A video authentically shows children at a church watching a skit in which people in military uniforms pretend to fatally shoot someone.
The pastor of the church said the skit was about “killing the devil,” and the video was spreading without proper context.
In June and July 2026, social media users reposted a video allegedly showing children at a church watching a skit in which people in military uniforms pretend to fatally shoot someone, firing numerous times. In the clip, the children and adults repeatedly chant, “Take him out! Blow him up!”
The actors wearing military garb pretend to open fire on the person with gun sound effects, and the person shakes on the ground as if bullets are really striking him or her.
For example, on June 29, a TikTok user posted a video (archived) with the scene. That post featured a caption reading in part:
This appears to be a Vacation Bible School skit where volunteers in tactical gear use paintball or gel blasters while children chant “take him out” and “blow him up.” Supporters say it’s meant to symbolize defeating evil and is based on the Bible’s teaching about spiritual warfare. Critics argue that using military-style imagery and those kinds of chants around young children sends the wrong message.
Other posts with the same video appeared on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived) and Reddit (archived), with some displaying the onscreen caption, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”
Snopes readers emailed to ask if the video was real, inquiring whether the video depicted reality or was created using artificial intelligence.
In sum, the video was real. The pastor of the church where the skit took place — Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky — confirmed the video’s legitimacy in a video on the church’s Facebook page. It’s unknown who recorded the video from the audience or first posted it online.
Snopes attempted to contact Pastor Dewayne Walker via the church’s email address, Facebook profile and phone contact information. We will update this article if we receive a response.
In his response video, Walker said the scene was part of an event called “Commandos for Christ” at the church’s vacation Bible school for children, and that the actors were “killing the devil.” He said “misinformation” is spreading about the skit and added, “Friends, if it offended you, I’m sorry that it did. That was not the intention.”
Walker described the events in the clip as follows:
And every year, for 32 years, we’ve had this evil against good in our vacation Bible school. The last several years we’ve had the “Commandos for Christ” that has the “gospel gun.” It’s the answer for the devil. The gospel and the word of God. It’s the answer. The clip you saw was simply killing the devil. And 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. We are not allowed by God to hate anybody else. Not even our enemies. And that’s all that clip was.
Now, you may not like how we did it. You may not like, 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. And we use all week to teach them tell the truth, don’t tell a lie. Work hard, don’t be lazy. Clean up after yourself, don’t expect somebody else to do it. Love your mom and dad, don’t disobey them. Honor everybody. Love everybody. Love God. But hate sin, cause it’ll hurt you. And hate the devil, who tries to influence you to sin. That’s basically what that skit was about. If you had been here, you had saw the building up to that point, that boy they had it coming to them.
He said the video was spreading without important context. “What you saw, that little snippet, is not even close to what we’re about,” Walker said. “If you ever hear that Mt. Olivet church has a vacation Bible school that’s for killing people, you heard it wrong or something badly wrong. Or that we’re for hurting anyone that will not believe on Jesus or believe like us, you gotta be kidding me.”
The church’s Facebook page did not host the clip showing the in-question shooting skit.
The video of the skit shows children in the audience wearing T-shirts that say, “S’more About Jesus.” Some Christian churches annually host vacation Bible school events — commonly shortened by churches as “VBS” — as summer outreach programs, inviting children and families to attend kid-focused religious activities.
The exact date of the skit was unknown. A Facebook search for “S’more About Jesus” (with quotation marks), with the added term of “VBS,” located a Facebook user who posted additional photos and videos of the event. That post was dated June 26 and claimed the event occurred “a few nights ago.”
At least one person on social media claimed without evidence the skit depicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killing an immigrant without permanent legal status. There was nothing to support that assertion.
We’ve fact-checked other videos of church scenes, including clips allegedly showing ICE agents attacking a Black church choir and a church’s cross bursting into flames.
Jordan Liles
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