Mitt Romney, Anti-Christ?

Introduction:

Today I’ll open with this quote, which was the intro to one of my essays posted a few days ago on Yahoo News. A bit further down in this article, I’ll post the entire 332-word essay:

“Here’s a scary thought: Two Mormons in the White House – Romney with Huntsman as Veep. And just when you thought people could actually accept one Mormon in the White House. But two? How acceptable would that be?”

Do I believe there’s an Anti-Christ?

No, I do not. But I do believe it’s entirely possible for individual people/entities to act as if they were – or, more precisely, to fulfill that function. Real, live human beings could become possessed by evil spirits or those spirits – being shapeshifters – could walk among us having assumed human form.

For all intents and purposes, such beings could be perceived as Anti-Christs, though if more than one of them should make the scene at the same time, that would surely confuse the Christians. They might spend too much time wondering, “Which one is the Anti-Christ?” Instead, they should immediately commence fighting these devils.

Since I am a Buddhist, how could I believe in one Anti-Christ? I couldn’t – for the same reason I couldn’t believe in only one God or only one devil. Or, for that matter, only one Buddha. This becomes important when trying to determine where Romney (in particular) or the Mormon Church (in general) fits into any kind of conspiracy scheme.

The importance of identifying the source

QUOTE: Under the doctrine of continuing revelation, Latter-day Saints [aka Mormons] believe that Jesus, under the direction of Heavenly Father, leads the church by revealing his will to its president, whom adherents regard as a modern-day "prophet, seer, and revelator.":UNQUOTE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints#cite_note-statistics2011-0

QUESTION: When the Mormons’ president receives such a revelation, how does he know it’s really from the Heavenly Father?

Of course, there are many variations of this question:

·       How did Abraham know it was God telling him to sacrifice Isaac, his son?

·       How did Mohammad know that the entity which revealed the Koran to him was really an angel of the Lord? [Which I always felt was odd, since why didn’t the Lord speak directly to Mohammad, as He did to Adam, Noah, and Jesus?]

·       How did Joseph Smith know the Book of Mormon was really divinely revealed? It could have just as easily been demonically conjured?

·       How do ordinary Mormons know how the Book of Mormon came into being, apart from the story they’ve been told?

How can people be expected to “divine” (pun intended) the source (or the truth) of revealed doctrines? This question is actually irrelevant to the believer, simply because he believes. You will not find Mitt Romney asking such questions, although in all fairness, the Mormon Church does believe God makes revelations to the ordinary among us as well as the exalted. But…I suppose Romney would assume the revelations received by the LDS president would surely be more authoritative than any he would receive. But I digress.

The question still remains: How do we know if the source is holy or demonic, which is important especially in cases where we are asked to do something? Then we’re not just talking doctrine.

The highlighted bit above becomes important in the context of my reply to Brad (on the Yahoo News board):

QUOTE:

@ Brad: I will come right out and say Romney should not be president because of his religion. A lot of people worried that JFK would take orders from the Pope. Even back that far, though, it was well known that the Pope did not command that kind of allegiance. However, I believe Romney would not turn a deaf ear if the LDS president told him (not asked him, told him) to do something because he received a revelation from God. Mormons take such revelations quite seriously. Romney is dangerous simply because he is so bland. He won’t offend anybody, so people might elect him as the lesser of two evils. If they do, that will be the end of the Republic.

:UNQUOTE.

When he receives a revelation from ____(?)

So when President Romney is ordered by the LDS president to implement a revealed instruction, it should be worth his while to ask: “Did God really make this revelation?”

There’s an old expression: He made a deal with the Devil. Of course, the Devil doesn’t always come right out and say, “I’m the Devil.” Even the Buddha spoke of devils pretending to be Buddhas. So what kind of deal was involved?

There was a time when the early Mormon Church was under attack. Even their founding prophet Joseph Smith had been assassinated. Fleeing to Utah afforded them some safety from violent neighbors until the time of the Utah War in 1857-8. LDS settlers and the US army had a confrontation. For years after that, Mormons didn’t quite fit in (not even when granted statehood), so it would be understandable for a certain siege mentality to become ingrained.

It would also be understandable to seek an ally – one whom they (or at least most of them) believed to be the Heavenly Father or his spokesman. That ally could grant protection and lead them to prosperity – a tempting prospect indeed in their desert kingdom. And yes, the Mormons have prospered. But it’s helpful to keep in mind: Unholy allies usually want something in return.

The Game Plan so far

Most Americans have heard of the LDS Church, though most haven’t had any direct contact. Oddly enough, even though Mormonism is an American invention/delusion, most Mormons are natives of other countries living abroad. Out of 14 million Mormons in the world, 6 million live in the US. It’s fairly well-known that those foreigners had been converted due to zealous missionary efforts. Currently, there are about 52,000 such missionaries.

When looking up the distribution of Mormon populations worldwide, I was struck by how many countries are involved. While it’s true enough that there aren’t many Mormons in any one particular country (as a percentage of the native population), they are spread out all over the world. This dispersal might have been part of an intended strategy to protect the faith, should the United States prove fatally hostile to this minority movement. Or it might have been intended to provide bases of operations from which to undermine local regimes.

I’m trying to figure out, though, what attraction this religion has to people from other cultures. The little bit I’ve read about Mormonism does not reveal how it could possibly appeal to anyone other than an American. In fact, even among Americans, Mormonism would have to be rated as a hard sell. But I have to confess my amazement that this faith did catch on to such an extent that over 30,000 Saints (as they call themselves) undertook a trek of over 1,000 miles to flee persecution in order to call a remote desert kingdom their home.

Obviously, some force strong enough to hold these people together was at work. That alone, however, is not enough to convince me of the truth of this matter. After all, there were dedicated German troops in WWII who willingly gave their lives, with “Heil Hitler” being their last words. My own Buddhist tradition honors the miracles of other faiths – though hastening to add, “Miracles alone do not bestow righteousness.” Even demons are capable of working miracles – and people other than Buddhists easily acknowledge that much.

The Game Plan for the future

Now I introduce my 332-word essay recently posted on Yahoo News:

QUOTE:

Here’s a scary thought: Two Mormons in the White House – Romney with Huntsman as Veep. And just when you thought people could actually accept one Mormon in the White House. But two? How acceptable would that be?

Would people start seriously thinking (that is, thinking for perhaps the first time) about the implications of Mormonism? Would they even be tempted to google “Mitt Romney Anti-Christ?” How would they process that information? Or would people instead choose to (only) see two clean-cut solid family men without a whiff of personal scandal whose success in business dwarfs Cain’s – but look nor think any farther?

Certainly neither Mitt nor the Mormons give us much obvious cause for concern. And for precisely that reason, Mitt will most likely coast toward nomination. He might be called a flip-flopper but that could be spun to (something like), “I saw how Obamacare worked out and I’ve seen the error of my ways.” [What Christian Republican could resist such a heartfelt confession?] Also, a lot of pols are flip-floppers – I think that’s in the job description.

Mitt and Jon are so squeaky-clean wholesome, people might be lulled by that. Especially when compared to Cain and Gingrich. Those [first] two might even represent an America (as imagined by the Silent Majority) that was once wholesome and pure in its frontier days – not like the grimy, urbanized mess symbolized by Obama.

Romney seems more in control and smoother than the mercurial Perry. My money is on Romney winning the GOP nod unless…the GOP base wakes up and asserts itself (loudly and clearly), “We don’t want a Christian pretender in the White House.”

As to the outcome of Romney in the White House? He’ll be boring, he’ll be bland, and he’ll stealth us more deeply into a New World Order heavily slanted in favor of an invisible elite – with the Mormon Church in full partnership.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“Be careful what you wish for – and who you vote for.”

:UNQUOTE.

I confess easily that I don’t know exactly what form a Mormon Conspiracy will take – or even if there is one. But several factors are worth considering while trying to draw any conclusions:

·       The Mormon Church is very wealthy and seems – as an organization – to be unduly concerned with acquiring businesses and properties.

·       LDS is very secretive about its affairs, with some critics calling it a “nation within a nation.”

·       The Mormon community, which doesn’t boast much in the way of lifestyle options, seems too interested in asserting religious authority from the top.

·       What force convinced the early Mormons to embrace polygamy? And what direction did that force take when the LDS rejected that doctrine?

·       While there are many sects within Christianity and Buddhism, and at least three within Judaism, the LDS is very monolithic – except for a fringe that still practices polygamy.

·       No widespread effort has been made to educate Americans – pro or con – on this faith. And I hardly count those commercials from years ago with the “I am a Mormon” tag line – meant to show Mormons as “just like you and me.”

·       Why haven’t the mainstream US Protestant denominations vehemently denounced LDS? What internal forces are at work preventing an uprising to oppose Romney and the insider advantages his election will bestow upon his church – in spite of his reassuring words to the contrary. Mainstreamers will quickly admit that the Jesus they worship isn’t the same as the Jesus LDS embraces, so why are they so silent?

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Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of the Independent Contractors’ Party

“Why are so few questions being asked about the LDS as Romney, with glacial strength and sureness, moves to wrap up the GOP nomination?”

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com