An internet evangelist has urged Christians to carry guns in order to protect police officers.

Joshua Feuerstein brandished a handgun in a two-minute video posted on Facebook where he appeared to blame the movement Black Lives Matter for a recent spate of police shootings.

He compared his own upbringing where he "respected police" and was taught that cops were heroes. He told his two million Facebook followers:

"Today, we've got kids that are growing up in these different homes where the parents are not respecting police or cussing them out and calling them pigs, telling kids not to trust them. That's the problem!

"We're fostering a generation of people who no longer have respect for authority. It's a godless and a disgusting generation. Look, I'm calling on every American citizen, I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I'm a preacher, but you know what?

"I also carry an FN Five-seven filled with 20 rounds of pure brutality right there. Look, I may love Jesus, but if I see you pull a gun on an officer, you want to know whose side I'm on?

"That's right. I'm gonna fill you with 60 rounds of pure lead. And I guarantee you, you're gonna have lead poisoning.

"Look guys, it's time that we as Americans, we as Christians, we gotta start carrying guns because we gotta protect our superheroes, our police officers."

Feuerstein has caused a number of controversies with Facebook videos over the past year. In April 2015 he asked his followers to call Cut the Cake bakery in Florida and harass them after they refused to bake Feuerstein a cake with an anti-gay marriage slogan.

The bakery said it was subject to death threats and lost business as a result of the video.

In November 2015 another Feuerstein video made national headlines in the US after he criticized Starbucks for removing Christmas-related symbols in favour of plain red Christmas cups. "The silent majority is sick and tired of consistently being bullied to be quiet about our beliefs and trying to remove Christ out of Christmas," he told CNN.