The spiritual eyes of many are beginning to open across the world as physical manifestations of demonic entities are becoming prominent in societies that have abandoned God’s principles.
Evil is being recognized for what it is, and while some are still looking for the source of this evil transforming the cultures of the world into demonic sanctuaries, others like Pastor Greg Locke have recognized the need for the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sitting down with evangelist Benny Hinn to discuss a variety of topics that included an apology for speaking out and writing a book against Hinn years ago, Locke now believes in the same Holy Spirit power that Hinn has preached for decades.
But what pushed Locke, who was so certain that these “holy rollers” and “Pentecostal crazies” were wrong about the power of the Holy Spirit, into not just believing but becoming the spearhead of a renewed deliverance movement?
Locke, pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, discussed the spiritual-eye opening event that shook his cessationist foundations and turned him into a “charismaniac.”
A nine-year-old, demon-possessed girl was used by God to rock Locke to his very core and understand his need for the Holy Spirit to fight these minions of the devil.
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“A young lady, she was about nine years old, we were baptizing her grandmother,” Locke told Hinn during their reconciliation interview. “And as we were doing that this young lady was in the baptistery with her grandmother in our tent. We have a big live stream and I knew all these tens of thousands of people were watching and she manifested a full-blown cat right on the spot.
“Her eyes went black, her face changed, she started hissing, she put her hands [up] and just started screaming,” continues Locke. “I knew it was demonic torment but my Baptist ways would not let me acknowledge that on the camera.
“So, I dismissed it. My wife was wrecked, and so she gave the microphone to one of the security guards and she said, ‘I’ve got to go find this little girl’ having no idea what we would have done had she found her.”
This case of a generational curse that opened the spiritual doors into a young girl’s soul emphasizes the impact that parents and their actions, beliefs and lifestyles have on their children, whether they acknowledge it or not.
These doors are being opened across America as many parents are handing their children over to demonic powers for clout, money and power. Gender transitions are happening at younger and younger ages, all with the approval of one if not both parents. Witchcraft, the occult and New Age practices are wrapping children up in the spiritual chains their parents are allowing by engaging in these rituals.
Yet this encounter with a spiritually bound girl was the tipping point that altered the course of Locke and his ministry’s future forever.
“That night, it was the turning point we needed. It was the embarrassing moment that we had to have, because we lay in bed and she [Locke’s wife] looked me right in the eyes… and she said, ‘Shame on us. We pastor a big church with a huge influence that reaches millions of people online and we don’t even have enough Holy Spirit power to cast a demon out of a nine-year-old kid in a baptistery.'”
This humbling, yet necessary moment of realization has hit many ministers and pastors throughout the ages, and when such a Damascus Road-moment happens, spiritual victors often follow.
Those victories are needed in America right now. Petty bickering, finger-pointing and accusations carry no spiritual weight behind them, instead humility, repentance and reliance on the Holy Spirit will bring with them victories in the spiritual battles taking place.
America needs more people like Pastor Locke putting the Holy Spirit forward—not themselves—and plugging in to the power source that allows the casting out of demons and setting the captives free.
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.