A fiery Tennessee pastor has threatened to ban churchgoers if they insist on wearing masks while coming to pray, as he believes that COVID-19 doesn't exists and COVID mandates are "Democrat games." Greg Locke of the Global Vision Bible Church told followers on Sunday that mask-wearing worshippers they should go pray somewhere else.
In fact, he told them that if he sees anyone coming to the church with a mask, he won't allow that person to pray and ask him to leave. The warning from Locke comes after various states and communities reinstate mask mandates because of rising coronavirus delta variant cases.
Final Warning
"If they go through round two and you start showing up (with) all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave," Locke said during a service on Sunday. "I will ask you to leave. I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church," he went on telling congregants to go instead to the First Baptist Church if they want to social distance.
"I'm done with it. I said I'm done with it. I ain't playing these stupid games."
Speaking from a red-and-white striped circus tent in Mt. Juliet, about 20 miles east of downtown Nashville, Locke told the congregation that he doesn't believe anything about COVID and that the delta variant also doesn't exist: "Don't believe this Delta variant nonsense. Stop it! Stop it!"
"I don't need to be a jerk for Jesus, but I'm not going to kowtow down to a wicked godless culture," he went on.
More than anything Locke blamed the Democrats for spreading misinformation related to the virus. "Here's what the left has told us: 'If you comply, you compromise, if you comply, eventually you'll get in our good graces.' But no, you'll never be able to comply enough," he said.
Unwilling to Accept Truth
A video of the mass, posted to his Facebook page, shows the Locke getting frustrated with the possibility of renewed restrictions amid a spike in coronavirus cases due to the Delta strain of the virus – which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said now accounts for over 80 percent of all cases.
"They're talking about shutting down this nation for round two, talking about masking everybody back up, shutting down churches, hey, my hind leg if they think they're going to shut this church down," he protested shouting.
Locke is known locally for being overtly outspoken and has in the past referred the COVID-19 pandemic as "a fake pandemic" and even called vaccines "sugar water," WZTV reported. Last year, he had said that he would to jail before closing his church, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The pastor's comments came just a day before the CDC recommended that even vaccinated Americans wear masks in indoor public places in high transmission areas to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. The CDC also called for universal masking for all teachers, staff and students in schools, regardless of vaccination status.
