B-lister Orlando Jones demonstrating the "new tone" his fellow liberals have been calling for.

Courtesy of Breakpoint

With all due respect to the venerable Mr. Colson, he could not be more wrong on this.  A good reminder of the truth in Psalm 118:8 – “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Colson writes, “There is no religious test for public office,” and then instructs us to search the Constitution for one, because it doesn’t exist.  He is, of course, right about that.  But implicit in his argument is a belief that in the realm of voting and government, Christians should prioritize the Constitution over the Bible.  That is what I call “patriotic idolatry” and I won’t do that.  No Christian should.  Jesus owns my vote and He owns what I do in the voting booth.  My jaw dropped when I read, “Our ultimate decision has to be based on what Augustine taught.”  Wrong.  My ultimate decision has to be based on what Jesus Christ taught. I turn to the Word of God as my authority, not the writings of man.

Secondly, Colson clearly lacks a full understanding of Mormonism.  If he had a comprehensive historical and theological grasp on what someone like Mitt Romney actually believes, he would understand that a Romney presidency would be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the LDS Church.  By that I mean that Mitt Romney – a “temple worthy” Mormon – has been bound by secret blood oaths in temple ritual; he has sworn to serve and submit to the commands and dictates of the “prophet” and the Quorum of the Twelve.  Make no mistake:  The establishment of an American Mormon socialist theocracy has long been the ultimate political goal of the LDS cult.  Consult Rocky Hulse’s book, When Salt Lake City Calls,  or Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters by Tricia Erickson for deeper looks at this particular matter.  As someone else has written, “Mitt Romney is a Temple Mormon, a High Priest, and as such he has sworn blood oaths of sacrifice, obedience, and consecration to the church and the ‘Kingdom of God.’  His perfect obedience to these laws will allow him to become a god in the next life, the literal father of the people of a new and different earth.”

Third, there is a surprising logical fallacy in what Colson posits here.  Known as a “false dichotomy,” his statement that he would vote for a “competent non-believer…before I would vote for an incompetent Christian” sets up a hypothetical situation in which only two alternatives are considered, when in fact there are additional options.  There are some competent Christian candidates, are there not?  Of course there are.  As such, Colson’s statement is pointless at best and a disingenuous, argumentative distraction at worst.

Fourth, Colson calls for preachers to stop discussing the religion of candidates because the secular media portrays Christians as bigots when we do it.  The secular media also portrays us as bigots when we condemn same-sex “marriage.”  Should we also stop that, Mr. Colson?  And furthermore, does Colson really think there is anything Christians can do or say – other than be completely silent – that will make the secular media portray us positively, sympathetically, or even somewhat realistically?  But the most pressing question here is this:  Who should we be trying to please, God or the media? (1 Thessalonians 2:4 says, “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”)

Fifth, I am heartbroken by Colson’s abuse of the Exodus 18 passage.  He writes, “And in our country, where we have the precious liberty of choosing our leaders, we are responsible for picking competent men and women. See Jethro’s advice to Moses in Exodus 18.  While choosing men to help him judge the people, Moses was to select first of all competent men. Those men were also to be godly — that is, men of good moral standing and character.”  This is the verse to which Colson refers:

Exodus 18:21 – “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth…”(KJV)

“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth…” (NASB)

It is true that Mormons fear a god – a false god.  They call him “Elohim” but he is not the God of the Bible.  As Joseph Smith wrote in his “Book of Abraham,” the god of Mormonism is one of many gods and is an extraterrestrial from the planet “Kolob.”  I can’t believe Colson thinks this is what the passage means when Jethro instructs Moses to provide “able men, such as fear God, men of truth…”  Can someone who worships a false god really be called a man who fears God?  Can someone who believes and, as a Mormon bishop, also advances the deception of Mormonism really be called a man of truth?  Jethro clearly meant men who fear the God of the Bible, the One True God. He most certainly did not mean Joseph Smith’s science-fiction god.  If Moses had employed Colson’s understanding of Jethro’s advice, Moses could have included pagan idolaters among the judges just as long as they were “able” and feared some kind of god – even a false one.

And I haven’t even begun to touch on the other problem here:  Mitt Romney’s record is not the record of someone who can truly be listed among “stalwarts of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty” as Colson stated.  This can be said of some Mormons, but not Romney.  Romney’s record on social issues “swings like a pendulum do.”  He was pro-abortion, now he claims to be pro-life.  He once promised to be a strong supporter of homosexual rights, now he claims to be an opponent of so-called same-sex marriage. Romney was rather lukewarm and ineffectual as governor in Massachusetts during the same-sex “marriage” debacle there and I blame his limp leadership in part for the landmark establishment of counterfeit matrimony in that state.

No one wants to see Obama defeated more than I do.  But that need not and must not come at the cost of installing a cultist in office.