Self-Styled Destiny Church "Bishop" Arrested for Covid Breach

[Presbyterian Continuist]

It had to happen. He breached our Covid rules by having mass public meetings during when a gathering had to be limited to 100 people. He did it three times before, and in spite of being told that he would be remanded in custody the next time he did it, he got bail two more times. This time, after having another mass meeting in Christchurch he has been arrested, and he should be remanded in custody pending his court appearance and sentencing.

Brian Tamaki, self-styled "Bishop" and "Apostle" does not speak for Christians in general. In fact, he is giving Christianity a bad name. Also, his members wave the Maori nationalist flag at their gatherings, giving the impression they speak for all New Zealand Maori. Such is not the case. Most Maori people are annoyed at this and are not hesitant to say that the Destiny Church certainly does not speak for the Maori people of New Zealand. Tamaki had threatened to sue the Prime Minister, the Director General of Health, the Minister for Health and the Governor General, such is the arrogance of the man.

A number of years ago, the Destiny church male members had a march down the main street in downtown Auckland. They were dressed in black shirts, and directly compared to an aggressive fascist black shirt parade seen in Mussolini's Italy.

The Destiny Church is not a Christian church. It is a religious cult, fleecing its members of a compulsory 10% of their income to pay the "Bishop's" exorbitant salary (greater than even the Prime Minister's) and demanding a binding oath of loyalty to the "Bishop". Didn't all the members of Hitler's SS have to make a similar oath to Adolf Hitler?

If you want to see the antiChrist spirit in action, take a good look at the Destiny church!

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Hey Oscar! Have you watched the Canadian/ Polish Pastor Artur Pawloski? (The guy who became famous for kicking the Canadian police and health officials out of his church last Palm Sunday).

He has some similarities with the OP but also some differences. He actually comes from the same church movement except his ministry is geared at street preaching, and feeding the poor in Calgary a little like a Charismatic version of the Salvation Army. He has had to battle the Canadian system for years they have many laws that are not constitutional but never over turned.

I guess after the over reach by the government of various countries especially the US and Canada I am sympathetic for anyone who does not comply, most people have gone beyond the "going the extra mile". Of course, I got history with the Prosperity folks... not much sympathies there....

Another thing I forgot to mention is that you guys had a big lockdown in NZ, and it came from only one person in the country having Covid! Which to me does not seem reasonable at all.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Hey Oscar! Have you watched the Canadian/ Polish Pastor Artur Pawloski? (The guy who became famous for kicking the Canadian police and health officials out of his church last Palm Sunday).

He has some similarities with the OP but also some differences. He actually comes from the same church movement except his ministry is geared at street preaching, and feeding the poor in Calgary a little like a Charismatic version of the Salvation Army. He has had to battle the Canadian system for years they have many laws that are not constitutional but never over turned.

I guess after the over reach by the government of various countries especially the US and Canada I am sympathetic for anyone who does not comply, most people have gone beyond the "going the extra mile". Of course, I got history with the Prosperity folks... not much sympathies there....

Another thing I forgot to mention is that you guys had a big lockdown in NZ, and it came from only one person in the country having Covid! Which to me does not seem reasonable at all.

During that first lockdown in New Zealand, there were over 20 deaths of older folk in retirement homes in Christchurch and Auckland. There are a lot of cases of the Omicron variant coming in over the border. At one stage this year, the number of cases reached three figures with a couple more deaths.

I think there is a lot of fake information about the vaccine. I have been jabbed twice and just had the booster, and have had no side effects at all. When I was young we had to have polio jabs, and didn't have any choice about it. My father had TB when I was 9 years old, and we have to have TB injections as well. No choice. We just lined up and got them. No bleating about personal rights in those days. You know, if people had bleated about personal rights when they were trying to eradicate smallpox, the disease would never have been wiped out and people would still be getting it in great numbers. I spend a year in the Airforce in the late 1960s as part of my compulsory military training. We got all the vaccines, and had no choice.

With the self-appointed "Bishop" the issue is not anti-vax, but his blatant disobedience to court orders. Actually he is resisting the Holy Spirit, because Paul said that we need to be subject to civil authorities because whether they are good or bad, they are put in place by God, and whoever resists them are resisting the God who placed those authorities there. "Bishop" Brian is not protesting against religious discrimination. The authorities are not demanding that he deny Christ. They are requiring him to obey a court order not to participate in gatherings more than 100 people. We have had others end up in jail because they broke the same court ruling, so what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

"Apostle" Brian can't bleat about the authorities denying him the right to worship God in public, because it is not a religious issue. It is his disobedience to a legal court order based on the rule of civil law.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

For these big mega churches I think Covid is a big challenge to the point that I wonder if it is a God sent thing to clean house. Because these churches often rely on show biz to bring in people etc. they got really big fancy facilities built in the most expensive part of the country, staff with high salaries etc. and have really high overhead.

If they can't have the big fancy gathering, but instead lots of small gatherings, video conferencing and video services and take offerings mostly online, from mail primarily that severely tests the system and they likely will have big problems since so many people had a low level commitment and came for all the fancy stuff. Hill Song Australia really comes to mind for all this....