***NOTE TO READERS: I beg you not to post disrespectfully on the family’s social media. Not only are they grieving, that would alienate this community and damage the potential for learning from this important morality tale. Thanks, Bo.***
We’ve had a sad loss here in Virginia from the pandemic, a death that also comes as a cautionary tale.
Yesterday, one of the first deaths of a Virginia resident from COVID-19 was a Christian musical evangelist who, believing the pandemic response to be anti-Trump “mass hysteria,” took his family to New Orleans to “wash it from its Sin and debauchery.”
A Gretna man who had double pneumonia and tested positive for COVID-19 in Concord North Carolina died around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the family reports. Landon Spradlin, 66, was an accomplished blues musician who pastored several different churches over the years. Spradlin was in New Orleans with his wife, Jean Spradlin, when he started getting sick. On their way back to Gretna on March 17, his condition worsened to the point where he could hardly breathe…
The Roanoke Times described Spradlin as a “traveling musical minister” and “fine guitarist” with a “powerful soul-blues voice,” at one time “a significant part of the Roanoke-area blues scene.”
On his Facebook page, Spradlin had posted many photos and videos of his family, his band, and himself performing and sightseeing in New Orleans beginning on what seems February 21 through March 10. Much of his time appeared to be in crowded Jackson Square, where his band played in what he called his “Jackson Square Ministry.” Other locations included performing in intimate music clubs, dining in restaurants, and walking on Bourbon Street.
On Feb. 28, he posted “We had an awesome Mardi Gras outreach this year. Many were touched by the power and love of Jesus!!”
Spradlin was likely already infected when, on March 13, he posted a highly misleading meme comparing COVID-19 and swine flu deaths, suggesting that the current virus response was “mass hysteria” created by the media for no reason other than to hurt Donald Trump:
That image contains information spread by Tiffany Fray, a devoutly Christian Trump supporter. It’s complete misleading to the point that fact-checkers for Facebook marked it as “partly false.” PolitiFact, which said the statement is “mostly false,” explains more here.
That same day he shared a post telling a “true” story of a missionary who cared miraculously for bubonic plague victims without himself succumbing to the illness. That post explained that “As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me.”
Spradlin was pastor of New Wave Ministries International, whose mission statement is “taking the Light of the gospel into the darkest regions of the earth.”
According to the ministry, his wife Jean Spradlin was, as of March 24, in quarantine with pneumonia in both lungs, awaiting test results. She told her local paper that they visit New Orleans every year and “seemingly always catch some sickness while they’re there,” explaining that “a plethora of organizations have been working with her to get her information, ensure that she is safely quarantined, and provide such necessities like food, extra clothes and internet.” She also stated that the family has set up a GoFundMe account.
Spradlin’s official music page says only that they will “see him again in the other side of glory.”
There’s no mention of how they could’ve prolonged his life through sensible precautionary measures.
HikinOut8 on March 26th, 2020 at 21:59 UTC »
I don't want too see anyone die from this. Supposedly, it's not an easy way to go. But I'll tell you what. The bible got it right when it said you 'reap what you sow.'
I just read about some freak pastor by the name of Tony Spell who is purposefully going against state orders and holding services of up to 1,000 people. And he's taking the "persecution of faith" stance in defense. This is the guy who said he's cured AIDS and cancer at his service so...yeah.
So if a couple of hundred people come down with it I imagine it's because they weren't 'true' believers. There's always an out.
strahberryfields on March 26th, 2020 at 21:46 UTC »
My parents were streaming a sermon by Andrew Wommack last Sunday on the 22nd. Unfortunately, I can't find the video online after searching around.
The sermon was about 'Fear and Faith'. He says that he is not going to do anything different because he believes that his faith in god is strong enough to come against sickness. He claimed that he never gets sick because Jesus will not allow any germ to come against him.
He supports this belief by telling a story about a colleague who was working in the hospitals in Italy without gloves. The hospital workers were terrified and said that he will get sick if he doesn't protect himself. Wommack says this man took foam off a patients mouth who was dying from covid and put it in his mouth to prove that god is watching over him. Allegedly this man doesn't get sick.
What was befounding to me was the hundreds of church goers clapping and shouting their support for this pastors lack of fear. He is spreading dangerous information. He says that this virus will not prevent him from laying hands on people, praying for them, or traveling to spread the word of god.
It's interesting because in the bible (Romans 13:1) it mentions how people should obey the governing authorities. Ironically his behavior in response to the pandemic is contradicting the bible.
Edit: I found the video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bNaBPGpd-8w , and the part of the video I am referring to starts at 8'00"
twilightmoons on March 26th, 2020 at 20:32 UTC »
He died of stupidity. He died for no good reason. He died because of belief.
He should not be dead. He could have prevented this if he had wanted to. He didn't - he ignored expert advice and listened to idiots, and now he's dead, his wife is critically ill, and his family is exposed.