Prince Church Sermons, ‘God’ Backlash, And Illuminati-Warner Brothers Conspiracy Theories
Prince might have died from the effects of taking Percocet, as reported by the Inquisitr, but until the toxicology results are released to the public, the confirmed cause of Prince’s death won’t be known with certainty. In the meantime, conspiracy theories abound on the Sunday after Prince’s death as to the causes that some fans are theorizing led to his death. Since Sunday, April 24 is also the first Sunday following Prince’s death, social media is full of reports of how their churches and pastors handled Prince’s death in terms of adding it to their sermons or church music lineups.
Sunday was an important day to Prince, with certain Prince songs being deemed his “Sunday songs.” As reported by Soul Train, Prince’s song “The Cross” was one of his deep and introspective songs and was recorded on a Sunday.
Prince sang his song “God” live in 1985, another one of his “Sunday songs.”
https://youtu.be/XgdYigUsHyk
Certain churches are using Prince’s lyrics as part of their Sunday message. As reported by BuzzFeed, a United Methodist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, used the lyrics from Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” song to offer an “RIP Prince” tribute on their church sign. Writing “Dearly Beloved, We are gathered here today to get through this thing called ‘life'” on their church sign, the lyrics reflect the church’s mission, said the pastor.
Church honors "dearly beloved" Prince by putting his lyrics on its sign https://t.co/XdPxUXabuv pic.twitter.com/fvPYcLigve
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) April 22, 2016
Other churches are including songs like “Purple Rain” in their repertoire. The following videos show one Twitter user who posted a snippet of her church performing “Purple Rain” on Sunday.
I knew for a fact that my church would do a prince tribute ? pic.twitter.com/jtgU5JFXMf
— no (@bblackgoldd) April 24, 2016
Some churches might have gone “radio silent” on Prince, because the pastors might not have known what to say. Others on social media are reeling from some of the backlash being lobbed around from those who focus on the raunchy music of Prince, especially those songs that came from his younger days. There are those that are writing about the faith he found and his spiritual side, with reports of how Prince changed and matured over the years.
Facebook user Rhakeem Vanderburg shared Daily Kos‘s video about how Prince changed over the decades since the time he hit the scene as a half-dressed wild child.
“I’ve seen some post about Prince and things he did when he was younger in his early music, but none about how he changed in his adult life. We all are sinners, with a chance to change. As my pastor mentioned this morning, the older Prince was a different man that many didn’t realize was a firm believer in GOD. I’m glad Van Jones let it be known..”
While some pastors dressed in purple as a nod to Prince, others reminded their congregations that the Prince of Peace, Jesus, is still alive and well after the death of Prince.
Shiloh Baptist Church of New Ro tribute to Prince @ShilohNewRo #RIPPrince #PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/Sh0owBV67j
— inimeanieluvs (@goldielocksny) April 24, 2016
Several churches played their own renditions of “Purple Rain” as witnessed in videos from social media.
Others are busy posting their theories about what might have really killed Prince, at least in their minds. Some Prince fans are busy pointing to the fact that Prince received the rights to his entire catalog from Warner Bros. in 2014, as reported by Billboard, as some sort of motivation for nefarious interests to benefit from Prince’s death.
Certain folks are linking Prince’s situation with Warner Bros. as one similar to Michael Jackson’s relationship with Sony.
Prince gets his whole catalog back from Warner Brothers and then he dies … U see the pattern that's going on here
— Pimp Lucious ?? (@elijahTheOg17) April 22, 2016
Others are pointing to Prince’s thoughts on the Illuminati and chemtrails, as seen in the below video, as related reasons for his death. Some are calling those thoughts far-off conspiracy theories and joking about how “coincidental” it was for both Prince and Michael Jackson to have both died on a Thursday.
Aretha Franklin thought perhaps Prince died of Zika virus symptoms.
[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/AP Images]