I can sympathize with your “concerns” about having a puppet master from Salt Lake pulling Romney’s strings. There are lots of puppet masters pulling the strings of politicians, most of them equally as dangerous as Mormonism, if not more so, and many of them are principalities and powers beyond degenerate humans. Do you think Obama is a free agent? Likewise, any progressive Republican is a puppet, and the puppet masters I see tugging Romney’s strings are already well on their way to rebuilding the dominion of Babylon. I don’t see the cult of Mormonism playing much of a part in that scheme.
"Danger" has a sliding scale according to distinct spheres. Certainly, the political arena is capable of much danger from a physical, economic, warfare (foreign policy), freedom/oppression/persecution/bondage and spiritual perspective.
I think a worthy question in all this is: "Which entities? Which regimes in the world? Which U.S. administrations and organizational operations are ones which open the door wide open to hell?" Well, suggestions offered up on that would be a debateable topic with difficult tangible proofs to claim. Certainly, I think the cults qualify among many other sources.
In terms of spiritual bondage -- and what legalism does -- the Mormon door to hell is pretty wide open. I'd say Jesus made it a high priority to engage spiritual legalism (instead of simply taking on the Caesars of the world), wouldn't you?
Examples:
* Matt. 16:12: ...guard against the yeast...against the TEACHING of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
* Luke 11:52: ... you have taken away the key to knowledge.
* John 8:44,47: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies…The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.
* Matthew 23:2-4, 13: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them...“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
Btw, I wonder if you'll seek to rebuke Jesus' half-brother, Jude, when you get to heaven for using the word "fear" in this verse(?)...in light of your earlier statement: 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude 22-23)
Do you think Obama is a free agent? Likewise, any progressive Republican is a puppet, and the puppet masters I see tugging Romney’s strings are already well on their way to rebuilding the dominion of Babylon. I don’t see the cult of Mormonism playing much of a part in that scheme.
No. Obama's not a "free agent" -- and that goes for more than just political & party handlers. The apostle John, in John 5, said "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19).
You know, you'd rarely find me commenting on "end times" stuff on FR (or elsewhere). And on any of these threads I've yet to connect the anti-christ to Mormonism -- unlike Mormon leaders thru the years who've endlessly connected the Christian church to "Babylon." I don't who the anti-christ is or will be; I don't know what kind of religious connections -- and possibly political ones, too -- he will have. But the apostle Paul not only describes a religious tie to the anti-christ, but enough power for him to be able to seem to wield it beyond that:
3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. (2 Thess. 2:3-10)
Do Mormons have temples? (Yup)
Do Mormons exalt themselves as gods? (Yup)
Since the apostle John talked about "anti-christs" in the plural (1 John 2:18-19...see below)
...it seems that when it comes to opposing Christ,
...a given cult wouldn't even need to be directly tied into the source of THE anti-christ.
What do I mean? As far as I'm concerned, temple Mormons [NOT all Mormons] already resemble him based upon exalting themselves as gods!
1 John 2:18-19: 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
[Sounds to me that John was saying many left the Christian faith by opposing the true Christ...and as the apostle Paul said, "many live as enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil 3:18)...Certainly Mormons, who yank weak Christians out of their faith by the thousands worldwide, generally eschew the cross and its church leadership has treated it as a pagan symbol.]
My whole point in going this direction was simply this: You seem to suggest that we shouldn't be concerned, worried or have any fears that a religious source is going to become a "puppet-master" with political reaches. I'd say that while we need to be cautious in not giving the enemies of our souls more of an overreach than what he has or will have, that long-term, your assurances seem to run counter to 2 Thess. 2. Whatever the scheme source of THE anti-christ to be, he's actually going to have some religious tie-in. That tells me that people of the earth need to be more vigilant whenever an "I am a god-in-embryo" power figure comes forth; not less.