Evangelical adviser says God has given Trump the authority to 'take out Kim Jong Un'

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last updated 9 August 2017

You won't find this in 2 Corinthians. Speaking on behalf of God, a Baptist preacher who serves as one of President Trump's evangelical advisers said Trump has explicit permission from the man upstairs to take out North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"When it comes to how we should deal with evildoers, 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," Robert Jeffress, a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, said in a statement. "In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un."

Jeffress — who had concluded that Trump was going to be president after they ate cheeseburgers together in Iowa — told The Washington Post he felt compelled to release the statement after Trump warned North Korea that if the country continues to threaten the United States with weapons, it will be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." Romans 13 gives the government the authority "to do whatever, whether it's assassination, capital punishment, or evil punishment to quell the actions of evildoers like Kim Jong Un," Jeffress said, adding that even though "many evangelicals, like most Americans, really don't pay attention to global affairs, I believe we're all going to be forced to soon if North Korea isn't dealt with decisively."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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