U.S. President Donald Trump “has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope,” Robert Jeffress told Fox News May 9.
Asked about the ongoing war of words between Trump and Vice President JD Vance with Pope Leo XIV, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas said the president of the United States — who never attends church and cannot quote anything from the Bible — understands Scripture better than the pope when it comes to Iran.
Jeffress has been an outspoken Trump supporter for a decade, deflecting Trump’s acts of immorality and perpetual lying as not deal-breakers and even saying he wants the “meanest SOB” possible as president, not a Sunday school teacher.
What set off the disagreement between the pope and the White House is the U.S.-backed war with Iran that most Western leaders believe was unprovoked and unnecessary.
Southern Baptists are not known for collegial relationships with the Catholic Church.
In a 2011 sermon, Jeffress said Catholicism is the product of a “false religion” and is the “whore of Babylon.”
“The role of the church is to point people to faith in Jesus Christ, but the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, according to Romans 13.”
“Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from this cult-like pagan religion,” he claimed. “You say, ‘Well now pastor how can you say such a thing? That is such an indictment of the Catholic Church.’ After all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?”
Jeffress’ best-known predecessor in the Dallas pulpit, W.A. Criswell, also had harsh words about the Catholic Church. And Criswell’s predecessor, George W. Truett, also was a product of his generation, seeing the Catholic Church as theologically compromised.
But Jeffress has gone a step further than either of those pastors by making a theological claim for political purposes.
“The pope is a good man, he’s sincere in his faith, but he is sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran,” Jeffress said. “The pope ought to know, and I think he does know, God created both the church and government for two distinct purposes. The role of the church is to point people to faith in Jesus Christ, but the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, according to Romans 13.”
One of the criticisms of Jeffress’ brand of evangelical Christianity is that it conflates church and government in an ideology often called “Christian nationalism.” In this view, the church should have influence over the state, but the state should have no influence over the church.
Jeffress consistently adds to that a blanket endorsement for whatever Trump does or says, including Trump’s outright lies.
“Three days after this conflict began, I was in the Oval Office with President Trump and a few other faith leaders, and he told us Iran was within weeks (of having nuclear bombs) that would destroy Israel and much of the Middle East and could bring harm to America. He had no choice but to act, and I thanked him then for having the courage to fulfill his God-given responsibility to protect our nation.”
Although what was portrayed as a brief military action in Iran has dragged on for weeks and caused fuel prices worldwide to spike, Jeffress said he’s “glad the president hasn’t backed down at all.”
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