DallasObserver | Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Dallas, committed himself to
Donald Trump and his presidency in 2016, positioning himself as the
evangelical face of Trumpism. This year, for better and worse, Jeffress
has reaped the consequences of that commitment, repeatedly finding
himself at the center of the Trump universe because of his words,
decisions or sheer proximity to the president. He has more access to the
president and the White House than any other religious leader in the
country.
As the first installment of America: The Trump Years winds down, let's take a look at all the fun Jeffress had in 2017.
RightWingWatch | Robert Jeffress, a faith adviser to and staunch supporter of
President Trump, told Religious Right radio host Janet Mefferd
yesterday that Trump’s presidency has exposed a divide among
evangelicals between those “who take the Bible seriously and those who
don’t,” saying that Trump’s critics among the “evangelical elite” don’t
embrace the true values of the faith.
During yesterday’s episode of “Janet Mefferd Live” on American Family
Radio, Mefferd spoke with Jeffress about articles that have documented
how the “evangelical divide”
has intensified under Trump. Jeffress denied that Trump created the
schisms in the evangelical community, saying that the “evangelical
elite” had already been distancing itself from biblical values.
“Look, poor President Trump gets blamed for everything from the
melting of the polar ice caps to now the evangelical crisis. And you
know, that word ‘crisis’ means ‘divide.’ And I will admit there is a
divide going on among evangelicals. President Trump didn’t cause the
divide, but he has exposed it,” Jeffress said. “It’s been a growing
divide, Janet, between evangelicals who take the Bible seriously and
those who don’t. I call them the ‘evangelical elite’—the ‘Christianity
of the day’ crowd.”
Jeffress continued, “And here’s where it comes down to—think about
this. President Trump is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty,
pro-Israel president in history. So why do we have this resistance among
the evangelical elite while the mass of evangelicals in the pews
support him? And what it comes down to is the evangelical elite really
don’t embrace these values.”
