Pastor Tony – Tony Spell, a pastor in Central, Louisiana, was arrested June 23 on a second-degree battery charge after an alleged attack on a 20-year-old man. After bonding out of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, Spell delivered a sermon describing his actions as fulfilling
When Pastor Tony Spell walked out of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after posting bond, he didn’t return to quiet reflection. He went back to the pulpit.
Within hours. Spell delivered a sermon in Central. Louisiana. saying Bible scripture supported what he had just done in an assault case that landed him in custody. He told church followers he “fulfilled the scripture” to “lay hands on the sick. ” describing the line as a command he acted on during an encounter he says involved threats toward his family and congregation.
Spell, who leads Life Tabernacle Church in Central—an area considered a suburb of Baton Rouge—was arrested June 23 and charged with second-degree battery. The allegations center on an attack against a 20-year-old man who lives near the church.
Spell and members of his congregation said the man had a history of verbally harassing them, including threats, insults, and racial slurs. Spell did not deny the assault during later remarks; instead, he framed it as intervention.
In a sermon delivered shortly after he bonded out. Spell quoted scripture and connected it directly to the moment he says he had to act. He said. “In my name. they shall lay hands on the sick. and they shall recover. ” adding. “I fulfilled the scripture. I laid hands on the sick. I don’t know how much recovery they’re going to have, but I laid hands on the sick.”.
The congregation learned the details a day later, when Spell spoke at a news conference on June 24. He described the hours leading up to the attack. saying that on the prior day he was changing batteries in some of the church buses when the man began walking up and down the road next to the parking lot.
Spell alleged the man was “shouting vulgarities, profanities (and) very nasty words” at him. He said he did not view himself as an aggressor so much as a defender—calling himself the “natural protector” of his family and saying he had an “obligation and a duty” to intervene when they are threatened.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation and Spell’s arrest, but it did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spell’s account leaves a sharp line between claim and consequence: he acknowledged assault while asserting that scripture and protective duty drove his actions. For now. the charge remains tied to the incident itself. even as the pastor’s explanation points to the spiritual language he used after his release.
Tony Spell Life Tabernacle Church Central Louisiana East Baton Rouge Parish Prison second-degree battery sermon Bible scripture lay hands on the sick pastor arrest