Donald Trump
Robert Jeffress, who pastors the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and who has been making the introductions of Donald Trump to several of his recent campaign audiences, stopped short of endorsing the billionaire during a recent media interview – but basically only because his nonprofit exemption with the IRS would have been threatened had he appeared to have given his stamp of approval to one candidate over another.
“I am not officially endorsing any candidate but I was happy to pray at Mr. Trump’s events on Saturday and in Iowa and also to introduce him,” Jeffress said, in a chat with the Christian Post. “And frankly, I would not have done that if I did not believe that Mr. Trump could be a very effective president of the United States.”
Jeffress said he understands why Christians are hesitant to jump into the Trump camp. But he also said those who did ultimately decide to support him don’t have to fear guilty consciences.
“There are many Christians who would say that while Donald Trump may not be the best candidate to lead Bible studies in the Oval Office, he very well may be the candidate that has the best chance of beating [them] in November,” Jeffress said, the Blaze reported. “I don’t believe a Christian has to sell his soul to the devil to vote for Donald Trump.”
Jeffress said “electability” was a key factor to consider in this coming election, and worried the nation’s ability to “survive either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton,” he said.
During a weekend campaign stop, Jeffress introduced Trump as “a great leader, a great visionary and a great American,” the Dallas News reported.
The support-but-not-endorsement comes as a recent poll from NBC News/Survey Monkey showed Trump’s reach-out to evangelicals may be resonating.
As Politico reported: “Among white evangelical Republican voters nationally, Trump [in this poll] earned the support of 37 percent, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father is a pastor and has played a key role in recruiting faith leaders to support his son, is at 20 percent. In the same survey conducted the previous week, Cruz registered nine percentage points higher. Below the op two contenders, Ben Carson earned 11 percent among evangelicals and Marco Rusio took 10 percent.”
The remarks from Jeffress and recent poll results come just after Rep. Louie Gohmert advised evangelicals to tread carefully when considering Trump. As WND reported, Gohmert said he liked Trump and agreed with much of his views, but that he still held a bit of concern over the businessman’s previous remarks about forgiveness and God.
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