On Sunday afternoon, a man taking part in a Madden N.F.L. 19 qualifying tournament at a bar in Jacksonville, Florida lost a game and took his wrath out on fellow competitors. He fatally shot two people and injured several others before eventually killing himself.
Within hours, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist hate-preacher Adam Fannin of Stedfast Jacksonville Church was ready with a response.
Within the first ten minutes of his sermon, he blamed the shooting on all of the following: Football, beer, anti-Christ religions, people who promote video games, the “Devil’s music,” the bar’s owners, sports bars, strip clubs, Masonic Lodges, casinos, gay bars, abortions, fake churches, false prophets, the Catholic Church, less fundamentalist Baptists, perverts, pedophiles, and atheists.
Not making his list? Guns.
… In Jacksonville, there was just a mass shooting at a game bar. Okay? This is a drinking bar where they play games. This is — you know — children today are enticed through the television, through Nintendo games, video games, whatever you call them. And, you know, I want the children to pay attention.
The mass shootings are the result of God’s judgment on America. And listen: we can prevent mass shootings. It’s not the guns’ fault. It’s not guns that caused a mass shooting.
Listen, it’s football, it’s beer, it’s anti-Christ religions that preach against Jesus Christ. It’s this anti-Christ entertainment industry that wants to tell you that joy can be found in playing games — sports games or first person shooters. This entertainment industry uses mind control to captivate the minds of our children. And children, I want you to listen up. Do not let your heart be given to games. Do not let your heart be given to wine, to beer, to alcohol.
This place that got shot up? That’s what it is. It’s called the Good Luck Have Fun game bar. What did they do? You come in, you have a pizza, you get a craft beer. Right? We talk about witchcraft this morning. You get a craft beer and they give you some tokens. You can play some games. You can rent a computer, or a gaming console, and just sit there and drink and play games and play this fantasy world instead of doing something profitable with your mind.
Listen up, children. That is wicked. That is ungodly. It is anti-Christ. These games are being used to pull people out of church, to get their mind and their heart away from God… From what I hear, from what I understand, there were four people killed, 11 people injured. The guy lost a game of Madden football and started shooting up the room, apparently. Listen: That’s ungodly. That is wicked as hell.
Bars are a problem — and should we should we pray for the dead, Brother Fannin? Why? For what? It’s too late for them. Listen: they’re dead. The people that got shot and killed today, they’re either in heaven or in hell. Their eternity is sealed. The decision has been made. The destination is permanent. They’re either on fire forever or they’re with God. And it’s based on what they believe while they was alive. We should pray for the families of these victims — that they would get saved. We should pray that people would take this as a wakeup call. Listen: Jacksonville, Florida is under the curse of God right now. Why do mass shootings happen? Why would somebody do such a strange thing? How can somebody’s mind be so full of pride that they would kill another individual over a digital game? Over football? Because they’ve forsaken God. They forsaken the Bible. They’ve forsaken His commandment.
Listen: Jacksonville has chosen football instead of faith. They’ve chosen the Jaguars instead of Jesus Christ, and the curse of God is on Jacksonville because of it.
They choose bars instead of the Bible. Right? But Jacksonville needs to get back to obeying the word of God, being afraid of God’s judgment. And listen: that’s just a drop in the bucket of God’s judgment. I’m not saying that that gunman worked for God. I’m not condoning what he did. It’s wicked as hell to murder people, right? He should be put to death. Apparently, the cops did put him to death. Praise the Lord for that, that they stopped him before anybody else. But look: guns are not the problem. Guns are not the problem.
I mean, we know that our society is going to say, “Well, you just can’t defend yourself.” What if he used a pocket knife? Well, we should just make pocket knives illegal. What if it was a letter opener, right? The old argument was it’s pencils that cause people to misspell words. Right? That’s what they say! Well, it’s the gun. Blame it on the gun! No! Blame it on the football. Blame it on the beer. Blame it on the Devil’s music that was pumping through that place. Blame it on the ungodly owners of that establishment.
I pray God shuts that place down. Listen, I wish God would shut down a lot of bars in Jacksonville. Jacksonville’s cursed because of the bars, the sports bars, the strip bars, the Masonic Lodge bars, the game room casinos, the gay bars. I wish God would shut them all down. And this — this town, this city might be blessed. Jacksonville’s cursed because of the whoredoms that they’ve chosen instead of the hymnals. Instead of God’s music, they’re listening to the music of whores. The Devil’s music.
We preached about it this morning, about witchcraft, how it comes in the church, about how people try to seduce you and do wicked things to people, and that’s real. That’s today! It’s happening today! These people are messed up in the mind! The entertainment industry has defiled and polluted their mind. And this is the result. Innocent people die. Listen: They shouldn’t have been in that bar to begin with, but it doesn’t justify killing anybody.
Jacksonville’s cursed because we allow abortions. To kill babies in poor families. That’s the recommendation of our government, is, “Well, you know, you’re poor? Oh cool. We’ll kill your children for you.” Jacksonville is cursed because we allow abortions, because the government pays for abortions.
Listen: Jacksonville’s cursed because of all the fake churches, the false prophets, the Catholic Churches. The pope is a pedophile. These priests are stinking perverts and pedophiles. I wish God would destroy those churches. Burn them to the ground.
I wish God would judge them and bring fire and brimstone and just level it. But, you know, it’s not just the Catholics. It’s not just — it’s the Baptists as well. Listen: Jacksonville, Florida is cursed because of the perverts and the pedophiles in this city… There’s a curse on Jacksonville because we’ve forsaken God’s words. And it’s not guns. Guns aren’t the problem. Don’t blame the guns. Blame the beer. It happened in a stinking bar! Blame the beer. Blame the love and the idolatry for football that Jacksonville has.
You guys know, when we go out and try to invite people to church, and evangelize and preach the gospel, you knock on somebody’s door when the Jaguars are playing? Oh man, let your name be a curse if you stop their game! If they don’t have a DVR, they won’t even answer the door. The Faguars. Listen I pray that God would collapse that stadium! God is cursing Jacksonville because they have propped up an idol of football, and they would rather bow down to that, and worship that, and get drunk to that, than just go to church [and] obey God.
… Why do mass shootings happen? It’s because people reject God’s law. They reject God. They’re being selfish. They’re being devilish. They would rather do whatever they want to do instead of what God wants us to do…
Congratulations, feminists! You didn’t cause this tragedy!
My favorite thing in there may be his masterful pivot from discussing the dangers of craft beer to the dangers of witchcraft…
You know, there was a time, right after 9/11, where a religious figure blaming a tragedy on abortion, or gay people, or feminists, or all of the above was national news because of how ludicrous it was. Now it’s just commonplace. How many other preachers will follow suit, blaming everyone except the killer, his mental health (or his ability to get it treated), and the ease with which he acquired a weapon?