'Satan's trying to keep us apart!' Dozens of defiant Christian pastors will hold Palm Sunday services throughout the US despite orders to self-isolate amid the coronavirus crisis

Dozens of defiant Christian pastors across the country are preparing to open their church doors to their congregations for Palm Sunday, despite strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

'We're defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel,' Louisiana pastor Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday.  

More than 8,000 Americans have died from the highly contagious coronavirus in recent weeks, prompting officials and medical experts to plead with the public to practice social distancing. 

But Spell, whose Life Tabernacle megachurch in Baton Rouge boasts 1,000 members, plans on holding three services on Palm Sunday.

It's unclear how many of them will crowd inside the building to hear their pastor preach. 

'The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,' Spell told Reuters. 

For Spell and others, the public health orders are a threat to religious freedoms and constitutional rights.

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Tony Spell told Reuters Saturday he plans to hold three Palm Sunday services at his Baton Rouge megachurch despite orders to self-isolate amid the COVID-19 outbreak

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Congregants arrive for service at the Life Tabernacle Church on Tuesday evening

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Congregants after a service at the Life Tabernacle Church on Tuesday evening

'Satan's trying to keep us apart, he's trying to keep us from worshiping together. But we're not going to let him win,' Kelly Burton, pastor at Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, wrote in a post on Facebook.

Lone Star has been holding services in the parking lot - what it calls 'Church on the Lot' - and will do so on Palm Sunday. 

Meanwhile, in California's Sacramento County, officials stated Friday that they have identified one evangelical church that has a cluster of 71 positive cases. They offered few details but said that while the church itself is closed, church members continue to gather in fellow parishioners' homes.

Others in California are defying the ban.

Rob McCoy, the mayor of Los Angeles enclave Thousand Oaks, is one of them. 

He also serves as the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, where he will offer communion on Palm Sunday - though encouraging worshipers to stand six feet apart.

'It's very important theologically that communion not be taken alone,' said McCoy. 'What we are doing is exercising our inalienable rights. Communion is non-negotiable for us.'

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Rob McCoy, the mayor of Los Angeles enclave Thousand Oaks and pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, says 'Communion is non-negotiable'

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Godspeak Calvary Chapel in upmarket Thousand Oaks, California is pictured

About 400 miles  north of Thousand Oaks, police in Lodi, California, interrupted a service late last month at the Cross Culture Christian Center, an evangelical church with about 80 regular attendees, to tell members they were violating stay-at-home orders.

They have since been given a warning posted on the church door, a 'Notice of Public Nuisance,' demanding the center stop holding services, according to local officials.

'This is a serious public health threat,' said city spokesman Jeff Hood.

Still, the pastor plans to hold services on Palm Sunday, said the church's attorney, Dean Broyles.

'Simply put, no, we're not going to obey it,' Broyles told Reuters. 'The virus does not suspend our constitutional rights, the right to assemble, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.'

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Meanwhile, Ohio megachurch Solid Rock, has been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person

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A Solid Rock Church service is pictured taking place last summer

Broyles said the church is taking steps to mitigate risks, including sanitizing the building before services and asking that the elderly or those with health problems remain at home.

'We're much safer than a Walmart or grocery store,' said Broyles. 

'Think about it, you're crammed into (store) aisles inches apart from other shoppers. Here we're sitting six feet apart.' 

Meanwhile, Ohio megachurch Solid Rock has been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person, and plans keep the church open on Palm Sunday. 

Solid Rock did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters but in a statement on its website said, in part, that 'we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of anyone who comes to Solid Rock Church. We have scaled back our normal services; and there are not large numbers of worshipers in the facility, but we are open and continuing to practice and sustain our faith.'

As of Saturday afternoon, more than 3,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 7,000 had died.  

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 Solid Rock did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters but in a statement on its website said, in part, that 'we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of anyone who comes to Solid Rock Church