The Salem Witch Trials Have Moved to Tennessee — and It’s Scary
Seriously, what year is it?
Women being oppressed and demonized by men of the church is nothing new. But these days, it usually is a little more subtle in developed countries.
Don’t get me wrong — Christianity can make for a beautiful community of tolerant people with genuine intentions. But it can also house misogynist preachers with a mass of ignorant followers.
Greg Locke, who is known for his controversial takes on politics and the pandemic, decided it was high time he revived the horrors of the late 1600s. And the congregation at Global Vision Bible Church is all for it.
Pastor Locke declared in a live sermon earlier this month that “six witches” were currently residing among the Mt. Juliet church. And how did he come to that conclusion? Well, a demon told him.
Part of Greg Locke’s fear-mongering tactics include the fantastical re-telling of his many exorcisms. He happily advertises his services as a means to end autism and homosexuality — among other things that are, according to him, the result of “demonic oppression.” Parents unwilling to have their child put through an exorcism are openly scolded by him and his loyal followers.
After hopping around the stage and performing his best Pazuzu impersonation, the pastor would excitedly tell the crowd that the demon had given him the first and last names of the six witches sent by the devil to destroy their church. And to the delight of his followers, he would also claim to have the home address for one of them.
He even exclaimed: “Three of you are in this room right now!” Which no doubt had everyone looking over their shoulder in wide-eyed fear.
Is it you?
“…two of you [are] in my wife’s Ladies’ Bible Study!”
Oh shit, maybe Margaret?
“Some of you been sick, ’cause you befriend that witch!”
Oh it’s totally Margaret. I had diarrhea for at least two days after she brought those “gluten-free” macarons to the last bible study. That bitch.
Along with written transcripts from the event, he would go on to claim that he even held video evidence of the possessed girl naming each witch aloud. And that if the congregation did not believe him, they should “walk over to my office right now, I lie not.”
Throughout his tangent, the preacher would repeatedly threaten to dox the six accused, riling up his audience in a pitchfork frenzy. “You stinking witch, you devil-worshiping Satanist witch! You so much as cough wrong and I’ll expose you in front of everyone in this tent, you stinking witch!” Patrons across the crowd who would normally cough proudly on vaccinated, diaper-faced leftists, now stifled even the slightest throat itch.
“You Free Masons! I’ll call you out right now in the name of God and not even break a sweat — and I’m HOT!” I wish I was making this up. But the poor man really had to ply his jacket from his body before he continued, lest he go into a fit of cardiac arrest or spontaneous combustion. Every blood vessel in his face was visibly pulsing with Baptist rage. Phew.
Despite the “radical compassion” creed of GVBC, Locke would continuously go on to demand his guests leave the church if they were to question or doubt his claims. Their website writes: “Our entire congregation is known for being *accepting, loving, gracious and forgiving.
*Unless you float on water, are willfully possessed by homo demons, or choose autism over God.”
(I made the second part up. But barely.)
After making it clear that the Indigenous-American custom of sage burning would not be tolerated on church grounds, (maybe he doesn’t like the smell?) Locke would advance his fear-mongering to the extended neighborhood.
“Mt. Juliet is full of witches!” He warned, even pointing to HomeGoods as a place they may frequent. I know that’s where I get all of my satanic feminist propaganda from.
The pastor would go on to use this to segue into demonizing a particular member of another church, repeatedly dropping hints on the identity of the person. The so-called “Man Witch” is the lead vocalist for one of the biggest churches in Nashville, TN. The demon also told Locke the man’s age, birthday, business, and even his “next move.”
“He’s casting spells on an entire congregation of young people!” Locke cried, assuring his own spellbound crew that he would be giving all this information to the Man Witch’s lead pastor. But for all of those local to the area, they had probably already figured it out. And once again, the answer lies in the pantry stock of HomeGoods.
The sermon went viral and the pastor was faced with heaps of backlash from sane people across the globe. But he didn’t back down.
In fact, he defended his message in a following sermon.
Reflecting on the targeted criticism, he told his congregation that all of the unfavorable articles were written by “witches” themselves. (Awh, thanks.) He reminded the crowd to take the threat of witchcraft very seriously. Be afraid, be very afraid!
He went on to disprove the harm of his rhetoric and doxing, without really disproving anything. In actuality, he would say something in his “defense” that was far more alarming: “They’ve all turned themselves in … for the most part.”
The next battle was debunking the idea that this was an attack on women. This time, his gaslighting tactic was under the guise of blaming the general public for assuming he was referring to women when he spoke of witches, despite the fact that he made a point of gendering the topic with his wife’s ladies’ bible study. Not to mention, his specification of the one “man witch” affirms that most people associate the term with women, including himself.
And given America’s legacy, the hunting of so-called witches has been historically spear-headed by men and exacted on women, almost exclusively. In fact, men being executed during the witch hunts was mainly due to two things: refusing to participate, or a means to an end of old-standing rivalries.
In his big “gotcha” moment, Locke declared that only four of the six witches were women. Now, I failed Grade 12 Math, but … that’s got to be more than half, right? And of course, him saying this after-the-fact is a convenient twist.
Worse yet, he had to make a point of highlighting the severity of being a witch and how it would have been dealt with in earlier times. The pastor laments on a time long before the dreamy 1600s, saying: “All I did was throw them out of church, and people went crazy. God said kill them! You better be glad we live in the New Testament.”
The church is allegedly dealing with $30,000 in equipment damage (not sure if that’s before or after taxes — oh, wait) which is also due to witches, somehow. Also, so is the acne that showed up on his face after that notorious sermon. It definitely had nothing to do with him screaming into the microphone until his pores imploded. Or bad karma. Or worse hygiene.
After about another hour of witchy fear-mongering, he reminds the audience of the “unnatural” dispositions that come from demonic oppression. One of those symptoms being adultery.
This is particularly ironic due to the fact that Locke was exposed for cheating on his first wife. And although adultery is a matter of Satanism, the pastor was quick to use his ex-wife’s “mental illness” as scapegoat for their undoing. I guess the demons that run mental illness trump adultery demons? Maybe he’ll draw out a hierarchy for us someday.
After allegedly cheating on the mother of his children with his then-assistant, he and the new woman married. His former wife, to whom he was married for 21 years, silently faded from the public eye and the local church. Did anyone else get a whiff of misogynist gaslighting? Oh no, that must just be demon sulfur. What a stench.
Whether or not this is a direct attack on women, the fact remains: Pastor Greg Locke is building a dialogue of fear, hate and intolerance in his community. And it’s dangerous.
From dismissing pandemic safety measures, demonizing autism and the LGBTQ+, to encouraging his followers to participate in a literal witch hunt — Pastor Locke has made it clear that acceptance, love, grace and forgiveness have no place in his scripture.
Pastor Locke relentlessly preaches fear to his congregation, blaming illness and misfortunes on demons and so-called witches. He beats this rhetoric into the heads of his God-fearing Christians with undying persistence and manipulation. He brings the room to a rise of sheer panic and anger. Then, he recklessly dangles the identities of those he’s deemed dangerous and dares the crowd to cull them from their own herd — even outside of the church.
With some of the “witches” now removed from his church, there’s no doubt that many (if not all) of his followers have come to realize who those patrons were. And since even their pastor has no qualms with “exposing” witches to other leaders, those exiled will likely have a similar experience. It would come as no surprise if the accused should have a difficult time finding a new church to call home, never mind facing full-blown harassment from their former peers.
And as he, himself, admitted: some of the accused have yet to leave the congregation. Which means that the witch hunt will persist, and fear may get the better of some to turn on their neighbors. Monetary loss, illness and eternal damnation are pretty heavy threats. Scared people do scary things.
After all, “God said kill them.”
And if you’re not careful, he might dub you the next Satanic HomeGoods-fraternizing witch with no hope for redemption.
Oh well, join the club.
