What a Difference Three Years Make!

 In March 2020, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a harsh, controversial decree ordering Louisiana’s churches to close their doors to in-person worship services.  Across the state, almost every church immediately complied.

Only one church in Louisiana openly continued full-fledged in-door worship services — Life Tabernacle Church in Central, pastored by Rev. Tony Spell.  

The pastor was immediately targeted by national and international media as a criminal and a charlatan who was willingly endangering not only his own congregation but the entire community. Local and state officials threatened him with arrest.  He received death threats.  Members of the congregation were fired by their employers.  The pastor and his wife were surveilled by the FBI for more than two years.  Ultimately, he was arrested and taken to the Parish Prison.  He was released on bail and despite continued threats of arrest, he never missed even one of the church’s three-times-a-week worship services.  

During these dark days, it seemed things could hardly get worse.

But how things have changed!

Life Tabernacle Church has grown tremendously.  As the pastor has often said, “The more they afflicted us, the more we multiplied and grew!” See Exodus 1:12.

Seven million people worldwide have watched Life Tabernacle services live on Facebook.

The campus on Hooper Road has grown to 41 acres including a conference center seating 5,800.

The bus ministry serving the poorest areas of South Louisiana has grown to 43 buses bringing people without a church home, mainly children, to church every Sunday morning where they are fed a wholesome breakfast, go to Sunday School, and leave with a box lunch.  On Sunday mornings, there are six separate church services on the campus, in addition to the main sanctuary which seats 1,400.

On May 13, 2022, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that everything done by the governor to Rev. Spell was “illegal and unconstitutional.”  All charges against the pastor were dropped.  “The Constitution does not go on vacation during a pandemic,” the Louisiana Supreme Court said.

Then, last week, the Louisiana Legislature voted by a two-thirds majority to amend the Louisiana Constitution to make sure that what happened to Rev. Spell and Life Tabernacle never happens again!  

If approved by the voters this fall, as it likely will be, this constitutional amendment will make it extremely difficult for any governor or other official ever to close the doors of churches in Louisiana.

This was a slap in the face to John Bel Edwards and his rule by decree by all 39 senators and 83 of 105 state representatives..

Rep. Mike Johnson, the House author, said, “No one can look at our constitution and say the legislature has never spoke clearly on this, our people have never spoke clearly. With his amendment, we have spoken as clearly as a people can speak, about how important it is to our families to go into a church and worship!”

Pastor Spell has often said the role of the church is not to conform to the world but, on the contrary, to enlighten the world to Christian principles. Amending the Constitution to make sure than the church will never again be closed is a fitting example of that.