Exposing the Mormon Churc
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 Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject: ROMNEY IS A CULT MEMBER. |
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Romney's LDS faith makes him a 'cult' member, Texas pastor says
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
09/26/2008
WASHINGTON - Evangelicals who believe the country needs a Christian
in the White House but promoted Mitt Romney's candidacy during the
Republican primaries were hypocrites, according to a Texas pastor.
Romney, a Mormon, is not a Christian, the Rev. Robert Jeffress
said, but a member of a "cult."
"I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-
Christian," Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, told a
packed audience of journalists at last weekend's Religion Newswriters
Association (RNA) annual meeting. "The value of electing a Christian
goes beyond public policies. . . . Christians are uniquely favored by
God, [while] Mormons, Hindus and Muslims worship a false god. The
eternal consequences outweigh political ones. It is worse to
legitimize a faith that would lead people to a separation from God."
Jeffress made his remarks during a luncheon debate with Jay
Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice
(ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on
religious-liberty issues. The DeMoss Group, a Christian public-
relations firm in Duluth, Ga., sponsored the event.
Sekulow, who also disagrees with Mormon theology but supported
Romney's candidacy, argued he would rather have a president who
promoted a conservative political agenda than one who shared his
doctrinal positions.
"Jimmy Carter ran as a born-again Christian," Sekulow reasoned, "but
his presidency did nothing for the issues I care about."
Mark DeMoss, the company's president, opened the session by
describing his decision to lead Romney's outreach to conservative
Christians. DeMoss said he had come to admire Romney, despite their
theological differences, but was amazed at the vehement opposition to
the Mormon's candidacy among Evangelicals.
"When making the choice of candidate for president, I don't care
how different the person's theology is from mine, just like I don't
care about my doctor's theology or the guy's who built my house or the
architect's," DeMoss said in an interview this week. "I'm challenging
people who would oppose a Mormon because he's a Mormon, but I'm also
challenging people who would instantly embrace a Southern Baptist
because he's a Southern Baptist. Both conclusions are bad."
DeMoss said he doesn't mind when people come to different
conclusions about which candidate to support, but hopes as least
"they're thinking."
The lively debate seemed to prove his point.
"It was one of the more spirited lunch discussions we've ever had
at RNA," said RNA president Kevin Eckstrom, who noted that the
journalist organization did not organize the event. "A lot of people
were uncomfortable with what Dr. Jeffress said about Mormons, but what
we were hoping for was something provocative that would get people
talking, and certainly this did it."
Many reporters said they had never heard the word "cult," which
Jeffress repeatedly called the LDS Church, used so "freely and
recklessly," said Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service in
Washington, D.C. But Jeffress used the same word to describe
"Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists and virtually everyone else."
It was useful for reporters to be aware of such strident views,
Eckstrom said, because they are "completely mainstream in a lot of
evangelical quarters."
First Baptist of Dallas "is not a backwater pulpit somewhere. It
is a major church in Texas and in Southern Baptist circles," Eckstrom
said. "It's a huge institution and a lot of followers. He's not just
spouting these opinions for himself but proud of the fact that he was
going back to his congregation and declare every other religion was
wrong, and at least 10,000 people hear this position every week."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints insists that it is
a Christian faith, though not a traditional brand of Christianity. LDS
officials today declined to comment on Jeffress' statements until they
see a transcript of the remarks, spokeswoman Kim Farah said.
http://www.truthandgrace.com/Mormon.htm |
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