"This should not be so, my friends."

A Fox News pastor who believes that Jews are destined to burn in hell for eternity recalls the conversation he had with President Trump, citing the Bible to defend his political attacks at the National Prayer Breakfast. pic.twitter.com/S9mtUex5jQ

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) February 7, 2020

James 3 is a curious choice, even if you are prooftexting, as Jeffress does here.  He cites James 3:10 as a riposte to Nancy Pelosi's claim she prays for the President:

"Out of the same mouth come praise and curses.  This should not be so, my friends."

As I say, a curious choice, since James 3 starts this way:

My friends, not many of you should become teachers, for you may be certain that we who teach will ourselves face severe judgment.  All of us go wrong again and again; a man who never says anything wrong is perfect and is capable of controlling every part of his body.  When we put a bit into a horse's mouth to make it obey our will, we can direct the whole animal.  Or think of a ship:  large though it may be and driven by gales, it can be steered by a very small rudder on whatever course the helmsman chooses.  So with the tongue; it is small, but it's pretensions are great.

What a vast amount of timber can be set ablaze by the tiniest spark!  And the tongue is a fair, representing in our body the whole wicked world.  It pollutes our whole being, it sets the whole course of our existence alight, and its flames are fed by hell.  Beasts and birds of every kind, creatures that crawl on the ground or swim in the sea, can be subdued and have been subdued by man; but no one can subdue the tongue.  It is an evil thing, restless and charged with deadly venom.  We use it to praise our Lord and Father; then we use it to invoke curses on our fellow-men, though they are made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and curses.  This should not be so, my friends. (James 3:1-10, REB)

If there is a better description in scripture of Donald Trump's rants yesterday, at the Prayer Breakfast and in the East Room, I don't know of it.  But back up in James a bit, and the context of his remarks, and distortion of them by Mr. Jeffress, becomes clearer:

What good is it, my friends, for someone to say he has faith when his actions do nothing to show it?  Can that faith save him?  Suppose a fellow-Christian, whether man or woman, is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says "Goodbye, keep warm, and have a good meal," but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what good is that?  So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is by itself a lifeless thing.

But someone may say:  "One chooses faith, another action."  To which I reply:  "Show me this faith you speak of with no actions to prove it, while I by my actions will prove to you my faith."  You have faith and believe there is one God.  Excellent!  Even demons have faith like that, and it makes them tremble.  Do you have to be told, you fool, that faith divorced from action is futile?  Was it by is action, in offering his son Isaac upon the altar, that our father Abraham was justified?  Surely you can see faith at work in his actions, and by these actions his faith was perfected?  Here was the fulfillment of the words of scripture; "Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness," and he was called "God's friend."  You see then it is by action and not by faith alone that a man is justified.  The same is also true of the prostitute Rahab.  Was she not justified by her action in welcoming the messengers into her house and sending them out by a different way?  As the body is dead when there is no breath in it, so faith divorced from action is dead.  (James 2:14-26, REB)

Or a bit further back in James 2 than that:

If, however, you are observing the sovereign law laid down in scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself." that is excellent.  But if you show partiality, you are committing a sin and you stand convicted by law as offenders.  For if a man breaks just one commandment and keeps all the others, he is guilty of breaking all of them.  For he who said "You shall not commit adultery" said also "You shall not commit murder."  If you commit murder you are a breaker of the law, even if you do not commit adultery as well.  Always speak out and act as men who are to be judged under a law which makes them free.  In that judgment there will be no mercy for the man who has shown none.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.  (James 2:8-13, REB)

Robert Jeffress has defended Donald Trump's adultery; and has shown no interest in mercy for those Trump considers "enemies."  You'll notice in that clip he decides "enemies" are people who don't deserve forgiveness or love, even though the Sermon on the Mount doesn't equivocate or define "enemies" so narrowly as to make them merely friends who don't agree with you at the moment.

"You have heard that they were told, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'  But what I tell you is:  Do not resist those who wrong you.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him the other also.  If anyone wants to sue you and takes your shirt, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone in authority presses you into service for one mile, go with him two.  Give to anyone who asks; and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow.

"You have heard that they were told, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But what I tell you is this:  love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who causes the sun to rise on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the innocent and the wicked.  If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect?  Even the tax-collectors do as much as that.  If you greet only your brothers, what is there extraordinary about that? Even the heathen do as much.  There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds."  (Matthew 5:38-48, REB)

I was going to add a long comment to all this; but the scriptures speak more eloquently than I can.  If Donald Trump or Robert Jeffress is living up to even these standards, I see no evidence of it.  I don't mean to get into a pissing match or a dick-measuring contest or even to sit in judgment over either man.  James speaks of faith and action in terms of actions for others, not for oneself.  Abraham's sacrifice, Rahab's defiance of authority, were not acts meant to directly benefit them.  Turning the other cheek, giving up your cloak as well as your shirt, going two miles when only compelled to go one, loving your enemies, are not acts that benefit you directly; and they aren't meant to be.  Jeffress is as transactional as Trump:  he wants "religious liberty" (which means liberty to do as he pleases) and the end of abortion (liberty to impose his will on others).  He sees in Trump a means to that end, and it reveals the god he worships:  not the God of Abraham, of Jesus, of James, of the scriptures, but the god of power and authority.  When James says this:  "You have faith and believe there is one God.  Excellent!  Even demons have faith like that, and it makes them tremble," I think of the faith Robert Jeffress professes.  When I realize Donald Trump doesn't make even that profession, I am comfortable in saying Mr. Jeffress does not worship the God I do.