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The image shows Arp 282, an interacting galaxy pair composed of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 169 (bottom) and the galaxy IC 1559 (top). NASA/Hubble
” I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
―
Well, last week at this time, I thought all was well. My mom was admitted to a nice assisted living facility and I found myself breathing a sigh of relief. On Saturday night (after visiting her at 5 PM) I was on my way to the Emergency Room at 9:30 PM. She had decided to get up on her own and fell, fracturing her wrist and pelvis. She had a concussion and was hallucinating. She was found to be anemic and dehydrated which was treated with a transfusion and fluids. She will be headed to rehab on Monday, God willing.
Special thanks to Todd for covering the blog. My mom has improved but she will need a stay at a rehab center, hopefully starting next Monday. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. One of these days I need a short vacation. I’m thinking about seeing Todd and his family as well as Deana in Phoenix but this is too soon to plan. Wishful thinking…
Who is pastor Greg Locke?
On August 2021, Baptist News posted Pastor Greg Locke is all over the internet spreading conspiracies; here’s why you shouldn’t believe him. Locke is a bizarre personality who is so controversial he has been banned permanently from Twitter. He is the pastor of Global Vision Bible Church. Here are some snippets of his weird views.
Two years before he divorced his wife of 21 years and married his secretary, pastor Greg Locke rose to internet fame through a Facebook video decrying the morality of Target restroom policies that allowed people to use the restroom they felt expressed their correct gender.
…While Locke claims to have “never been that stupid” compared to his perception of Target’s restroom policies, his history doesn’t convey mindfulness. He has been arrested six times and placed on probation five times.
…he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Ambassador Baptist College in 1998 and a master’s degree in revival history from the Baptist School of New England in 2000. Both schools are independent fundamentalist Baptist institutions that are KJV-only, complementarian, dispensationalist, science-denying, and affirming of eternal conscious torment.
…He proclaimed to his millions of followers that Biden “will never be president,” that, “Trump will remain president,” and that people who believe the election was fair “are as crooked as a barrel of fishhooks.”
…He retweeted an advertisement for the “March for Trump” that would be held in Washington D.C., on Jan. 6, an ad that said, “The calvary is coming, Mr. President!” Then he added: “It’ll be epic!”
…As his frustrations grew over churches not meeting in-person for worship, he threatened to use violence against the government, saying: “We have a 1st Amendment right to worship. If that’s impeded upon, we will invoke our 2nd Amendment right and meet you at the door.”
…For his final tweet before the Capitol was ransacked, he said, “God is about to dethrone some wicked people that have been in power. Very soon Twitter will be trending the unthinkable. Remember this tweet. God will not be mocked.”
Sadly, this man decided to go after the vaccine when his prediction for a Trump presidency went awry. Often folks like this need to have a bogeyman to rail against.
(he) accused Anthony Fauci of being, “a lying genocidal psychopath.”
…he publicly denied the existence of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID and threatened his church, “If you start showing up (with) all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave … . I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church.”
And then as the controversy grew regarding his threat to his congregation, he tweeted, “This evil vaccine will cause remarkably more deaths and problems than the virus itself.”
There’s more but I’ve had enough. Can you guess where this ended up? The Tennessean posted Tennessee pastor Greg Locke accused of spreading false info about COVID banned from Twitter
Yep, one month later who was told to take a hike. However, this apparently deluded man believes that he was dropped from Twitter due to dropping “gospel bombs.”
Controversial Tennessee pastor Greg Locke, who has repeatedly been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19, was banned from Twitter on Tuesday.
After the permanent suspension, Locke, who pastors Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, posted a video on Facebook saying he was being censored for “dropping gospel bombs.”
Pastor Greg Locke claims he knows 6 witches in his congregation. Two are in his wife’s Bible study!
I’ve got to hand it to this guy. When the Twitter thing prevented him from tweeting, he said some things so outrageous that others are posting his nonsense on Twitter just to prove how crazy he is. Having grown up in Salem, Massachusetts, my ears perk up when I hear “There are witches here!” The Salem City Council would pay big bucks to have a live, honest to goodness, witch.
Hemant Mehta, aka The Friendly Atheist,” tweeted the following:
Earlier today, Pastor Greg Locke threatened to expose the six witches who are members of his church. pic.twitter.com/NSoTqQayQk
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) February 13, 2022
The Christian Post published Pastor Greg Locke says devil revealed identity of 6 witches in his church during exorcism
- Greg Locke, swore by the hand of God and the name of Jesus during his sermon on Sunday that a demon told him the identity of six witches in his congregation. Then, he asked them to “get out.
- The revelation, Locke said, came after a week of intense spiritual warfare at his church. He described interactions with demons that sounded like a scene from the 1973 cult classic horror film, “The Exorcist,” which tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who was possessed by a demon.
- “Hand of God. In the name of Jesus, if I’m lying, if I’m over exaggerating what I’m trying to tell these people for the purpose of clicks and likes, may I drop dead preaching on this platform
- Locke said the revelation of the witches in his church came from a demon that had taken up residence inside a young girl.
- Locke threatened that if the witches refused to leave his church, he would “show up next Sunday with a stage full of brooms.”
Needless to say, this caused an uproar on social media.
The clip has already racked up more than 1.3 million views. The original broadcast of the service, which spanned almost 2.5 hours, has been viewed more than 80,000 times.
I am NOT going to listen to the entire 2.5 hours.
Well, it got so much attention, and I can assure you that it was not the sort of attention that Locke had expected that the Christian Post wrote Pastor Greg Locke defends deliverance ministry after chasing suspected witches from church
Controversial Global Vision Bible Church leader Greg Locke defended the deliverance ministry of his Tennessee congregation Wednesday, calling Christian critics challenging his decision to chase six suspected witches from his congregation “lukewarm” enablers of spiritual wickedness.
“The message of deliverance is dangerous because it exposes the enemy for who he is. But like nothing else, it also exposes the lukewarm condition of the Church in America,” Locke said during the Wednesday night service.
Is he telling the truth? There seems to be some confusion in the stories on social media. Perhaps Locke just missed being the center of attention?
But there appears to be a discrepancy in the accounts. Above I noted that the demon was supposedly inside of a young gu=irl. However, in this account on Church Leaders, he reportedly said:
Locke then shared a story about a woman who is new to the church and recently came into the church office while possessed by a demon. Locke said that both he and his wife were present at the time.
The pastor told of how the demon in the woman knew things that he didn’t tell her, like the time his bus was coming to pick him up for a speaking engagement and how a secret camera was video taping their session.
“That devil gave us the first and last names of the six witches that have been sent as plants at Global Vision Bible Church,” Locke said. “First and last name. I promise. Unbelievable.”
So, basically, I don’t believe him and I think he will crash and burn in the near future.
Are Christians possessed by demons?
It seems a bit bogus to believe this when the Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and living in the believer. It makes the Spirit seem rather weak, doesn’t it? I Demon possession for a believer is not Biblically accurate but I’m sure some of you will disagree.
Think about it. If Christians could be possessed, how could we ever trust any theologian? Could the recent and best systemic theology books be tricks of demons who possessed those theologians? Perhaps some of you remember one of my posts with the best title ever? ARC’s Robert Morris: Paul Preached “Under the Influence” Morris says that Paul was afflicted with a demon. Morris also claims that he himself is afflicted by demons and he needs to get *exorcised* on a regular basis. Now with Morris, I think the demon possession idea has play. But Paul? How can we trust our Scriptures if the apostles were demon-possessed?
One of the best little books I read on this subject is The Covering: God’s Plan to Protect You in the Midst of Spiritual Warfare by Hank Hanegraaff. This book has helped me enormously through the years. If you are confused, this book is worth the time.
Your lonely prayer is enough. I know.
Recently, a prayer request by Bethel raised some questions for me. If you get lots of people to pray for you, will it be more effective than your one prayer? The Christian Post wrote Bethel’s Beni Johnson having trouble breathing amid cancer battle; church launches 24/7 prayer campaign
Bethel Church in Redding, California, has launched a 24/7 prayer campaign for co-pastor Beni Johnson and her ongoing battle with cancer, specifically encouraging prayer for breathing and sleep.
“As many of you already know, Beni Johnson has been on a health journey of overcoming cancer,” The megachurch wrote on its Instagram page Wednesday.
…The charismatic ministry, known for its spirit-filled music and their bold prayers of faith, asked supporters to join them to pray for their leaders around the clock.
“Stand with us as we intentionally press in for victory for Beni, and sign up for a 15-minute prayer slot,” the plea continued. “Let’s see prayer happen around the world—24 hours a day—during these coming weeks.”
…She had received “holistic treatments” in Spain because “many of the treatments are not allowed in the US.”
The recent prayer request broke down several prayer points for those looking to support Johnson during this cancer battle. A slideshow of photos asked supporters to pray for complete total victory over cancer, that Johnson would be able to sleep daily, that she would have consistency and strength in her breathing.
I felt I needed to respond to this because of an experience that I had. My daughter was 3 years old and in the ED with a prolonged seizure. We quickly learned she had a large brain tumor that needed surgery ASAP. Here we were in Dallas where we didn’t know many people. In the OR waiting room, we bumped into a man we had met. His 3-year-old grandson was being operated on for a Wilm’s tumor which is usually able to be treated. His family was well known in Dallas and he told us that there were hundreds of people praying for this sweet little boy. He was operated on in an adjoining surgical suite to my little Abby.
I was pregnant. My 4-year-old daughter was quite upset. My husband and I were in shock. I looked at all the people visiting this family in the waiting area. We were new to Dallas and only knew a few people who were kind and supportive to us. But there were no multitudes praying for my daughter. I could barely pray because I was so afraid. I think most of the time it was simple. “Please, God, don’t let me lose her” and “Please God let me be a good mother to her during this time.” Two surgeries and multiple visits with doctors spanning every specialty…Years would pass with her having a “spot” on her brain which led to fear for regrowth. Yet, she survived. And that dear little boy passed away from his tumor.
I have often thought about this over the years. I think God wants me to encourage you. God hears your prayers, even if they are just “Please, God.” You don’t need thousands to pray for you. You don’t need elaborate charts to target prayers on specific body parts. He hears and sees you.
El Roi (pronounced El raw-EE) link
Do you remember the story of Hagar? You can read it in Genesis 16:1-13 NIV
Hagar was a slave who had been sexually used and verbally abused. Hagar was a woman amazed that God had heard her cries and had seen her misery. She was amazed that God had seen her plight and had actually spoken to her. This is what she said:
Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” Genesis 16:13.
Hagar returned to her mistress, gave birth to a son and Abram called him, Ishmael.
Like Hagar who was abused and alone in the desert, you too will be seen by El Roi. Your lonely prayer matters. In fact, it may be filled with more faith than the prayer of thousands who are focusing on specific genetic markers and body parts. I know. I have met El Roi. You are loved by the God of all grace.
Thank you for this post on God hearing our prayers. He loves us and I have seen a number of prayers answered in my life directly.
Also, if you have a second, please prayer for my wife, she has a breast mass. Her sister had breast cancer and her mother and grandmother died from it. We have been married 7 months ( both in our early 60’s). She is a great friend and wife and I am a better Christian because of her. I don’t want to lose her. Thanks ( her name is Connie)
Chuckp,
I just prayed for Connie and you. I’m so sorry.
“Could the recent and best systemic theology books be tricks of demons who possessed those theologians?”
I’m sure you meant this sarcastically, but sometimes I seriously wonder.
“ God hears your prayers, even if they are just “Please, God.” You don’t need thousands to pray for you. You don’t need elaborate charts to target prayers on specific body parts. He hears and sees you.”
Thank you for this.
Chuckp,
I am so sorry. Praying for you both.
If a witch turned up at our church worship service, I would praise God that he has brought an unbeliever in who will hear the Gospel.
The video of Greg Locke is VERY revealing of a type of community that has chosen an ‘entertainer’ for a pastor.
I guess they got exactly what they bargained for, but I have a hard time imagining young people being exposed to this kind of craziness.
This man seems to be ‘selling’ entertainment to an ‘audience’.
And it’s THEIR money. God forbid he actually targets, by name, people and turns his ‘flock’ on them with his hate-mongering. Whoah!
Question: is this kind of thing PREVALENT among fundamentalist-evangelical communities now? It is ‘said’ that 25% of these communities are also involved in QANON conspiracy theories. (?)
dee:
“I’m thinking about seeing Todd and his family as well as Deana in Phoenix but this is too soon to plan. Wishful thinking…”
+++++++++++
I’m wishing you might tack on California to such a trip. I bet we could rally some people… all have a fabulous meal somewhere….
but i hope for peace and simplicity for you at the moment.
Greg Locke also said last month that children with autism had demons and those needed to be cast out, and that kids with ADD/ADHD didn’t need medication, they needed a good whipping. Yikes.
I am concerned that Locke’s preaching is giving license to parents/other adults to harm children who are neurodivergent. Oh, and what whole “I know six witches” reminds me of either Joe McCarthy’s witch hunts or the Salem witch trials. I am also concerned someone is going to get hurt or worse because they take Locke’s preaching seriously.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Maybe by the time you get here I’ll be back to 100 percent. I got sick 5 weeks ago with what was probably a breakthrough COVID infection (negative rapid tests but I was too sick to drive down and get a PCR at the community college). I’m mostly recovered but now, for the first time in 28 years, since I left Texas, I have allergies! So much fun. Another thing about whatever it was I had is that it completely affected my eating. I have to baby baby baby my stomach, so no coffee, no regular tea, no tomato sauces, nothing heavy or spicy or fried. Yeah, it’s been *funsies*. So hopefully when you get here I will be at a point where I don’t have to order the blandest thing on the menu.
I absolutely hate those performances guys like him put on. ‘God has revealed there are 6 witches’…sure he has. No wonder people think Christians lack credibility.
Side note: Dee noted her childhood in Salem, Mass. That is where the trials and ritual sacrifice by hanging occurred. The accusations were made in an outlying area well inland called Salem Village, now an outlying (still!) part of Danvers. The place is marked and if you travel to the Boston’s north shore to see the places where these events occurred, make sure to include Salem Village – and also in Danvers, a reconstruction of the original church at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, she being one of the victims.
https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/first-meetinghouse-of-salem-village-site-of/
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
I went to YouTube and listened to that sermon about children with autism. I have an autistic son.
I listened to the sermon because I wanted to make absolutely sure that I got the context of what he was saying. First off, I got absolutely offended when he made snide remarks about people with depression. At another point, he thought he’d be cute and say, “You don’t need the pills, you need the gos-pill.” (I agree people need the gospel, but sometimes they need the pills as well.)
Right before he made the comment about autism, he talked about a woman who’d been saved, read her Bible, fasted, etc. but was washing her hands every five minutes daily until the skin came off. He’d made another snide comment before that about having OCD.
And then he said that our kids could be demonized and oppressed, but the doctor calls it autism.
Much of that sermon was based on Jeremiah 6:14, KJV, which says,, They have healed the wound of my people slightly. (My paraphrase.) He riffed off of the word “slightly”, asking the question, have you ever known people who are Christians who have something that they just can’t seem to quite get over? Well, it’s because there are those who only heal the wound “slightly”. (He ignores the context, which is that the prophets are telling Jerusalem, Peace, peace where there is no peace, and that yes, because of your sins, yes, you are going to be invaded and punished.
Locke seems to think that Christians can be oppressed (not necessarily possessed) by demons. He refers to it as being “demonized” He seems to think that people with autism, OCD, depression, etc. aren’t sufffering from conditions but rather from being oppressed by demons and that what they need is deliverance. Gee, I didn’t know it was that easy! I guess I should pack my son into the car, head for Tennessee, and ask Locke to “deliver” my son!
I have OCD. I have the obsessive thoughts but not the compulsive behaviors. I see a psychologist once a month, take meds, and regularly check in with a psychiatrist. I also have depression and anxiety. I wish getting healed was as easy as getting delivered from demonic oppression. I have prayed to be healed, and God, for whatever His reasons, has not chosen to do so. I do not say that in bitterness, but just as a fact of life. God has also not chosen to “heal” my son. He did, however, give me a son who’s kind, empathetic, a joy to be around, and who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. (My wish is for life to be easier for him to navigate, not that he be “cured”.) He just turned 23. The people he works with enjoy him (he is a bag boy at a nearby supermarket) and our church loves him. This is not a person who is demonized.
Others with autism have many more challenges than my son does, and there are times when the help that they and their caregivers need is extremely hard to get. They don’t need the added guilt of being told that their children are “demonized” and need “deliverance”. Their life is hard enough as it is.
I have an extremely hard time listening to a man who’s left his wife for another woman and who listens to the devil (whose native language is lies and who constantly accuses the brethren) tell him that there are witches in his congregation. That is just as much a violation of the Third Commandment as any sort of cuss word.
IIRC, Jesus called Satan ‘a liar and the father of lies.’
Why would GL trust the truth of anything he reckons to have been told him by a servant of Satan?
Maybe the demon is accusing the most God-fearing women in the church, hoping to drive them out and leave more operational freedom for the real witches.
The anecdotal evidence in the OP suggests that the spirits that seem to like to predict the future to GL tend to be lying spirits.
One can hope he will eventually notice this and make appropriate adjustments to his rhetoric.
The willingness of many christians to follow men* such as Greg Locke has led them to a place where they have zero credibility with many people who otherwise would be quite willing to listen to their message.
* I don’t think Dee would be happy with the vocabulary item I had in mind instead of “men” here.
The worse the charlatan, the bigger the following. And people not following your guru (pardon the inappropriate metaphor) is not persecution, just like people disagreeing with and criticising your guru is not persecution.
I can understand my neighbour who said, “If god really existed, he would strike such con-artists dead as blasphemers.”
Dee, my prayers are with you as you navigate through these waters of caring for you Mom.
Chuck, my prayers for your wife. Similar genes run through my family.
And, thank you, Dee, for reminding us of El-Roi. Hagar’s story always brings tears to my eyes as she realizes that GOD sees her. I live with a character too similar to GL. Not with the vast platform, thankfully, but all the crazy ideas. Please pray for me!
So Locke admits to secretly video recording meetings?
I first heard of Greg Locke when he was featured on an episode of SciManDan, a YouTube series devoted to mocking Flat Earthers (on “Flat Earth Fridays”) and miscellaneous others (on “Tinfoil Tuesdays”). Locke appeared on a Tuesday, for his own YouTube rant in which he complained about getting kicked out of Tim Horton’s (or someplace like that) for refusing to wear a mask. The video got removed almost as soon as it was uploaded, since YouTube apparently forbids anti-vax messages (like Locke’s) even in the context of a debunking video (like Dan’s). It may still be available on Dan’s Patreon page.
And it was a brilliant video. Locke had this wild look in his eyes, which I attributed in part to the amazing quantities of coffee he habitually consumes. (I don’t drink the stuff myself, and don’t have a sense for how much would be reasonable, but other commenters were astonished.) He had been making multiple, daily trips to Tim Horton’s for this reason, and felt this coffee–and the freedom to enter the store to buy it–to be his as a matter of right. Apart from that, he seemed angry at the world for not doing what he wanted. He’s one of these people who your first instinct is to try to diagnose.
Since then he’s become something of an internet spectacle, kind of like Steven Anderson (hates gays and liberals, pounds the pulpit) or Gene Kim (nutty, believes in the Flat Earth and the demonic nature of cats). Media people seem to find him entertaining. Atheists like him (he’s been featured on Hemant Mehta’s “Friendly Atheist” blog), maybe because this is how they see Christianity in general.
Sigh. As I’ve often stated, anyone … anyone … anyone can become a “pastor” in America. Mr. Locke is living proof of that. Perhaps, he’s never run across warnings in Scripture about presuming to speak for God. I don’t know which is scarier in this situation … the man in the pulpit or his followers in the pew!
dee,
First things first.
Praying for you and your mom and your family. We all age and decline… we all get there at some point … vulnerable and fragile and trying to adjust … and it’s complicated.
Praying for your short vacay, too.
God bless.
Whew. The video clip was off the charts! In addition to the Scripture Mr. Locke has obviously ignored about presuming to speak for God, he also missed “Be ye angry, but sin not.” Toto is probably still running!
Dee – praying for your Mother … and that the Lord fill you with His peace today.
… the cost of our American made, generous, tax-free freedom of religion in America.
It’s why L. Ron Hubbard and Rev. Moon used America to make money from their fake religious enterprises.
For chollywood and evangeocults and pulpiteers, not only can they swim in money, they can get away with being perverts as they violate minors. With their constituents support and applause.
In the name of religious freedom, like apple pie and baseball in America.
The goal, strategy and tactic is to discredit EVERYTHING. Greg knows the six (or however few) who were planted by him or his controllers. The same pattern is in every bad church or movement with unimportant variations:
– the degree of niceness, or not
– the degree of “real” obliviousness by pastors / elders / preachers and their seniors
Because the entire evangelical belief system, and the level of prayer by christians generally, have been grossly lacking for a long time, by comparison with what Jesus taught, this is why christendom has become this hollowed out by now.
Insisting that an account of Antiochus only confirms a prediction of Antiochus is another example; that God leaves it to individuals on this point was not meant to detract from our ministry beginning at Ascension (the core of all the other, more important, meanings).
Thus the denominations in Rev Ravi’s background sadly couldn’t furnish him with enough belief for the here and now.
Macarthur’s overtly shutting Holy Spirit down is presented as the remedy to Berg or Jones; while Bethel and Locke represent the continuation of the more “fun” side / image; Macdonald an unsubtle, Piper a subtle, blend of the two. Thousands of “aesthetic” churches as “middle” ground; and the subliminal semi hushed up spanking mentality in the “mainstream” as the serving sauce.
It’s all the same thing – with “different” headline issues. Paul, Isaiah, James, equally, rail about oppression by truth suppression. “Do not recognise anyone that lords it.”
Religious freedom has been abused as much as civil rights in America. But, as Abraham Lincoln once said about slavery rights … “You don’t have the right to do wrong.”
thinking out loud — what would it be like to be a female in that congregation when GL threatened to ‘expose the witches’ to the rest of the congregation? Knowing that you are not one of the alleged witches might not prevent you from experiencing deep anxiety about how the rest of the congregation would
It has for me the ‘feel’ of ‘control of the flock through fear.’ I think that’s pretty common, but this seems to me more extreme than the norm.
sorry — thinking got ahead of typing, or other way ’round;
respond. It would be like excommunication and shunning without the benefit of a church trial.
Charges of witchcraft. It’s just a technique to convince congregants that the pastor has special, inside, spiritual knowledge that they don’t have.
Exactly. Pulpit actors would have no stage if it weren’t for a gullible audience willing to buy tickets to the show. This grand deception plays out Sunday after Sunday in various degrees. In some ministries, it is difficult to sort out the counterfeit from the genuine, except at places like Global Vision Bible Church.
“Morris also claims that he himself is afflicted by demons and he needs to get *exorcised* on a regular basis.”
And all Wartburgers shouted AMEN!!
“I have met El Roi. You are loved by the God of all grace”
Dee, God bless you for reassuring the one who doesn’t have a ‘prayer chain’. Those who can’t utter more than than a soul-wrenching, “Please, God…” El Roi may not remove your pain but He will be afflicted in all your affliction. (Isaiah 63:9)
Dee–still praying re your mom!
I will be clear about thing first off: while Tennessee is a spitting distance neighbor to me, I live in the Ozarks, not Tennessee.
But this guy is straight up preaching what you will get in garden variety charismatic, word of faith, SBC, or independent Baptist churches in my neck of the woods. And much of it is also what you would get in conservative Lutheran circles. All the lies and disinformation regarding covid, about it being fake, about Fauci being a Nazi out to take our freedoms, about the shots and masks being the mark of the beast, and about closing churches in a pandemic being Satanic and they will fight it with guns.
But I have a message for them: scriptures do foretell a time when there will be a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. We may be in that time right now, but not due to church shutdowns, online church, or people refusing to attend during a pandemic. Remember two things: speaking from behind a pulpit does NOT equate with speaking the word of the Lord. Charlatans do it also. And the famine is of HEARING the word of the Lord, not of speaking it.
I believe the Holy Spirit is inspiring people to still be speaking the word of the Lord. Sometimes in church, sometimes out. The problem today is people do not want to hear a true word of the Lord. Itching ears mean they want to be told only what they want to hear.
And sorry if this offends but redneck America wants someone to blame for everything they disagree with happening, for anything hard life throws at them, in short for the world not doing everything exactly as redneck America thinks it should. I drive a Ford and you drive a Chevy? You must be a liberal, or else demon possessed, or a Communist. In our area one political party is covering over their bumper stickers so as not to be victims of road attacks by these “godly Christians.” County health heads are leaving, and in one state the head got banned for life. Local docs and nurses are told NOT to wear their scrubs in public for safety’s sake.
And like Locke, many of the “godly leaders” telling the people this satanic pack of lies are behind pulpits but scripturally unqualified to preach. Period. End of discussion. Like Locke, many are not “one woman men” or for the egalitarians, “faithful in marriage.” Any way you cut it they are not qualified.
Nor are they qualified to diagnose or treat physical diseases, including brain diseases.
But they offer a simplistic magical thinking way out of anything: close your eyes (click the ruby slippers together?), say some magic words, and voila! And if that fails, do whatever you want no matter who it hurts cause you are good to go, about to fly away, and then the jerks that did not do what you wanted will be tortured and tormented forever AFTER they get to suffer here on earth and through its destruction.
If this is all teaching us anything, it should be this: theology matters, and Jesus and what He taught matter even more!
Dee-having just been to see my parents who my sister and I politely but insistently moved to assisted living, I feel for you and I have been praying for you. One of them has lots of imaginary friends who visited us at lunch, the other gives the appearance of normalcy, but repeatedly asks the same questions over and over. Since I hadn’t seen them in two years (COVID and their three story house I couldn’t navigate with my walker), it was a bit of a shock.I will be able to see them more often because I can get into their living space now.
As to Greg Locke, I don’t know how you help Christians avoid these people. I attend a fairly average evangelical church, and congregants tell me about all kinds of strange advice and teaching they get from TV and the internet.Some people left our church during quarantine because they thought the church was too strict about COVID (masks were required indoors and we sat every other row). I think the whole idea of “discernment” has gone out the window for many believers.
Let’s just put it simply and succinctly:
Greg Locke is as crazy as an outhouse rat.
And PASTOR Locke KNOWS their names but won’t divulbe them.
Like Tailgunner Joe McCarthy and his list of COMMUNISTS in high places in the Federal Government.
PASTOR Locke’s source for this?
Spectral Evidence from a DEMON he was casting out.
Whether Locke is lying or not about that, neither helps his credibility
Except to the True Believers who KNOW What’s REALLY Going On, just like those Dwarfs in the stable in Aslan’s Land.
Exactly like all the calls for Prayer Warriors in those Social Media threads on the Herman Cain Awards Reddit.
All shortly before the Homegoing Announcement(TM) and the GoFundMe appeal for “Homegoing Celebration(TM)”/Funeral Expenses and the Million-dollar medical bills from weeks in a COVID ICU.
But Beni doesn’t need to worry.
She’s got all that Spiritual Mana from all that greae-soaking and a Dead Raising Team of Virile Young Men with pecs and abs overflowing with Sacred Testosterone.
Nboody seems to realize that Spiritual Warfare is more like Intelligence Warfare than a D&D high-level Cleric/Paladin vs Demon shootout.
And since the days of Sun Tzu, your last paragraph is THE classic way to pipeline Disinformation to an enemy: An expendable agent filled with false information gets set up to be captured.
This of course assumes that LOCKE ISN’T MAKING THE WHOLE THING UP IN THE FIRST PLACE.
THAT HE’S THE LIAR IN ALL THIS.
I believe it.
Here’s a money quote from a recent New York Times article:
Two factors work to lower the likelihood of hate group formation, they write: “A higher stock of social capital is associated with fewer hate groups,” and “a greater share of mainline Protestant adherents is associated with fewer hate groups.”
The opposite is true, Goetz, Rupasingha and Loveridge found, “for evangelical Protestant adherents,” writing that “for every 10 percent additional evangelicals in a county, the number of hate groups in that county increases by 17 percent.”
HUG-no matter how off the rails I think Bethel is, I still have sympathy for Beni in her illness. I’ve lost several good friends to cancer in the past few years. End stage breast cancer often goes to the lungs and bones. Again, as much as I disagree with much of Bethel’s teaching around healing(I know God can heal whenever he wants to, but I don’t believe in healing on demand or that all are healed as death comes for all of us), I did pray that she will get proper palliative care if she is not using it. I just can’t bring myself to poke fun at someone with end-stage cancer.
Thank you for your encouragement. I needed it. I’ve witnessed an abundance of people serve and pray for “the popular Christians” in church while the lesser knowns are left to themselves. I really think this is an issue in Christian churches. God will answer how he pleases. It is not dependent on the number of people praying or who is praying- it is the One who hears.
As for the TN pastor. Its a mystery why anyone would go to his church. There are plenty of other churches in TN, maybe they just go for the entertainment?
Hopefully, this means six women leave Locke’s church.
Entertainers entertain. The problems with preachers who entertain is that they have to keep coming up with grander plays to keep their church audience. Before you know it, he will be casting our witches … oh, wait a minute …
Worth repeating … so I just did. We definitely have a famine of “hearing” the Lord in America.
If churchgoers spent as much time reading the Word themselves and praying as they ought, there would be no room in pulpits for folks like Mr. Locke. Reading the words in red will do wonders for you … to sort out Truth from error. Putting Jesus back on the throne in American churches and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach will send the charlatans packing. In the meantime, God gives us what we want … but who the heck would want the likes of Mr. Locke is beyond me!
“I have met El Roi.”
And once you meet Him, you will never be the same again.
In my long Christian journey, the Lord has manifested Himself to me in various ways:
Jehovah-Jireh (my provider)
Jehovah-Rophe (my healer)
Jehovah-Shalom (my peace)
He loves us.
I could help thinking of the Monte Python skit when the village brings the “witch” to “sire” when one one them says “ she tuned me into a newt” They look at him, and he says…..
Performance preaching.
What a joke.
Little man behind a grand curtain outed by Toto.
“Your lonely prayer matters”
++++++++++++++
a beautiful truth, there.
Scope inflation, a phenomenon I saw a lot of in D&D campaigins where the stakes leveled up each time until they became You Have To Save the Universe.
And once you’ve Saved the Universe, what do you do? Save the Universe again? And Again? and Again?
Tina….I hear you. Thank you.
The next thing we know they will be wanting to pretend to be Oral (go off at the mouth) Roberts who was in some obscure fictional legend nobody reads.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
“…where the stakes leveled up each time until they became You Have To Save the Universe.
And once you’ve Saved the Universe, what do you do? Save the Universe again? And Again? and Again?”
++++++++++++++
well, sounds like you didn’t save the universe wearing water skis and jumping over a shark, so there’s that.
RobWills,
That’s what the so-called doctrine of ‘inerrancy’ is about
That’s what the so-called doctrine of ‘inerrancy’ is about
(first time didn’t copy the passage)
Doesn’t the word “Gnostic” mean “He Who KNOWS Things”?
An Inner Ring of Illuminiati Insiders with Spexhul, Sekrit, Spiritual KNOWLEDGE the common rabble are incapable of Understanding?
According to PASTOR Locke and his demonic informant, two of those Witches are Warlocks.
“Country in depression
Nation in despair
One man seeking reasons everywhere;
Growing hate and anger
The Fuehrer’s orders were precise:
Who was to be blamed and pay the price?”
— Sabaton, “Final Solution”
“Discernment” has been redefined to mean Smelling Out WITCHES! and DEMONS! in every closet and under every bed.
Who (except a DEMON-possessed WITCH) could deny Spectral Evidence Revealed by GAWD Himself? Doubting the ManaGAWD in any way is PROOF of WITCHCRAFT!
There is a reason I’m skeptical of claims of “GAWD Hath Revealed Unto Me” Private Revelation.
How can that be with everyone claiming Special Private Revelation word-for-word from the lips of God Himself?
My writing partner (the burned-out country preacher) uses the term “Hyper-Chairsmatics”.
And has nothing good to say about them.
Ava Aaronson,
Max, that’s not too hard to do today. Just go to the internet and check out the number of “sermons” these guys can get for free. Next time you hear a so-called knock it out of the park message just see exactly where this guy got it from. I can think of one very popular mega that gets nearly all his sermons this way.
And CELEBRITIES are Inerrant Infallible Oracles. Gods Come in the Flesh.
“If you vote for someone because your favorite Celebrity does, YOU’RE DUMBER THAN WE ARE!”
— Alice Cooper
It’s the latest Spiritual Warfare One-Upmanship:
“More Demonically-Afflicted Than Thou.”
i.e. “I’m So Godly Satan Himself singles me out for Special Attention Attacks just like Bob Larson!”
Especially when these days the Holy Spirit(TM) indwelling these guys keeps mistaking Donald Trump for Jesus Christ. When you get to that point, you’re well beyond 2 + 2 = 5; you’re all the way into 2 + 2 = PURPLE-land.
“But, but I have to say this, um, I’m really concerned about how much time people spend on the Internet. I’m extremely concerned about it. Extremely concerned about it; here’s one thing, just even the blogs that mention Christian leaders, and I’m one of ‘em. Praise the Lord, I’ve made the Satan, Satan’s hit list now you know” (Robert Morris)
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Damage limitation= limited damage causing = unlimited damage causing
All same thing, really.
Would all kindly beg Our Lord:
– that the plagues be turned back
– that just quality of government be granted in our countries (non ad hominem and non sectarian)
Jesus didn’t call us to be “influencers” button pressers or material dialectic
Preachers are determined to be successful in America based on the number of nickels and noses they can draw to the house … the more mega the better! But, in my book, the really good ones preach the house empty! The proclamation of uncompromising Truth has a way of thinning the ranks, where only the Remnant remains and all impostors hit the road.
HUG–it may not surprise you, but several cities in my geographic region have found themselves liberally papered with flyers calling for a very familiar “final solution” since they believe those of Hebrew heritage are behind every thing they deem “bad.”
I won’t repeat their propaganda BUT will say it is straight out of 1930’s Germany.
This craziness is very real, is not just a war of words on the internet but real people are actually being targetted and hurt. It has to stop.
Think twice before you buy that Hawaiian shirt, ya’ll.
But then there’s the Hebrides revival of 1949-1953 sparked by two women* in their eighties praying at home for their greater community.
https://onehopemovement.com/hebredes-revival/
Jesus spoke to one rich young ruler who turned away from Him. Jesus spoke to thousands who followed Him.
I guess never underestimate the power of God as well as the hardness of heart or readiness of heart of man/woman.
*This is another example of Dee’s excellent message of grand results from small numbers praying.
“I’m so unhinged that the enemy himself singles me out for special attention just like the other snakes in the grass of my ilk.”
IOW.
Is this spiritual leader ever concerned about how much time his preacher bruhs spend on the internet as porn addicts? How often they then go on to violate minors?
That concern would be groundbreaking. Ask anyone who has been violated… does anyone in church leadership care? Where do the church leaders and church people show up in Court? – on the side of the predator.
Church leaders: enough with harping about folks on the Internet who become informed about predators in the pulpit and the dangers of doing church. Stop hiding the truth. Stop berating those who seek truth.
Yes, that’s my point about “preaching the church empty”. When you clear the American church of the counterfeit overload, the few genuine can step forward to pray for and help rebuild the real church. When that has happened in the past, revival of God’s people takes place and there is a spiritual awakening of the world to the things of God. Let it be again, dear Lord. In the meantime, a massive counterfeit church is ruling the roost and preventing the genuine from doing their work … they are simply out-numbered and silenced right now. Oh, there a few spots in America where the Body of Christ still camps out among a multitude of carnal nonspiritual churchgoers. It’s a mixture of the genuine and the counterfeit in most communities, but Praise God for the genuine!
What a crock-o’-poo-poo.
Hopefully this means a LOT of women leave his church. AND men.
Tina,
We are getting my six-year-old evaluated for ADD.
She also happens to be farsighted, and wears glasses. She received so many admiring looks and compliments on her glasses when she got them at the age of three (still does), I imagine because people want to normalize the experience for her.
I wish I could be certain that her diagnosis and treatment of ADD would be as accepted as her diagnosis and treatment of farsightedness was. But I know that’s wishful thinking.
Do you happen to know of any resources from a Christian perspective that handle neurodiversity well? I’ve found several secular resources that have been invaluable. So far, the only specifically Christian one I found was poop (bought into the theory that autistic people lack “theory of mind,” and used “autistic” and “neurodiverse” interchangeably). I’m not asking for myself, so much, just that I can think of specific people from church who are skeptical of secular sources and would trust something from the Christian worldview, more. And who I’m 99% sure, now that I’ve learned more about it, have undiagnosed ADHD themselves, or in their kids or students.
‘Cuz the truth about religious leaders may affect their bottom line of power, money, and vice – the vice of silencing the truth.
Which proves my point.
“SEE HOW GODLY *I* AM? SEE? SEE? SEE? I’M SUCH A MIGHTY SPIRITUAL WARRIOR, SATAN HIMSELF PERSONALLY ATTACKS *ME* AS HIS GREATEST THREAT!”
Rank Hath Its Privileges meets Touch Not Mine Anointed.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
And the attacks are apparently succeeding, given the number of pastors giving in to lust, pride, and greed. (She said winsomely.)
Wild Honey, Linda,
ASC and ADD are part of my territory! Adding you & your friends to my prayer intentions!
1 – You mean I’m not lazy, stupid or crazy by Kate Kelly & Peggy Ramundo, Fireside 1993 or 1996
2 – ADD in the workplace by Kathleen G Nadeau Ph D, Brunner/Mazel 1997
Both light hearted and practical in tone. Just dip in & be inspired.
3 – https://www.gotquestions.org/ADD-ADHD-Christian.html
This looks moderately practical (have only just glanced through though). Just don’t be moralistic or superstitious about it. Prayerfully and intuitively pick a few strategies at a time.
4 – When I last looked, the back list of Jessica Kingsley Publishers was full of first hand testimony of ADD and ASC, INCLUDING SOME WRITTEN BY CHILDREN.
Apart from hints and tips from a workplace coach we had (ostensibly for dyslexic colleagues) my main boost early on in discovering my SpLDs was Donna Williams. As youngsters she & I would have been like “chalk and cheese” but I wasn’t very far into her writings when I recognised myself big time (how we tick under the surface).
(Note: nutritional differences are a chance and not compulsory part of the “package deal”.)
5 – Another very good and practical author is Jan Poustie.
My discovering my SpLDs (I am dyspraxic as well) (my dyslexia is masked by my love of words) by being led to information and help was the answer to healing prayer (not queueing up and not specific – just a general prayer over the crowd) at a camp.
BTW: use cubby hole systems and go up the walls to avoid going up the wall!
The Christian blogosphere has revealed the darkness of many ministers and ministries … thus, religious leaders are collectively “really concerned about how much time people spend on the Internet … extremely concerned about it.”
HEADLESS,
that was a great quote by Alice Cooper, LOL
Thank you for bringing this up. I’d like to know more about your idea of “ritual sacrifice.”
This was the legal system doing the bidding of the public.
I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong, though… frenzied people will try to use official channels and institutions.
If he released the names, I can pretty much guarantee that the members would have a lively and unending discussion about each woman. “Is she a witch?” “Well, Pastor said she is, and he would know.” “I don’t think Bettyie is a witch, but now Suzonnah over there…” “How do we know there are only six?” “Who else do you think might be?”
And it’s all an evil, deadly trick.
There are no witches in that church. There’s just an evil guy and a group of fans who grow more dangerous by listening to him.
I understand when Coop was interviewed, he always spoke very direct.
And sometimes with a weird sense of humor. He said once that when his daughters started dating, he’d insist on meeting their dates – at the door in full “Welcome to My Nightmare” stage gear, fake blood and all.
And that in any case, his daughters couldn’s surprise him. They come home with some outrageous fashion or hairdo, he’d just say “Yeah. I started that look back in ’72.”
Sick bastard.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Q. What’s the difference between Jesus and Donald Trump?
A. Jesus paid his taxes.
Bill,
I know of one, who recycles sermons giving false dichotomies, between becoming anarchic on the one hand, and digging heels in “bitterly” as he puts it, on the other; thereby morally wrongfooting them to take whatever course he wants to manoeuvre them into (material dialectic). The latter of the two examples he cites might, in some cases, be simply remaining steady in what they were given by proper spirituality. And yes, life is bitter when we aren’t. This is why we have Scriptural authority for our competence to unyoke ourselves when it is both unequal, and bad boundaries.
Pulpits and pews like that are more dangerous than witches!
They’d have witch trials if they could.
They’d hang and burn alive herbalist women with black cats if they could.
John Adams wrote this to Jefferson in 1817:
“Oh! Lord! Do you think that a Protestant Popedom is annihilated in America? Do you recollect, or have you ever attended to the ecclesiastical Strifes in Maryland Pensilvania, New York, and every part of New England? What a mercy it is that these People cannot whip and crop, and pillory and roast, as yet in the U.S.! If they could they would.”
~From Brooke Allen’s Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers p-62~
Thank you for this posting! Today we are prepping for storms (fire weather then flooding rains then severe weather which may include twisters then ice storm of up to 1/2 in. accumulation which may take down the power, then several inches of snow) and praying for God’s mercy.
After we finished making sure of enough food, water, propane, kerosene, coleman fuel, candles, firewood, and kindling, I wanted to enjoy this warm day. It is likely the last one I will be outdoors except my porch to feed birds until Sunday. I did not want to offend my Pentecostal neighbor by singing my prayer out loud, so I sung in my heart a line from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. At the point it says “Have mercy on us and on the whole world” I usually think of “us” and me and my family. For some reason today I was inclined to think of “us” as you and I praying for each other and for the whole world to be spared any more of this plague.
Peace and thank you! Where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is there.
Here is what is truly frightening: where I live, the majority believe Trump is divinely appointed to save the world by saving this nation and turning it back to Christ. They see him as a second Messiah. And he loves it.
Now that the time has come and passed for Locke to expose the “witches” (he would probably like to expose them like he did his new wife when they first met, if you know what I mean), did he? Or was it just (another) publicity stunt?
linda,
Sigh..
linda,
Which should be raising alarm bells to anyone who takes literally and seriously the book of Revelation…
(Not saying he is literally the anti-Christ, I think he’s just as human as the rest of us. Just observing the ironies. Sorry if this gets me moderated.)
Mark R,
Or will he say like I was told in one of the higher profile newer denominations over here, “the nasty people have left”?
Friend on Sun Feb 20, 2022 at 08:27 PM said:
“If he released the names, I can pretty much guarantee that the members would have a lively and unending discussion about each woman. “Is she a witch?” “Well, Pastor said she is, and he would know.” “I don’t think Bettyie is a witch, but now Suzonnah over there…” “How do we know there are only six?” “Who else do you think might be?””
++++++++++++++++++
oh my word, it’s the villagers in Monty-Python-but-christian. and I thought Adam West’s Batman was campy.
These villagers too.
They’re easy to rile up.
And it would be easy to get them ‘saved’.
Locke would love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvGnro4Cgw
Wild Honey,
Yes! And the same people seeing the former president as a messiah for the world are very into end times far out dispensationalism. Not your run of the mill Scofield or Ryrie but reallllllyyyyy out there.
Irony of ironies.
The LAST thing you want to do to an Egomaniac is Proclaim Him a God.
Here’s a famous tongue-in-cheek essay on that very subject:
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/08/01/could-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-here-are-the-biblical-predictions/
Muff Potter on Tue Feb 22, 2022 at 11:56 AM said:
“These villagers too.
They’re easy to rile up.”
+++++++++++++
i watched the film clip without sound (cuz my son was watching ‘Friday Night Lights’ with his grandpa, and i was sort of watching, too).
blimey… i didn’t know they made a horror film about CBMW’s rebranding effort with their Nashville Statement. black & white, even – nice touch.
We do have one sane local preacher, who points out the mark of the beast will be on foreheads and hands or wrists. So a mask over your mouth and nose are not on your forehead, and a jab in the upper arm is not in the right place either.
But he is a minority, as he also opposes seeing anyone but Jesus as Messiah.
And he is a 5 point Calvinist.
linda,
Can’t disagree with the logic.
Not every Christian believes that the Mark of the Beast is a straight-out prediction, though. Apocalyptic passages can be about other things.
The Mark of the Beast does come in handy to make new ideas look scary. As I vaguely recall, Social Security numbers were rumored to be the same thing.
Friend,
There are people who have asked for replacement driver’s license numbers, SS numbers, employee numbers, locker numbers for their kids, etc…
All because they had “666” in them.
Then there is this:
http://thewartburgwatch.com/2018/10/05/dclxvi/
Priceless! Er, uh, not priced at $666. 🙂
Mastercard
I defy anyone to find one senior citizen who depends on Social Security to keep them out of destitution, who gives a rat’s a$$ whether or not their ID number has 666 in it.
Muff Potter,
Those decisions are made when folks are younger. And I suspect a lot of it ties to people who distrust the government anyway.
Muff Potter,
The whole Social Security program was supposedly of the Beast, and a communist plot. Any Social Security number would fit the criteria, not just those containing 666. Worth remembering that Social Security was created to reduce destitution among the elderly, widows, orphans, et al., toward the end of the Great Depression.
I found a lot of old and recent Christian anti-Social Security material by searching for the phrase “social security program mark of the beast.” YMMV, proceed at your own risk, don’t click dodgy links, and look both ways before crossing. 😉
Not when it’s Word-for-Word SCRIPTURE(TM)!
Not just “rumored”.
PROVEN from SCRIPTURE(TM)!!!!
Just like when Henry Kissinger was PROVEN from SCRIPTURE(TM) to be The Antichrist!
Yes, COMMUNISM instead of simply piously intoning “Be Warm and Well Fed; I’ll Pray For You(TM).”
“Search that phrase, and see how deep the Rabbit Hole goes.”
Incidentally, local drive-tine radio referred to Anti-Vaxxers/Anti-Maskers as “The Mark-of-The-Beast types”. Wonder why?
Back when you could get a breakfast special at Spires for around $3, I used to order the special (which with tax came out to $3.34), pay with a $10, and watch for reaction when the cash register auto-calculated the change.
And in RCIA class in the Eighties, one of our catechists (“Fast Eddie”, since the guy was obsessed with strict fasting) actually had a car with the license plate “1DFA666”. He joked about it meaning “Rule #1: Don’t F Around with the Devil.”
On YouTube, Telltale Atheist channel has discovered Locke’s latest antic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSlRGU3tf4
Best comment in the accompanying thread:
“If Greg Locke is talking to demons and believing them, does that make him a warlock?”
But a red MAGA hst is.
“Rev Ed Locke” is a YouTube channel from an Anglican priest in Nova Scotia. Here’s his commentary on PASTOR Greg Locke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglscwS6Cro
And here’s a commentary on the same subject by a Dr Todd Grande, a snarky psychologist with a YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGaej1cCmA