In a March 13 Facebook post, Christian blues singer and evangelist Landon Spradlin shared a meme that claimed the fallout from the coronavirus was linked to “mass hysteria.” But just weeks later, the virus killed him.
As the Friendly Atheist’s Bo Gardiner points out, a Facebook post shared by Spradlin was from another pastor who told the “true story” of a missionary who treated victims of the bubonic plague, who didn’t die from the disease because he was protected by the “Spirit of God.”
“As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me,” read a quote from the post.
He also shared a misleading meme that compared and contrasted swine flu and COVID-19 deaths and suggested the virus was fueled by “mass hysteria” created by a media that despises Trump.
According to the Roanoke Times, Spradlin was a “fine guitarist” and “traveling musical minister.” He was, at one time, a “significant part of the Roanoke-area blues scene,” the newspaper reported. He was traveling in New Orleans with his wife when he first became ill.
Spradlin was pastor of New Wave Ministries International. The group’s mission statement is “taking the Light of the gospel into the darkest regions of the Earth.”
His wife, Jean Spradlin, is in quarantine with pneumonia in both lungs and is awaiting test results. The family has set up a GoFundMe account.
