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Opinions/Editorials Title: What Every Christian Should Know About Mitt Romney The following are my thoughts alone and do no pretend to represent any other individual or organization. There exist only three official qualifications that must be met in order for one to become a candidate for the office of President of these United States of America. There is not and should not be a “religious test” involved in these requirements to seek the presidency or, for that matter, any political office in the United States. The last thing anyone contemplating running for office should have to consider is whether or not the government can disqualify them on account of religion. I fully support this position. On the other hand, I fully assert my right and responsibility before God to place at the center (heart) of my thoughts, words and deeds my consideration of whether such thoughts, words and deeds glorify God. According to Barnes (and I agree), we are commanded to love God with all of our “heart [as it is]… the seat of the understanding; the soul as the center of the will and personality [and] the might as representing outgoings and energies of all the vital powers.” (See Dt. 6:5) This devotion speaks of one’s total being committed to worship of the Lord. There is not a “religious” being and a “secular” being. It is God who is our “being” (Act 17:28). The life that God has given me is in His Son (1Jo 5:11). The life I have in His Son rises from my acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus Christ as the unique resurrected Son of God. Moreover, “the life I live in the body, I live by faith (belief) in the Son of God…” My partaking of eternal life hinges on the simple but profound fact that I have “acknowledged” Jesus as who he is. To “acknowledge” Jesus is to place complete trust in who HE is as defined in the Old and New Testament. The accurate presentation of Jesus Christ is at the very center of the gospel, thus it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The foundation notion of “acknowledgment” of God and his Son is thematic throughout the Bible. David charged Solomon to “acknowledge the God of your fathers, and serve him with wholehearted devotion…” (1Ch 28:9). Later, Solomon urges us to “acknowledge” him in “all” our ways (and yes, this includes casting one’s vote). Jesus himself warns that if we do not “acknowledge” him before men, he will not acknowledge us before God the Father (Mat. 10:32). Finally, the Apostle John gives two directives pointing to the absolute necessity of acknowledging Jesus Christ. These scriptures are so clear in their meaning that I will insert them in their entirety. 1 John 4:3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 2 John 1:7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. The most precious possession any Christian has is a revelation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This revelation, though a work of the Holy Spirit through grace, is not defined by us or on our terms, but rather by the Bible. The identity of Jesus Christ is defined by his Word. I am a Christian because I have repented of my sin and acknowledged that Jesus Christ, as presented in the Bible, is my Lord and Savior. I am not a Christian because I am nice; do good works; pray; study the Bible; love my family and country… or anything else. Likewise, no one else can claim to be Christian based their own subjective presentation of what it means to be one. To be frank, anyone who “messes” with the identity of Jesus Christ is tampering with the primary element of the gospel and therefore is presenting a counterfeit gospel… one “other than the one ye have received.” (Gal 1:9). Now to Romney. Mitt Romney is a temple Mormon who has functioned as a high priest within the church. This is what every Christian needs to know about Mitt Romney and Mormonism. He is not a Christian by any definition of orthodox, historical Christianity. Few, if any, orthodox Christian religious bodies accept Mormon’s as Christians. Virtually all evangelical seminaries classify Mormonism as a “cult.” (See Dr. Walter Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults. The Jesus of the Mormon faith does not remotely resemble the Jesus of the Bible or any legitimate, historical, Christian denomination. The three extra-biblical works of the Mormon faith (Book of Mormon; Doctrines and Covenants; Pearl of Great Price) fail every recognized test of divine inspiration. Mormon doctrine, from the nature of God to salvation, is at odds with orthodox Christian teaching. The founding “prophet” of the Mormon faith, Joseph Smith, by a multitude of objective non-Mormon, historical references, was a con man, adulterer, and worse. Until “modified” in the 1970’s Mormon doctrine taught that African American men could not hold the priesthood and were cursed by God with black skin and flat noses due to their “cowardice” in their pre-existent lives. The list goes on and on but there is a more important point. Mitt Romney is a devoted follower of this faith. It is not as if he were disinterested or even ambivalent towards the Church and the gospel. It’s not even that he is an unbeliever who is hostile to Christianity. Rather, he advances the proposition that the gospel as presented by every Christian Church through history is false and that the Mormon presentation of Jesus and His gospel is true. This is the problem. Romney presents “another” gospel and “another” Jesus. In corrupting these two indispensable elements of Christianity, I believe, should he be elected president, he (and we as a nation) would incur, at the very least, the resistance of God…and, far worse, the judgment of God. Therefore, I cannot conceive of violating the precious stewardship entrusted to me by God and our forefathers by voting for Mitt Romney. Christian, are you ready to stand before our Heavenly Father and say, “Yes, I empowered, by my vote, a man who represented a deliberate perversion of the gospel of your Beloved Son.” This assessment has nothing to do with Romney the man, husband, father, businessman, or politician. It has everything to do with the reality that behind every human being there are spirits operating that either oppose or support Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Romney has embraced in Mormonism the oldest temptation of them all, the prospect that he will one day become a god. I, for one, sure don’t want someone in the White House that has a “one day I become a god complex.” For those who want to become more informed of Mormon history, doctrine and present disposition, I suggest the following reading list: Mormonism, Shadow or Reality (Tanner) No Man Knows my History: The Life of Joseph Smith (Brodie) The God Makers (Decker) The Mormon Papers (Ropp) The Kingdom of the Cults (Martin) View of the Hebrews (Smith) Most importantly, pray for Mitt Romney and all Mormons that they will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Pete Mullins
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