Destiny Church bishop Brian Tamaki has told his followers they should take to the streets if the Government announces an extension to the current three-day lockdown in effect in Auckland.
Speaking outside his church in South Auckland, across the road from a Covid-19 testing station, Tamaki said "there's another virus just as bad as Covid-19, it's called fear".
At one point during the video, the bishop draws attention to a plane up in the sky, saying he thinks it's coming from China, "probably filled with non-English speaking people coming into our borders".
He pointed the finger at the Government who he says is telling New Zealanders to close their front doors while keeping the borders open to "immigrants, refugees still, and people from countries where this Covid-19 pandemic has been very active".
"I wanna say something: This has gone too far," he says.
Tamaki says he believes there are a lot of small businesses who will probably not survive a second lockdown.
He also says he "guarantees" Ardern will extend the three-day lockdown and New Zealanders will see "armed policemen in shops".
"We're gonna end up like a third world country that's having civil war," he says.
"I don't believe we should let our freedoms and our rights be railroaded again. I think we should be contemplating about taking to the streets."
Tamaki says the "socialistic and communist" Government is using the pandemic for political reasons.
"If you want New Zealand to remain New Zealand you can't sit at home and be locked down," he tells his followers on Facebook.
"Our borders are wide open but she [the Prime Minister] wants to shut our front doors and our back doors in our homes - don't you find this ironic?"
"If there is any community transmission, it's coming from our open borders," he adds.
"If she goes beyond the shutdown on Friday, we ought to be considering a stand on the Saturday," Tamaki says, urging his followers to defy lockdown rules and take to the streets.
He says the country needs "to get rid of this socialist communist Government".
"If the case is true, isolate them, but let the economy, let us continue to work."
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Comments
What happens in the streets After the people take to them? Faith healing?
A Bishop would not call for civil unrest.
Can someone please put a stop to this person words are dangerous and those that hide behind God are even more so. How much money has this person taken from people in south Auckland all in the name of a God he fails to understand. The time has come to end fear that is true the fear that is being spread by people such as this person
And your wife is standing for which party Brian? Bishopric!
Utterly irresponsible suggestion.
Another false prophet from the Church of Mammon.
All this snake oil salesman cares about is his ability to fleece the sheep he has managed to fool.
How pathetic, Brian. You are as fake as your so-called religion. The way in which you fleece your “flock” is despicable. And as for inciting trouble by taking a “stand”, get a life and a real job instead of preying on others’ vulnerability!
What is wrong with this man? Is he so out of touch that he doesn't know NZ's borders have been closed to all except NZ citizens and residents for 3 months. The plane passing overhead will have Kiwis on it returning home. For one who purports to be Christian, he seems to lack all the key elements that Christ told us in the sermon on the mount and in his parables of what makes a child of God. The bishop doesn't qualify.
I'm sorry, did you say privileged self-obsessed narcissist?
Go for it! Lockdown again, ruin the country! While the yearly 'flu kills 20 times the number of people....