A new document entitled
"Mitt Romney, Mormonism, and the Christian Vote" has been garnering support from some evangelical leaders. The purpose of this document is not to tell someone how to vote. Rather, the focus is on making sure that the fundamental differences between the official beliefs of the Latter Day Saints and the broader, historic evangelical church are not watered down. Here is a portion of the beginning of the document:
For the sake of the Gospel, we, the undersigned, call upon Christian leaders and their respective ministries and organizations, if you plan on endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for the office of President of theUnited States, do so by clearly and unequivocally distancing yourself and Biblical Christianity from his Mormon beliefs.
We believe in the freedom of religion, the free exercise thereof, and the principles of a constitutional republic. Our Constitution does not require a religious “test” for any candidate to qualify for political office. Anyone should be allowed to run for office and serve if elected – regardless of their religious affiliations or lack thereof.
Further, it is not our intention with this call to bind the conscience of any individual by telling them how to vote. If an evangelical Christian chooses to vote for Mr. Romney (President Obama or any candidate), that is a decision between themselves and God.
The purpose of this call to evangelical Christians and leaders is two-fold:
- To protect the purity and integrity of the Biblical Gospel.
- To seize the opportunity to educate the America Public and Christians to the fundamental differences between historic Christian faith and that of the Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
While social and political causes are a vital and important part of the Church’s responsibilities, we believe that our primary function as Christians, both collectively and individually, is to preach and defend the Lord Jesus and His Gospel, as He is defined in the Bible, and has been affirmed in the historic Christian Church, its Councils and Creeds.
In our postmodern era, Christians are taught to believe that truth is relative and sincerity is more important than accuracy. However, we believe that the good news of the gospel – justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – could be compromised if Mr. Romney receives unqualified public endorsements from Christian leaders, their ministries or organizations, thereby potentially confusing the evangelical Gospel with the soteriology (false gospel) of the Mormon Religion.
It is our contention that the general population should not be left with any uncertainty whether the theological cult1 of which Mitt Romney is a faithful member, namely The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and historic evangelical Christianity are one and the same faith. This we adamantly deny!
Signers to this document as of today include: John Frame, Peter Jones, R. C. Sproul Jr., John Ankerberg, John Weldon, Norman Geisler, Kenneth Gentry, Kerby Anderson and a number of individuals associated with various apologetic and counter-cult ministries.
