1.4 million Evangelicals plan to 'Vote for Jesus,' not a Mormon

Dear " Vote for Jesus Christians" I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And yes, we are Christians. I think that you are making a big mistake. I don't believe that Jesus is running this year, and most definitely if he was, I would be voting for him also. If you vote for Jesus and not Mitt Romney, then you are casting your vote for Obama, who supports many causes that Jesus would not support. Mitt Romney does live and has lived a Chist like life, and is where you should be casting your vote. I hope you will reconsider and cast your vote for Mitt Romney.

We respect your opinion and your wish to follow Jesus Christ. We are to. If you choose to vote for Jesus Christ for President I can tell you that He will be coming soon but first of all we need someone to lead us so the wicked can continue to kill the wicked and pray that the good people will survive the things that will come to pass before that, as prophesied in Revelation. Please study the plagues and the woes about what will have to happen in the world at the beginning of the 7th Seal Chapter 8:1 and read the next 226 verses. Are you the righteous that can survive these times of trial. I know we cannot if we don't put a moral and righteous person in the white house now. Pray for direction and I know you will not make a mistake. Christ will come in His time and it is not yet that time. He will not come until all the wicked are slain, then He will rain as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Any vote that is made other than the listed ones on the ballot is a vote FOR OBAMA. Jesus Christ will rule as KING , but for now, we have an obligation to vote to change things that will IMPROVE our current status. Any vote other than Romney will be supporting the CURRENT PRESIDENT OBAMA. Your vote for ROMNEY does not mean that you are converting from your chosen Faith, but for a President that will stand for Americans and for those who choose to move to a free country...the USA.

I wish for the sake of the ignorant, they would wake up and quit being lead by university schooled so called "Men of God" who literally make a living off them, telling them the ridiculous things that those of the LDS faith supposedly believe while leading them into thinking we are satans chosen--- why can't they learn and find for themselves the truths about the gospel of Jesus Christ--The church is the same church that existed under the direction of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ--the same one He lead and taught--Men spit on Him them too, just as they do today. Whether anyone votes for Mitt Romney or not, do you not owe it to yourself to find out for yourself who teaches the full gospel of Jesus Christ--who still receives divine revelation from God to His children today-- who has stayed true to the original teachings of the Lord ...who holds the same priesthood--power from God to carry on the Lord's work. It was the same priesthood that the Lord laid His hands on all 12 original disciples...NOT in any university but by the power of God. And definitely not for filthy money. I know what MITT believes and stands for. I know that he will lead this country back to it's roots where liberty for all can return and where all can thrive

What a clever ploy by Mr Keller to assist Obama in his election campaign. If he really wishes his devotees to vote for Jesus surely he would be better to advise them to prayerfully consider the mettle of each candidate, the Lord is the only one that knows their real agenda and will direct us if we ask. If you feel that Obama is an upstanding Christian (if that is important to you) and believe in his policy, then vote for him - but if you don't, then don't give him the power of office by voting for someone who isn't even in the running. In God We Trust - so trust Him to assist you in ticking the box for the best man to truly Unite the States. Oh! and don't be fooled in thinking that a national health system will provide you better, more accessible healthcare - anyone who has lived in the UK and been at the mercy of the NHS system will know how flawed it is, with lengthy queues for hospital treatment and low quality care.

A Mormon’s open letter re: Bill Keller’s criticisms of my faith. Internet evangelist (and convicted felon) Bill Keller “humbly” claims that he has the largest internet ministry on earth. He has started a campaign for Christians to write in Jesus Christ on the ballot for President of the United States, and he claims to have about 1.4 million voters pledged to do so. Ordinarily I would not bother to answer this pitiful ploy for attention and celebrity (and donations), but if the 1.4 million votes were taken from potential Romney voters, it might swing the election in Obama’s favor and that would be a real tragedy for our nation. Therefore I will try to shed a bit of rational light and understanding on the reasons Keller gives that voters should not vote for Romney. Keller’s website www.votingforjesus.com says: WHAT MITT ROMNEY, GLENN BECK, AND ALL MORMONS BELIEVE BUT WILL NEVER ADMIT!!! (Actually Bill, any knowledgeable member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will “admit” to the things I’ll share below, but some are not as knowledgeable about their faith as others, just as all Baptists, Catholics, etc. are not. Much of what I’m writing here is excerpted from my upcoming book “REALLY Inside Mormonism: Confessions of a Mere Latter-day Christian”. In my research for the book I’ve gone into a bit more depth than the average Mormon, but what I’ve written here is all true.) KELLY Their "god" was once a man like you and I and Mormon men believe they too can become "gods" in the afterlife. ROBERT Jesus Christ is God. God the son. And yes, he is my Lord and my God as a Mormon. And he once lived as a man on a planet like me. Fully god and fully man, as all Christians believe. According to the Bible, he was born in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem was he not? And when Jesus was explaining his divinity to the “orthodox” religious leaders of his day he quoted Psalms 82:6 reminding them that their own scriptures say “ye are gods”. (John 10:34) The doctrine of “theosis” or “divinization” is one of the true teachings that was lost to most of Christianity after 300 AD, but is still taught by the Greek/Russian/Armenian Orthodox Christian churches. Google those terms and you’ll learn something. And do a word search of the beloved Christian author C.S. Lewis’s writings using the term “gods”. I think you’ll be surprised. KELLY Their "jesus" (SIC) is NOT a deity but a created being from the sexual union of their god/man and Mary, is the brother of Lucifer, and is believed to have come to the US during his lifetime. ROBERT Bill, that is just flat wrong! The “Mormon” Jesus definitely IS deity. Our first Article of Faith says “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” According to the Bible, he is the firstborn of the Father in the spirit and the Only Begotten Son of the father in the flesh. Mormons believe that. According to Luke Jesus was conceived when an angel told Mary that two things were going to happen: (1) “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and (2) the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” She then said, “be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:35-38) Latter-day Saints believe what the Bible says. Literally. Most of Christendom believes that the Holy Ghost caused Mary to conceive, but if that were true then Jesus would be the son of the Holy Ghost – the 3rd member of the Godhead, not God the Father, the “Highest”. The Holy Ghost had to be present so Mary could endure the presence of the glory of the Father. Some Mormons (including some leaders) have speculated on how that conception took place, but official LDS doctrine is that God has not yet revealed that information. And as to being the spirit brother of Lucifer, the Bible tells us that before he fell from heaven (a) Lucifer was among the “sons of God” in Job 2:1. And (b) we’ve already established the Jesus is the Firstborn of the Father’s spirit children. Two sons with the same father are called brothers where I come from. But just like Cain and Abel or Jacob and Esau, brothers can be very different. KELLY Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon cult 200 years ago, was a convicted con artist, as well as a polygamist, pedophile, racist and murderer. ROBERT Well Bill, to paraphrase what Mitt Romney said to Obama in their first debate, you can have your own internet ministry but you’re not entitled to your own facts. Joseph Smith was tried several times on trumped up charges and even put in prison (as were Peter and Paul) but he was never convicted of anything. Yes, he was a polygamist (as were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc.) but your other charges are absolutely false. KELLY The foundation of the Mormon cult were gold tablets an angel named "Moroni" supposedly led Smith to in the Catskill mountains, but were never produced by Smith. ROBERT As Ronald Reagan said in another debate, “There you go again” using the “c” word, trying to get some shock value out of it. Did you know that the original meaning of that word is simply “a particular system of religious worship, or “an instance of great veneration of a person …”, or “a group bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.” As worshippers of Jesus Christ, I guess that would make all Christians members of a “cult”, wouldn’t it? Mormons included. As to the “golden plates” from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon; they actually WERE “produced” or shown by him to eleven upstanding citizens of the community where he lived, and they signed affidavits to that effect that are found in the opening pages of every copy of the book. Oops! Pardon me. Three of those witnesses had the plates shown to them by the Angel Moroni, not by Joseph. Even better. At the time the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 nobody had ever heard of ancient writings on metal plates, so Joseph’s story sounded quite strange. But in the last 50 years numerous examples of ancient writings on metal plates have been found all over the world. One example of Hebrew writing on silver was unearthed in the last couple of years in Jerusalem. It dates from around 600 BC, the exact time when the Book of Mormon says the prophet Lehi and his family left that city to journey to the Americas. I guess that was kind of “lucky” for Joseph Smith and the Mormons, huh? KELLY Polygamy was only stopped in exchange for Utah becoming a state, but is still practiced by many Mormons and is taught to be part of their afterlife. ROBERT Tsk, Tsk, Bill. I’d love to give you the benefit of the doubt so that you could plead ignorance, but I’m sure you’re well aware that any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who is found to be practicing polygamy today is immediately excommunicated. I know some personally. That makes your statement an outright lie. The practice of plural marriage in the LDS church ended in 1890 when the prophet and president of the church pleaded with God for the Saints to be released from obeying that commandment and he received a revelation that allowed the church to end that practice. This is similar to the revelation given to Peter that Gentile converts could join the New Testament Christian church and would not be required to be circumcised. KELLY For nearly 150 years, the Mormon cult taught that ALL blacks were cursed, hence, a black Mormon male could not hold the highly regarded LDS Priesthood because of his dark skin, and since he could not hold this Priesthood, he could not enter the Mormon Temple. ROBERT Actually the restriction on holding the priesthood had nothing to do with a “dark skin”. Many black-skinned Australian aborigines held the priesthood long before the 1978 revelation that allowed all worthy males to be ordained. The restriction had to do with lineage, just as in the Old Testament when only the tribe of Levi could be ordained to the priesthood among the twelve tribes of Israel. (I’ve written a whole paper on this if you want to learn more.) KELLY Mormons believe Biblical Christians are inferior and lost. ROBERT No, we do not believe that individual Biblical Christians are inferior to Mormons. We do believe (as did Martin Luther and the founder of the Baptist church in America and others) that the institutions of Christianity had “fallen away” from the original Biblical foundations of living apostles and prophets. Early Protestants felt that a “reformation” was needed, but Peter said that before the second coming of Christ there would be a “restitution” or a restoration of Christ’s original church. We believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 IS that restoration prophesied in the New Testament. However we also believe that there is much good in other faiths, and that even those faithful Christians who don’t convert to “Mormonism” will receive a heavenly reward beyond their wildest dreams. KELLY Mormons believe that they can "baptize the dead" in order to have the lost get to their version of Heaven. ROBERT The doctrine of proxy baptisms on behalf of the dead was taught by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:29 as a proof of the resurrection. Although this practice has been lost to the rest of Christianity as part of the above-mentioned “falling away” from the New Testament church, modern Biblical scholars admit that it was a legitimate practice of Biblical Christians. Look it up. KELLY The Indians on the North American continent are believed to be a lost tribe of Israel who came to this continent on a boat from Israel, despite there being ZERO genetic proof for this absurd belief. ROBERT Once again Bill, your claims do not match reality. The LDS believe that the Israelite people spoken of in the Book of Mormon who came to the Americas before Columbus are AMONG the ancestors of SOME native Americans. As a point of fact, many non-Mormon explorers and historians have found linguistic and cultural evidences linking the “Indians” to possible Hebrew influences or origins. These are mentioned in numerous writings of the 18th and 19th century and even today. And as for DNA, the latest studies since 2006 have contradicted “absurd” earlier findings, so perhaps you’d better check your facts on your genetics, too. I can point you to some good sources if you really want to know the truth. Do you? www.fairlds.org/dna KELLY The Bible is viewed as a flawed and incomplete book, superseded by the writings of Smith, the Book of Mormon, a poor plagiarism of much of the Old Testament, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrines and Covenants. Our 8th Article of Faith says “ “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” The first part almost exactly mirrors the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy that admits that no one modern translation of the Bible is totally free from translation errors. Latter-day Saints use the King James Version of the Bible in our daily scripture study and our worship alongside our other scriptures. We consider the Bible “flawed and incomplete” only in the sense that all Christians consider the Old Testament “incomplete” without the New Testament. Far from being a “plagiarism”, the Book of Mormon is a historic document about real people who lived in ancient America and who were the “other sheep” that Jesus said he would visit and who would “hear my voice”. When it was published in 1830 hardly anything was known about the ancient cultures of the New World, but incredibly not one single discovery in linguistics, archaeology or anthropology has contradicted the historical claims of the Book of Mormon. And many of those claims have been verified. For evidence of this I invite you to visit www.BMAF.org KELLY Joseph Smith was part of the Masonic cult and most of the Mormon "temple rituals" are identical to the rituals of the Masonic cult. ROBERT It is true that Joseph Smith was a Freemason, as were George Washington and most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and indeed many Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other Christian ministers and lay members today. You try to deride the Masons by your use of the “c” word again, but in doing so you are attacking many of your fellow Evangelicals. Mormons believe that our temple ceremonies are of ancient origin going back long before the Masonic orders were established, and if there is a similarity it is because the Masons adopted them from the temple, not vice versa. Many of the unique aspects of LDS temple worship are alluded to in ancient Christian writings of the New Testament era such as the Nag Hammadi scrolls discovered in Egypt in 1945. They were not invented by Joseph Smith nor copied from the Masons. KELLY Much of true Mormonism is practiced in secret, out of the public eye, unlike Christianity that is practiced in the open with no secrecy involved. ROBERT I’m afraid Bill you are mistaken again. There have always been some aspects of Christianity that have not been publicly preached or taught. On occasion Jesus told people to “tell no man” what had happened, and Paul spoke of teachings that “could not be uttered” and of “meat” of the Gospel that recipients of his letters were not yet ready to receive. Clement, one of the early bishops of the church wrote that he was instructed by Peter not to teach advanced doctrines until a foundation of more basic doctrines had been laid. KELLY Mormons blame the "creeds" of the early church for determining the deity of Christ, when in fact it is the Bible, all 66 books complete by 90 a.d., that teaches Christ was, is, and always will be GOD. ROBERT I’m glad you’ve finally found something we can agree on without reservation. Indeed Christ “was, is, and always will be GOD.” And the Bible does teach that. Amen. But the creeds were formulated first by uninspired bishops in 325 AD at the behest of the pagan Roman emperor Constantine and then revised again and again by succeeding councils for hundreds of years. Those creeds confused the plain and simple truth of the three persons of the Godhead by introducing new non-Biblical terms such as “essence” and “Trinity”. They changed God into a “mystery” that most Christians today don’t even pretend to understand. One of the greatest blessings of the restoration of Christ’s original church is the revelation of what God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost are like, and man’s true relationship to God as His literal children. There are parts of the Bible that were inserted by priests to support the Trinitarian view as late as the 6th century like the “Johannine Comma” in 1 John 5:7. You claim that “all 66 books (were) complete by 90 AD” but you don’t really know the history of the Bible. The content of the canon was still being debated well into the Reformation, and it was not until the Cloverdale Bible (1535) and Martin Luther’s German translation (1534) that it was trimmed to 66 books. The editions of the King James Version until 1885 contained another 14 books that the Catholic Douay version still contains today. Of the three oldest complete manuscripts, two of them contain books that are not in today’s Bibles. KELLY Mormons are taught "lying for the Lord" that enables them to lie to non-Mormons in order to advance the cause of their cult, such as claiming to be a Christian when Mormon doctrine is 100% inconsistent with Biblical Christianity. ROBERT Bill, in the words of Joe Biden this is just a bunch of “malarkey”. I’ve been in the LDS church for all of my 66 years and I’ve never been taught to “lie for the Lord”. I’ve been taught that “ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free”. You give for your example that Mormons claim to be Christian and you say that “Mormon doctrine is 100% inconsistent with Biblical Christianity”. In reality we don’t claim to be the same as the “traditional” or “historic” flavors of Christianity that we believe have “fallen away” from Christ’s original/Biblical church. We are not Reformed Christians but we are Restored Christians or Latter-day Christians. No lie! KELLY Mormon women are excluded from the priesthood and her prepubescent son is more qualified to advise her than she is to advise him on spiritual matters. ROBERT As I just explained above, Latter-day Saints follow the Biblical Christian pattern regarding the priesthood as do most Baptists, Methodists, etc. If you can find any woman ordained to the priesthood in the New Testament I’ll be happy to discuss that issue with you. But in all areas of worship and practice except the priesthood, LDS women have greater roles in teaching, leadership, service and other “spiritual matters” than in any other church I know of. I’d be willing to compare LDS roles for women with those in any other church. KELLY Without being celestially married to a holder of the priesthood, a Mormon woman cannot be "saved”. ROBERT Actually men and women can be “saved” without being married. But the highest “rewards” (things that “accompany salvation”) are reserved for those who enter into the covenant of eternal marriage. But guess what? It goes both ways! The Mormon man cannot receive those blessings without being married to the Mormon woman. There is “neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord”. (1 Cor. 11:11) These are “equal opportunity” blessings. KELLY In the temple marriage ceremony, Mormon women are given secret names known only to their husbands, for identification purposes, so their husbands can pull them through to "the other side" after death. ROBERT The apostle John writes in the Revelation, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Rev. 2:17) Although it has been lost to the rest of Christianity because of the “falling away”, the concept of receiving a new name to enter the celestial realms is well documented among the earliest Christians. As the priesthood holder and head of his household (don’t you believe a man should be head of his household?), it is the role of the husband to welcome his wife through the veil into Heaven. Isn’t that beautiful? KELLY After death, while their husbands are creating and ruling over planets, Mormon women have the questionable honor of bearing his "spirit children" for eternity, or being an eternal incubator. ROBERT Bill, now you sound like Obama when he referred to women being “punished” with a baby. Are you married and do you have children? Either in this life or the next, do you think your wife considers it a “questionable honor” to bear your children? Do you ever have the temerity (or stupidity?) to refer to her as an “incubator”? I don’t think I’d want to be standing next to you at that moment. What a glorious blessing it is to obey God’s commandment to “multiply and replenish the earth” and to have joy in our posterity! How could Heaven be a heaven without families? Adam and Eve were given this planet to “rule” over (“have dominion over” Gen 1:26) together. As spirit children of God they may have even participated in its creation under the guidance and direction of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ (“the Word” John 1:1). This is God’s pattern and plan for His children. Isn’t it wonderful? Well Bill, Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck, myself and the rest of the Mormons believe these things and admit to them freely when put in the right context of truth and reason. I doubt that this information will change your mind about Mormons or about voting for a Mormon, but perhaps there are others who will read it who will be more open-minded and more open to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost to testify that what I’ve written is true. It really is. No lie. God bless, Robert Starling starlingrd@msn.com

to morman movie maker i loved your letter the way you took a stand for Mormans. I'm a morman was married and baptised on Oct 11 1991. I was of other faiths but they just couldn't keep from judging other faiths, Like that was why others went there. think not. when the lord coes back I say to those I feel sorry for them. Thanks again.

to morman movie maker i loved your letter the way you took a stand for Mormans. I'm a morman was married and baptised on Oct 11 1991. I was of other faiths but they just couldn't keep from judging other faiths, Like that was why others went there. think not. when the lord coes back I say to those I feel sorry for them. Thanks again.

I think I remember hearing somewhere that Jesus did not enter in areas that are unclean. Well, the Whitehouse, though it may be white, is certainly unclean, and he would not be comfortable there. A better idea would be to compare the candidates, figure out which one has always held Godly ideals, and vote for him. Jesus will take care of cleaning things up soon, I think. But in his own time.