The Impossible Born-again Baptist Choice: Deny Christ of the Gospels or Vote for a Black.
There Is No Way Out Except Not to Vote at All
A Southern Baptist wishing to vote in the November Presidential Election faces, what is for many, a completely illogical and unacceptable decision. It’s an ideological and religious deadlock. Vote for a cult that is aggressively challenging via its dominance and faith or vote for a Black President-who has been propagandized into a socialist and a leader (Read: FOX News, Christian Radio Networks) who does not represent America.
The slogan “Take Back America” is ringing in the angry Tea Partisan’s (Tea Party Republicans) ears and there is no logical or practical way out.
Lingering racism still remains the dominate dank ‘shadow’ of the culture of hotly religious, rural America both North and South, it has grown and flourished in what some are determined to call a “post racial” era. This is an ongoing ideological attempt/trick to say equality and race-based things are OK now, passé--Blacks have no further legitimate claim to discrimination, disenfranchisement or reprisals based on color—We’ve moved on... or so they claim.
America has indeed moved on. But the place to which it has moved is both dangerous and contemptible in its denials and its continued subscription to the old racial stereotypes and bigotry of the antebellum of the Old South.
The intense angst and anger, the grieving over the ascendency of a Black Man to the nation’s highest office and to the position of our Commander-in-chief has rekindled a dark and foreboding tide of irrational thought and dysfunction. Congress is deeply pitted in behaviors unbecoming our Constitution and the work of Abraham Lincoln to preserve and advance the Federal Union.
Black or Occult: A Choice That is “No Choice” for America’s Fundamentalist White Male
Over 16 million Southern Baptist Convention regular church goes and others (aligned with Dr. Richard Land, SBC’s policies godfather) are pitted against the Mormon cultist (said to be the fastest growing religion in America) whose converts are coming substantially from the ranks of former nominally Christian ranks, including those of the once-dominate American religious faith, political, and cultural force- the Southern Baptists. Mormons claim worldwide membership of over 14 million.
So what is a man who clings culturally to his religion, his pick-up, and his guns to do?
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| Not all that Ancient Rites on the American Right: Mitt Romney's Mormonism is causing major shifts in the rhetoric of the Religious Right-Wing (Mormon Ritual in the Temple 1890's) |
The historic development of John Smith’s peculiar cultish blend of Protestant Christianity religion, the Jewish Kabbalah [Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection, by Lance S. Owens], Masonic rites, and other occult elements have worked into this religion which gives a Mormon man his religious basis for the domination and sexual freedom to have many female partners [both via Secret Mormon Endowment Ceremony] polygamy here on earth, pledged brides, and (for those “elites” who achieve “god-hood”) a planet to inhabit and populate with their offspring—an anti-Christian belief which is alluring and lustfully and carnally self-serving.
There is neither time or place to properly expand upon the tortuous route that John Smith’s cult as taken from its inception around 1830 until today’s historic clash of American voters in a Cultural War over the presidency.
Scholars find that Mormonism holds a theological “truth” that its head-living prophet represents God’s authority to revise and extend the Canon of the Christian New Testament into today.
Thus on many crucial and central tenets of Mormon belief there is an on-going fluidity and the ever present possibility of an abrupt sacred change vested in Mormonism’s present leader. It’s estimated that these changes the faith and secret and public practice of the Mormon ‘theology’ has already undergone 4,000 separate revisions, rewrites, and changes. Beginning, most notably with Joseph Smith himself.
Mormonism Is Nimble
This cult’s nimble ability to morph faith and practice to fit the contemporary needs is totally inconceivable to the Fundamentalist Baptist who holds to the final warnings and cures of Revelation 22 ending God’s will and demands spelled out in inerrant scripture and precise behavioral practice of the God dictated and inspired New Testament are changeless and without error as written:
Revelation 22: The New International Version
John, the Revelator and the Angel
6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.
9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.
11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Epilogue: Invitation and WarningFor the lay Christian the following article lays down the rule: the non-negotiable principle called Biblical Inerrancy:
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you [a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Divine authority
For a believer in biblical inerrancy, Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and carries the full authority of God. Every single statement of the Bible calls for instant and unqualified acceptance.[42] Every doctrine of the Bible is the teaching of God and therefore requires full agreement.[43] Every promise of the Bible calls for unshakable trust in its fulfillment.[44] Every command of the Bible is the directive of God himself and therefore demands willing observance.[45]
Sufficiency
According to some believers, the Bible contains everything that they need to know in order to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life,[46] and there are no deficiencies in Scripture that need to be filled with by tradition, pronouncements of the Pope, new revelations, or present-day development of doctrine.[47] (Break) Many who believe in the Inspiration of scripture teach that it is infallible but not inerrant. Those who subscribe to infallibility believe that what the scriptures say regarding matters of faith and Christian practice are wholly useful and true.
Source: Biblical Inerrancy (from Wiki on scripture)
The “Nut” That Must Be Cracked
Mitt Romney Must Not Be Elected President: He’s not Born-again
Well-Known Fundamentalist Author and real “Christian” Mover and shaker, Tim LaHaye (author of the Left Behind phenomena), takes a fundamentalist stance: Only A Born-again Christian Can Be President of the United States-- "Only Christians should hold high office.”
So what do the millions of “Values Voters”, members of the fundamentalist Southern Baptist Convention, the Pentecostals, conservative Roman Catholics, and hoards of Mega-Church believers do faced with Mitt Romney, the non-Christian leader of an anti-Evangelical, Sect-Mormonism, a non-Christian, and a 'Republican' who is asking for their vote as a “severely conservative” Republican?
Internecine Battles: Fundamentalist v. Mainline
This sea change in America is an all-out-no-holds-barred attack upon the Methodists, Presbyterians, and other major Protestant denominations which are labeled "apostate" in the view of this militant army of Pentecostals, Fundamentalist Catholics, and Fundamentalist Independents. The Mainline Churches' "liberal" stances on human sexuality and the co-operation with the World Council of Churches are but two examples of this tradition’s gigantic "sins."
Nor is there likewise any real ultimate historical reverence or toleration of the Jewish and Muslim--Abrahamic faiths, or the Buddhists. Read their literature. The Fundamentalist Magazine, Tim LaHaye, "Only Christians should hold high office." (LaHaye's definition of "Christian" is on his own narrow terms and does not include many Mainline Christian believers with less Fundamentalist views than those of LaHaye).
Former Michigan Republican State Rep. Joanne Voorhees' simply stated conviction (quoted by the Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 22, 2004) was Christians are the only folk she would endorse or support for public office. She explicitly trusts only her brand of Christians.
The general public, perhaps casually agreeing with her sentiments, fails to understand Voorhees' thinking, practice, and parlance. “Qualified Christians” according to Voorhees are very specific, narrowly defined believers. Society thinks of Christian as a broad, inclusive term. Voorhees defines/limits Christian to narrow, specific dogmas and exclusivity. Her "Christians" must adhere to exacting/specific religious demands.
It's a problem. Voorhees, was, at the time, still an elected official who must do all the people's business: her approved "Christians," other Christians and faiths, as well as everyone else's business. She was, as an elected state legislator, was sworn to uphold a national constitution disallowing religious testing for public office. Yet, in practice, Voorhees espoused religious tests for public office--conflicting with the constitution and putting herself above it.
Voorhees' subsequent restatement: "Christian" includes the Jewish faith--awkwardly and inaccurately attempted to mitigate damage her candid expression of her "selective" Christians Only viewpoint had previously created (See ALSO this posting).
Romney’s Mormonism is a Gigantic Fundamentalist Christian Obstacle
Joseph Smith said he had a revelation where Jesus told him that all the religions at that time were an abomination in His sight. From a panel discussion at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary entitled “Baptist panel OK’s vote for a Mormon” on September 11, 2012. From the seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr:
"Throughout most of Christian history, folks haven't struggled with this question because they didn't have the luxury of struggling with it. ... The separation of the priestly role from government is something that has to happen in the minds of American evangelicals," Mohler said, warning against viewing government as an idol.More from Russell D. Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary:
‘Moore agreed, saying U.S. Christians have been guilty of trying to Christianize American history. "So many evangelicals want to go back and claim Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and John Adams as orthodox, evangelical Christians," Moore said. "The problem with that [is that] Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were great men who did fantastic things for our country, but once you start claiming them as orthodox evangelical Christians, you're not elevating those men, you're downgrading the Gospel into something that fits whatever they happen to hold. And you wind up with [modern-day] politicians who learn the language of evangelical faith in order to use it, in order to manipulate people into supporting them." The four-member panel said Americans on multiple occasions have elected candidates who did not hold to evangelical beliefs. Among them were Unitarian William Howard Taft and Catholic John F. Kennedy.’A Dialogue on “Mormonism & Christians” that appeared on WNET in PBS’s Mormons & Christians program led by reporter Lucky Severson featured commentary from the following guests: Stephen Davis a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College, Patrick Mason, Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University and Richard Mouw, President and Professor of Christian philosophy at the Fuller School of Theology. From the program “Mormons & Christians”:
Professor Stephen Davis: “If the question is Mormonism a legitimate expression of Christianity, honestly I would have to say no. I think that legitimate expressions of Christianity can be found in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, virtually all the Protestant denominations, but not Mormonism, because too many of their doctrines and beliefs are non-Christian.” Patrick Mason: Mormons in a lot of ways are scarred from a long history of misrepresentation in what they see as false reports about the church or unfair treatment of the church, and this goes all the way back to the 1830s. [PBS Correspondent] Severson: That was when Joseph Smith said he had a revelation where Jesus told him that all the religions at that time were an abomination in his sight. From then on Mormons, who were seen by some as lower-class, superstitious dupes, were targets of ridicule and violence eventually leading to the assassination of Joseph Smith. In the 1860s, the government sent the army to Utah to keep an eye on the Mormons. The army established this fort overlooking Salt Lake City. The cannons that were here were aimed at the Mormons.
But the most vocal critics of Mormons have long been evangelicals. Richard Mouw, President and Professor of Christian philosophy at the Fuller School of Theology, says one reason is because Mormons have been such good proselytizers.
Richard Mouw: Mormonism began as this evangelistic program of going out and getting converts, and very often converts from the traditional denominations, and so evangelicals and Mormons have had an unusually hostile relationship over the years because they have been sort of competing proselytizing programs, but also they traded the rhetoric in very hostile terms. Patrick Mason: There’s a sense of them-against-us that in some ways gets inflated among the grassroots membership of the church. But there is no doubt that for many people (Mormons) they see evangelicals as the enemy, and they need to be converted.
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| Civil Rights Flip-flop of the Radical Right: Father George Romney marched with civil rights activist in the 1960's - The Son, Mitt Romney chooses a different path - one paved with political expediency (Segregation Protest Sign, National Archives) |
The question is not whether it is right for a Mormon or a Black man to run for the Presidency in 2012. Civil Rights for Blacks have been established. There is no constitutional basis for a “religious test for public office” but there remains the choice.
The question is what will this iron-clad “core” of the Tea Party Controlled, Fundamentalist infused “block” of Republican voters (largely in Southern States) do when it comes their turn to vote. A racial example from the fundamentalist school of thought:
Jon Hubbard, a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, has written a new book in which he says slavery was "a blessing" for African-Americans, among other questionable statements. Hubbard, a first term Republican from Jonesboro, Ark., makes a series of racially charged statements in the self-published book, including saying that integration of schools is hurting white students, that African slaves had better lives under slavery than in Africa, that blacks are not contributing to society.... Hubbard in his Book: “… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)Source: “Jon Hubbard, Arkansas Legislator, Says Slavery May 'Have Been A Blessing' In New Book” in the Huffington Post by John Celock on October 5, 2012.
A final anecdote from a Kos respondent:
"My very evangelical, Republican mother and I had a conversation about this last week. For reasons that defy logical explanation, she is very enthusiastic about Romney. She is one of the Republican dead-enders that loved Dubya all the way to the bitter end in 2008, so that ought to tell you something. As for Romney's Mormonism, she simply said that she would "just have to let God deal with that." Mmmmm-kay. You'll vote to impose your faith on everyone in every other way possible, but it's OK… Gotcha. I suspect to “let God deal with the fact that Romney is a Mormon”…that a lot of Southern evangelicals have this same mindset when it comes to Romney's Mormonism. What makes the hypocrisy even more amazing is that they are completely oblivious to it."And then there’s this insight on Race & the GOP:
The issue here is whether the Republican Party has racism "baked into the cake", not whether racism is limited to the South. It is not a question of individualized, subjective racist intent, which is certainly ubiquitous as far as I can tell, but rather it is structural racism. Republicans adopted the "Southern Strategy" and thereby put racism into their very structure.Will they lay aside their racial prejudices and ancient discriminations and abuses or will they deny and betray the central tenet and core of their Fundamentalist Christian faith and endorse and support a Bishop from a rival occultist cult - Mormonism.
The impossible choice, deny Christ of the Gospels or vote for a Black. Now is a historic moment of impossible decision: Whom will the Fundamentalist Choose?
UPDATE: AP Story "Evangelical leaders worry Romney's Mormonism could suppress conservative turnout"
CLIPS from the last night's October 9, 2012 AP Story:END of UPDATE
"...what had been thought of as a hypothetical question for American evangelicals for years, Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler said recently, is now a reality with this election and is being tested in a contest that will likely be decided by slim margins.
(break)
"The fact is that Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and many of our people are very, very uncomfortable about voting for a Mormon, as I am. I supported somebody else in the primary. But, hey, we have no option," said Steve Strang, an influential Pentecostal publisher, in a conference call with pastors last week. Strang was speaking to participants in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, an annual challenge to IRS rules on churches' political activity.
(break)
Evangelicals make up about a third of voters who are registered or lean Republican. Some Republicans have estimated that a significant number of Christian conservatives have not been voting in presidential elections and have focused on getting them registered. But that effort has a new wrinkle this year: Romney is the first Mormon nominee for president from a major party.
(break)
Pastors are struggling to get that message across while still making clear that important doctrinal differences with Mormons remain. Conservative Christians believe they have a duty to point out beliefs they fear could lead others astray and risk their salvation.
As Strang was getting out the vote last month, the news editor of his best-known magazine, Charisma, wrote a column calling Mormonism "bizarre" and a "Christianesque cult." Another columnist called Mormon doctrines "creepy and (with apologies to Mitt Romney) demonic."
Mohler and other academics took up the issue in a discussion last month at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship training ground for future leaders of the nearly 16 million-member denomination. Called "The Mormon Moment? Religious Conviction and the 2012 Election," the speakers went to great lengths to emphasize that religion should not be a consideration when voting.
On the Reader:
Watch PBS Frontline "Election 2012" on Mitt Romney (and President Obama) and his history as a Bishop and leader in the Mormon church, see Romney artifacts or read more about the Southern Baptist Convention and Richard Land's (fundamentalists') dilemma in ""We Always Need a JESUS CANDIDATE"? - Just WhoWill be God's People's Choice for President in 2012” (January 2012).
Related Slates:
The Crushing Blow to Mitt’s Quix-Toxic Quest: ‘Good Samaritan’ or ‘Corporate Bandit’
(October 2012)
- Middling Mitt Romney Not of His Fathers' SterlingCivic Michigan Mettle (Gaskell & George Romney) (June 2012) - Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & PossiblePresident? (February 2012) - Welcome to Planet Willard: Michigan's Wayward Son MittRomney to Rule His Own World (January 2012)
Cross-posted by guest commentator Morton from the McGuffey Gazette to Kos.
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