Radical & Social!

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Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. I'm Stu Epperson, and this is Truth Talk. And you may or may not be aware of how powerful social media can be to impacting people, especially our youth.

So I was looking at some of the social media stuff that my kids are into, namely TikTok and Instagram. And I came across this guy, Facebook too, named Greg Locke. This guy's radical. He was saying a lot of things that a lot of us are afraid to say. Calling the church out, calling pastors out, calling Christians like me out. And so when I saw him on the campus of Liberty University a couple months ago at the Falkirk Center at an awesome event they were holding there, I had to interview him.

It was really cool. So this is the interview I had with Pastor Greg Locke. Now, he's opinionated. He's radical. He's intense. Greg Locke, right here, right now, on Truth Talk.

Hope you enjoy it, and hope you're blessed by it. This guy is radical. You've seen him on TikTok.

You've seen him on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. He is Pastor Greg, and he's calling people out. Pastor Greg, I don't know if I can take it.

I don't know if this show will exist. Maybe this is the last Truth Talk episode I ever do. Why are people calling you so radical?

And what just happened there as you spoke to all those people? Well, you know, I think people are afraid of courage. But what I'm finding is, courage is contagious.

And when you can strike that match, man, people will follow. And I told our folks, look, we're living in the last days. I'm convinced Jesus is coming. Until he gets here, I'm going to be a pastor, but I'm going to focus on being a general in God's army. We've got to raise up an army of people that will push back against the tidal wave of this wicked culture. Well, now, if you talk like that, Pastor, they might throw you in jail.

I mean, why don't you just take the party line and, you know, people stay home and stay safe. But you haven't done that in your church over in Tennessee, have you? No, and we have exponentially run.

We're three times bigger now months later than we were when we started. We can't even get everybody back in the building. And I told them, look, they're going to have to have a lot of handcuffs because we're all willing to go to jail for what we believe. Tell me why the church has become, in your estimation, what's happened to the church today where we kind of almost become apologetic. Like, we're apologizing for, there's a good kind of apologetics, right, the defense of the faith. But then there's the bad guy where we're kind of apologizing for standing up for what's right and loving God and all that. What's happened to the church in your opinion? Well, I think we've been sold the bill of goods that the government, 501c3, whatever you call it, has taken away our voice and so we can't use it because if we do, then there's going to be these fallouts, these ramifications. We're going to go to jail.

We're going to lose our tax exemption. When at the end of the day, that's not the truth. It was never about keeping the church out of politics. It was about keeping the government out of the church because they cannot impede on our worship. Yet, we can stand up and vote and pray and fast and we can impede on their nonsense.

They don't want us involved, but because we're not getting involved, that's why the political arena is as corrupt as it is because I believe pastors need to train their people to stand up and push against it. Now, some people will call you radical. I mean, you'll go out and share the gospel at an abortion clinic where they're killing babies. What if a pastor says, well, that's too political. I mean, you can't be doing that.

What do you say to that? Well, killing babies is not political. That's the most moral situation in the whole Bible. God hates those hands that shed innocent blood. You know, we're not out there being all abrasive and a jerk for Jesus.

You know, we're loving the young ladies that are going through that tragic situation. But we're calling it what it is, and I think preachers have got to call it what it is because nine times out of ten, people sitting in the pews just want their pastor to say it. They just wished he would say it, and he's trying to beat around the bush when I think you just need to shake the bush and be done with it. Now, Pastor Greg, let's talk about how important the Word of God is in preaching the gospel.

And, you know, because you made a comment in your speech, and I don't disagree with your comment. You said effectively, you know, we are to engage in culture where some people say, well, just preach the gospel, don't engage. But isn't the gospel, if you're preaching the gospel, you are going to engage, right? I mean, like, you are going to feed the poor, you're going to clothe the naked, you're going to, you know, you're going to love black lives.

You're going to love it. You know, it's not an isolated bifurcation. We preach the rest of it because we do preach the gospel. The gospel is not isolated. The gospel is something that allows us to go out into all the world and stand against these issues.

I mean, we don't serve a dead Jew in a Palestinian tomb. So because we have a risen Savior, I go out in power and authority and preach the truth of the Word of God. And so we've just lied to ourselves that we shouldn't get involved in the issues, whereas I think because of the gospel, we must get involved in the issues. Now, are you one of those pastors that's inviting people to get saved?

Are you casting the net? Talk about how important that part is, is leading people to Christ. You know, soul winning has become a bad word. We're like, well, I can't win a soul winning. Well, for Pete's sake, what's wrong with soul winning, pastor? Yeah, I mean, some plant, some sow, some water, but God gives the increase, and we're called to be soul winners.

We're called to cast out the net. We know it's the work of the Holy Spirit, but, you know, the Word of God naturally draws people. I don't have to manipulate it. I don't have to make it up because the Bible has a built-in power source. Romans 1.16, the gospel is the power of God.

I don't have to manipulate that. It's the power. Preach the gospel, people get saved. Let me ask you about the 2.5 billion people on planet earth who have never heard about Jesus. Let me ask you about the fact that we, in the last year, more money was embezzled from churches than was spent on missions to unreached people groups. Can you address that, and if we don't go, and you mentioned Judea, Samaria, the unmost part of the earth in there, what's happened?

What's happened with our great commission of going to the world? Well, I think churches are hoarding their money and their assets, and they're trying to build their kingdom, not build His kingdom. And there are, like you said, 2.5 billion people around the world that have never heard the truth of the gospel, and yet Romans 1.20 says they're without excuse.

And I'm convinced light obeyed increases light, light disobeyed increases darkness. And I think right now, sitting on some, you know, jungle river dangling their feet, they're thinking, there's got to be something more to life. And while they're thinking that, I believe God's preparing somebody's heart over here to get ready and fly over there, and I believe the gospel's going to meet that person that has that eager, hungry heart, but churches are wasting their money on nonsense. You know, they're hoarding it all away. We've got to have a million dollars in the bank. Well, if Jesus comes, the Antichrist is going to spend all of it. He might as well give it away while you've got a chance, right?

I have never heard that one before, but you've got this man convicted, I tell you. Well, Pastor Greg, I appreciate your heart, and I thank you for your, you know, I'm sure if we spend enough time together, there'd be some disagreements we may have, but I love the fact you want to reach people for Christ. I also love the fact that you're taking a stand in these tough times where there's so much darkness and where the church is kind of compromised.

They're sold in a lot of ways. What's your, kind of, summarize your passion. How do you want people to think about the legacy of Pastor Greg? What is it that you want to communicate? You know, our tagline for our church is where broken people find new meaning to life, and a lot of people, because they see my rants or my TikToks or Twitter or whatever, they automatically think I'm some colossal jerk that won't sit down like this and have a dialogue and a conversation, but at the heart of all of my rants, at the heart of all of my zeal and passion and things like that, I'm a pastor. I love people.

I love broken people, and I want people to know you are never so broke. You will not out-sin the grace of the gospel. You know, grace is never going to say, I told you so. God's going to take you just the way you are.

He's going to clean you up. You know, my wife came out of a ditch after a 15-year pill addiction, and I've watched God change her life. God changed my life. I was saved in a children's home. My dad was in prison for the first 10 years, and so I'm not in the ministry because Daddy was. I'm in the ministry because my Father in Heaven put me in the ministry, and I just want people to know God will take them right where they're at. Okay, if you haven't met Pastor Greg or if this is the first time you've met this fireball, you've seen him, you can find him.

I guess you're on Facebook. What would people look for like on Facebook or on the web to learn more about your ministry? If they went to Facebook, just go to Pastor Greg Locke, L-O-C-K-E.

The blue check mark will come up. We also have a watch page called On Point with Pastor Greg Locke. It's our weekly podcast show, and then in all my handles on everything else, it's just at Pastor Locke. Yeah, because you do these messages on Instagram, and some of the younger folks are on these other media.

We didn't reach them too, don't we? Yeah, we have half a million followers on TikTok. I never would have thought when my daughter said, you know, TikTok. I thought it was a dancing app. I've used it as a preaching app. You're dancing in the Holy Spirit, preaching the gospel. Awesome. Well, I'll make sure we get following each other on all these things, and also I'll make sure you have the Truth app, because a lot of folks will listen to this program on our many different, you know, hundreds of affiliates that carry the Truth Network, and we're here on the campus of Liberty University at the Falkirk Center, which is really trying to connect faith and culture. Really awesome ministry here, and it's good to have Pastor Greg. God bless you, man. Thank you, sir. God bless you. Be encouraged.

Find him on all the social media. He's the kind of guy you want your kids to tune into and listen to, because he truly loves Jesus, and he's not afraid to demonstrate something we don't have a lot of these days. Courage.

That's right. C-O-U-R-A-G-E. Courage. What is biblical courage? Why do we live in fear and not faith? Why is fear not mentioned 365 times in the Bible?

That's one time for every day of the year. Thank you to all our awesome affiliates nationwide that carry this program. Thank you for all of our folks that have downloaded and are listening to the Truth Talk podcast. We're so glad you're here. We hope you will like and share and make these interviews viral so others can be encouraged and others can know Jesus Christ. Not just know about him, but know him in a personal way. He's calling you to follow him. He's the only one that can forgive your sins and save your soul.