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Fiery preaching has been around for a long time.
The apostle Paul was known for his hard-charging stance that got him and Barnabas into a bitter disagreement over whether or not John Mark would accompany them on their mission’s trip.
This butting of heads led to the separation of good friends on the mission field. Over time, Paul’s attitude toward Mark changed as he extolled the usefulness of Mark in the mission’s field in 2 Timothy 4:11.
Similar comparisons can be made for Pastor Greg Locke. He’s been called radical, controversial and extreme in his emotionally-fueled sermons.
He has dueled with Christian and secular leaders alike, frequently due to his stance on COVID policies, along with brutal assertations that the 2020 election was stolen and Biden is a false-president.
“He stole the election. I believe that until the day I die. I don’t give two flips and a wooden nickel what anybody thinks about it. I don’t care what you say about me. He’s a liar, and a robber and a thief and a crook.”
It was through Locke’s unfiltered declarations that he eventually ran afoul of Big Tech’s ever-fluid notions of “community guidelines.”
With a warning to Christians that they need to “wake up,” Locke announced that YouTube had not suspended or deactivated his channel, they had deleted it completely.
Locke shared the email he received from YouTube regarding the Global Vision Bible Church YouTube page. It stated that “We have reviewed your content and found severe or repeated violations of our Community Guidelines. Because of this, we have removed your channel from YouTube.”
Not suspended. Not de-monetized. Removed.
Posting the message from YouTube to his Facebook page Locke also wrote, “Ridiculous!! YouTube just permanently deleted our church channel and wiped out many year’s worth of sermons. People better start waking up. Absolutely sickening.”
Christians, conservatives and any other group that finds itself in the crosshairs of the left’s control of Big Tech and Big Media should take note of this punishment, even if they disagree with Locke’s fiery sermons.
There are many reasons Locke has been labeled radical and controversial in the past, but he is correct in stating Christians need to wake up to the censorship that is heading their way. And in many cases, is already here.
To the leaders of the legacy media, who label anyone that stands against them fascists while actually furthering the pillars of fascism themselves, there is no difference between Greg Locke and Franklin Graham. They view them both in the same light: they speak out against the left and call themselves Christian.
While Locke can take his sermons to the very extreme and let his emotions get the better of him at times, Franklin Graham has a much calmer demeanor yet still speaks out against transgender ideology, LGBTQ messaging and abortion.
These positions are viewed as attacks against the left’s “message.” Their strategy of appropriating compassion, love and truth involves shutting down the outlets from which these symbols of Christianity originate. To silence the truth of Jesus Christ is their goal, where it comes from does not matter, nor if the person is a hot-head who calls politicians “demon possessed” or a world-renowned evangelist whose family has been used by God to save millions worldwide.
With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, conservatives worldwide rejoiced. But the battle for free speech is far from over.
Just as the overturning of Roe v. Wade did not settle the abortion debate, and in fact it shook the hornet’s nest of activists to push for more abortion on demand across the nation, having one social media outlet become owned by a proponent of free speech will not end censorship.
Christians must gird themselves for the fight against censorship. Just as the underground church in China proved, the gospel doesn’t need a digital outlet to spread the message of Jesus, it needs willing vessels to preach the Word from their mouths. When people are willing to do that in spite of the consequences, God will handle the rest.{eoa}
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James Lasher is a Copy Editor for Charisma Media.
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