Tough talking Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin claims those who criticize his crime fighting “prayer patrols” are destined for Hell.

In a recent Facebook video an angry Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin attacked critics of his laughable proposal for “prayer patrols” to fight violent crime in the city of Louisville. Using Bible verses, the In his Facebook video the Christian extremist Republican governor attacked critics of his novel “pray the crime away” strategy, suggesting his critics will go to Hell for mocking his plan:

The following is a brief excerpt from Bevin’s remarks:

… I’m not gonna get into a back and forth with “leaders” of the faith-based community who have come out in opposition to the idea of praying. I’m a little shocked at that. … they came out and said that the discussion of prayer made them need barf bags. That was from an associate pastor at the largest church in our inner city. The senior pastor of that very same church said this was one of those most divisive things that he’s ever seen, dividing blacks and whites. … I don’t know that we’re diving the races as much as we are separating the sheep from the goats. I think they’ll understand what I’m saying on that front.

The key phrase here is “we are separating the sheep from the goats.” Writing for the Courier-Journal, Joseph Gerth notes that the phrase is an allusion to “a passage in the Gospel of Matthew describing the second coming of Christ and how at that time Christ will separate the good from the bad, much the same way that a shepherd separates sheep from goats.”

In other words, Bevin is claiming that critics of his ridiculous pray the violent crime away strategy via “prayer patrols” are going to Hell.

At a press conference earlier this month Governor Bevin unveiled his ludicrous plan to fight violent crime in the city of Louisville. At the event Bevin made a call to establish volunteer “prayer patrols” that would not report or stop criminal activity, but would instead attempt to pray the crime away.

To their credit, some of Bevin’s harshest critics were pastors angry at the absurd suggestion that prayer patrols were a legitimate response to violent crime. Bevin was particularly angry at two local pastors for criticizing his plan. The Courier-Journal reports:

He (Bevin) was lashing out at the Rev. Kevin Cosby, senior pastor of St. Stephen Church, who wrote in a recent column in the Courier-Journal that Bevin’s call for prayer walks as a solution to West End violence “set race relations back in Louisville more than any single act in recent years.” And Bevin was attacking the Rev. Joe Phelps, pastor of Highland Baptist Church, who wrote in another column that the governor’s “tepid non-plan was an embarrassment to Christianity.”

Bottom line: Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin believes prayer is a legitimate strategy for fighting crime, and is establishing “prayer patrols” to fight violent crime in the city of Louisville. And, according to Bevin, if you don’t support his plan, you are going to Hell.