A pastor who has continued to insist that former President Donald Trump is still in charge of the country doubled down on that baseless claim Sunday, repeatedly screaming to his hundreds of cheering church followers: "Joe Biden is a fake president."
Pastor Greg Locke, head of the Baptist Global Vision Bible Church in Juliet, Tennessee, predicted numerous times before and after Biden's November election victory that Trump would remain president no matter what the actual votes, results or news media claimed.
During Sunday's church service, he again amped up these claims before his screeching congregation members and mocked anyone saying "you just need to accept the election results." Hoping to validate his continued claims that he is not a "fake prophet" who got the election results wrong, the pastor simply declared Biden a "fake president."
What do you do if you're a right-wing pastor who repeatedly *guaranteed* that Joe Biden would never be president? Well, if you're Greg Locke, you just use every Sunday service to rant that "Joe Biden is a fake president!" pic.twitter.com/GkJCcEjbXl
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 2, 2021
"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," Locke told his cheering supporters.
"It'd be nice if all the Biden voters would put their signs back in the front yard so their neighbors at least know why they're starving to death, somebody say amen right there," he added. "Bunch of socialistic garbage. The economy's worse than it's ever been. All this fearmongering, the media is worse than it's ever been."
"Well, you just need to accept the results," he continued in a mockingly soft tone, imitating the voice of anyone and everyone who believes Biden clearly defeated Trump in both the Electoral College and popular vote. "You just need to accept the results of Biden's administration. Biden's administration is as fake as it's ever been. Joe Biden is a fake president!"
As Newsweek has previously covered, numerous self-proclaimed "prophets" and unabashedly political evangelical church leaders wrongly predicted that Trump would easily defeat Biden.
In the days after Biden was declared president-elect back in November, North Carolina-based "prophet" Jeremiah Johnson predicted Trump would "reclaim" victory and would be able to retain his position in the White House on the back of a Baby Boomer-led revolution. And California pastor Kris Vallotton actually apologized to his supporters for getting the election wrong, before promptly deleting the apology over blowback from his far-right evangelical supporters.
Earlier this month, Locke told Newsweek that Trump "never conceded the election" despite the former president having done just that on January 7. That was one day after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.
"A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20," Trump said in a video at the time. "My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power."
In a selfie video posted to his official Facebook page last Thursday, Locke said he recently received criticism from a fellow pastor who advised him to steer clear of politics and to avoid topics like abortion from the pulpit. He blasted the unnamed pastor and described his own personal duty to end the "butchering of babies that we call 'abortion.'"
Locke said abortion is absolutely not a topic of "women's health care," nor should it be considered in the realm of politics. Instead, the pastor said Thursday that abortion is a "moral, anti-Biblical issue."
The pastor also said any Christian leader who is avoiding political issues is "utterly arrogant and foolish."
Newsweek reached out to Locke's Global Vision Bible Church Sunday afternoon for any additional remarks.
