Greg Locke



Greg Locke is an American transphobic, homophobic, climate change-denying Baptist pastor and professional grifter at the Global Vision Bible Church, in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.

Locke's first notable foray into the public sphere (after his many arrests, of course) was an example of the "stopped clock" saying: it was a takedown of Israeli Arab (i.e. Palestinan) faith healer Benny Hinn in a 2005 self-published book entitled Blinded by Benny.

Locke uses his substantial online following on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to transform his childhood propensity as a class bully into the literal bully pulpit, with his vision of "always being filled with hate and rage" directed toward transgender people, gays, and cross-dressers, just as he thinks that Jesus surely would have wanted him to.

Locke came to prominence when he criticized Target's decision to provide gender-neutral toilets. Locke's prophetic and godly status was somewhat tarnished when it was reported that he cheated on his wife with the church secretary and packed the wife and children on a bus out of town so he could focus on the sinful delights of his new girlfriend. He eventually divorced his wife to marry his girlfriend, so no doubt he thinks that God has forgiven him for his breach of the Ten Commandments.

If so, however, some of his fellow Christians have not. He has been roundly criticized for among other things abandoning the Church of the King James Version, but much more seriously for having allegedly abused his wife both physically and psychologically.

Wingnuttery and Christian Nationalism
Increasingly in the 2020s, Locke's church started looking less like a temple dedicated to worshiping Jesus and more like a proxy of the radicalized Republican Party, dedicated to a pro-Trump (until he renounced his support) vein of Christian nationalism.

Locke continued to be vocally supportive of Donald Trump, grumbling about how Joe Biden stole the 2020 U.S. presidential election, right up until Trump urged people to get their COVID vaccinations.

In late August 2021, Trump political operative Roger Stone was a guest speaker at the church, and the congregation accordingly was decked in MAGA paraphernalia. Later, Locke hosted the conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk as a guest.

In a late June 2021 sermon, Locke's tone even took on shades of QAnon when he called Joe Biden a "sex trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel" and Kamala Harris a "jezebel demon", with non-sequitur references to typical QAnon targets like "pedophiles in Hollywood", Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey, and

On October 24 2021, Locke's guest speaker was a pastor who also happened to be a Republican Congressional candidate. While guest preaching, Burns spread transphobic lies concerning the "bathroom" debate and relished when the crowd spontaneously erupted into a chant of "Let's Go Brandon" (a for the phrase "fuck Joe Biden"). Burns and Locke later, in September 21 2021, appeared at a "Salt and Light Conference" (hosted by an organization run by the first executive director of the Christian Coalition) along with several other prominent Republican politicians, and other noted conservative figures such as Joe Arpaio and E. W. Jackson.

In mid-November 2021, Locke appeared at an event (that was part of a tour called "Reawaken America") at John Hagee's Cornerstone Church alongside many other far-right conspiracy theorists, such as Roger Stone, Mike Lindell, and Alex Jones. The event notoriously featured Trump associate and QAnon nut Michael Flynn calling for America to have only "one religion under God", rejecting the freedom of religion principle that is a major part of America's foundation. The event was also marked by yet another "Let's Go Brandon" chant erupting in a church.

All of this, of course, attracted much attention from the media. Reportedly Locke was extremely angry about media coverage about him, and in a late June 2021 sermon announced his plans to sue CNN and Newsweek for the "defamation" of accurately quoting him and posting clips of his "sermons".

COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Locke displayed unusual hostility towards public health measures and vaccines, and even dismissed the notion that a pandemic was happening at all (Locke called COVID-19 a "fake pandemic" in December 2020). In fact, Locke has been so openly hostile to COVID restrictions and vaccinations, that he has threatened to kick anyone out of his church simply for wearing a face mask during his services. Likewise, in early August 2020, Locke posted a video threatening violence against a employee (whom he referred to as "Nazi Skippy") for merely trying to enforce a store face mask policy.

He has also ranted against vaccines, making a mostly false claim that they are made with "aborted fetal tissue." In May 2021, he also spouted a bizarre conspiracy theory that vaccinated "political elites" are actually getting "a bunch of sugar water" instead of the vaccine. (If one thinks otherwise, according to Locke, they are "smoking meth in your mamma's basement.") In early August 2021, he even ranted against Republican Tennessee governor for signing an executive order that merely ensured that hospitals had adequate staffing and support during the pandemic. (This order unfortunately was necessary because the Tennessee healthcare system was in danger of collapse by people who listened to people like Locke, refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, got sick with COVID, and ended up in hospitals' overwhelming them. )

At a late August 2021 rally, Locke encouraged people to "quit playing the coward" and "stir your school board meeting up for the glory of God," which in this case for some reason meant fighting against pandemic restrictions.

Locke's misinformation-filled preaching probably helped contribute to the death of at least one member of his church, who believed everything Locke said and ignored all health precautions on COVID-19, later dying from the disease.

On September 14, 2021, Locke was banned from Twitter for spreading COVID-19 misinformation.

Support for insurrectionists
Let me tell you something: You ain’t seen the insurrection yet. You keep on pushing our buttons, you low-down, sorry compromisers, you God-hating communists, maybe you’ll find out what an insurrection is. Because we ain’t playing your garbage. We ain’t playing your mess. My Bible says the church of the living God is an institution, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and the Bible says that we’ll take it by force. That’s what the Bible says. That’s what the Bible says. It’s going to get worse. On January 5, 2021, the day before the coup attempt, Locke prayed for the Proud Boys and its leader, Enrique Tarrio at a rally by advocating Christian nationalism.

Locke was present during the 2021 Capitol riot, preaching to a crowd of Trump supports at with a bullhorn on the day before the event. Shortly before this, Locke referred to himself as part of the in a Facebook post. This obscure term was popularized among certain crowds by Glenn Beck and David Barton in a 2010 political rally, and referred to Protestant ministers who supported the American revolution. Naturally, this became a battle cry with a few dominionist Christians.

Later, Locke called Mike Pence a "Judas" for merely stating in a speech that the violence at the Capitol riot was a bad thing.

Demons, demons everywhere
In January 2022, Locke continued his unabashed fundamentalist crankery by blaming autism on demonic possession. In early February 2022, he revived the fundie tradition of book burning, targeting both old targets like Harry Potter and new targets like Twilight for being full of "spells, demonism, shape-shifting and occultism".

In mid February 2022, another insane clip of a Locke sermon went viral. In this clip, he claimed that, while supposedly casting a demon out of a woman who had recently begun coming to Global Vision, he learned the names of six witches who supposedly had infiltrated his congregation. During this unhinged rant, he accused the alleged witches of wanting to destroy the church, blamed recent illnesses in the congregation on the alleged witches, and also threatened to doxx them.