Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and “spiritual advisor” to President Trump, Robert Jeffress, has a special way of tying the Trump presidency to the bible. During a recent appearance on Life Today with host James Robison, Jeffress addressed the notion that walls, such as Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, are un-Christian. According to Jeffress, there’s no way Trump’s wall goes against the teachings of Christ because there’s going to be “a wall in Heaven.”
In a video clip flagged by Media Matters’ Jason Campbell, Robison asks Jeffress, “Do walls have really meaningful biblical purpose?”
“Absolutely,” Jeffress replied.
“You hear Nancy Pelosi and others saying that walls are ‘un-Christian,” they’re ‘immoral,'” Jeffress continued as Robison chuckled. “Well, if that true, then God’s immoral because he told Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem.”
Fox's Pastor Robert Jeffress says a border wall isn't un-Christian because "there's going to be a wall in Heaven" pic.twitter.com/3rla5ciSbH
— Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) July 25, 2019
“There’s gonna be a wall in Heaven, Revelation 21 says,” he added.
The bible verse Jeffress is referring to speaks of the wall and gates on the “New City of Jerusalem.” A hard reading of the verse doesn’t reveal any relation to keeping out immigrants, but that doesn’t stop Jeffress as others of his ilk from interpreting it to their advantage.
In 2017, Jeffress declared that God is pretty much to the right of the immigration debate. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, he reassured viewers that God approves of Trump’s immigration policy, saying that God is “not necessarily an open borders guy, as a lot of people would think that he is.” Jeffress’s comments came in response to an open letter penned by a group of pastors imploring Trump to use his “Christian compassion” to reconsider his immigration stance.
“While Christian compassion is one consideration, it’s not the only consideration in the immigration problem,” Jeffress said. “I mean, the Bible also says that God is the one who established nations and its borders. God is not necessarily an open borders guy, as a lot of people would think that he is.”
“And thirdly, the Bible says God has ordained government to protect its citizens,” he continued. “So when you are talking about a biblical solution to immigration, yes, we need to talk about compassion, but we need to balance that with government’s real responsibility to protect its citizens.”
Featured image via screen grab/YouTube
