Human Interest
Kentucky Baptist Church Faces Backlash for Depicting Death by Firing Squad to Represent ‘Killing the Devil’
A pastor in Kentucky has responded to an onslaught of criticism after a video from a Bible school went viral for depicting a person getting shot to death.
A clip shared to TikTok on Sunday, June 28, shows children at the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, watching as adults holding fake guns and dressed in what looked like military attire approach a person on the ground who is repeatedly shot at.
People are heard chanting, “Take him out, and blow him up!”
The person is then dragged out of the room as the people in the audience smile and converse.
While some people in the post’s comments section asked for more context, others were appalled. “This is absolutely sick. You all need help,” one person wrote, while another said: “You think the devil is fun? Because that’s what this is. Satan’s work.”
On Monday, June 29, pastor Dewayne Walker responded to the backlash in a lengthy video message shared to the church’s official Facebook page.
“The misinformation out there is sad,” he began, explaining that “a small part of our vacation Bible school for 32 years” is having “characters every year that represent good and right” as well as ones that “represent evil and wrong.”
“We make church a fun place, a happy place — a place where we hate sin,” he said. “A place where we exalt Jesus, and we hate the devil. I think you’d be in agreement that we shouldn’t love the devil.”
“The clip you saw was simply killing the devil,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you, if I could kill the devil every day and raise him up and kill him again, I’d do it. He’s the one we hate.”
However, Walker admitted that the way that this was shown to children may not have been to everyone’s liking.
“You may not like how we did it,” he said. “We used those air rifles. They’re basically paintball guns. And maybe you’re right, maybe we’re wrong. But, understand, we’re painting a real picture to kids, visibly, what’s going on invisibly.”
Explaining that this was just a character, Walker said he is “sad” the skit may have been “misunderstood.”
In the comments section of Walker’s video, people were still very upset by what they saw, with one person writing, “WWJD? He certainly would not condone this. Your ‘skit’ perpetuated hate and violence, and what is wrong with the world. SHAME ON YOU!!!!! I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE POOR CHILDREN!”
However, some of the people who attend Mt. Olivet Baptist came to the church’s defense.
“I been part of mt olivet church over 16 years,” one person wrote. “And i know that this church loves on the broken. I know the intentions of members is this church is helping those who are lost and the broken.”
