“First Baptists’ Robert Jeffress: God has given Trump  authority to take out North Korean leader Kim Jong Un”
This story quotes from the Dallas Daily News (August 8, 2017)

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 01: (AFP OUT) US President Donald Trump and Pastor Robert Jeffress participate in the Celebrate Freedom Rally at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on July 1, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool via Getty Images)

Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, one of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisers who preached the morning of his inauguration, has released a statement saying the president has the moral authority to take out North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“When it comes to how we should deal with evil doers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary – including war – to stop evil,” Jeffress said. “In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un.”

WHTT Editor Charles E (Chuck) Carlson chimes in:  Wait a minute, Pastor Jeffress!  Jesus is a peacemaker, and so was Apostle Paul who wrote Romans 13.  But you quote Paul as Donald Trump’s moral authority to murder a foreign leader.  You resort to using Christianity’s most trusted scripture, the New Testament, to justify cold-blooded killing, not just to “take out” the pugnacious and arrogant Kim Jung Un, but probably to kill all those who are around him at the time, and perhaps start a war to kill thousands more. You know, and you admit, that the book of Romans is about tolerance and love, but you rely on the first 6 verses of Romans 13 to justify murder.  Are you sure you read and interpreted these few verses as Paul intended them?  When he wrote words to the effect that all magistrates were appointed by God to do good and punish evil-doers etc, might he have had a different meaning to convey, since those he praised had the power of life and death over him?  I think so, and furthermore, I think Paul told us the real meaning of these six verses in his own words.

Back to the editor of the Dallas Daily News (with quotes from Jeffress):

Jeffress, who leads downtown’s First Baptist Dallas, said in a phone interview that he was prompted to make the statement after Trump said that if North Korea’s threats to the United States continue, Pyongyang will be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

The biblical passage Romans 13 gives the government authority to deal with evildoers, Jeffress said. “That gives the government to the authority to do whatever, whether it’s assassination, capital punishment or evil punishment to quell the actions of evildoers like Kim Jong Un,” he said.
He said that many pacifist Christians will cite Romans 12, which says, “Do not repay evil for evil,” but Jeffress says that that passage is referring to Christians, not to the government.  …
Jeffress is no stranger to controversy.  He has said in the past that former president Barack Obama paved the way for the antichrist and drew wide attention for calling Mormonism a cult during the 2012 Republican primary.  Jeffress knows his comments on North Korea could be considered controversial, even among fellow evangelicals.
“Some Christians, perhaps younger Christians, have to think this through,” he said. “It’s antithetical to some of the mushy rhetoric you hear from some circles today. Frankly, it’s because they are not well taught in the scriptures.”   … Attitudes about North Korea among evangelicals are unclear, he said. “I think many evangelicals, like most Americans, really don’t pay attention to global affairs,” Jeffress said. “I believe we’re all going to be forced to soon if North Korea isn’t dealt with decisively.”

 

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey, The Washington Post
Posted by Claire Cardona, Breaking News Hub producer