Mount Juliet, Tennessee pastor Greg Locke is really, really mad about Barbie — both the incredibly successful film and the beloved doll. In a clip shared this week by the Tennessee Holler, Locke is seen ranting about “the enemy” before he attacks a Barbie Dream House with a Bible attached to a baseball bat.
Locke, a Nashville-based religious leader known for his bouts of showmanship, is an open supporter of former President Donald Trump. His outburst took place during a sermon before the “Barbie” movie was released last month.
After uncovering the Dream House, Locke explained that the children’s toy represented… the grip that temptations like pornography have on some.
He said, “We drive demons out all time. But we’ve not reached a place where we understand: You have to pull down the stronghold that the demon left behind. Because someday, something, when you cast out the spirit of sexual perversion, it’s got to leave.”
Locke continued, “So does the person still struggle with porn because they still have a demon? No. They still struggle with porn because the fortified house is still there and the stronghold has to be pulled down.”
In the next clip, Locke told his parishioners, “We have to learn the difference between deliverance and discipline,” and asked for his “dealio.” The “dealio” in question just happened to be his very own Lucille — but instead of barbed wire, Locke had wrapped his bat in duct tape, zip ties and an actual Bible.
Rather than ponder whether or not it’s religiously appropriate to use a Bible, which many Christians consider to be the literal word of God, in this manner, Locke proudly paraded the bat (an Easton, if you’re curious) across the stage before reading a passage from the Bible about “the weapons of our warfare.”
This isn’t the first time Locke has made extraordinary claims. In March, he told the Baptist News that he began his works as a “demon slayer” and recalled banishing a demon from a young girl, a move that he believes set him on his current trajectory.
“When the girl flared up in the baptistry, my very first reaction is to deny that that happened,” he explained. “But the fact that it did happen brought me to this moment … . Because if that never would’ve transpired, I never would’ve understood, ‘You know what? I really do have power.”
Watch Locke’s sermon in the video above.
