Category Archives: Church

Review of “Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters”
Part II: Mormon prophecies

Tricia Erickson argues throughout the first section of her book “Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters” why the American people should not want a Mormon president. In the seventh chapter, she kicked it up a notch and her rhetoric took on a much more Dan Brown/conspiratorial tone. Erickson writes:

“Behind the scenes of the Mormon Church is a secret political agenda that the leaders don’t want you, the public, to know about…Birthed within the (Mormon) Church, yet distinct from the church is a secret organization formed by Joseph Smith during early Mormon history. This organization is the political machinery of the “priesthood” of the Mormon Church, named “the Kingdom of God” and “the Government of God.”

The American government is a very large, very complex entity. According to the Bureau of Labor Statics,the federal government has roughly two million employees.

They are spread out across the entire nation through dozens of departments and agencies, many with their own unique “personalities” that have been forged by politics and history. We have a constitution with checks and balances, and within our system of government, the idea that one president with a radical agenda could “take over” the country and force his ideology onto every aspect of our lives is farfetched and a scare tactic used to get people not to vote for certain candidates.

Maybe we could have a president who had beliefs that were radical or which could be consequentially negative for the rest of the country. Luckily, if that did happen, there is a difference between radical beliefs and actually turning those beliefs into reality. Especially given that Mormons make up less than 3% of congress and 0% of the Supreme Court.

Furthermore, the idea that the American people would stand by and allow for such a thing to occur is a stretch, especially given the surging atheistic and secular worldviews within this country.

Given these and other reasons, I have a hard time worrying that a Romney president would lead to the Latter-Day Saint Church taking over America and setting up a Mormon theocracy, as Erickson seems to fear.

Erickson continued:

“Mormons believe that they are the only true church and their main objective is to be ready when the time comes for the millennial reign by having their leaders ready to rule or already in key places of authority and power…The political agenda of the church is to place a Mormon man in the presidential office in order that the church may take over and control the country and further the world for the “Kingdom of God.”

On what is she basing these claims?

Erickson sites “The White Horse” prophecy which she claims is a belief that exists within the Mormon Church that our government will collapse, and that the church will be in place to take over and run the country.

Even if there are Mormons who believe that, if God is not the God of Mormonism, what difference do their prophecies make? It is not consequential.

In politics, I feel like certain factions within an opposition movement will always have themselves convinced of, “If this person gets into office, they will destroy the world.” Some perpetuated this fear when Barrack Obama was running for president in 2008.

The Glenn Beck’s of the world had certain people believing that if Obama were to become president, the fairness doctrine would be forced upon the media, people wouldn’t be able to have guns, and from there, he would basically setup a Stalinist regime.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many criticism which could be levied against the Obama White House, but guess what? If people don’t like what he’s doing, someone else will be elected next year.

I feel that I would be remiss if I did not note the interesting dichotomy that there are people who fear Obama is turning America into a socialist state and Erickson is worried that Romney will turn the country into a nation that is controlled by the Mormon Church. If both groups are right, how utterly amazing is the idea that a nation could swing from one extreme to the other in a span of four years?

Would the Mormon Church leadership have any influence over Romney? Probably. Would they vicariously be running America and plotting to take over Europe and the rest of the world? Absolutely not.

I am a proud Freemason, and Erickson’s conspiracy theory of the Mormons attempting to take over the government reminds me of different books I’ve read that try to proove that the Masons are taking over the world. I believe that the crux of these types of arguments is having a psychological justification to explain the fallenness of the world. Depending on people with whom you talk, the Mormons, Freemasons, socialists, and any number of groups are all in the midst of taking over the world, and that there is a proverbial wizzard behind the curtain orchestrating the puppet show.

I think the world has much bigger problems with which to deal.

jrb