Misleading Mormons for Mitt

 

            Well, no sooner did the most recent apologetic delivered by radio host Michael Medved hit the electronic press, which essentially told readers to forget about Mitt Romney’s theology and past, and then offered a philosophically flawed solution to determine whether or not Romney is fit to lead as President of the United States, a fairly high-profile Mormon and professor at Brigham Young University has since chimed in with his 2-cents worth.  Yet, instead of using not only a very well-known Christian media outlet that claims to be “A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction” to do it, he engaged in the same kind of misleading behavior and statements that he used when another well-known Christian media outlet inappropriately published his book about the Mormon Jesus for the Christian public to consume.  That high-profile Mormon is Dr. Robert Millet, and the magazine with waning conviction is Christianity Today.

            Since the late 1990s Dr. Millet has been, more or less, the most visible and respected of the Mormon apologists out and about campaigning for the viability and credibility of Mormon beliefs.  What Millet has consistently done, though, is to misrepresent those same Mormon beliefs to the public, and has actually taught BYU students to do the same when they are questioned about those beliefs. 

In his article, “Mitt’s Mormonism and the ‘Evangelical Vote,’ he does the very same thing, with the twist that he tries to make Christians who oppose and critique Mormonism out to be persons who are either engaging in slander, or are persons that are hyperbolizing the vast differences between Mormons and Christians, and that because of at least those two things, Mitt Romney’s Presidential candidacy is as good, if not better, than anyone else’s.

            For example, Millet states that Evangelicals are reluctant to vote for Romney because they consider the LDS Church to be a cult, and that Mormons are not Christians, equating both with nothing more than “demonizing” Mormons, as if there is nothing consistent with either position in the truth.  What Millet is doing, though, is what all those involved in the cults do and that is to steal and redefine terms to suit their means, resulting in less negative publicity that accurately and succinctly defines just exactly what they are.  Mormonism is a “cult” of Christianity, meaning that its doctrines run counter to biblical belief, and yet it wishes to be considered mainstream biblical Christianity.   Furthermore, if anyone is a Christian, and is member of the Mormon Church, from a biblical point of view, that person is a Christian in spite of what Mormonism teaches, and not because of it.

            Millet then turns up the deception by insinuating that Christians are slandering Mormons and Mormonism by accusing them of all kinds of things that supposedly the Mormons have not done, nor do not believe.  He says, “Evangelicals accuse Mormons of adding new revelation (the Book of Mormon) to the Bible.”  That’s not an accusation.  That’s a fact. 

Then he says, “They think Mormons teach that humans are saved by good works rather than by Jesus Christ.”  This is doubletalk to those who know the Mormon system of salvation, and that it is predicated on two levels (General and Individual), with the person adhering to the system only being “truly” saved on the latter level.  He continues, “…and that humans are of the same species as Jesus and can someday attain his status.”  Again, this more doubletalk, because Mormons not only believe that they are of the same species as Jesus, they believe that as “gods in embryo” they are of the same species as God himself!  In fact, in Dr. Millet’s most recent book, A Different Jesus?, which was published by Eerdmans, he stated that, “We teach that man is not of a lower order or different species than God.” 

Lastly, Millet adds, “…evangelicals say, Mormons reject key Christian doctrines such as the Trinity and creation ex nihilo (God creating the world out of nothing.”  It’s not that evangelicals are saying this; as if it is something they made up to make Mormons look more aberrant than they are.  It’s that it is exactly what Mormons have taught for the past 175 years.  Mormons advocate a Tritheistic view of God, which is tantamount to polytheism, or that there are multiple gods and goddesses that exist in the universe, with each Mormon male under the false pretense that if he does all that is required of him by the Mormon Church, he can join the ranks of the gods.  And as for creation ex nihilo, Mormonism teaches that all things in existence are eternal, and that God could not have created anything.  Mormon educator Lowell Bennion once wrote,

Latter-day Saints reject the ex nihilo theory of creation. Intelligence and the elements have always existed, co-eternal with God.  He is tremendously creative and powerful, but he works with materials not of his own making.  This Mormon theory of creation leads to very significant conclusions regarding both our view of God and of human beings.

            To add insult to injury, Millet goes on to say, “Mormon beliefs are not as un-evangelical as most evangelicals think.  This would only be true if Millet was speaking of the average Christian who is not aware of what Mormonism truly teaches about any of the fundamental doctrines that make Christianity what it is.  Otherwise, to those who are knowledgeable about both what the Bible teaches and what Mormonism teaches in contrast, it is absolute lie.  There is nothing evangelical, in the remotest sense of the word, about Mormonism.  It is an aberration.  It is a caricature.  It is a cult of Christianity that ought to be avoided like the plague.