The current presidential campaign seems to favor two popular candidates: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. While there is still a high probability that some prolific figures will rise from national obscurity to seize the attention of the American people, I find myself worried that the affections of the American people will favor a clearly non-Christian candidate. While I have my concerns about our current president’s faith, I am somewhat comforted by the fact that he has decided to represent himself as a Christian. Mitt Romney would have no such constraints…and that bothers me greatly. I hope that by reading this article, I can persuade you to consider my reservations and make them your own, and here’s why:

Presidency is more than character, morals, or even political leadership. It’s about influence and representation of our beliefs before our nation, before other nations, and before God. Putting a Mormon on center stage means that Mormonism will be on center stage. Mormons will represent our country to our citizens, to other nations, and to God. People will question their own religious beliefs on the basis of what they see in the President…do we really want them considering Mormonism more than they do now?

God will also judge us through our actions and the actions of our leader. God has always dealt with people on a national, as well as on an individual basis. The books of Kings and Chronicles as well as the prophecies of the Old Testament make it clear that God judges the nations and their leaders based on their religious influence. We should be concerned for how our election of a non-Christian leader will affect our standing before God.

The reality of Spiritual Warfare necessitates the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m crying “Antichrist” here. That’s not my point. But every day we encounter demonic activity in subtle ways, and every day across the world, our Christian brothers and sisters encounter cases of demon possession. Judas, who was with the Lord, was controlled by a demon. The truth is, I don’t want a president who doesn’t have the protection of the Holy Spirit in his life. If there’s one leader that I want to be immune from this type of influence, it’s our president.

Mormonism is NOT a branch of the Christian religion, it is a cult. Mormons have their own separate religious books (The Book of Mormon, The Book of the Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price) and their own prophet (Joseph Smith) and their own distinctive beliefs (polygamy as a way of gaining heavenly status, eternal marriage, eternal progression toward god-hood, etc.). Their movement was so clearly heretical that they were driven out of most of the communities they tried to settle in when they first began. Joseph Smith believed that God intended him to establish the only true church in the world, and was later killed for his movement.

Let’s never fall into the mindset that “Christianity” is defined by the fact that it creates moral people…that confuses the results of a relationship with Christ with their main focus: salvation from our sins and the punishment they demand. If we define Christianity by its effects, it is no different than any other religion—Mormonism, Islam, or Buddhist. But Christianity is not about creating moral people. Christianity is about the history of the world—mankind’s separation from God and God’s awesome work through Christ to restore them. Christianity is about a historical event, where a man named Jesus proved through miraculous events that He was God and that He had come to save the world through His death and resurrection. Christianity is about people who experience the power of rebirth when they come to know Christ and live lives with the power of God’s Spirit dwelling inside of them. Christianity is defined by ONE holy book: The Bible, which we trust and follow so passionately that we are translating it into every language imaginable. And Christianity is a religion that continues to grow because God is miraculously at work in the world—sending visions, healing diseases, casting out demons, and revealing Himself through the extreme love of those who know Him.

[UPDATE 4/5/11]

For those who want to read more, please do visit Tom’s blog (http://redemptivetheology.blogspot.com/) and also note his references to the Mormon (LDS) church’s own writings and records. I particularly appreciate his citation of the LDS’s own admission that “In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints “do not believe in the traditional Christ. No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak.” from LDS Church News.

Yeah, I know. Right now you’re thinking…”Here goes Patrick. Up on his soapbox again.”

I just have to tell you that I’ve been holding onto the article that prompted this post for about two months…hoping I could put the thought aside. But it’s not going to happen. I can’t love the Mac, I really can’t. And I’m not alone.

Finally, it’s time to introduce you to some friends who think its time for all those Mac users to give up their shiny, soon to be out-of-date, overpriced toys. Please welcome…

Natania, who switched back to PC this past fall for reasons of price, upgradeability, and gaming.

Joe, who did some intense price comparison, bought a Sony laptop instead of a Macbook, and loves Windows 7. Also have a look at his article on sales comparisions for Mac and Windows machines here.

David has written extensively on the simplicity of Windows 7 features over Mac. I like this one on backing up files. Search his blog for yourself.

I should have posted it month ago when I read about it, but I didn’t! For those of you who are not aware, Sudan makes a historic vote just after the beginning of the year, one that will potentially leads to civil war!

This vote has been scheduled for a long time now, and represents the southern people’s opportunity to choose to be a separate country from the north–a choice that comes with profound economic, political, and social implications. North Sudan currently runs the entire country under Muslim law, but the south is mainly Christian.

Read the article here for more information, and please keep this country in your prayers. They may end up at war next year over the outcome of their vote.

Getting a new tech toy for me is like opening a whole new world. This past week has been one of those “new world” experiences for me, as I explore the land of the jail broken iPhone, and as I boot Google’s Android OS on it as well–double bonus fun!

Jailbreaking the iPhone sounds malicious, I know, but the FCC said earlier this year that it was legal and appropriate for those who purchase phones to be able to manipulate their software. It allowed me to start using some of the features of the iPhone that were only available to those who had the “latest and greatest” (and paid way too much money for their) iPhone: like multitasking and home screen wallpaper. Check out this blog that is all about jailbreaking for yourself, and contains an article on the legality of the task too! www.iphonedownloadblog.com/ (popup window)

After Jailbreaking the phone, I followed 5 more easy steps to install iDroid on my phone, a customized version of Android created to work on the iPhone. While the programming still needs some work to ensure that power saving, messaging and camera functions work appropriately, and Google is still in the process of allowing this OS to access its Android store, I am now able to boot my phone into Google’s OS and enjoy the features of this amazing operating system as well! Read the Lifehacker article by clicking here. (opens in a popup window)

I particularly like the graphic they chose for their customized OS:

What’s next? Well, I have high hopes that someone will create another iWin7 version to run on my iPhone too!

IBM recently announced that it is bringing optical chip design into the world of commercial computing with some new technology. Considering this form of processing is faster, more power efficient, creates less signal interference, and does not heat up as much–I’d say they have a winning technology that puts them ahead of Intel right now…and that’s saying a lot.

IBM is not just spouting hopes or theory, its making definite plans to build commercial machines with their new chip design.

Read the main article here, if you want all the geeky details! (popup window)