As an ex-attendee of the First Baptist Church of Dallas during the tenure of Pastor O. S. Hawkins, I have continued to remotely track happenings within this ecclesia such as pastoral turnovers and tearing down parts of the church’s architecture to allow for the construction of a new mega million sanctuary. Recently the current pastor, Rev. Robert Jeffress, piqued my attention by two sets of utterances pertaining to political endorsements.

His first set of comments were voiced at the Values Voter Summit in Washington on October 2011 when he was called upon to introduce Governor Rick Perry, a presidential candidate in the Republican primary. In the process of the introduction he unapologetically and enthusiastically endorsed Rick Perry over Governor Romney on the grounds that Perry among other things was (a) “a conservative out of deep convictions” as opposed to Romney who he evaluated as “a conservative out of convenience” and (b) “a born-again follower of Jesus Christ as opposed to Romney who he considers “a good, moral person” but nevertheless a member of a “cult.”

By the way one of the reasons that Mormonism is considered a cult is its attitude towards the Bible. As much as Mormonism recognizes the Bible, it holds the Book of Mormon either at the same level or higher. Quoting Nephi, one of the fifteen mini-books that constitute the Book of Mormon, “we should not assume that the Bible is all we need… we should not think that the Bible contains all God’s words; neither need we suppose that God has not caused more to be written.” Incidentally, in its discussion of a people group referred as the Lamanites, the mini-book Nephi speaks of this people group as being white at some point but then developed a black skin color as a result of God’s punishment. It is also in the same mini-book that intermarriage between Black and White is discouraged.

The second set of remarks were reported today (April 18^th 2012) by the Associated press. In endorsing Romney over President Obama Jeffries still maintains that Mormons are not Christians. Even so he urges Christians to support the presumptive Republican presidential nominee because Obama, whom he acknowledges is a Christian, “embraces non-biblical principles while Romney embraces biblical principles like the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage.” The implications here are three-fold: (a) Obama’s stance on marriage and Life of the unborn is unbiblical (b) Obama does not embrace any biblical principals whatsoever and (c) none of Romney’s stances can be evaluated as unbiblical.

I see eye to eye with the Pastor on his implication that President Obama does not embrace the sanctity of marriage. A case in point is the President’s unwillingness to defend DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) in court. DOMA, passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996 defines marriage as a legal union of one man and one woman. Under the law, no state or other political subdivision of the U.S. may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state. Section 3 of DOMA codifies the non-recognition of same-sex marriage for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns.

The President has demonstrated the audacity to stand up to the Supreme Court on its ruling on Citizen’s United v Federal Election Commission and recently on the Court’s arguments about the healthcare. Unfortunately when it comes to abortion he is willing to go along with Roe v Wade—even commemorating its anniversary. As such we are in agreement with the Pastor that Obama is certainly not anti-abortion notwithstanding the executive order he signed banning the use of federal money to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or if the life of a woman is in danger. The signature was a trade-off for support for the healthcare overhaul bill from Democratic abortion rights opponents’ in the House of Representatives.

We question the veracity of the remaining two implications, viz., Obama does not exhibit any biblical principals whatsoever and none of Romney’s stances can be evaluated as unbiblical. There is an established biblical precedent for a leading figure of a nation to acknowledge national faults. Daniel 9 comes to mind where in verse 5 Daniel, who was both a functionary in the upper echelon of the Babylonian Government and a luminary in the Jewish circles, admits without any reservation or qualification that his people had “sinned and done wrong, and acted wickedly…” Ezra, another leading figure among the Jews in Exile, expresses similar acknowledgement (9:6). The so-called Apology tours that Romney ridicules and assumably would not engage in judging by the title of his book, “No apologies: A case for America’s Greatness” mimic the acknowledgments of the faults of a nation by both Daniel and Ezra except that these two expressed these admission in the context of private confession before God whereas President Obama has owned up to America’s fault in public speeches.

A read through the Bible confirms the characterization that God above is very much pro-poor people. Through His Word, the Lord calls on us to (a) provide for the needy (Deut 15:11)—not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards them (Deut 15:17); treat them fairly and justly—not withholding their wages (Deut 24:14); defend their rights (Prov 31:19)—not oppress them (Prov 14:31); be considerate of them (Lev 14:21). Failure by a society to be similarly pro-poor people attracts divine condemnation and is considered wicked (Prov 29:7). But to a society that shows generosity towards the poor, the Lord promises compensation (Prov 19:17) and blessing (Prov 22:9), surplus (Prov 28:27). I find it very curious that Governor Romney’s website does not address poverty considering that the jobless rate will never approach zero percent. The White House website, on the other hand, includes a link on poverty and within it reminds us for the American Recovery and Reinvestment act which included broad investments to alleviate the poverty made worse by the economic crisis.

In the end it is our conclusion that since Pastor Jeffress twin-implications that Obama does not exhibit any biblical principals whatsoever and none of Romney’s stances can be evaluated as unbiblical are false, Christians should ignore his heed that they support Mormon Romney over Christian Obama.