A MISSOURI pastor has been ousted after he called Melania Trump a "trophy wife" and told women to "lose weight."
, a 55-year-old pastor at Malden First General Baptist Church, has gone on leave following backlash over his "sexist" sermon last month.
The Deacon Ministry Team Clark had taken a leave of absence on their website homepage.
In the 22-minute speech to his church, Clark stressed the need for women to look their best to keep their husband's happy.
Clark, who is looking to obtain "professional counseling" after the controversial sermon, said: "I’m not saying every woman can be the epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump.
"Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know - maybe you’re a participation trophy.
"I don’t know - but all I can say is not everybody looks like that. Amen! Not everybody looks like that. But you don’t need to look like a butch either."
He added: "Men have a need for their women to look like women. Sweatpants don’t cut it all the time. Wearing flip flops and pajamas to Walmart – that ain’t going to work.
"Ain’t nothing attractive about that. It’ ain’t. And men want their wives to look good at home and in public, can I get an Amen!"
The pastor ultimately questioned why women "let themselves go" after marriage and suggested they should lose weight to maintain a healthy relationship with their spouses.
He also suggested men will be less likely to cheat if their women maintain their appearance, adding its: "Really important for a man to have a beautiful woman on his arm."
A listener of Clark's Sunday sermon shared footage of the derogatory February 21 speech one week after the incident.
Reagan Williams wrote to : "On this lovely Sunday morning I spent my time getting ready listening to a head pastor in Malden who so nonchalantly decided to exercise pastoral abuse towards women.
"He goes on to blame women for the actions of men and says it is of God and it should be accepted as normal. Instead of teaching men and boys to take accountability for their actions and control themselves, he degrades women, victim blames, and points the finger at their mere existence.
"He fails to use Bible verses to back up his nonsense. He says that lusting after other women in a relationship or marriage is acceptable if you are not perfectly up to par with the man’s expectations and implies you should be blamed if the man cheats or fails you."
She then slammed the pastor for "objectifying and antagonizing" women.
"He also claims your looks should be only of what the man wants and you should have zero bodily autonomy and zero individuality which is abusive and controlling," Williams added in her post, which has since garnered around 3,400 likes.
Dozens of her post's comments denounced the pastor for his shocking words and slammed him for his appearance.
One Facebook user commented: "Has he looked in the mirror he's not winning beauty pageants."
"Literally preaching about taking care of your self and looking good as he standing up there with a tire around his belly," another wrote.
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On March 1, explained in a Facebook post how the comments in Clark's sermon "are not consistent with the positions and values of General Baptists."
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The post continued: "Pastor Clark was to be the moderator of the General Association of General Baptist meeting in July 2022. He has resigned from that position.
"General Baptists believe that every woman was created in the image of God, and they should be valued for that reason."