Controversial Megachurch Pastor Greg Locke Gets Candid About His Censorship
We have written about Greg Locke before. I try to not call him a pastor because he is more of a demagogue. He is a political operative in charge of a church in Tennessee. He has made the national news scene on several occasions like when he held a book burning at his church. Recently he was removed from You Tube for repeatedly violating their Terms of Service (TOS). The NAR dominionist church seized on this story to pretend it supports their nonsensical argument about "cancel culture" and censoring opposing viewpoints. The above is the latest attempt to do such. Let us reason once more together.
"A few weeks ago, Pastor Greg Locke was censored by YouTube after they accused him of "violating their Community Guidelines." We sat down with Locke for an exclusive Charisma News interview to talk about the pushback he's faced and how he is moving forward.
"I may be against the left and all of their ideologies, but I'm for the First Amendment and I don't want the left silenced. I don't want people who disagree with me to be silenced," Locke says in the interview." - Charisma News
Let's clear the air of the disinformation Locke spews and Charisma supports. Greg Locke is not censored. This very article proves he is not censored. It is always comical for someone to go on a national platform to cry about how they are being censored. What happened is Greg Locke was banned by a private entity for violating their Terms of Service. Locke has no constitutional right to be on YouTube, nor does anyone else. We see the same thing on Facebook all the time. How many Christians proudly declare they have been placed in "Facebook Jail", meaning their account has been temporarily suspended. No one has a God given right to be on Facebook. They have guidelines. You can disagree with them but continually violating them has consequences. This is not about the First Amendment either. The right to free speech is not absolute. None of the freedoms we enjoy are. The easy example is crying fire in a crowded theater. Your cries of fire lead to people stampeding to escape and three people die in the rush. Your perceived freedom to be able to cry fire, when you knew there was none, does not trump the right to life of three people who died.
What if an author wanted Charisma News to run an article mocking and deriding Christ and refuting his deity? Doesn't Charisma have the right to decide what content is on its platform? This is the game the lunatics on the right like Greg Locke play. They take an important subject, let's say a global pandemic. They stake out a false position but present it as if it is just an opposing view. Their alternate reality claims there is no pandemic and that the fake virus scheme was cooked up by Bill Gates, Dr. Fauci, the Red Baron and a pack of roaming unicorns. In this fake version of the world, you need to take horse medicine to cure the imaginary virus and the developed vaccine kills people instead of helping them. They then take these false claims and find "experts" willing to stand by these absurdities. They have news networks to pretend they have credibility and suddenly they declare they are just presenting a dissenting opinion. Then when they get banned by YouTube they cry censorship! Stop silencing my unicorns! This would be disturbing enough on its own but then you must realize Greg Locke pretends to be a Christian pastor.
Locke is the lead pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. His church of around 3,000 congregants meets outside under a tent each Sunday. He has been chastised for his stance on COVID policies and sermons calling out the Democratic Party. "They need to understand as much as they may think I'm a jerk, I don't want them to be shut down," Locke says. Quoting Proverbs 29:25 which says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the Lord will be safe," Locke believes any pastor who does not speak up on the pressing topics in our society today is giving room to the enemy.
Yes, you read that right. Three thousand people gather every week to listen to this lunatic. Locke has claimed the COVID virus that has killed close to seven million people worldwide is fake. He referred to the vaccine as a scam and that the elites only received "sugar water" instead of the actual shot. Pastor Loren Sandford held similar views and refused any measures to protect the flock entrusted to him. His entire church got COVID and Loren Sandford is now dead. He is far from alone. Many pastors who thumbed their noses at the virus and vaccine then contracted COVID and many died. This is not a joke. Greg Locke does not represent a different viewpoint. He represents a false viewpoint and he does so in the name of Jesus Christ. The truly sad thing here is that You Tube cared more for the sheep of Global Vision Bible Church then its pastor.
