Did Dallas church cross catch fire during mass? Viral video debunked

In mid-August 2025, social media exploded with a dramatic video believed to be of a large cross burning during a Mass at "St. Michael's Church" in Dallas, Texas.

The video exploded across various platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with millions of views in total. The narrator of the video claimed that it occurred during Mass on June 15, 2025, as over 80 people were present in the church when flames engulfed the altar cross.

The narrative states that the fire began suddenly, producing smoke at the bottom of the wooden altar, before 'flaring up' as flames began to take the form of a figure with a human-shaped head resembling the body of a crucified Christ. The narrator claimed it could be a sign from God, and then indicated that some of the biblical readings could be evidence.

"We from the Daily Faith Ministry are here to show you something extraordinary. For less than 3 seconds, the flames shaped a human figure with outstretched arms, like the crucified Christ. Then, the fire vanished, leaving no burn marks. Firefighters found the cross intact," the video's narration said.

Shortly after its rise in popularity, fact-checkers and websites such as Snopes began to find out that the video was created using an image-based Generative AI method.

They pointed out multiple inconsistencies within the video that illustrated believable, if not evident, signs of digital generation rather than an actual event. 

A look into the real Dallas church fire and the origins of the fake clip

Confusion was presumably due to recent events from an unrelated incident in Dallas. In July 2024, a historic chapel at First Baptist Dallas Church burned down in a fire.

"There are people across the country and even across the world who have ties to First Baptist Dallas. But our message to them is First Baptist Dallas stands stronger than ever. We are more committed than ever to transforming the world with the truth of God’s word," pastor Ben Lovvorn said in a statement at that time.

But unlike the viral cross-burning video, this fire was confirmed by officials. There is no correlation between that real fire and the new AI-generated video.

🚨#UPDATE: New drone footage reveals the extensive damage following the collapse of the First Congregational Church. According to the church's pastor, no injuries have been reported in this incident. pic.twitter.com/BKFBHQYdlW

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 25, 2024

According to Snopes, the search for the first versions of the recent fake video led back to a Spanish-language TikTok account, @retolamysusnoticias, posted July 20, 2025, which had included a puppet narrator and made similar claims.

It is also worth mentioning that this Spanish-language TikTok account has since produced several AI-generated hoaxes, including videos about mythical creatures, Atlantis, and a couple of controversial videos with alleged supernatural events.

The English-language version that was later shared by Daily Faith Ministry seemed to be an edited version or thematic adaptation of that original post.