Robert Jeffress once claimed that Barack Obama was paving the way for the Antichrist, but now the controversial Dallas pastor has a very different message — he wants people to stop demonizing politicians.
In a statement published this week on his church’s blog in the wake of a shooting that aimed at Republican lawmakers, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas wrote that the tragedy was the result of the “unrelenting demonization of our legitimately elected political leaders” from the mainstream media, universities, and Hollywood.
But Robert Jeffress had a much different tone in his 2014 book Perfect Ending . As the Huffington Post noted, Jeffress wrote that Obama’s support of gay marriage was”altering one of society’s (not to mention God’s) most fundamental laws: that marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
Jeffress went on to suggest that Obama’s actions were a sign that the Antichrist could make a successful entrance in America.
“While I am not suggesting that President Obama is the Antichrist, the fact that he was able to propose such a sweeping change in God’s law and still win reelection by a comfortable margin illustrates how a future world leader will be able to oppose God’s laws without any repercussions.”
The Huffington Post found another time Robert Jeffress equated Barack Obama to the Antichrist using careful language. In a 2012 sermon, he claimed that he wasn’t calling Obama the Antichrist, but that the president’s actions were “paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist.”
. @pdxprogressivex : After Linking Obama to Antichrist, Pastor Says Stop Demonizing Politicians https://t.co/1xmHCxhjFu
— Patheos Nonreligious (@PatheosNonrelig) June 15, 2017
Pastor who linked Obama to antichrist says stop demonizing politicians https://t.co/Mx1583LjF0 via @HuffPostPol
— Cake is a Lie ?????????? (@pigpen7877) June 15, 2017
Robert Jeffress has been no stranger to controversy in the past. While many religious leaders have come out strongly against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico, Jeffress has publicly defended the idea. In a sermon before Trump’s inauguration, Jeffress noted that God called on the leader Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem by building a wall around the city.
“You see, God is not against building walls,” Jeffress said in his sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in D.C. (via the Washington Post ).
Aside from predicting that Barack Obama would pave the way for the Antichrist, Robert Jeffers has made plenty of other inflammatory statements, the Washington Post noted. During the 2012 election, he referred to Mormonism as a “cult” and called on people not to vote for Mitt Romney during the Republican primary. Jeffers also called Islam an “evil religion” and said gays were living a “miserable” and “filthy” lifestyle.
[Featured Image by Mark Duncan/AP Images]
