Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist
Church in Dallas delivered a prayer on Monday at the opening ceremony
of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem.
Jeffress, a leading pro-Israel voice
among evangelical Christians, praised President Donald Trump's
decision to move the embassy, saying on Monday that he “stands on
the right side” of God when it comes to Israel.
The 62-year-old Jeffress has previously
said that other religions are “wrong.”
“Islam is wrong,” he
said in 2010. “It is a heresy from the pit of hell. Mormonism
is wrong. It is a heresy from the pit of hell. Judaism – you
can't be saved being a Jew. You know who said that, by the way? The
three greatest Jews in the New Testament: Peter, Paul and Jesus
Christ. They all said Judaism won't do it. It's faith in Jesus
Christ.”
Jeffress is also a vocal opponent of
LGBT rights, including marriage equality. He once compared
gay sex to plugging a U.S. television into a European outlet and
has called gay sex a sin.
“God created sex for a man and a
woman in a marriage relationship and any deviation from that, whether
it be adultery or pre-marital sex or homosexuality, is sinful,”
Jeffress said during an appearance on CNN's New Day.
In 2016, Jeffress criticized businesses
that support LGBT rights, saying that they pose a greater “threat
to freedom of religion in America” than ISIS.
Mitt Romney, who is vying for a Senate
seat from Utah, was among those who criticized the decision to invite
Jeffress to participate in Monday's ceremony.
“Such a religious bigot should not be
giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem,”
Romney said in a tweet.
Appearing on Fox Business' Lou Dobbs
Tonight, Jeffress denied that he was a bigot.
“[Romney] was upset with me because
in the primaries I supported Rick Perry and not him,” Jeffress
said, referring to Romney's 2012 presidential bid. “I am not a
bigot. Many of those comments are either manufactured or ripped out
of context.”
(Related: After
claiming he's a better “friend” to gays than Clinton, Trump poses
with anti-gay pastor.)