It is crazy what gets shared as “Christian” content. I keep running across people connecting autism and demons when that is just not true. Greg Locke is the latest. I wrote about him over on FrMatthewLC.com:
Pastor Greg Locke has made a number of controversial statements. Recently, he was claiming autism is demonic. This is ridiculous. I will cover three things: summarizing his claim, and referring to why this is not demonic in three aspects: another person’s rebuke, some of my prior writings, and then further from rules for determining demonic presence in the Church.
[Locke:] “Don’t get mad at me, I’m talking. We say things like this ‘well, I just got OCD.’ You know why you do things that are out of the ordinary over and over and over, and it ticks you off if it’s not done? Because you have a spirit of oppression, that’s why. You ain’t got OCD,” Locke said in a sermon titled “Desperate for Deliverance” on Sunday.
According to Church Leaders, Locke went on to say that people use medical terms instead of biblical terms, like spiritual oppression, because it makes them feel better. He also cited three occasions in the Bible where parents brought their kids to Jesus because they were struggling with epileptic fits, anger issues and outbursts of emotion.
“And because we’ve called it possession, parents refuse to deal with it,” Locke said.
“Are you telling me my kid is possessed,” the pastor rhetorically told congregants. “No! I’m telling you your kid could be demonized and attacked, but your doctor calls it autism.”
“I don’t care if you leave or not,” Locke shouted. “I’m telling you there’s deliverance in the name of Jesus Christ for your children and their children’s children.”
Locke argued that no such diagnosis of autism was present in the Bible, arguing that Jesus would, instead, “cast out that oppressing spirit and the child was made whole that very hour.”
Through Catholic Lenses
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