I received several copies of a letter yesterday. I’m still struggling with this is many ways. It was authored by a fellow that I have a great deal of respect for as a man, and as a Christian leader in America. The letter covered this man's thoughts on the faith of radio talk show host and Fox News favorite, Glenn Beck. This discussion has come up often, and seems to be all the buzz in the Christian realm right now. I have consternating over this for some time, and having formed an opinion, feel it necessary today to weigh in on my thoughts.
I’m not drinking the Glenn Beck Christian Kool-Aid.
Don't get me wrong, I love Glenn Beck, he's a heck of a nice guy. But there is much confusion here that needs to be addressed with regards to his Mormon faith.
- What if any other known Mormon walked up to your door and started telling you about their love for Jesus?
- What if any other self-confessed Mormon told you about their ‘conversion’ to Jesus?
- What if any other Mormon started professing their love for family, conservative points of view and their “Christian” world-view?
At the very least you’d be suspect. And the first thing you’d have to ask is this: Which Jesus do you love, the Mormon Jesus or the Jesus that is the Son of the Living God, and not the brother of Satin? Glenn Beck has not revealed this that I know of. I have watched several interviews and dozens of programs and videos. The definition of Jesus is conspicuously missing from all of them.
I am as conservative as they come; most of you know that by now. Politically, socially, Glenn Beck speaks my language. I LOVE what Glenn Beck is doing for this country politically. Religiously, I am afraid.
Glenn Beck is a Mormon. In case we have forgotten, Mormonism is a heretical cult that leads people away from the true God by awful deceit. The main goal of the Mormon Church is to get people to believe that they are in fact a Christian church when in fact they are not, and what’s worse is that they know it and design their proselytizing specifically to combat that truth! Are we going to stop preaching that Mormonism is a cult because Glenn Beck speaks Christian-ese?
Have we forgotten that Mormonism exists because God told Joseph Smith the founder of the Mormon religion that,
“…all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt..." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 5-6). Mormonism exists because it proclaims itself that orthodox Christianity is false. The initial goal of Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was to purposely set itself apart from accepted orthodox Christianity. In other words, Mormonism purposely separated itself from orthodox Christianity, not the other way around. Now however, because the world has been made wise to their doctrine, the Mormon church is doing all it can to make everyone believe that they ARE a Christian church in direct opposition to their own tenets and founding beliefs. I wish they’d make up their minds, because it is confusing a lot of people, including apparently Glenn Beck.
Fruit? What real fruit does Glenn Beck have? If any, it is all questionable by having been tainted by the root of a false religion. There are a lot of trees out there that produce some really beautifully looking and wonderfully smelling fruit that is absolutely poisonous and will kill you when you eat it. Jim Jones loved families and Jesus too. Joseph Smith claimed to have a real conversion and love Jesus as well…
Until Glenn Beck comes out and says,
“I love the Jesus of the bible, and do not believe the Mormon doctrine that Jesus is a created being and the brother of Satin”, he is doing nothing but spitting lies and deceit, and spreading false information about our Savior. Period. Of course if he does that than he will no longer be a Mormon. I will give you the possibility that perhaps Glenn Beck is doing this out of shear ignorance of true Christianity, but the chance is very slim. More on that later.
But here me out first. I love Glenn Beck. I hope that Glenn Beck’s love for Jesus is REAL, TRUE and sincere, and not rooted in Mormonism to the point where he is worshipping a false God. His confessions and conversions mean nothing if this is not the TRUE Jesus, the Second person of the Triune Godhead, not created, but Eternal Son of God. Belief in any other Jesus is a false belief in a false deity that can do nothing more for him with regards to his salvation than the microphone that he speaks into every day.
So his bosom burns, so what. Take a Tums® – but don’t call yourself a Mormon and go on TV and radio trying to convince the Christian population in America that Mormonism is the same as historical orthodox Christianity. Because it is not! It is wrong to do so, and it is deceiving people towards Hell – The REAL Hell. As far as I know, Mr. Beck has yet to explain or define Jesus, and I’m not ready to assume that he’s on the right track. Would you assume that from any other Cult member? If he really is, why does he continue to promote his Mormonism over a belief in Orthodox Christianity?
More simply, do you honestly think he’s never investigated this?? The differences between orthodox Christian churches and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? To do so would conclude that he does not know that there are differences, and clearly this cannot be true. Thinking that Glenn Beck is not aware that his church’s doctrinal teaching is that 'Jesus' is a created being and the brother to Satan - after more than 10 years of regular attendance at a Mormon Church, is the same as saying Barak Obama was unaware that the Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a Marxist bigot and hater of America!
Listen, Glenn is no dummy. Either he is a Mormon, or he is a Christian. You can be a born-again Christian and go to a Mormon church if you so choose, just the same as you can be a born-again Christian and go to a Catholic church as well. But IF you are a Christian and go to a Mormon church, you are not a Mormon by their own definition; not just our definition, but theirs as well! Remember, this is about Jesus. Is Glenn Beck a Mormon or a Christian? – You can’t be both. You can be a Christian that goes to a Mormon church, but you can’t be an Orthodox Christian and an ‘orthodox’ Mormon at the same time.
And here’s the real kicker for me: – If you are a true believer in the true Jesus, then sooner or later, you have to come out against EVERYTHING that teaches against Jesus or teaches a false Jesus or flies in the face of biblical dogmatic, orthodox Christianity… including the Mormon Church.
If you are a true born-again believer in the real Jesus Christ with a Salvational understanding of Jesus and the gospel, why would continue to attend a Cult? PLEASE - do not tell me it is for the reason of proselytizing. Paul did not become a member of a polytheistic cult in order to reach the people he was preaching to. Jesus did not have to become a prostitute to teach a prostitute that it was wrong and to bring her to true repentance and conversion. This logic is exposed as false in the case with Glenn Beck. He has no need to stay within the Mormon Church to covert those people to true Christianity, because he already believes that they are true Christians! That’s the point he tries to make every day on his radio and TV shows. This message seems to be elf defeating and should be seen as such by all those real Christians who believe that Glenn Beck he is a born-again believer.
Only God knows his heart. I do not. In the mean time, what we have is one man with the power of the media behind him, thrust before our American Christian community rallying to the cry of a Mormon who’s beliefs (if he truly is Mormon) are HERETICAL, in the name of Christianity. We are allowing this man to blur the line between the real Jesus and the Jesus of the Mormons. It is a very real danger.
In the end, this discussion is not about Glenn Beck, it's about what Glenn Beck is doing to Christian America. I had a question for God not too long ago. It had to deal with a decision that a good brother had to make. This man is a man of God, and lover of Jesus. He was at a cross-roads in his life and was confused as to what he should do, and asked that I pray for him. I did, and this is what the Lord gave me:
1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
This discussion is approaching everywhere. Many people are talking about it. The Mormons love it. Conservative Christians cringe at the thought. Those in the middle, and those who are seeking a new or renewed relationship with Jesus are confused. Christianity is not confusing. It is lovingly simple.
Glenn I love you, but you are causing a nation full of confusion. And before we can be brothers, just answer one question for me:
Who is Jesus?
Mormons’ theology is based on First Century Christianity, not Fourth Century Creeds. For example, Mormon’s views on Baptism, Lay Ministry, the Trinity, Theosis, Grace vs. Works, the Divinity of Jesus Christ comport more closely with Early Christianity than any other denomination. And Mormons’ teenagers have been judged to “top the charts” in Christian Characteristics by a UNC-Chapel Hill study. Read about it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://MormonsAreChristian.blogspot.com
Glenn may not subscribe to the Fourth Century Creeds, but he does believe in the New Testament Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, I am afraid it is you that is confused as to what a Christian is. I ask you, what un-Christian principle has Glenn asked anyone to follow? On his radio or TV shows, Glenn does not ask anyone to talk to Mormons or go to a Mormon Church or read a Book of Mormon. What is so un-Christian about asking Christians to be more active in the exercise of their own faiths? How is it that his absence of public promotion of his faith confusing to orthodox Christians? Glenn called for people to turn to God.. not the Mormon God or the Baptist God or Catholic God or Jewish God or Muslim God or one of the other 30,000 other sects' God. He just asks to turn to God. So what is so confusing to you about that. Glenn didn't ask which God you believe in. He just asked you to turn to him. Now if this is confusing to some Christians, I have to wonder. Are they confused because they don't know which God Glenn wants them to turn to... Or is it really because, that these self proclaiming Christians have not turned to God in so long have they forgotten where to look? You claim that Glenn is "causing a nation full of confusion". I submit that the nation was already confused but it has taken someone like Glenn to make it public knowledge. You say that you are "religiously afraid" of what Glenn is doing. I ask, why are you afraid of who or what someone else believes in? Your faith and that of "orthodox" Christians(whatever that means with thousands of sects) should not be so easily threatened simply because a Mormon asks you to focus on increasing your faith. Is this the measure that you would you to filter advice? If you are in church and some stranger runs in and yells, "Everyone! The church building is on fire you need to get out now!" Are you going to sit back and say, "Hey! Wait a minute! This guy is not a member of our congregation. Don't listen to him! We can just wait here until someone we know comes in and tells us what is really going on!" Of course not, it would be ludicrous. In the story, the stranger doesn't tell people where to go but that they aren't safe staying where they are. If they are confused as to where to go is it the strangers' fault. The same is true for Glenn. He shouldn't have to tell you WHICH God to turn to.. You and ALL Christians should already know... and what could be so scary about that?
ReplyDeleteExcellent response Daniel, and thanks for participating. Sure Glenn Beck talks about God, and Jesus, and salvation and all sorts of good Christian things. But what you have to remember is that HIS god, and HIS Jesus are NOT the God of the bible and the Jesus that is the only begotten Son of God. Therein lies the danger.
ReplyDeleteLots of lost people say and do good Christian things. Doing good does not make one a Christian. Telling others to do good does not make one a Christian. You said that "I" am the one confused. Sure, I have already admitted that. But the confussion is not in the God I believe in, but the God that Glann believes in.
In Mormonism, their "god" lives on the planet Kolob in a far away land. Jesus is the half brother of Satin of all people, and the only reason that Jesus is our savior, is because His plan fo redemption for the inhabitants of this planet was better than the one posed by Satin before the "Counsel of the Gods". Mormonism is so far from Christianity that it is not even in the same universe of discussion.
The danger, as stated, is that GB will talk all day about God and Jesus and doing good things and unsuspsecting Christians and seekers of the real God will fall for his Christian words with different definitions and become victims of a Cult, all the while thinking that they are loving the real God of the bible and not some made-up farsical being that lives on the imaginary planet called Kolob.
Your arguments about rushing to save the burning building is absurd. No where did I say don't do good. All I'm asking is Who is Glenn Beck's Jesus?? You can;t answer that question. Only Glenn Beck can.
Daniel, are you a Mormon??
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