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The Mask-Defying Church at Center of Disastrous Maine Wedding Linked to 3 Deaths, 144 Virus Cases
Maine’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak is linked to a wedding officiated by the pastor of a distancing-defying church who says masks are part of a “socialistic platform.” Now more than 144 COVID-19 patients have been linked to the event, and three people are dead.
Maine’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak is linked to a wedding officiated by the pastor of a distancing-defying church who says masks are part of a “socialistic platform.” Now more than 144 COVID-19 patients have been linked to the event, and three people are dead.
Todd Bell is pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine. Famous for flying between ministries in multiple states on his private plane (God “burdened” his heart to do airplane ministry, he says), Bell flew in to officiate a rural Maine wedding on August 7.
That wedding is the nexus of 144 COVID-19 cases, including three that resulted in deaths, Maine officials said Friday. One of the deceased, an 83-year-old woman, did not even attend the wedding, but contracted the virus from a guest. None of this appears to be stopping Bell from doing business as usual in his church, calling on worshippers to trust “God, not government” as the pandemic progresses.
That wedding is the nexus of 144 COVID-19 cases, including three that resulted in deaths, Maine officials said Friday. One of the deceased, an 83-year-old woman, did not even attend the wedding, but contracted the virus from a guest. None of this appears to be stopping Bell from doing business as usual in his church, calling on worshippers to trust “God, not government” as the pandemic progresses.
In his sermon, Bell told worshippers to stay home if they were sick, but launched into a conspiratorial sermon denouncing vaccines and repudiating anti-coronavirus measures. He also spent part of the sermon lashing out at people who had criticized him on social media, including a person who, after observing one of his posts about flying his private plane, speculated that Bell was going to spread the disease at a casino elsewhere in Maine.
Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread COVID-19. “Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost than liquor or pot or pornography,” Bell said, according to the Boston Globe. “Gambling is wicked.”
Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread COVID-19. “Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost than liquor or pot or pornography,” Bell said, according to the Boston Globe. “Gambling is wicked.”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... God ain't savin' ya from the Corona folks... If you allow this insidious, alien bug into your tender bits, you're gonna have to deal with it as nature intended.
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