Robert Jeffress is pastor of the Southern Baptist megachurch First Baptist Dallas. A regular commentator on Fox News, he is known as a “conservative” figure as well as making various controversial statements, such as how the Catholic Church owes her success to the devil, and he also claims to oppose sodomite behavior, of which the latter of these opinions is consistent with Christian teaching.
But does Jefress really oppose homosexuality? In a recent statement, he referred to President Trump as a ‘Christian warrior’ and noted that he is great because he is ‘pro-life’ and is fighting the Democrats, who are in league with the forces of darkness.
“He is without doubt the most pro-life, pro religious liberty, pro-Israel…president we have ever had and they don’t want to see this warrior removed from his place of leadership in our country,” Jeffress said.
Jeffress also claimed on the show that the Democrats would “undo everything this president has done and think about what he has done in the pro-life area.”
“Apparently the god they worship is the pagan god of the Old Testament Moloch, who allowed for child sacrifice,” Jeffress added, according to Newsweek.
“The god of the Bible doesn’t sanction the killing of millions and millions of children in the womb, I think the god they are worshiping is the god of their own imagination.” (source)
The sodomite issue has been repeatedly explained, and the reason is needs so much explanation is because if one claims to be a Christian, one cannot support this practice. This is one of the major sins that “cries out to Heaven for vengeance,” is regarded consistently as being of a particularly heinous form of evil that is regarded as in some ways, the root of and culmination of sin. The entire body of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition for two-thousands years of history following Christ as well as that which came before hold to this position. It is not a new moral position, but rather and ancient one that is as relevant today as it was in the days of Abraham, Lot, and their families.
This is a serious moral matter for a Christian, and has major repercussions on how one views himself and life if one is serious and takes world events not only for their material context, but also metaphysics.
It is also a matter of mercy for a Christian, since it is anything but merciful for one who believes if such a sin is so heinous to go out and support it. One would not willingly supply drugs to an addict or alcohol to a drunkard lest one was evil, so why would one indulge a man’s behavior that while it may be regarded as socially acceptable, has just as much a destructive effect on body and soul?
Trump has not only made clear that he supports the LGBT, but he has outright said that as President, he will defend the LGBT and persecute people who oppose it, and called them “oppressors of dignity.”
This means Christians.
One cannot be a Christian and also support this agenda because the morality is completely opposed.
The grave scandal of Protestantism is the embrace of nationalism and drawing a parallel with it to religion so that there is an equivocation between patriotism and Christianity. This same problem systematically exists in the Orthodox churches as well, except she has apostolicity instead of outright heresy. The Church, while she has also had to fight this issues, has always opposed it by her theology and held that Catholics who do embrace such an equivocation are in direct error.
One may support or oppose President Trump for any number of reasons. However, do not call him a Christian, for he has not only refused to give any clear profession of religious identity to the public, nor has he lived a life in accordance with that of a Christian, nor has he even attempted to publicly practice something that would indicate he is a Christian save for a few meetings with Evangelical leaders to “pray” with them in public, but he has directly supported groups and ideas who want to destroy Christianity and punish Christians for being Christians.
Every man is make known in his beliefs by his words and then his actions. Trump said many good words, but when given the time when he needed to put his words to action, he has consistently chosen to follow the opposite.