In the long, sad history of human atrocities the witch trials of Europe and Colonial America stand out. While the data are disputed, according to the conservative estimate of historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, “no more than 40,000 to 60,000” people were executed for witchcraft. That is to say, somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people were killed simply because of the idea that they had caused harm to others through the practice of witchcraft, or malefice. While it may be comforting to imagine that the witchcraft hysteria reflects fears and ignorance of the distant past, this is sadly not true. Contemporary accusations of witchcraft are just as deathly serious as they were in the past, so I was understandably alarmed after seeing a viral clip, shared by atheist activist Hemant Mehta, of Tennessee pastor Greg Locke threatening to expose “six witches” among his congregation.

The video in question was from a sermon delivered February 13, 2022, in which Locke told his congregation that a woman, who allegedly had only recently joined their Global Vision Bible Church, came into his office while possessed by a demon (maybe Locke trusting in the protection of the Holy Spirit explains the lack of security). Locke next claimed both he and his wife were present as the demon spoke to them and “Gave us the first and last names of the six witches that have been sent as plants at Global Vision Bible Church,” as well as making an extraordinary and alarming claim: “Three of you are in this room right now, two of you are in my wife’s Bible study group…we even got an address for one of you!” Locke further went on to threaten the alleged witches by telling them “You so much as cough wrong and I’ll expose you in front of this whole tent” and warning his congregation “Some of you have been sick because you befriended that witch!” 

Locke had previously mentioned having recorded the demoniac, but (perhaps out of respect for their anonymity, though I rather doubt it) he refused to disclose the evidence. Then, his defense of his claims took a darker turn as he proclaimed “I don’t gotta prove nothin’ to ya! You don’t believe me? I’ll drag you and your kids up in my office. You can see if they’re going to fake it ‘till they make it!” As best as I can tell, Locke was addressing skeptics (whether real or imaginary) in his congregation who—at least in his mind—dismiss such incidents of demonic possession as mere ploys for attention. Regardless of how he tries to spin it, Locke was encouraging his congregation to fear and distrust one another as potential witches while threatening to use physical force against children and anyone who contradicted or refused to believe his ridiculous claims. 

I legitimately fear for the wellbeing of any children attending Global Vision Bible Church. Exorcisms are dangerous; people, and especially children, can and have died during exorcisms. In 2021, a 9-year-old-girl was beaten to death by two men during an exorcism. Then there was the 2019 case of Pablo Martinez who drowned his 6-year-old son by holding him under hot running water because he believed the child had a demon inside him. Or, in 2015, the pastor (and self-proclaimed prophetess) Aracely Meza ordered her congregation to starve 2-year-old Benjamin Aparicio for 21 days because she believed he was possessed by the “demon of manipulation.” In case after case, the real harm comes not from the demonic forces (real or imaginary) but from the believers attempting to exorcise them.

The witches among Locke’s congregation (real or imaginary) are in no less danger. In August of 2021, a 31-year-old man, Okechukwu Nweke, was beaten to death and thrown into a lake as a suspected witch. Back in 2017, a Nigerian man named Anyanime Festus poisoned his two daughters after judging them to be witches. The prevalence of the online conspiracy theory known as QAnon, that celebrities and high-ranking officials within the United States government are all part of a secret Devil worshipping cabal of child abusers, has likewise encouraged real-world violence employing the same centuries old tropes of child sacrificing witches. Last year, Matthew Taylor Coleman killed both of his children with a speargun, explaining to police that he had been “receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children.” Likewise, Troy Burke of Michigan told prosecutors he killed his wife after fellow QAnon members convinced him she was a “CIA-linked child sex trafficker.” In my opinion, if Greg Locke genuinely believes that witches have been sent by the Devil to infiltrate his ministry, he is no more sane (and no less dangerous) than either Coleman or Burke.

Make no mistake: witches are real. New religious movements such as Wicca and Satanism have existed for decades with practicing witches and warlocks all over the world; but these witches don’t fly on broomsticks, they don’t sacrifice children to Satan, and they’re too busy living their own best lives to care one whit about Greg Locke. Either Locke genuinely believes that there are demons and witches among his congregation, paranoid delusions which left unchecked could get someone seriously hurt, or he’s so committed to his fire and brimstone brand of showmanship that he’ll continue to rile up the crowds until someone within his congregation, perhaps mentally or emotionally unstable, acts upon their belief. If Locke isn’t explicitly calling for some sort of action to be taken against witches or demon possessed individuals, he’s at least playing with fire in the language he uses and the mannerisms he invokes. 

Locke is making extraordinary, some would say impossible, claims. Curses have never been demonstrated to work except for influencing the mind of the believer, and people have never been known to levitate or fly except through conventional means understood by science (e.g., mechanical lift) or as a trick or illusion. Witches, as people like Greg Locke understand them, simply do not exist. They are the product of superstition, fear, and ignorance. All it would take to prove that these sorts of witches were real would be for someone to demonstrate that any one of these feats could be accomplished under properly controlled conditions, witnessed and documented by experts who judge it to be the real deal. Unfortunately, Locke is not concerned with convincing rational minds that he’s not delusional or an idiot. He has neither backed off from nor apologized for his inflammatory remarks, instead, doubling down on them by telling his followers “If you think what I said this past Sunday was rash when I explained about the witches … you ought to read a Bible one day in your life,” and “You know what Exodus 18:22 says; you ought to be glad we’re in the New Testament. … Suffer not a witch to live!” Well, it just so happens Locke that I have read the Bible, but I’ll tell you what I am glad for (hint: it’s not the New Testament). I’m glad to be living in a secular society protected from people like him.

The video of Locke’s sermon on his official YouTube page, as of February 18, has 19 thousand views and 1.1 thousand likes. His YouTube channel has 84.7 thousand subscribers which, doesn’t make it a terribly popular channel, but is still alarmingly high. Facebook, however, is a different story. Locke’s official Facebook page has 2.2 million followers and his video on Facebook has 5 thousand likes and 1.5 thousand shares. I strongly encourage everyone reading this to report both videos; I have. In the past, Locke was banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation related to covid, so it’s not impossible for him to be de-platformed again (he’s certainly less of a cash cow than someone like Joe Rogan).

At the very least, based on how his name is trending as a Google search term, we can say that Locke has attracted significant attention since the video went up, attention that might reflect back on his host platforms if people decide to check out the video for themselves. If enough people report these videos, it might influence services such as Facebook and YouTube to de-platform him. While de-platforming Locke sadly will not protect the members of his congregation from any potential harm, at the very least it would send Locke the message that others will hold him accountable for the things that come out of his mouth.