Hate-Preacher: Christians Should Rule This Country and “Take It By Force”

Christian Hate-Preacher Greg Locke has spent much of the past year hosting precaution-free services for his congregation in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, ignoring the seriousness of the pandemic and mocking people for wearing masks for non-medical reasons.

But remember that before the pandemic happened, Locke was better known for promoting Christian Nationalism — he even burned a book that said we don’t live in a Christian nation.

He’s apparently back in theocracy-mode these days. Over the weekend, Locke preached about how there’s “no reason that the church shouldn’t rule this nation”:

You’re in charge. I’m telling you. Well, God’s looking for people under this tent, people online, that He wants to put in charge of some stuff.

There’s no reason the church of the living God and the kingdom of Jesus Christ should not rule this nation. The Bible says that the kingdom of God suffered violence, and those that truly follow Jesus Christ take it by force!

The audience applauded at his comments. You get the feeling that they’d have very different feelings if a Muslim or progressive Christian leader said something to the same effect.

The clip doesn’t reveal how exactly Locke wants or plans to establish his Christian rule, and he’s usually silent about specifics. Planting seeds in his congregation’s mind is more than enough. But if The Handmaid’s Tale is any indication — not to mention all the real-life examples throughout history — theocracies rarely fare well. Neither do nations where people are compelled to believe by force. At best, those actions create more resentment for a faith that has already bred plenty of it. At worst, it results in violence. (Keep in mind that Locke was marching on the Capitol on January 6, though there’s no proof he went inside the building.)

Locke’s fantasy here doesn’t even make sense from a Christian perspective. In fact, the Church has thrived globally when it has not had power — certainly not state-sanctioned power. As many pastors could tell you, Jesus Christ had plenty of opportunities to advance his kingdom for political gain but chose not to. His disciples were even instructed to “shake the dust off their feet” and move on if a particular town wasn’t interested in hearing their message.

The point is: Even under the umbrella of Christianity, Locke’s message fails to resonate. There’s no reason anyone should buy what he’s selling. And yet members of that church come back, week after week, putting their own health at risk, all to listen to a man tell them lies about how everything would be better if only Christians like them ran everything. We’re fortunate they don’t.

(via Right Wing Watch)