Lou Engle, one of the looniest voices in the Christian right and a man who considers himself a prophet, has written a really weird, meandering screed to explain why he thinks God is telling him to vote for Mitt Romney. It all involves dreams and his imaginary friend “speaking to his heart” and other such nonsense. But he starts with this absurd statement:

My clear and pointed statement has been that I cannot vote for anyone who by legal decree supports the shedding of innocent blood, believing such a vote would make me an accomplice to the act.

So that applies to those who start wars too, right? Because lots of innocent people die in every war. No? I didn’t think so. You only care about fetuses, not real people — especially if they’re dark-skinned people in another country. Fuck them. Somewhere in the middle of this rambling diatrie, he finally gets to this:

At about this time of crisis in my own thought processes, my closest friend (and a true prophet in my life) had a compelling dream concerning Romney’s viability as a candidate. In the dream, Romney was clearly favorable from a divine perspective. After this, the substance of my friend’s dream was immediately confirmed by another prophetic encounter from another well known prophetic voice. Now hear me, this election is not about Romney being the great answer to America’s problems. Rather, these prophetic experiences seemed to indicate that Romney was a sort of window of mercy to America on several fronts, but chiefly the dividing of Jerusalem. The thought of protecting that ancient covenantal bond of God shifted my paradigm dramatically. I found myself having to peer into another biblical principle that I heretofore had not pondered with the same intensity as I had the life issue. As I sought the Lord concerning these various biblical truths and prophetic words, it was as if a light began to shine into my heart. I sensed the Lord saying, Will you stand with Me in my covenantal faithfulness? Will you stand for my ancient covenant with My people? A deep abiding “yes” began to conquer my arguments… With that said, I am declaring my best, personal understanding of the Lord ‘s heart in this hour: that in this election, America ‘s future is on dangerous ground, facing judgment not only over abortion and other key issues, but most definitely over the high possibility of breaking faith with God’s covenant with Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and His covenant people. President Obama has publicly called for the return of the land of Jerusalem and Israel to the pre-1967 boundaries. I can’t go there. I won’t. My heart had been opened to another great theme: The Life of the unborn has called me and God ‘s covenant to the Jewish people restrains me. I am voting for Romney.

And his vote, based on such completely irrational grounds, counts the same as mine.