(OPINION) A clip of controversial pastor Greg Locke threatening to expose members of his church for being “witches” has gone viral. In the nearly two-minute video, edited from his February 13 sermon, Locke tells the crowd he has the name of six, and that three are in the audience watching him.
Locke mentions “witches” multiple times in the sermon at his Global Vision Bible Church event. The clip was posted on Twitter by Hemant Mehta, the “Friendly Atheist” blogger, and former Jeopardy! champion, where it has since been viewed more than 450,000 times.
“We got first and last names of six witches that are in our church. And you know what’s strange? Three of you are in this room right now,” Locke said. The pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, hit headlines recently for his “burning service” in which members torched books such as Harry Potter and the Twilight series, along with Ouija boards and other symbols of the occult. And now, his bold exposure of alleged witches within his own congregation has made national and international news.
“We cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ,” Locke continues in the sermon video clip. “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!”
The clip was first posted by Hemant Mehta, a self-proclaimed atheist, and former Jeopardy! champ who, per his Twitter feed, seems to specialize in mocking Scripture, pastors, conservatives, and Christians in general.
But Mehta isn’t alone in his criticism. After he posted the video, the Twitterverse quickly filled with another negative commentary about Locke’s previous word that demons can cause autism as well as some of his anti-mask and other conservative beliefs.
In an email to Religion News Service, Locke said his words had been taken out of context in the edited video. He said two of the alleged witches were men and were “ALL sent here on assignment to disrupt.” He also said “trouble-makers” in the church had brought the witches to Global Vision to lure church members into adultery.
