Bishop T.D. Jakes has cautioned against violence as following the deaths of Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, and five police officers gunned down in Dallas, Texas last Thursday.
Jakes, of the Dallas-based Potter's House church, is reminding people not to let revenge rule their hearts and let God take care of everything.
"Hear me when I tell you I am very, very frustrated and I stand in solidarity, but I think that the way this is being approached is wrong," Jakes said during a Facebook livestream entitled "Tragedy in Our Streets."
Jakes said he has long been crying out about the country's criminal justice system, but the deaths of these police officers cannot be categorised simply as "a black issue," an "LGBT issue," "a Republican or Democratic issue," or even "a Christian issue."
"This has to be an American issue," he stressed. "We have to protect our people better than we do right now regardless of the colour of their skin because if we allow injustice to raise its head, it's only a matter of time before it comes into other communities and areas. That's why we have to stop it at the gate and we have to stand together and this is the time for the church to stand together."
Instead of being fuelled by hate, Jakes is encouraging people - regardless of their skin colour - to unite and stand together in battling social injustices.
"It's very important that it not just be the black church and the white church and the brown church, it needs to be the church that Jesus died for and shed His blood for, standing together," he said.
Jakes also shared a prayer to comfort people who are crying out for justice over the police officers' deaths.
"We have a God who sits high but looks low and He has all power in His hands. He said, 'Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, I will repay.' Whatever's wrong, He will make it right and He will use us to make it right. But He doesn't need our guns to do it and He doesn't need the blood of our sons to do it," he said.
The fiancée of Castile, Lavish "Diamond" Reynolds, who posted a video of the aftermath of the shooting that went viral, spoke to the Potter's House congregation during its service on Sunday.
She explained that she posted the video because she wanted people to understand the injustice against black people.
"I posted that video so everyone across the world can know that we don't do these things to ourselves, these things are done to us," Reynolds said.
"To get it on camera, the immediate aftermath, wasn't for anything except to be heard for justice.
"Because at the end of the day the people that are here to serve and protect us, we call upon them when we are in need, but when the officers are the ones that are hurting us who do we call?"
