Evangelical Baptist Pastor: 'Mormonism Is a Cult, Mitt Romney Is Not a Christian'
Robert Jeffress, the evangelical pastor of First Baptist Dallas, said Mitt Romney is not a Christian and Mormonism is a cult, after introducing Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit Friday.
The Texas leader told The Christian Post Friday that Mormonism is not in line with the historical tenets of Christianity and is considered as a cult among mainstream Christians.
"Evangelical Christians should not vote for Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon, therefore not a real Christian," Jeffress said.
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“Historically, evangelical Christianity has never embraced Mormonism as a branch of Christianity. Mormonism has always been treated as a cult. In fact, the Southern Baptist Convention, which is the largest Protestant denomination in the world, officially labels Mormonism as a cult. It does not embrace the historic tenets of evangelical Christianity,” he said.
Jeffress added, "Mitt Romney is a good, moral person, but that does not make him a Christian."
Jeffress announced at the Values Voter Summit that he plans to vote for Perry, who is an evangelical Christian.
The Baptist minister, who recently preached a sermon on America's "last days," told CP he hopes President Barack Obama does not win a second term.
“I think that it is a spiritual imperative that we unseat Barack Obama," Jeffress said. "He is the most pro-abortion, most pro-homosexual in history. So if I look at the landscape of Republican candidates, I believe that eventually it will come down to a choice between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, and I think a confident Christian like Rick Perry has a consistent record of conservative values. He’s a preferable candidate to Mitt Romney.”
Jeffress spoke with CP in September to discuss the sermon series he began on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The sermon was based on a book and holds the subtitle, "How to make America's last days your best day."
At the time, Jeffress spoke of a "tide of immorality" sweeping the nation.
"One thing that I'll be talking about in the series is how Christians should vote," Jeffress explained. "John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, said 'It is our duty to prefer and select Christians as our leaders.' In the Old Testament days, the spiritual direction of the country was directed by the king. If it [was] a righteous king, the nation was blessed by God; if it [was] an unrighteous king, then the nation was cursed by God."
He added, "In our democracy, we get to choose our leaders. Although I'm not going to tell our people who to vote for in the 2012 election, I'm going to talk about what criteria every Christian ought to use to select a candidate for office, including the president's."
