Like I said, Huckabee is not your man

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher who has surged in Iowa with evangelical Christian support, bristled Tuesday when asked if creationism should be taught in public schools.

Huckabee - who raised his hand at a debate last May when asked which candidates disbelieved the theory of evolution - asked this time why there is such a fascination with his beliefs.

"I believe God created the heavens and the Earth," he said at a news conference with Iowa pastors who murmured, "Amen."

"I wasn't there when he did it, so how he did it, I don't know," Huckabee said.

But he expressed frustration that he is asked about it so often, arguing with the questioner that it ultimately doesn't matter what his personal views are.

"That's an irrelevant question to ask me - I'm happy to answer what I believe, but what I believe is not what's going to be taught in 50 different states," Huckabee said. "Education is a state function. The more state it is, and the less federal it is, the better off we are."

The former Arkansas governor pointed out he has advocated for broad public school course lists that include the creative arts and math and science. Why, then, he asked, is evolution such a fascination?

In fact, religion seems to be more of an issue in the GOP Iowa caucuses with one month left before the voting.

In recent weeks, Huckabee has moved from the back of the pack in the state to challenge longtime leader Mitt Romney, who would be the first Mormon president. The race is now a dead heat, with the Iowa caucuses - the first contest in the nomination fight - set for Jan. 3. Christian evangelicals, by many estimates, make up anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent of Republicans who will attend the caucuses.

Earlier Tuesday in Newton, Iowa, Huckabee wouldn't say whether he thought Mormonism - rival Romney's religion - was a cult.

This is another reason for me to distrust Huckabee. A Christian is supposed to put God ahead of every other consideration. As the great Presbyterian theologian R.C. Sproul has observed confessing Christ is not about whether you take wine with dinner or wear makeup or dance. It is about telling the truth even when it costs you money (or points in a political race).

For a Christian to prevaricate on an issue so fundamental as the Gospel is unacceptable. The truth is that however nice Mormons are, however good a citizens they are, however conservative they are politically and however sound their positions are on social issues the Jesus of the Mormon religion is not the Jesus of the Bible and the way of salvation of the Mormon religion is not the way of salvation taught in the Bible.

Jesus said in Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Huckabees reaction to being asked about creationism and his refusal to call a cult a cult give evidence of a man who is ashamed of Christ and His words.

The true state of any professing Christian's soul is for God alone to decide however as Martin Luther said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battle fields besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

There is reason for anyone who wishes America to be led by a good Christian to look elswhere than Mike Huckabee.