Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress believes that gay marriage and the film release of Fifty Shades of Grey are signs that the apocalypse is nearing. Jeffress said “the Bible prophesized that in the End Times, there will be a lack of moral restraint. And I think we're seeing that manifested in so many different ways.”

Jeffress is an evangelical pastor with a long history of incendiary remarks. He is an anti-gay bigot who believes gays lead a “miserable lifestyle,” homosexuality is linked to pedophilia, and gay people are promiscuous and engaged in “filthy behavior,” and “brainwashing activit[ies].” He's compared Mormonism to a cult, called Islam an “evil, evil, religion,” referred to Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as “false religions,” and said Catholicism is a “counterfeit religion” that rose from a “cult-like, pagan religion.”

Despite Jeffress' controversial history, cable news programs frequently host him and Fox News employs him as a contributor.

During a February 10 appearance on Fox News Radio's The Alan Colmes Show, Jeffress said he saw “radical Islam,” gay marriage, and Fifty Shades of Grey as signs of the coming apocalypse. 

Jeffress claimed: “The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 that in the last days it will be terrible times. And that word terrible means lack of moral restraint. And I think we're seeing that everywhere, whether it is the attempt to change the most basic unit of society, the family and marriage by redefinition of marriage. Or the acceptance of perversion. You know, this Fifty Shades of Grey, or Fifty Shades of Perversion. I think that's symptomatic of what is happening.”

On gay marriage, Jeffress added, “I believe that gays have the same constitutional rights as heterosexuals. No doubt about it. But I agree with our last guest that marriage is not a constitutional right. If it were, Alan, 15-year-olds could marry. Siblings could marry.” He then asked if a father and daughter should also have the right to marry if same-sex couples could. 

Jeffress said he hadn't seen or read Fifty Shades of Grey, but from what he read it “tends to objectify women -- put them in a bondage situation.” When asked about if he approves of that in a voluntary situation, he replied, “that's her business.” He added that “this movie may represent a new low in popular entertainment. That's all I'm saying. And I'm just saying the Bible prophesized that in the End Times, there will be a lack of moral restraint. And I think we're seeing that manifested in so many different ways.” 

As noted by Right Wing Watch, Jeffress made similar comments during an appearance on conservative radio host Janet Mefferd's show. 

The Fox News contributor is the author of the recently released Countdown to the Apocalypse: Why ISIS and Ebola Are Only the Beginning, in which “prophecy insider Robert Jeffress” offers “signs” of the Apocalypse.

As one of those signs, Jeffress writes of “The New Moral (Dis)Order” and cited “immoral” and “wrong” same-sex relationships as a sign of a deteriorating culture:

If we start describing an immoral relationship between two men or two women as marriage, why stop there? Suppose three men and a woman or a man and his nineteen-year-old daughter decide they want to be married; why should they be denied that right? I once made that argument during a debate on television. The man I was debating called such reasoning “ridiculous” but could offer no counterargument-- because there is none.

Here is my conclusion: The male- female, one man- one woman relationship is fundamental to the entire Bible . It starts on the first page and continues to the last page. Rather than being some small side issue that we can ignore, it is part of the very fiber of the biblical message.

He later writes: “God established the pattern of one man- one woman marriage on the sixth day of creation (Genesis 1: 26-27). Any deviation from that norm--adultery, unbiblical divorce, or homosexuality-- is wrong. I know that many people, including many Christians, would rather not talk about gay marriage because it is so controversial. But we do the world no favors when we refuse to talk about what God has declared to be truth.”