The father of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has argued in speeches that the devil overplayed his hand by legalizing same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court's landmark ruling earlier this year.

Rafael Cruz, a pastor and prolific speaker, also has argued in a recent speech that churches will soon be forced to either hire gay employees or face civil rights lawsuits.

"I'll tell you what, I think that the Devil overplayed his hand with this ruling on homosexual marriage," the elder Cruz said in a speech at a rally for religious liberty in North Carolina last month. "I do a lot of pastor's conferences across America, and since that decision, the number of pastors that I'm seeing at each pastor's conference has more than doubled. The church is waking up, and I think that we are about to see an unprecedented sweep across America. The sleeping giant is waking up. We are going to see a grassroots tsunami across America. To take America back. To make it again that shining city on a hill, to the glory of God."

Speaking at a pastor's breakfast at Open Door Community Church in Summerfield, Florida last month, Cruz said it was a "lie" to say politics can't legislate morality.

"If the wicked are in authority they are going to legislate their wicked brand of morality," Cruz said citing the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the United States.

Cruz said the Supreme Court declared homosexuality a civil right, meaning churches would now be forced to hire homosexuals.

"The next logical step is for a homosexual to come to your church and demand to be hired," Cruz said. "Whether as pastor or as janitor it's immaterial."

Cruz added that if church declined to hire "a homosexual," it would be faced with a civil rights discrimination lawsuit.

"I think the devil overplayed his hand," Cruz repeated.