The medai event pulled off by Rodney Howard-Browne continues as he releases a long, tired excuse of a statement...

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But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. -- 2Corinthians 11:3-6 (ESV)

https://charismamag.com/spirit/church-ministry/44920-rodney-howard-browne-closes-church-addresses-false-statements-about-his-arrest

Rodney Howard Browne is a rank heretic. Always has been, always will be. His recent brush with the law does not change these facts. Howard-Browne defied his local law enforcement last week by holding church services during the midst of the coronavirus. More importantly, he defied common sense and had total disregard for his congregants as well as the lives of everyone they love. It was a selfish act and hiding behind Jesus Christ to excuse it is reprehensible for anyone who claims to love the Lord and serve Him. There is simply no excuse good enough for this type of reckless, egotistical behavior. Browne's congregants could have gotten by quite well without seeing him last week. Quite frankly, they would be far better if they never saw him again so they might actually hear the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. That aside, Browne has put out a statement since his release, linked above. Let us sort through this nonsense together. As it is long and self-aggrandizing, I will try to focus on the salient points.

"The two greatest commandments mentioned by Jesus, to love God and to love people, exemplify my life. My greatest passion in life is to introduce people to Jesus, so they can experience His love and forgiveness. As you know, I was arrested on trumped-up charges for conducting a church service on Sunday, March 29, which Sheriff Chad Chronister claimed, in a press conference, allegedly violated the Hillsborough County Executive Order that went into effect last Friday, March 27, at 10 p.m. The two charges are second-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of two months in jail and $500 fine." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

We do not "introduce people to Jesus." That is some straight up NAR nonsense. What we are called to do is preach the Gospel and not compromise it in doing so. Howard-Browne has preached for decades the holy laughter heresy where he blames the Holy Spirit for causing people to roll around on the ground laughing uncontrollably during service. He calls himself the holy ghost bartender because he preaches getting drunk in the spirit. Whatever "jesus" he introduces people to, it is not Jesus Christ. The key verses today remind us that false preachers can easily preach a false christ, with a false spirit, through a false gospel. Rodney Howard-Brown is no super apostle beloved. he is a wolf of the highest order. These were not "trumped up" charges and he was not arrested for merely having a church service. He blatantly and purposefully thumbed his nose in the face of his authority, which by the way is a violation of Romans 13.

"The fanfare and drama that surrounded my arrest was completely unnecessary. A simple phone call informing me that I had been charged with violating the Executive Order and needed to come to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office would have sufficed. I would have been willing to turn myself in but was not offered that option. It was unnecessary to send law enforcement to my home. And it was unnecessary to hold a press conference even as I was being arrested.

Before addressing some of the false statements made in the press conference, I want to say that even though the drama and made-for-TV press conference was not appropriate, I do not hold any ill-will toward anyone at the press conference, including Sheriff Chronister. I have the utmost respect for law enforcement. In fact, in January of 2020, I had the pleasure of honoring the Hillsborough County law enforcement by presenting a plaque to Sheriff Chronister at The River at Tampa Bay Church. Afterward, we held an event for our church community (which includes many from the inner city) to interact with, and build a rapport with, our local police and deputies." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

Do other criminals have the option to avoid the spectacle of arrest and turn themselves in? Why does Browne think he is so special to have deserved such treatment? I am sure that everyone who has to go through the humiliation of arrest would rather just walk into their local police station but that is not the way it usually goes. Browne is trying to paint the law enforcement as the bad guys for simply doing their job and following protocol. As for the press conference, when you arrest a celebrity, you expect to get inundated with press requests so holding the conference only makes sense. If he truly had the utmost respect for law enforcement, he would not have violated the law and would not now be trying to make them look bad and play the victim.

A statement was also made that I was "reckless" for holding the church service. With all due respect to Sheriff Chronister, the church went above and beyond the requirements for secular businesses to protect the health and well-being of the people who attended. None of this seems to have been taken into consideration but appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to hyped-up reports by media (who were not in the building at any time). A statement was also made that we ignored repeated warnings. This is patently untrue! On Thursday, Sheriff Chronister spoke to some of our staff by speaker phone. I was also present. After we told Sheriff Chronister that we were enforcing 6-foot social distancing, had installed over $100,000 of high-grade hospital air purifiers and were taking other actions to protect the health of anyone who attended, he said the church could operate on Sunday, and that he had no intention to close the church or arrest anyone. The order then became effective on Friday night at 10 p.m." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

For someone who claims to respect law enforcement and loves the Constitution, Browne sure seems to get very confused. It is not the responsibility of law enforcement to take into consideration the reasons why Howard-Browne felt he could violate the law. I will let the Sherriff defend against the accusation of misspeaking but follow what Browne's logic is here. On Thursday, the Sherriff tells him that he does not intend to close them down. Then the order comes out the next day banning public events. Browne goes ahead and defies the order anyway. The chaos of COVID has led to changes from a minute to minute basis let alone day to day. Bottom line here is Browne admits he knew Friday at 10 pm to not holds service Sunday and did anyway.

It should also be pointed out here that Browne used Sunday to sermonize against the government. He claimed the virus was cooked up as an idea at a Bill Gates Foundation event in 2018 and it was decided to release it at the World Economic Form in Davos this year. He constantly referred to it as a "phantom virus" and the reports were that he had the congregants shake each other's hands, as is Christian church tradition.

"The church took extra precautions to more than comply with the Executive Order, which included the following:

--Any persons who was concerned for their health, or who had physical symptoms of any kind, were encouraged to stay home.

--Every person who entered the church received hand sanitizer.

--All the staff wore gloves.

--The church enforced the 6-foot distance between family groups in the auditorium as well as in the overflow rooms.

--In the farmer's market and coffee shop in the lobby, the 6-foot distance was enforced with the floor specifically marked.

--The church spent over $100,000 on a hospital-grade purification system set up throughout the church that provides continuous infectious microbial reduction (CIMR) that is rated to kill microbes, including those in the coronavirus family. The church sanctuary has moveable chairs. Chairs were removed from the sanctuary so that the remaining chairs were separated by 6 feet. Any small group that may have been closer than 6 feet were family members who came to the church together. This 6-foot separation was maintained throughout the church. The church took every precaution to protect the people who attended. In fact, the kinds of precautions the church undertook cannot be found existing in many commercial business establishments that freely operated in Hillsborough County under this Executive Order." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

Rodney Howard-Browne is not a epidemiologist. He is not a virologist. He is not even a preacher really. He is a con man. A huckster. The point being is that we do not, as lay people, get to tell experts what we are going to do while disobeying them. It is the height of arrogance. It does not matter what lengths he thinks he went to -- he violated the law, period. On March 15 there was a church that held service with about 80 people in Illinois. Today 43 of them are infected. The reality is that Rodney Howard-Browne has no idea how many people he caused to contract COVID, nor how many will die because of his stupidity, arrogance and lawbreaking.

"The Executive Order on its face, and as applied, discriminates against religious services and gatherings, despite the fact that the First Amendment provides express protections to houses of worship and assembly. There is no similar constitutional protection for commercial businesses; yet houses of worship and religious gatherings are signaled out for discrimination. The State of Florida's Executive Order exempts churches, as does the Orange County Executive Order, and many other county orders." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

Yeah, don't quit your bartending day Job Rodney. There is no constitutional violation at all. It has already been adjudicated that as long as no one religion is targeted, that the state has the right to shut them down for the public safety. You need to stop listening to shady sources like the Liberty Counsel, which is just a legal arm of the NAR. My understanding is that county decisions would overrule the Governors decree but now it no longer matters as Hillsborough County has caved in to the pressure and will allow services moving forward. God help Florida.

"We did not hold church to defy any order; nor did we hold church to send a political message. We did not hold church for self-promotion or financial motives, as some have wrongly accused. We held church because it is our mission to save souls and help people, and because we in good faith did everything possible to comply with the Executive Order. Indeed, Sheriff Chronister told us last Thursday that we could hold church." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

If this is his best defense, he would be wise to shut up and pay the fine. It does not matter what he was told on Thursday if a superseding order was issued on Friday, which he admits to knowing about. Let's be clear though. It is beyond obvious that he held service to specifically defy this order and cause a media spectacle. He obviously wanted to send a political message because that is what he actually preached about that day! It is entirely for self-promotion as now he is the darling of the offended, aggrieved class of NAR Christians in this country. As for money, well you can't pass the bucket online. Lastly here he did not do everything he could to comply with the order because he violated the order!

Browne would go on to explain that he is filing a federal challenge to the order from the county. First, he says because the charges were again "trumped up." Except they were not. The term trumped up means the charges were fake, a false accusation. Yet even Browne admits there was an order that he felt he tried to mitigate with all of his bogus purification efforts. Secondly, he says because of all the death threats he has received he will not hold service this week. So apparently it is ok to risk everyone else's lives but not his own. Let me close with one last portion:

"Third, The River Church provides many ministries more than services, where we physically gather together to worship. We have various training schools, and we also provide food and clothing to people in need. The Farmer's Market and the weekly food boxes we provide are greatly needed at this time to help needy and hurting families. These ministries need to continue to operate to help people. We have many inner-city people who do not have the luxury of watching church online at home. We feel obligated to continue to serve them in person and to make sure we continue to provide groceries to them every week. People in our community need help more than ever in this time of crisis, and the church is where many of them turn for spiritual and material help. We need to be able to minister, without unreasonably restrictive measures, to their spiritual and material needs. Church is a body of believers that cannot be substituted online, especially for people who do not have access to the internet, or their internet is too slow to watch video. Our church helps hurting people and those in need, both spiritually and physically. There is no substitute for meeting together to help one another. This can be done while also protecting the health and welfare of those who attend." -- Rodney Howard-Browne

I am not going to address again the sheer arrogance of thinking what he does is so special that he can violate the law and endanger the very people he claims to serve. Secondly, I am unsure why he thinks poor people cannot watch things online. If he is so magnanimous as to waste $100,000 on some air purifying, maybe he could help gets his congregants some decent Wi-Fi. I agree that church should not permanently be substituted online but temporarily? You betchya. There is just no realism in Browne's conclusions. Perhaps because he is so critical of the virus even existing his reasoning is blurred. You cannot hold a service for 500 people and think hand sanitizer will do the trick. And for what? To hear the holy ghost heretic spew anti-government conspiracy theories? This situation was made for the NAR dominionist crowd who loves pushing a false persecution model and loves playing the victim. The victim from those horrible lefties in this country, except Florida is decidedly right.

Browne's excuses are flimsy and transparent. He broke the law and was rightly arrested. I will say it again though that this transcends the legal issues. Because there is another idiot pastor in Louisiana that is doing the same thing. Now there is a moron in Pennsylvania who wants to hold a "Woodstock" like event for Easter. Stupidity breeds stupidity. If you truly care about the sheep God has entrusted to you then stay home. Live stream a sermon. Facebook a prayer service. Stop pretending that the crucial lynch pin in everyone's walk with God is your building. It is not.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 5, 2020

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.