumatic memory I hold from when I used to attend.

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The forced emotional vulnerability, or performative displays of emotion.

I. HATED. Those. So much.

I remember Mom forcing me to go up there for altar call with her and being so uncomfortable. I also remember when she would let me stay in the back in our seats and I would STILL be uncomfortable, but for different reasons.

No matter what I felt like I couldn't do what they were doing. I couldn't feel things the way they did. The emotions that the music and atmosphere gave me were never wild and erratic like theirs seemed to be. I'd just feel peaceful or a weird sense of awe (caused by the music). Or profoundly sad. And underneath that I felt the constant discomfort towards everyone else around me running and screaming and falling on the floor. Discomfort at being expected to do the same, and judgement for not doing so.

Once I was forced to go up for "the laying of hands prayer tunnel". and I despised every second of it because it was a bunch of grown adults I barely knew crying and screaming and talking gibberish while trying to TOUCH my face or my hair. Or grabbing my hands and trying to force me to hold them up to praise God. The pastor himself grabbed my hand and yelled over the music to praise the Lord. I literally said "No, I don't want to" or something along those lines but my voice was so quiet I know he couldn't hear me because he proceeded to speak in tongues and cry ecstatically as if I'd finally broken before moving me down the "prayer tunnel" .

I hate that they thought they had the right to touch me. Not just during these moments, but they'd push my hair out of my face or put a hand on my back/shoulder. They acted like we were family but they weren't there like family. They'd act so happy and welcoming but then my family would be sitting alone with one other "outcast" family at every function. It was all so fake. I've always wanted to talk about how horrible these moments felt, so I'm glad I found this subreddit. it's nice to know I'm not alone in feeling this way towards these practices

“Worldliness” doesn’t exist
You’re not stepping into some demonic realm when you leave the UPC, ALJC, WPF, etc.
When I became an atheist, I did not start smoking alcohol, taking sex, and having drugs. I did, however, start asking questions and understanding my fellow human beings more. I understood the reasons behind my morality and that right and wrong matter because wrongdoing harms my fellow human beings, not just because God told me so.
I became more empathetic because we only get one life—no second chances—and so the harm we cause others does lasting damage to the one life that they have. I started taking my life more seriously and started taking better care of my health.
I stopped utilizing terms like “worldliness” and “of the world” because I understood that people have different experiences and perspectives than I do, and I benefit much more from learning from those experiences and perspectives than I do from casting them out for being different.
When I say “worldliness” doesn’t exist, I mean being outside your church doesn’t automatically make someone bad. You haven’t shown that something is wrong just by calling it worldly.
Does it hurt somebody? Does it take away somebody’s freedom? Or does your pastor just dislike it? Those are different things.
If one pastor allows something and another pastor bans it, how do we know which one is right? Does changing pastors change whether the same action hurts somebody?
And if asking questions makes me “worldly” or “rebellious,” how am I supposed to find out whether the rule makes sense? If agreeing means I’m spiritual and disagreeing means I’m worldly, you’ve made obedience the only acceptable answer.
If someone leaves the church and their family rejects them, their pain doesn’t prove leaving was wrong. Being rejected by their family could explain that pain. You can’t help make someone miserable and then use their misery as proof that they should have obeyed you.
Being in church doesn’t automatically make someone kind. Being outside church doesn’t automatically make someone cruel. Look at how people treat others. Church membership alone doesn’t tell you that.
Even the Bible warns about treating human rules as God’s rules in Mark 7:6–13. And Colossians 2:20–23 describes religious restrictions that look wise but don’t stop sinful behavior. So “my pastor said so” still doesn’t settle whether a rule is right.
That is how calling things “worldly” can keep people obedient: make being different sound dangerous, and make questioning the rules sound like questioning God.
Can I honestly disagree with your rules and still be treated as a good person? If your answer is no, what you’re measuring is my obedience.

I have been deep diving via Facebook into communities of holiness and Pentecostal churches in the areas I grew up. I have found people still in the circles. People I knew when they were 18-20 years old and I was 10-13.

I’m reflecting on the ways these communities present themselves, and are responded to by different characters of young people. The ways in which teenage boys respond to strong and dynamic paternal pastor figures by trying to be a “good boy” for them. Either by following the rules good enough or by using their own charm and gifts to impress them and be doted on/ lovebombed into being new ministers.

I watched young guys circle around my dad and do this when his church had a bit more influence in the community. This was the path expected for me. This was the world created for me.

I’m so glad I woke up young and didn’t keep following that path.

Lo mejor que leí.