Deliverance From Demons: Watch 'Directed by God' US Pastor Burn Harry Potter & Twilight Books
© AP Photo / Matt Dunham
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The two world-famous sagas about magic and vampires – Harry Potter and Twilight – are no strangers to being accused of promoting withcraft or even satanism.
A Tennessee church leader, Pastor Greg Locke of the Global Vision Bible Church, led a ritual burning of popular books including Harry Potter and Twilight because God "directed" him to do it.
The event was held in the Nashville suburb of Mt. Juliet on Wednesday, drawing a large crowd of people, along with many viewers joining online – the ceremony was live-streamed on Facebook and titled "Deliverance from Demons."
“We have a Constitutional right and a Biblical right to do what we’re going to do tonight,” Locke said. “We have a burn permit, but even without one a church has a religious right to burn occultic materials that they deem are a threat to their religious rights and freedoms and belief system.”
This actually happened in Tennessee🇺🇸 last night !!
— Caring Atheist (@Caring_Atheist) February 4, 2022
A church held a "witchcraft" book burning where followers were encouraged to bring Harry Potter & Twilight books to throw into the flames.
Notice the Harry Potter shirt & Disney product😂
Any thoughts ? pic.twitter.com/1Sr3alPEWY
The book-burning ritual evokes another iconic book, written by Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 –that ponders the reasons and consequences of burning books as a social movement. Well, this novel also appeared to "take part" in the event, as a counter-protester held up copies of Fahrenheit 451 and On the Origin of Species and threw them into the fire, according to Nashville Scene.
But best-selling fantasy books were not the only "victims" of the Wednesday event, with the pastor also inviting the crowd to destroy “tarot cards, Ouija boards, healing crystals, idol statues, spell books and everything else tied to the occult.” According to Locke, it is all "witchcraft, 100%."
On top of this, when announcing the burning event, Locke blasted the Masonic Lodge as a "satanic cult," saying that everything that is connected to it "needs to be destroyed." The Masonic Lodge was quick to react to the pastor's remarks, condemning his rhetoric as "unacceptable."
