Adventist Doctor Continues to Build a Campaign for the U.S. Presidency
By AT News Team, Feb. 26, 2015: Dr. Ben Carson, a devout Adventist and retired brain surgeon, was the first speaker Wednesday morning (Feb. 25) on the opening day of the yearly Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He was among a long list of speakers interested in running for president in next year’s American elections and ranked number two in a straw poll of the activists in attendance.
CPAC is not a political party but includes the grass roots of right-wing politics in America. Almost all of the speakers are affiliated with the Republican Party and the party leaders view CPAC as representing a key segment within their party.
The presidential preference poll of registered participants in CPAC gave the greatest support (25 percent) to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, according to the CBS television network. Carson was supported by 18 percent of the participants while 17 percent supported Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and the son and brother of two former U.S. presidents. Ten percent supported Michael Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and Baptist pastor.
Carson is the only African American candidate among a host of people who are interested in becoming the candidate of the Republican Party. A Gallup Poll in December ranked him as sixth among “the most admired men in America.” More admired were President Barack Obama, Pope Francis, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, evangelist Billy Graham and former president George W. Bush. In a tie for sixth place were Carson, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Bill O’Reilly.
Carson has not formally announced he is running for president, but he has begun to hire a campaign team. Prospective campaign manager Terry Giles has announced that Houston businessman Jeff Reeter will serve as Carson’s national finance chairman and Amy Pass, who raised money for Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid, will serve as Carson’s national finance director.
“Reeter and Pass add to Carson’s growing political team,” reported The Hill. “Last week, Carson hired Mike Murray, the president and CEO of TMA Direct, a direct marketing firm, to serve as a senior adviser. Carson also has … a leadership PAC that has collected millions of dollars, and a movement to draft him as a candidate with a presence in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.” Iowa is the first state where decisions will be made about presidential candidates for 2016.
Carson is “getting close to that ‘first tier’ status,” stated the National Review. “He’s currently third in Iowa, second in PPP’s national poll, at 9 percent in Texas, which is good for fourth; 8 percent in California, which is good for fourth; and at 13 percent in South Carolina, which is tied for third.”
Although it is early in the two years of politics leading up to the election of the next president in the U.S., Carson clearly has a chance of becoming the first Adventist to hold that office. President Warren G. Harding, elected in 1920, had an Adventist mother, sister and brother, but was not a church member himself. He appointed his brother-in-law, Pastor Heber Votaw, a returned missionary from Burma and later a General Conference staff member, as the administrator of Federal prisons.
Romans 14:5King James Version (KJV)
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Colossians 2:16: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Mark 2:23-27Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
1 Timothy 4:4 (KJV) For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Leviticus 11:27 is the exception to to the verse that is above.
1611 King James Version of Leviticus 11:27 –
And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even. Teach people the truth as to what Satan looks like and what he wants to do. Muhammad saw that being in a cave. 2 Corinthians 11:14: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. That is who Muhammad saw impersonating Gabriel. Muslims wanted kids to die in Gaza. They want others to look bad. The fact is Muslims worship he that created bad. The fallen angel Lucifer. This is what he looks like. Ezekiel 28:13:Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
KJV Cambridge edition 1611 or 1900. Satan wants to stand where he ought not to stand on the earth. Get away from him when that being is seen.
Romans 13:10: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Teach people to keep that law refusing to work ill to interspecies people called zoos or homosexual or people called pedos or the clothing optional person either. It has to be obvious. God made the nude form.
Ecclesiastes 9:18: Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.11 places in KJV says the heart figuratively is to be circumcised not the sexual organs at all. Deuteronomy 30:6, Deuteronomy 10:16 ;Jeremiah 4:4 , Jeremiah 9:26; Colossians 2:11-15;Acts 7:51;Leviticus 26:41;Romans 2:29, Romans 3 >> 30, ROMANS 2:25. 1611 King James Version of Galatians 6:15 – For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availed anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Luke 4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
Ephesians 4:26: Be ye angry , and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Genesis 1 – 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the…
What is the meaning of all the texts??? Doesn’t appear to be pertinent or on topic at all.
Lots of copy&paste, no point made. Just a waste of space.
So will Adventist Today lease its mailing or membership lists to Carson for President? Sure hope not. Delete me!!
No. AT will not make its list available to any candidate or campaign. — Monte Sahlin, Executive Director, AT Foundation
As I say, I can’t wait for a debate between Carson and Hillary…
Not likely to be such a debate, George. Carson’s chances are slim and none. He is simply not qualified for the job, but this has not seem to make any difference in the last few elections.
America has opted more and more for irresponsible freedom when our pioneers set up a government based on responsible freedom. This was a parallel to God’s kingdom that has equally been abandon even by those who claim to represent His government.
America has lost its identity and the SDA church is doing the same. This is because the bible has been abandon to a large degree and now human speculation, philosophy and education has taken the place of clear bible mandates.
Carson has some good ideas, but will never find acceptance over all in the American political scene and agenda.
The US is, and always has been, a very loose federation of conflicting oligarchs and religious zealots. It was only ever half a Christian nation at best/worst. Still looks like the same identity to me. The church was born in and to a great extent reflects these conflicting agendas and approaches to life.
Carson’s problem is that even if he does display the degree of crazy required to get the nomination, Appalachia and the deep south would never vote for him. There’s not enough swing states to overcome that.
Carson, gave a good incisive talk at the famous Prayer Breakfast and made good points. He should have stuck with promoting some of his ideas rather than promoting himself. He will *not* win the nomination in my view and should gracefully bow out.
Maranatha
Quite easy for us to see into the future, yet we can’t always agree on the past. Who would have predicted what happen to Daniel?
Is the Lord at work doing something here? Is He raising an awareness of Ben Carson so that in some way he may have some influence at “such a time as this?”
It is the Lord that set’s up “kings” and removes them. Let’s be in prayer about this. The potential for benefit and damage to our work is significant as a result of the publicity. The coverage for the church of Mitt Romney was only positive and quite so at that.
Perhaps there are things we can all learn from Ben Carson when it comes to getting along with each other and working together regardless of our view of politics.
We don’t need Carson’s influence. He has “foot in mouth” disease only a little worse than his naivete and never having held political office. He will be chewed up and spit out of he dares to enter the race.
There is no Reagan in the entire group of approimately 16 and counting. Wisconsin is heavily in debt and Walker has cut too far on education there. Cruz has some “splainin’ to offer as he was born in Canada, it as never been tested before if a presidential candidate must be native born (his mother was a U.S. citizen then).
Jeb Bush continues to try to separate from his previous dynasty, but is rather weak on foreign policy; his wife has also been reported to be a lavish spender.
Huckabee might get a few from the Bible Belt but is too far to the right; Republicans must be center to get votes and so far, they seem to be tilting to the right too far.
It will be an interesting contest to see who finally gets the “prize.”
Republicans in the center (aka RINOs) always lose: (Ford, GHW Bush, Dole, McCain, Romney). Only conservative Republicans who are obviously different from the others win the Presidency: (Nixon, Reagan, GW Bush).
This time, only God knows. Let Carson follow the Spirit’s leading in his life and watch what God may be doing before your eyes.
If God can use a donkey to do His bidding, then he also can use a conservative, black, Adventist neurosurgeon. We’ll just have to wait and see.
God may be able to use him, but the Bible Belt won’t hear of it.
I have voted Republican for Prez in every election since I first voted for Nixon in 1972. Given the alternative, I wasn”t about to vote for a liberal Democrat. Looking forward to 2016 I don’t see one candidate who appeals me. To me both parties have been taken over by the wingnuts. The Dems are led by the current leftwing nut, our emperor, oops I mean Prez, Obama. The GOP is led by rightwing nuts like Ted Cruz, and other fellow wannabies, including Dr. Ben Carson.
Where have all the moderates and voices of reason gone?? Former NYC mayor Rudy Gulinani is about the only person on the national political scene who I could get excited about. But he is not running. He will be 72 next year, one year younger than John McCain was in 2008. If he did decide to throw his hat into the ring, he would have about as much difficulty getting the GOP nomination, as Joe Liberman did the Dems, when he ran.
It’s time for these two men to join forces and run together on an Independent third party ticket.
Have just been reading about Joseph in Egypt. Maybe God is preparing Ben Carson for an important position in government. President? Surgeon General? Ambassador somewhere?
Amen to the comments by Allen and Dan! It seems that Adventists frequently know more about what someone else should do than what they should do themselves. Let Dr. Carson do what the Holy Spirit is leading him to do and stop being his judge.
Agreed. We’re too often so self-confident in our imagined knowledge about what God is doing that we’re blind to what He wants us to do. All this discussion reminds me of Mordecai’s question, “Who knows but what you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 NIV).
Let Dr Carson have his day, promoting integrity,
faith, and family. He will not be elected, doubt he will be in the top 3 nominees. Rebub’s will not elect another Black, at this time, because they are greatly incensed with the current potus believing he has run circles around current Congress, and usurping the U.S. Constitution. He would definitely be a great Surgeon General candidate.
Your article reported that Dr. Carson received support from 18% of those participating in the CPAC annual conference but did not share how many were actually in attendance.
You also mentioned that Dr. Carson is a devout Seventh Day Adventist. To me that means that you also possess a Christ-like character, that others see Christ in and through you. Christ would never tear someone down to build themselves up and that is exactly what I heard Dr. Carson do to the President of the United States of America before this same group on another occassion. I was totally disappointed because I expected so much more from him. We can disagree without character assassination. I think that Dr. Carson knowingly endeared himself with CPAC by giving them just what they wanted.
I don’t believe Dr. Carson is ready to hold political office, I don’t believe that he will be elected President of the United States of America, and I would not vote for him. Dr. Carson is not the “most admired” and would be well advised to present his opposition in a way that is more Christ-like, and sets him apart from the others.
Caramel325. i must disagree with your belief that
Dr Carson performed surgery on Pres. Obama’s character. The good doctor did not prevaricate. Every thing he said was true of this Pres. The manner of operation of this potus, in the White House, has been more on the order of a dictator than a Pres. He deserved every arrow shot his way.
He isn’t a god, but he acts like a despotic Monarch. He has assumed privilege beyond the Presidential mandate. He and his appointed hacks, ie: the Attorney Gen. Holder, as well as several ISLAMIC appointments to his inner circle in the White House is a disgrace to the U.S. Constitution, as to the advice he receives and enacts. The saving grace “should be” the Repubs
controlling Congress & Senate may prevent the Pres. from declaring Martial Law, but don’t count on this sorry crew to maintain Freedom in the USA. Both political parties are absolutely corrupt.
Always interesting to kick around politics, though I really don’t see how one’s religious affiliation has or should have any impact unless their religious beliefs would impair their ability or will to support the Constitution and laws of this country.
Personally, I have always been very impressed by Marco Rubio’s intelligence, passion, candor and maturity. Undeclared candidates like Carly Fiorino and Ben Carson are running for vice-president.
Carson’s is an important voice that is in a unique position to effectively challenge the metanarratives of identity politics. But he probably less qualified to be President or Vice President than many of us conversing on this thread. Nevertheless, without stepping on the national stage of presidential politics, I’m not sure how he could make his voice heard.
His is a compelling story that that vindicates the values he espouses. He appears to be a person of integrity. Whether he is an SDA or a devout SDA should be of zero consequence, except for one issue: how will he reconcile the duties of POTUS with his belief in Sabbath sacredness? I could not vote for an SDA for president unless I was persuaded that he/she would, despite Sabbath convictions, be willing to rescue the many oxen that inevitably fall in the nation’s ditches on Sabbaths.
Nathan:
I have similar questions; how would an SDA President, devout or not, address his politically necessary meetings with the Pope? Would he always be cognizant of how his actions might be fulfillment of prophecy and would that affect his decisions? But I am sure that Joseph was fully aware of how his situation was a fulfillment of the prophecies given to him as a little boy and he was able to do the right thing, including rescuing the proverbial oxen, whenever necessary.
He would meet him as an equal Head of State. He would’t discuss religion. Doing business as Pres.
would entail 24/7 on duty. Obviously if the patient
is sick, it is a reason to perform.But on the question of Banquets and Golf on the Sabbath is between him and the LORD.
Today he has been quoted all over the news by saying prison relationships show that homosexuality is clearly a choice. Ben Carson may have been a good surgeon, but unfortunately he appears to also be an ill informed, science denying right wing plebe. I realize many on this forum will disagree with me since the SDA clan tends to attract those of similar thinking. Be that as it may, it will not change my mind on Carson. I agree with Nate that Rubio at least appears to be intelligent.