According to the Christian Post, Pastor Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas told his congregation on Sunday that, after then-President Joe Biden was elected, the IRS opened an investigation against the church. Because of this, the Religious Liberty Commission wants Jeffress to testify in a hearing, which will mainly pertain to religious liberty in the military.
In the heat of the presidential campaign in June of 2020, First Baptist Dallas invited then-Vice President Mike Pence and Housing Secretary Ben Carson to participate in its Celebrate Freedom patriotic service – similar to many services Joe Biden attended during the campaign.
Both Pence and Carson shared their testimonies, and the church was careful to not to endorse any candidate. IRS guidelines were not violated, but that did not stop someone from taking issue with the church’s actions.
“The atheist organization Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the IRS about it,” says Jeffress. “It was the first time the Internal Revenue Service ever threatened a church because of something they did within a worship service of a church,”
Nothing was done for 11 months, but then after Biden was elected, an investigation was launched into the church.
According to Jeffress, the church spent thousands of dollars defending itself against the specious charges that the church endorsed a candidate. Then, for no apparent reason, the IRS dropped the case.
“Suddenly without warning the IRS reversed themself. They closed the investigation, and they said we had done nothing to violate the Internal Revenue Tax Code,” informs Jeffress.
Jeffress told his church that they were fortunate to be able to afford to defend themselves. Now, he asked his congregation for prayer as he speaks in the upcoming hearing on Wednesday in Dallas to make sure something like this does not happen to anyone else.
“It is not any business of the government what happens in the pulpit of this church. It is none of their business,” states Jeffress.
