Pro-Trump Pastor Announces Huge 'Occult Burning' for Halloween

A pastor who is a supporter of former President Donald Trump has advertised an "occult burning" event on Halloween at his church in Tennessee.

In an Instagram post, Greg Locke, who runs the Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, near Nashville, promised: "We will once again be burning all things related to witchcraft and the occult. Ask the Lord to show you what's in your home that needs to be removed.

"I can assure you, there are some items that must go," he said, without specifying what those items might be.

When asked by Newsweek what household items he considered occult, Locke said: "The list of items is too long to mention in a single comment." He has previously reportedly burned children's books such as Harry Potter and Twilight because of their supposed promotion of witchcraft.

The self-described "media firebrand" has courted controversy for his public statements, having previously described Democrat voters as demons and told his congregation, "you ain't seen an insurrection yet," following the January 6, 2021, uprising at the U.S. Capitol.

In his Instagram advertisement, posted on Thursday, Locke also noted that the event would involve a "mass deliverance service for children," claiming 95 percent of the adults he encountered "have been under attack since they were kids."

It is not the first time Locke, a non-denominational evangelical Christian, has railed against the apparent forces of witchcraft in the U.S. In December last year, he claimed he had to increase the security at his home after his family "was publicly threatened with death by a witchcraft practicing psycho."

Many on social media derided his recent post, with one user—aptly named "friend of Satan"—responding: "I cannot believe with all the access to information we have today, there are people that still believe in fairy tales."

However, some supported the occult burning. "I took my witchcraft, conjuring and ceremonial magick [sic] books to Greg to burn them in 2020," another user wrote. "Definitely a freeing and chain-breaking decision."

"Anyone that denies witchcraft is laughed at by actual witches," Locke told Newsweek. "Witchcraft is all around us and only foolish people who refuse truth would deny that."

While now adapted by popular culture, Halloween—a truncation of All Hallows' Evening—originally marked the night before the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day, dedicated to remembering the dead, but is thought to have been influenced by a preexisting pagan festival falling around the same time. The iconography of the Jack-o'-lantern was traditionally supposed to ward off evil spirits, for the same reason gargoyles were placed on buildings.

Recently, Locke claimed that the current war between Israel and Hamas could bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Some evangelical Christians have long believed that the return of the Jews to the land of Israel would help bring about the reemergence of the messiah.

Update 10/19/23, 3:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Pastor Greg Locke.