Thousands Attended Church for Palm Sunday Services Despite Stay-At-Home Orders | 22 Words

Despite the global pandemic crisis that we are currently experiencing, some people just aren't listening to the "stay at home" rules.

Keep scrolling to see the shocking images of the thousands who attended church recently for Palm Sunday...

 

This is the worst pandemic our world has seen in decades.

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 The deadly virus has completely taken over the world and it has been spreading at an alarming rate.

World leaders have been left with little choice but to bring their countries to a total stand-still...

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 And many have now banned large and crowded events, including any travel to and from infected countries.

It didn't take long for the virus to reach us here in the States.

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 Our first case was confirmed in Washington in late January after a citizen returned from a trip to China.

And, since then, the numbers have been rising at a frightening pace.

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 Since the first case in Washington, there have been 377,499 more confirmed cases across the country and 11,781 deaths.

Yep, things are deadly serious...

And many people have been descending into mass hysteria over the risks the virus brings with it.

The importance of self-isolation has been stressed globally...

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 And it has been proven that locking down public areas and avoiding social situations has helped reduce the chances of spreading the already out of control virus.

But it seems that not everyone feels the need to abide by these suggestions...

via: WFLA News Channel 8

 Scenes last month at the Clearwater Beach in Florida showed that a lot of people have completely disregarded these global warnings.

Images from the white-sand beach showed spring breakers enjoying the sun...

via: WFLA News Channel 8

 And even though many beaches in this area have been closed due to the pandemic, visitors still flocked anyway.

Some people just don't quite realize the extent of this situation...

With 14,550 positive cases of coronavirus in the state of Florida, many of whom are teens or in their early twenties, the Centers for Disease Control has advised that all events with more than 50 people attending should be canceled - meaning people need to start taking this very seriously.

But despite the rapid rise in deaths and consistent warnings from health officials...

Many people continue to ignore the social distancing rules and go about their days as they please.

Officials have made it perfectly clear that mass gatherings are not allowed to happen until further notice...

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 And this includes religious gatherings, such as going to church on a Sunday.

But it seems that some people are needing God urgently during these difficult times.

via: Rodney Howard-Browne

 Scenes at the River Church in Tampa, Florida showed hundreds of people congregating to hear Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne deliver his Sunday Service.

The Pastor has vowed to never close his church...

via: Rodney Howard-Browne

 Despite every doctor and scientist in the country saying social distancing is the only thing that will prevent the disease from spreading even more.

He clearly has very strong views on the matter.

via: Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne

 The Pastor boasted his place was white-glove clean, saying, "We brought in 13 machines that basically kill every virus in the place, and uh, if somebody walks through the door it’s like, it kills everything on them. If they sneeze, it shoots it down at like 100 mph. It'll neutralize it in split seconds. We have the most sterile building in, I don’t know, all of America."

He is reluctant to abide by the rules.

via: Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne

 "We are not stopping anything. I've got news for you, this church will never close. The only time the church will close is when the Rapture is taking place," he then said.

Many pastors and priests around the world have been live-streaming their services on social media instead of holding mass gatherings...

via: Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne

 And it's unclear why Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne can't do this instead, like many other preachers.

But it seems that Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne has set a trend...

On Sunday, which was the religious day of Palm Sunday, thousands of people across the country attended church services.

Our country appears to be in 2 minds about the closures of places of worship...

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 Several governors have designated houses of worship as providing essential services, exempting them from shutdown orders, whilst in other states, places of worship are choosing to defy orders to shut their doors.

It's clear that some preachers aren't aware of the severity of this situation.

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 Jack Roberts, a seventy-six-year-old preacher at Maryville Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, told the Courier Journal that he would rather face a fine than close his doors. "I’m not interested in trying to defy the government," he said, "I don’t want to battle with anybody. What I’d like to do is just preach the gospel, and that’s become more difficult as time’s gone on. And it’s truthfully what I plan on doing."

Many Pastors are against opening their doors, however.

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 Pastor Lawrence Bishop II told his congregation that the church had come under attack for holding the service, but that no one was faulting people who "packed into Lowes this morning, elbow to elbow and a 2-hour wait to get in." "But I say the scripture that says forsake not to assemble yourselves together more so when you see the end approaching if we don’t see the end approaching now, if this is not the beginning of the end then I don’t know what is."

Of course...

People online aren't happy about these congregations - regardless of whether it is a religious holiday or not.

Many Christians have been staying at home...

And Church most certainly isn't a reason to break quarantine.

There are other alternative ways to practice faith...

And this can be done without risking the lives of others.

We completely respect the fact that many feel the need to attend Sunday services...

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 But they also need to realize the severity of this situation and that they could be potentially endangering hundreds of lives by attending gatherings such as these. Keep scrolling for the most recent updates...