Glenn Beck.
The name in and of itself polarizes. HuffPo readers hate him, Daily Show writers mock him, and most of the red states wish he would run for political office.
On the left, many have accused him of flip-flopping, fake crying, and general demagoguery. On the right, he is considered the male version of Sarah Palin: A god-fearing, plainspoken, defender of truth and righteousness, in all its forms.
Of late, he has been making live appearances under the banner of “American Revival”. If one didn’t know any better, one might mistake it for a real revival. After all, this meeting has all the the trappings of an outdoor evangelistic crusade: Throngs of people, music, and an impassioned call to return to God(whatever your conception of the Almighty might be.). Look behind him. There, in all it’s auspicious glory is the armor of God, detailed in a lovely, chalk-on-blackboard fresco:
Beck is speaking of personal suffering (He may lose his sight within the next year. This is sad, regardless of your opinions regarding Mr. Beck.) He makes an impassioned plea for God to return to public life.
Unfortunately, it’s a form of godliness without any power. It also comes draped in the American flag. Beck’s “gospel” doesn’t save. Rather, it advocates the salvation and moral cleansing of a nation, and a return to the God and values that made this country great. I cannot disagree with the need for National repentance. Glenn does a massively wonderful job of muddying the water when it comes to whom repentance is due, and why.
If his cries sound “Christian”, it’s because Mr. Beck is an adherent of Mormonism, and an ex-Catholic. When he speaks of accepting the atonement (whose atonement, how it was accomplished, and what it was for is never mentioned), he’s speaking of the LDS position on atonement.
One of the Mormon positions on atonement is that Jesus’ sacrifice couldn’t quite cut it:
“One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation,” (Miracle of Forgiveness, by Spencer W. Kimball, p. 206).
Jesus’ sacrifice was not able to cleanse us from all our sins, (murder and repeated adultery are exceptions), (Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, 1856, p. 247) -source: CARM
Mormonism definitely preaches a different Jesus than the one I know, through those teachings alone. If that wasn’t enough, then Glenn has his own version of what hell is, as well.
Hell is not a lake of burning fire. Nope. It’s the feeling of not being able to look God in the eye, because somehow, you have wronged him.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Beck is not at all out of step with the teachings of the Mormon church in this regard.
“Humanity will be grouped according to their works in three main divisions: Celestial (like the sun), Telestial (like the moon), Terrestrial (like the earth). Within each group there will be many gradations and divisions, until from the lowest to the highest in all groups there will be a series of gradually ascending glories. There can be no talk of a hell, except for the few ‘sons of Perdition,’ but undoubtedly the regret for lost opportunities will be keen among those in the lower degrees of glory.” (Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 226) – source: Mormonism Research Ministry
So, essentially, there are a very few that will actually be appointed a “hell”, rather, most of humanity will experience a lesser glory in eternity. Beck’s ideas are not inconsistent with this doctrine.
American Exceptionalism
To understand Beck’s “American Revival”, and why this is so important, you have to understand some basic Mormon doctrine. Many cults and/or heretical teachings have been born around the need for America to be “found” somewhere in the Bible.
While some have rightly noted this nation’s parallels with Egypt, Babylon, Sodom, and Gomorrah…others say we are the descendants of the scattered tribes of Israel – notably Herbert W. Armstrong, head of a cult known as the Worldwide Church of God, which later returned to orthodoxy as Grace Communion International-, or better yet, that God has made a new covenant with a another natural nation(as opposed to the spiritual nation that Christ created out of a covenant made available to all men-both Jew and Gentile-, through his death, burial and resurrection).
Mormonism posits that our Constitution, rather than an imperfect document, was divinely inspired, and by implication states that the Founders are the equivalent of the prophets and men that God chose to write the bible through:
According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood (Doctrine and Covenants 101:77-80). source: Mormon Beliefs
Not only is our Constitution a God-breathed document, but America is evidently the biblical Zion. Yes, Jesus will rule from the center of Zion: Independence, MO and Jerusalem in His coming thousand year reign on the earth…
Again, I quote from the Mormon Beliefs website:
Mormons believe that Christ will come again to rule and reign over the earth for one thousand years of peace. He will rule from two capitals: one in Jerusalem, the holy city; and one in Zion, which will be founded in America and which will also be a holy city. Zion’s center will be at Independence, Missouri.
There are others who have made this claim about cities in the US, notably John Alexander Dowie, who one-upped Smith by actually calling his town Zion City, Illinois. Of the two bad ideas, I believe Dowie’s was better.
Unconscious Agreement
While some Christians would wholeheartedly denounce such teachings if presented with them in the context of Mormonism, their deeds and speech regularly agree with such heresy.
For many American Christians, an acknowledgment of God is proof enough that a person is saved. In fact, you don’t even need that. You merely need subscribe to a Christian-ish world view. By their logic, all the commentators on Fox News are saved (other than Brit Hume, I find no evidence of this.)
Why else would I regularly hear them agreeing with Mr. Beck? He uses Christian terminology, speaks of Moses, the children of Israel, and talks about a need to return to God…what more do we need to know?
Well, for starters, there’s the issue of sin. Our national sins, according to the many “sermons” I have heard Mr. Beck preach, are those of being unfaithful to the Constitution.
We have not so much disobeyed God, as turned from the Founding Father’s original intents in our interpretation of the Constitution. We have let the Marxists, and the liberals take over government. People actually watch MSNBC. Out with that false prophet, Keith Olbermann!!!
Too often, in Christianity, we assume something the Bible does not teach: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. To paraphrase Churchill: “If Obama invaded hell, we would at least make a favorable mention of the Devil in the House and Senate.”
The Bible does teach in the words of Jesus, that:
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Matthew 12:30, KJV
We need not forget that Joseph Smith and Muhammad are equal enemies of the Cross: Both declare that Jesus is not capable of redeeming mankind. Both have founders who received extra-biblical revelations that supposedly supersede the Bible itself.
According to Paul, we are condemn any other gospel, whether it comes to us wearing a hijab and carrying a sword, via a white guy on a bike, or a nice fellow with a chalkboard on Fox News.
As my father always used to say (and it is not exclusive to him), “Just because it is a good thing, does not mean that it is a God thing.” Glenn Beck has done much to warn people about the wicked things going on in America, corruption in government, etc. For that I applaud him.
However, consciously or unwittingly, he has preached “another gospel”, where national salvation occupies the same pedestal as personal salvation. Americans need Jesus, not some vague entity referred to as The Great Spirit, The Lord, Providence, the Almighty, and/or God. They need the Jesus of biblical Christianity, not some undefinable, out there being with no more plausibility than the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Apart from the shedding of Jesus’ blood, there is no remission of sins, personal or otherwise-One drop is more than enough to atone for all sin, and cleanse all who believe on Him for salvation, despite the stand taken by the LDS:
11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:11-14
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Good insight. Well written. Thanks for speaking out, brother.