A controversial, anti-LGBTQ pastor went off the rails during a sermon in which he accused some members of his congregation were witches and that they were on a mission to destroy the church.
A nearly two-minute video of right-wing pastor Greg Locke's raucous sermon–in which he said the word "witches" numerous times and threatened to expose the supposed coven infiltrating his house of God–went viral.
Locke, who was permanently banned from Twitter last September after spreading misinformation about COVID-19, had promoted former President Donald Trump's "big lie" and previously sermonized that only "crack-smoking, demon-possessed leftists" believe Biden won the presidential election.
You can watch Locke's bonkers sermon aimed at witches at his Global Vision Bible Church, here.
“We’ve got first and last names of six witches that are in our church, and you know what’s strange?" asked the pastor who was suspicious of hocus pocus activity.
"Three of you are in this room right now. Three of you in the room right now."
As the riled crowd cheered him on, Locke continued:
“You better look in my eyeballs, ’cause we ain’t afraid of you, you stinkin’ witch, you devil-worshipping Satanist witch."
Locked waved his finger as his voice increased with intensity.
"We cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ. We break your spells, we break your curse. We got your first name, we got your last name, we even got an address for one of you.”
Far from being finished, he continued with rage:
“You so much as cough wrong, and I’ll expose you in front of everybody in this tent, you stinkin’ witch!"
"You were sent to this church to destroy us. You were sent to this church to lure us in. You were sent to this church to cast spell – listen, some of you been sick? Cause you befriended that witch!"
Twitter chimed in for a spell.
Some users wondered if he was hoodwinking his congregants to cover up his own possible indiscretions.
Locke went on to claim two of the so-called witches were in his wife's Bible study group, and he threatened to expose who they were in front of everybody unless they left the group.
"We got all six of their names," he said and claimed one of them was a new church member.
He left the accused with the following ultimatum.
"You got a choice. You can leave with your spells, all by yourself, or I’ll show up next Sunday with a stage full of brooms, and I’ll give you one and I’ll fly your tail up out of this place in the name of Jesus."
"But we ain’t playing your spell castin’, witchcraft nonsense sage-burning games.”
His remarks came after he held a book-burning ceremony outside the church in the Nashville suburb of Mount Juliet in Tennessee.
"Bring all your Harry Potter stuff. Laugh all you will haters. I don't care. It's witchcraft 100 percent," he wrote in a Facebook post announcing the bonfire event.
"All your Twilight books and movies. That mess is full of spells, demonism, shape-shifting and occultism. Bring tarot cards, Ouija boards, healing crystals, idol statues, spell books and everything else tied to the occult. It's got to go."
"If you think we're crazy, then scroll on. We're exposing the Kingdom of Darkness for what it is. It's time for people to be delivered."
He had also encouraged congregants to bring books about Disney–which conservative Christians denounced for the company's known support for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.
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