November 16, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In an teleconference interview with several religion writers from across the nation, former president Jimmy Carter said that Mormons are Christians and they should not be the targets of "proselytizing" (Carrie Moore, "Are Mormons Christians," Deseret News, Nov. 15, 1997). During the interview, Carter, a Southern Baptist, said that SBC leaders are wrong in characterizing Mormons as non-Christians.

"Too many leaders now, I think, in the Southern Baptist Convention and in other conventions, are trying to act as the Pharisees did, who were condemned by Christ, in trying to define who can and who cannot be considered an acceptable person in the eyes of God. In other words, they're making judgments on behalf of God. I think that's wrong."

Carter defined his personal philosophy as a nonjudgmental, reconciling type of spirituality. He testified that "the people in my own local church have no interest in trying to condemn Mormons or trying to convert Mormons to be good old Baptists like me."

Carter criticized SBC leaders for becoming "narrow in their definition of what is a proper Christian" and for believing "that every verse in the Bible has to be interpreted literally."

These statements by former president Carter are not surprising. When he was running for president, he admitted that his favorite theologians were neo-orthodox and modernistic.

At least Carter is consistent in his philosophy. If one holds the philosophy of non-judgmentalism, one cannot consistently judge ANYTHING AT ALL. If one has the right to judge something; one has the right to judge everything! If Promise Keepers leaders, for example, have the right and responsibility to judge Mormonism, they have the same responsibility to judge Catholicism and modernistic Protestantism and every other ism. The standard is the Holy Scriptures, and we are responsible to test absolutely everything by that standard. "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21).

To claim that Mormonism is Christian is blindness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adds its own writings to Scripture, teaches that salvation is by faith plus works, denies the Trinity, claims that God was once a man, that Jesus Christ was a created being, that he had many wives, that he is the brother of Satan, that men have pre-existent souls, that the living can be baptized for the salvation of the dead, that those who endure faithfully in this life will be gods in the next. In fact, Mormonism denies or corrupts most cardinal doctrines of the New Testament faith.

This is another example of the apostasy of the Southern Baptist Convention. One of the problems with conventions and associations of churches is that they have no means of effective discipline. They are not a church, so they have no pattern and authority for discipline. Conservatives within the SBC are attempting to achieve "parity" within SBC nationally-supported schools, but God’s Word commands them to do far more than this. It commands them to discipline the heretics out of the churches (Titus 3:10,11), and I have not heard any of the "conservatives" call for this. Heretics like R. Kirby Godsey, president of Mercer University in Georgia, and Jimmy Carter, another famous Georgia Southern Baptist, and thousands of other men who hold heretical doctrines, remain within the convention and continue to exercise their Bible-denying influence.

See "When Was the Southern Baptist Convention Delivered from Liberalism?" in the Southern Baptist section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life Web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/