Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress: Cops are 'ministers of God sent by God to punish evildoers'

Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, lashed out at what he called "bogus ministers" who did not preach about having "respect for the police."

During an Sunday interview on Fox & Friends, Jeffress called on churches "to instill in their a members a respect for the police."

"The New Testament says in Romans 13:4 that law enforcement officers are ministers of God sent by God to punish evil doers," he opined. "When you think about it, police officers are just as called by God to do what they do as pastors and priests are called by God. And I think we need to remind our members of that."

Alluding to Black Lives Matter protests over killings by police, Jeffress said that he was getting "sick and tired of so-called ministers who do nothing but sow seeds of distrust and disrespect for the police."

"Those kinds of bogus ministers need to be exposed, and need to be called out for what they're doing," he insisted.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson agreed that Black Lives Matter received "a lot of support" from clergy.

"There are some police officers that maybe engage in overreaction," Jeffress said, adding that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump had "the leadership to stop the downward spiral of this nation."

The megachurch pastor also claimed that President Barack Obama had "exacerbated the racial divide instead of healing it."

"I'm afraid the president, just like he did with conservative Christians after the beheading by ISIS of Christians, it seemed like he wanted to blame conservative Christians in the past," he said, "instead of putting the blame when it belongs."

"And you know, I have to say if we would teach our children to respect law enforcement officers, they wouldn't have anything to worry about," Jeffress concluded. "The Bible says law enforcement officers are nothing to be feared if you do what is right."

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast July 10, 2016.