First Baptist Dallas senior pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress, whose early and heartfelt support for Donald Trump's candidacy in 2016 was a source of frustration to some establishment Republicans, fired back Wednesday at 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who on Sunday branded Jeffress a "religious bigot."
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, tweeted Sunday that Jeffress should not have been invited to give the opening prayer at this week's dedication of newly relocated U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
"Robert Jeffress says, 'You can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell,'" Romney tweeted. "He's said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States embassy in Jerusalem."
Jeffress has been and continues to be unapologetically outspoken about his view that faith in Jesus Christ is the sole path to salvation. Romney and Jeffress have been at odds since October 2011, when Jeffress reportedly stated at a Values Voter summit that Romney's Mormon faith is a "cult."
On Wednesday afternoon, Jeffress provided Newsmax with a heretofore unpublished, exclusive response to Romney's broadside:
"Historic Christianity has taught for 2,000 years that salvation is through faith in Christ alone," Jeffress said in the statement. "The fact that I, along with tens of millions of evangelical Christians around the world, continue to espouse that belief, is neither bigoted nor newsworthy.
"To those who believe in something other than historic Christianity, I say with the Apostle Paul in all love and sincerity, 'We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.' (2 Corinthians 5:20)."
Jeffress continued: "The inclusion of a conservative evangelical pastor like me in the embassy dedication struck a blow against the systemic bigotry and the exclusion of tens of millions of Christians from the public square because of their historic Christian beliefs.
"It is a sad day indeed," he added, "when a Republican like Governor Romney joins liberals in seeking to shun and silence those who believe in the Christian faith of the Bible."
In his dedication remarks, Jeffress praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "determination to do whatever it takes to protect his people" and lauded what he called Trump's "tremendous leadership."
In his prayer, Dr. Jeffress stated: "I believe, Father, I speak for every one of us when we say we thank you every day that you have given us a president who boldly stands on the right side of history, but more importantly, stands on the right side of you, O God, when it comes to Israel."
Several leading Christians have defended Jeffress's theological views regarding salvation.
In a Washington Examiner op-ed titled "If Robert Jeffress is a bigot, then Mitt Romney is too," Jenna Ellis, director of public policy at the James Dobson Family Institute, wrote Monday that Romney had confused bigotry with advocacy. Jeffress' beliefs, she said, are "well within mainstream evangelical orthodoxy for Christians."
Added Ellis: "Romney may not prefer Jeffress to speak at the embassy ceremony, and he is free to voice his opinion on that (for whatever it's worth). But calling Jeffress a bigot is simply ignorant and actually showing himself intolerant of Jeffress' beliefs."