Posted on 05/04/2012 5:36:22 AM PDT by Colofornian
Christian minister Bill Keller of LivePrayer.com, who has frequently spoken out on the so-called dangers of voting for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in this year's general election due to his Mormon faith, suggests that the only real option for Christian voters are third-party candidates.
Keller recently compared the choice of voting for Mitt Romney or for President Barack Obama as "flipping a coin where Satan is on both sides."
"How can anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ vote for our current president who in every word and deed has proven to be a true enemy of God on every major spiritual issue of the day," asked Keller, who has been just as critical of Romney and his Mormon faith.
"The Republican choice will be a member of the satanic Mormon cult who will never have to say a word for his cult to take advantage of their ultimate goal since they were founded 200 years ago, and that is to gain mainstream acceptance, giving them all the ammunition they need to aggressively seek converts to their cult's beliefs," Keller said.
The Internet evangelist explained in a phone interview with The Christian Post Tuesday that he was not telling people who to vote for, but was encouraging Christians to consider spiritual issues besides politics. He said voters should consider all options, including third parties, during the general election.
"Some say it is throwing your vote away, but no – by considering all candidates, you can fulfill your duty of voting, but not have to choose between Romney and Obama," the minister expressed.
Third-party candidates rarely do well in presidential elections, and no such nominee in the 2008 presidential election received more than five percent of the vote, according to the Federal Election Commission.
For the 2012 presidential elections, it appears Gary E. Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, will be the Libertarian Party's nominee. Johnson has revealed that he expects to win more Democratic votes than Republican ones come November because of his firm stance on issues like same-sex marriage, which he says President Obama has failed to protect.
When asked by CP of his opinion on a possible third-party candidate, Keller suggested the Constitution Party.
"I think the Constitution Party candidate is on the ballot in all 50 states... [I] don't know anything about the person they are running...but it has usually been a very Christian candidate in years past," he said.
The official website of the Constitution Party identifies former member of the U.S. House of Representatives Virgil Goode as its 2012 nominee for the presidential race. Goode has served in Congress both as a Democrat and a Republican.
Keller also criticized prominent pastors, such as Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church, who recently appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and said, "Mormonism is a little different, but I still see them as brothers in Christ."
The Texas minister insisted that he fully trusts that Romney is indeed a true and faithful Christian.
"When I hear Mitt Romney say that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God – that he's the Christ, raised from the dead, that he's his Savior – that's good enough for me," said Osteen.
Keller, however, said that those were false testaments.
"There is not one theologian in the country with half a brain that will even begin to say that a Mormon is a Christian, because if you study Mormon theology – it is 100 percent inconsistent with biblical Christianity. A Mormon is no more a Christian than a Muslim is," he said.
"I have a lot of connections out West with ministries that help Mormons leave that cult and they've been working for over a year preparing for a Romney presidency – because this is what they need to make their cult mainstream. And we have such a weak and watered down church system – we have idiots like Joel Osteen running around making dangerous comments that Mormons are Christians. You have got to be a theological midget to say that. We have such weak, gutless preachers like Osteen, Rick Warren, who compromise the truth and are basically biblically illiterate." the minister alleged.
He added, "Most Christians don't even know what Mormons believe – and from the impression I'm getting, Mitt Romney will never have to say a word about it. This cult is going to be in full-on attack mode.
"I said back in November – if the choice in this election comes down to Obama and Romney, this means that God's blessing and God's hand is off this nation. God has finally had enough – and who can blame Him? Look at the way we treat God – it's amazing to me it hasn't happened earlier."
The minister has long warned against what he sees as a rise of Mormonism, and in 2007 made similar comments regarding Romney and those who were considering voting for him in the 2008 presidential election.
In an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor" back in 2007, Keller insisted that voting for Romney would send souls to hell. O'Reilly, a conservative Roman Catholic, accused Keller of making comments that were "irresponsible, un-Christian, uncharitable, and flat out wrong."
According to a 2011 poll from the Public Religion Institute, 53 percent of voters said they would be somewhat or very comfortable with a Mormon serving as president, however, 42 percent said that a Mormon president would make them somewhat or very uncomfortable.
A study by the Pew Forum on Mormons in America revealed in January that followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) still largely feel discriminated against by American society.
Despite these views, well over half, or 63 percent of those who responded to the Pew Forum survey, said they believe that acceptance of Mormonism is on the rise. In addition, 74 percent of Mormons shared that they support the Republican Party.
It'll be open PR season on the young and the spiritually vulnerable and gullible. The Mormon church will try to make Mitt Romney their "Jackie Robinson" and use all of their new non-Mormon apologists to help forge their way into new contacts and new proselytes/converts.
From the article: He added, "Most Christians don't even know what Mormons believe – and from the impression I'm getting, Mitt Romney will never have to say a word about it. This cult is going to be in full-on attack mode. "I said back in November – if the choice in this election comes down to Obama and Romney, this means that God's blessing and God's hand is off this nation. God has finally had enough – and who can blame Him? Look at the way we treat God – it's amazing to me it hasn't happened earlier."
I agree here: Come November, when God reviews that potentially 98-99% of Americans either voted for a closet Muslim or a man who claims to be a rival "god" of THE God [Temple Mormons believe they are "gods-in-embryo"] -- when up to 98-99% of Americans voted for one of two big-government, socialistic healthcare, pro-abortion LIBERALS, I don't think that is "moving" God to bless this nation!
From the article: "Some say it is throwing your vote away, but no – by considering all candidates, you can fulfill your duty of voting, but not have to choose between Romney and Obama," the minister expressed...When asked by CP of his opinion on a possible third-party candidate, Keller suggested the Constitution Party. "I think the Constitution Party candidate is on the ballot in all 50 states... [I] don't know anything about the person they are running...but it has usually been a very Christian candidate in years past," he said. The official website of the Constitution Party identifies former member of the U.S. House of Representatives Virgil Goode as its 2012 nominee for the presidential race.
Yup. Here's a slogan: "That's Goode enough for me!"
(Perhaps Osteen can go on a lecture tour, telling us how fundamentalist Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists, etc. are also representative of "Christianity")
“Back in March, I clearly was hearing God’s voice as He spoke to me about this recent Presidential election and that President Bush would not be re-elected and why. I come to you this morning to ask your forgiveness. God is never wrong, I clearly was.” - Bill Keller
http://www.liveprayer.com/ddarchive3.cfm?id=1981
All this talk of third parties is making Dem lurkers smile - its their only hope!
When the guy is right, he is right. We are flipping a coin with two Satans onit.
Neither candidate is worth a pint of pee.
We smiled twelve years ago. Without Ralph Nader Al Gore would have been president.
2000- Republicans: "Go Nader Go!" Result: Bush wins Florida and the general election
You underestimate the other dynamic at work over the next half-year: The MSM Vetting of Mitt Romney.
It'll be a fireworks you haven't seen before.
And they won't even have to (very often) stretch the truth.
Oh, sure. We can expect the usual class envy. [Their ideology will come out here]
And then there's the referendum on Mitt's racism. [Oh, sure their ideology will come out here, too, but they won't even have to lie about it...Mitt & Mormonism provides an invitational natural "open door"]
Etc. etc.
By the time late Oct. rolls around, I think Romney will tank in the polls...unless the economic has tanked so bad that it won't batter for Obama...he'd then lose no matter what third-party votes there were!
What's worse than a religious zealot nutcase "clearly" mistaking the voice in his head for God?
The fundie dufus' that follow him around.
Great!! Not.
Looks like it will be a summer for the religious zealots to hold forth and pound their pulpits while revealing their thinly veiled bigotry.
Of the myriad of reasons to run a third-party candidate against Mitt Romney, “Because he’s a Mormon” would not make the top 100.
Sounds like you're rather intolerant of those who actually religiously adhere to the reality that counterfeit Christianity (otherwise known as "cults") exist. Wanna then explain where you get your license for practicing intolerance of others' religious expressions?
Why do you assign yourself some "high ground" where you can frown upon other religious expressions...when those speakers (also posters) are simply expressing their religious views?
Doesn't alleged "bigotry" = intolerance.
If you're so supposedly anti-intolerance, why is your intolerance slip showing so bad in your post?
The previous Mormon "prophet" -- Gordon B. Hinckley -- went on the Larry King show [King was a Mormon ally because he married one] in 1998 to claim that fundamentalist (polygamous) Mormons don't exist, claiming there was no such thing. [He was trying to define boundaries as to who was and who wasn't a "Mormon."]
What's interesting is that I've yet to hear anybody of your ilk -- those making similar claims to yours -- ever condemn this Mormon "prophet" for his intolerance/"bigotry" toward fundamentalist Mormons.
Why no equal-opportunity condemnations from you and other self-appointed members of the bigot patrol?
Where are you when thousands of FR comments condemn Obama for his Muslim ties or his Rev. Wright ties?
Why don't you condemn those FREEPERs over "thinly-veiled bigotry?"
Could the answer be that you're one of the common dual-faced religious hypocrites that tends to show up on these threads?
I won’t deny that Romney is in for a tough time with the media, but Obama is a weaker candidate than you fear.
“Of the myriad of reasons to run a third-party candidate against Mitt Romney, “Because he’s a Mormon” would not make the top 100.”
Remember that cultist are afraid of other cultist. TV-, mega-churches are often just cults hiding under the cloak of respectable religious institutions. Live across the street form one of the TV variety and if it isn’t a cult it’s Stockholm syndrome.
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