Idolatry and Adding to Scripture

IDOLATRY AND ADDING TO SCRIPTURE

If you actually care about God’s Word then you may want to sit up and pay attention. There are all kinds of Bible believing Christians who disagree on an array of issues. Free will, mode of baptism, prophecy, Israel, and on and on the list goes. Most of these are not fellowship breakers for me. I am staunchly anti-Calvinist, however I have reformed friends and I know many reformed believers who love Christ and love His Word. And many of the things I listed fall into the same category.

But when it comes to adding and subtracting from God’s Word, that is a complete deal breaker. In fact, that is a grievous error and is the bedrock for most cults. The Roman Catholic Church views church tradition as inspired. The Christian Science Church views Mary Baker Eddy’s writings as inspired. The Seventh Day Adventist hold the writings of Ellen White as inspired. And on and on it goes. These extra-Biblical writings are viewed as more than just good sermons or valid exegesis. They are viewed as inspired of God with a higher level of authority than your usual systematic theology, and in some cases they are revered as equal but different than Scripture.

In this election cycle evangelicals will line up to vote for a person who is a bone fide leader in a cult which adds to Scripture through the Book of Mormon. But there is another aspect to this cult that is equally, if not more, troubling. The Mormon Church also views, are you ready for this, the Constitution of the United States as inspired of God, and they view it as part of the canon ( received written Scripture). None other than Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saints cult, believed the Constitution as inspired of God in basically the same way as is Scripture. That is idolatry. Of course if you listen to many evangelicals you might think they believe the same thing, and in some ways they do. But not only is that taking nationalism to new heights, but it tears at the very fabric of our faith by adding to the written Word of God. And in view of the list I provided, this represents a cultish belief system.

Now you might think that armed with this information evangelicals would quickly run from having anything to do with Mitt Romney, even if they rightly could not vote for President Obama. But you would be wrong. In a stunning piece of misguided logic, some evangelicals have double down on their support for Romney. HERE is a post by a Christian leader encouraging believers to support Mitt Romney.

Do you understand what he is saying? His direct inference is that since the LDS has canonized the Constitution and placed it among the divinely inspired writings, then we should appreciate that and vote for Romney. What?? So since the Mormon Church has added to Scripture by suggesting the American Constitution, of all things, is inspired by God, we should not only view that as acceptable, but we should run to embrace it.

Now here is something about which to pray. Can you differentiate and separate your allegiance to Christ and your allegiance to America? Is it acceptable to God to look the other way politically when a cult adds to God’s Word but still disapprove of that spiritually? What kind of disjointed, double minded discipleship are we attempting to pawn off on our Lord? The true written Scriptures say anything but that. We are to live every aspect of our lives before God and with Jesus as our Lord. Many thousands of martyrs went bravely to their death because they would not bow to the earthly government on spiritual and doctrinal issues. If they had only known you could parse out your allegiance and accept heresy within political venues and still reject it in church. What a self serving feat of truth gymnastics!

This election has become a proving grounds for every follower of Jesus Christ. And if you vote for either Romney or Obama, it does not mean you will go to hell. But there are personal implications concerning your view of Scripture and your willingness to be persecuted for your beliefs. It also will reveal how you view a country in light of how you live before a Lord who has no earthly country. In my 38 years of being a believer, I could never have imagined just how compromised the church would become. And the deceptions are multi-layered and are practiced in any number of ways. Some have tampered with the Person of Christ; some have made salvation a human work; some have embraced all religions as redemptive; some have suggested everyone will be saved; and some have maligned or added to Scripture. And some now have created an idol of their earthly nation and now serve that nation even when deep Scriptural compromises are necessary. And not just minor compromises, but compromises concerning the Person of Christ and the path to redemption.

And in order to protect their “I believe the Bible” credentials within the evangelical crowd, they have constructed a fence between the church and the state. And with that imaginary fence they believe they are free to romp around and support all kinds of false teachers politically but still return on Sunday mornings to their still intact orthodoxy. But they would never vote for a pro-choice candidate. Why? Because what those people believe goes against the Bible. The irony of that statement should be obvious.