Glenn Beck's "pure personal truth," Part 1 [Real Mormonism]

Here Glenn Beck goes again, claiming he's a Christian, this time at Restoring Courage 2011 — Jerusalem. Glenn gets upset when anyone questions his Christianity. That's weird because he's a Mormon who affirms the official teaching of Mormonism aka the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The LDS outright deny many of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Moreover, LDS doctrine contradicts what Scripture teaches. So of course there are Christians who feel Beck's not a true follower of Jesus Christ — not the Jesus of the Bible anyway. When his "I'm a Christian" claim is held up to scrutiny Glenn gets his knickers in a knot. At the rally he choked up with emotion and said in an accusatory tone that only Christians question his salvation.

People are wondering, and rightly so, how a Mormon in good standing can also be an evangelical. I mean, Glenn has no plans to leave his church any time soon. Sure, that could change — and hopefully it will. But right now his wagon is hitched to the LDS and he's in it for the long haul.

What many people fail to understand is that Mormonism is a religion. It is not the same religion as Christianity, not even close, yet they say they're Christians. Take the time to study their Doctrine and Covenants and you'll find their beliefs are very different from historic, orthodox Christianity, especially when it comes to the essentials of the faith. Undeniably Mormons have high moral standards as do Christians. Mormons are right up there with evangelicals and Catholics in fighting the culture war. They oppose abortion on demand, same-sex "marriage" and have many of the same cultural concerns as other people of faith do. One thing's for sure: When it comes to fighting the culture war Mormons put their money where their mouth is, whereas a large number of evangelicals and Catholics are more prone to let sleeping dogs lie.

— After you become a good Mormon, you have the potential of becoming a god, (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 345-347, 354).

— The Trinity is three separate gods, (James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 35).

— God the Father has a body of flesh and bones, (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22).

— God is married to his goddess wife and has spirit children, (Mormon Doctrine p. 516)

The Bible does not teach any of this! It's what the founder of Mormonism Joseph Smith and Mormon prophets taught. What does Scripture really teach? Matt explains:

Christianity, which is based on the Bible, says there is only one God (Isa. 43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5); that God is a Trinity of persons, not three gods; that God has always been God (Psalm 90:2); that God knows of no other gods (Is. 44:8); that you cannot become a god (Isa. 43:10); and that God is spirit (John 4:24). This contradicts Mormonism. Therefore, Mormonism is not biblical, and not Christian. If Glen Beck holds to the teachings listed above, then he is not Christian.

All of this begs the question: Why do evangelical leaders choose to team up with a Mormon? More specifically why did historian David Barton of Wall Builders, Attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Mike Evans of Jerusalem Prayer Team, and Pastor John Hagee join Glenn at the Restoring Courage rally?

California megachurch pastor Jim Garlow said, "I have interviewed persons who have talked specifically with Glenn about his personal salvation — persons extremely well known in Christianity — and they have affirmed (using language evangelicals understand), 'Glenn is saved,'" Garlow reported. "He understands receiving Christ as savior." (Online source)

David Barton stunned the audience when he went on Live TV and told host Randy Robison (here) that just because Beck attends a Mormon church "doesn't say anything about his personal relationship with Jesus." Which Jesus? The counterfeit Jesus of Mormonism or the Jesus of the Bible? Barton worries that "a lot of people judge Glenn on the label, he's Mormon." He wants us to ignore the Mormon label, says he doesn't care about the label. The host probed: "You believe he's a Christian in every sense of the word?" Without flinching Barton replied, "I do. I have literally watched him pray and hear from the Lord and turn on a dime." He thinks Glenn is hearing from the God of the Bible...but is he, really?

I have a challenge for David Barton: Read Glenn's book The Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life co-authored with Dr. Keith Ablow. In the book he lays out his "pure personal truth." (In part 2 I'll shed light on Glenn's view of "truth.")

The Lord Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:3, 5, 7, 8, 1 Peter 1:3) to qualify as a Christian. Muslims do not believe Jesus was God, they believe He was the last prophet sent by God. They respect him as much as they respect Abraham, Moses and Muhammad. Are Muslims Christians? No. New Agers are pantheists. For them God is all, all is God. They hold that "Jesus was a highly evolved man who realized his inner divinity — the Christ Consciousness — demonstrating that all men could achieve this." Are they Christians? No.

Recently Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, wrote an article to show his support for Restoring Courage. "So it came to pass," said Klayman who is an evangelical, "that Glenn pulled off a magnificent spectacle, bringing Christians and Jews from all parts of the globe together to show their courage in supporting Israel." (Online source) Glenn also brought many Mormons. Why did Klayman not mention them? If Beck was a Muslim would he have left that out of his article? No, he wouldn't have. What he probably would have said was, "Glenn pulled off a magnificent spectacle, bringing Muslims, Christians and Jews from all parts of the globe together..." Surely Klayman would have included "Muslim" if a Muslim organized and hosted the rally!

Giving Larry Klayman the benefit of the doubt, he probably thinks Mormons are Christians because they have a habit of saying they are. It doesn't help that Christian luminaries such as Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Bishop Harry Jackson who presides over one of the largest African American churches on the East coast and Jim Garlow (referred to above) stood with him at his 2010 rally in Washington D.C. and as I mentioned earlier, other noted evangelicals stood with him in Israel. These men don't seem to have a problem with the fact that even though Glenn says he's a Christian he remains a member of the LDS Church. As a matter of fact, the tour company he recommended to those attending his big shindig is owned by Mormons. Jack Kinsella went to the Israel event and claims this is something he concealed. In a piece he wrote Stolen Blessings: The LDS Connection he says LDS Travel is "identical in every respect to Voyager Travel, except that LDS Travel makes it clear that it is a Latter Days Saints Church operation." Jack was irked that sincere Christians that took Glenn's advice to use Voyager Travel inadvertently contributed to the advancement of Mormonism.

After all the brouhaha over whether or not Glenn Beck is a Christian I do hope our Christian leaders, some of whom are clergy, others attorneys, will not just take his word for it. I hope they'll dig deep into LDS doctrine to find out what Mormons believe. The Bible warns:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try [test] the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1John 4:1)

Believers must test to see if LDS teaching is true or false. For example, do the Latter-day Saints really teach that God has a body of flesh and bones as Matt Slick claimed? Let's visit the LDS Gospel Library Gospel Topics to see if it's true or false:

God the Father is the Supreme Being in whom we believe and whom we worship. He is the ultimate Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. He is perfect, has all power, and knows all things. He "has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (D&C 130:22). (Bold added.)

No doubt some Beck fans will be annoyed that I'm "attacking" their hero. I hope you're annoyed enough to research Mormonism (links below) and to go and look at Scripture to see if what I'm saying here is true.

I must digress for a moment to explain why I'm writing a piece on Glenn Beck. Some of the subjects I cover in my column are politics, the culture war, and religion which include the cults, the occult, and a potpourri of aberrant movements within Christianity. My aim is to unearth unbiblical teaching and bring it to light. The reason I do it is because there's a stunning lack of discernment in Christendom that I find deeply troubling.

For many years I was one of those Christians who blazed my own trail. My belief system was decidedly New Age but I called myself a Christian nonetheless. My worldview was anything but Christian, I was a New Age/gnostic/mystic/mess. I professed Christ, yet I rarely read the Bible and when I did I'd find fault in most of what I read. When my Christian mother challenged me on my goofy beliefs I'd snap back, "You believe what you want I'll believe what I want!" And I believed what I wanted for decades! I won't go into all that was wrong with my beliefs now. I'll just say that I was a very eclectic "Christian." And that's mainly because I was influenced by my friends, most of whom were not Christians, and also by the postmodern culture I grew up in. My mother's death and a nasty divorce were the two events that caused me to reassess my life.

Providentially God put me in a job where I met and became friends with true believers. My new friends challenged my esoteric beliefs and urged me to read the works of conservative Christian theologians, philosophers and apologists. They also urged me to find a church, read the Bible and get involved in a Bible study. I took their advice.

Realizing its serious business to be a follower of Jesus Christ, I spent most of my free time trying to sort out what I believed and why I believed it. One of the first books I read was Ray C. Stedman's Authentic Christianity. What an eye-opener that was! Then I moved on to John White's The Cost of Commitment and other books by White. But the book that shook me to my core was R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God. I highly recommend it.

I also read books on the New Age movement (NAM) written by Christian authors who warned of its dangers. I devoured Kingdom of the Cults by Dr. Walter Martin. There's no doubt reading his books and listening to his audio tapes gave me insight into the cults and the occult.

So, why am I sharing my personal journey? I want readers to know where I'm coming from and why I'm committed to exposing false teachers. When I bring to light false teaching/ teachers/ preachers/church leaders, what Jesus called "ravenous wolves," I do it for one simple reason: Wolves influenced my thinking for many years and the unbiblical beliefs I held prevented me from maturing in my faith.

One of my HUGE regrets is that I influenced those around me with all the New Age/gnostic/pagan/psychobabble I was into. I mean, why not? The beliefs I latched onto seemed right for everyone! (Sounds like Oprah, doesn't it?) In < a href="http://www.emailbrigade.com/331.html">The Purpose Driven dismantling of Christianity, part 1 I call this sort of Christianity "syncretism stew," which is Christianity plus... paganism...mysticism... new revelation...signs & wonders...Jungian psychology...man-centered self-esteem... Twelve-steps...universalism (all roads lead to God)... and, thanks to Rick Warren, global peace. This concoction may sound nourishing, but it causes spiritual malnutrition!

Those who believe God enlightens some and not others and that they have some sort of secret knowledge have been drawn into the heresy that the early church faced and defeated, namely gnosticism. Once again the Gnostic Gospel has reared its ugly head.

Christianity never has been nor is it now meant to be some sort of esoteric experience. And besides, going down that road leads to spiritual pride. Authentic Christianity entails a daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to his commands. (John 14:15) It is that simple. The only way we can truly know God is through what He has revealed to us in the Bible. If the Bible is not true, if it is just a book of myths and fables as some say it is, if it's not the way God reveals who He is and His ways to us anyone can claim to have the indisputable truth about God.

Quote from LDS.org: And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God [LDS], and the other is the church of the devil [Christendom]; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. 1 Nephi, 14:10 Book of Mormon

Quote from LDS.org: LDS Church President Lorenzo Snow expressed the nature of the Father in his couplet, "As man is, God once was — and as God is, man may become."

[A]s the Agent of the Father and Judge of all, Christ is able to be both merciful and just (John 5:22; Romans 2:16). To obtain His mercy, or be saved from His wrath, or indigation [sic], on the day of judgment, men and women must (1) have faith in Christ, (2) repent of their sins, (3) be baptized by one of His authorized agents in water in the likeness of His burial, to come forth born again of the Spirit, (4) receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, again by an authorized servant of God bearing His priesthood, and (5) endure in faith in Christ and repentance from sins to the end of their mortal lives. (Online Source)

The nature of that body...will depend on the result of the Last Judgment, at which Jesus will assign each soul to one of three degrees of glory (heavenly kingdoms): the celestial kingdom in the presence of the Father and the Son for those who accept Jesus Christ and receive all LDS saving ordinances, either as a mortal or by proxy; the terrestrial kingdom, a place of glory in the presence of Christ for righteous persons who refuse to receive the saving ordinances and for those who do not keep the covenants they commit to; and the telestial kingdom for the wicked. A further destination, called outer darkness, is reserved for Satan, his devils, and those mortals who commit the unpardonable sin and thereby become the sons of perdition.[61] Those who are ultimately destined for the telestial kingdom will be those who suffer for their sins in hell; however, these persons remain in hell only the 1000 years during the millennial reign of Christ, after which they will exit hell and be resurrected with an immortal body into a state of peace. (Online Source)

I don’t really care, this is about us not him.

It is our behavior and actions that are taking place here, we need to be concerned about ourselves before we concern ourself with him.

Ask yourself, Would Jesus do this? Would he engage in this forum and celibate with glee or would he advise us to look at ourselves first.

John 8:7

At the rally he choked up with emotion and said in an accusatory tone that only Christians question his salvation.
_______________________________________________

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

appears that Beck has no answers

or no hope to speak of...

and tears of rage instead of gentleness and respect...

all was done correctly by the Christians who questioned...

Ok, how do you know that Jesus would not use the Internet as a mode of communication? Personally I think He would be in SLC calling out the lds leaders and calling them blasphemers.
Paul would there preaching and people would riot.
You apparently have a very timid view of Jesus, why I do not understand. He said what needed to be said went it needed to be said. He never held back because someone might be offended. Sometimes the Word of God is offensive, why do you think the pharisees were angry all the time, they were offened by Jesus’ preaching.
What I am trying to figure out is why are you appear to be offended?
If Beck (and I believe he is) is interjecting a false Gospel into everything he is doing, Beck must be called on that and the momonISM must be examined at the same time.
It is not possible to explain to people what Beck is doing, if his name is never mentioned.
Jesus and His brethren called people by name frequently.
As a side note, for me it is irritating that you claim to know nothing of mormonISM but have spent so much of your time defending it under the guise of “no names please”.
And again, we are given authority to judge people/things according to the Word of God, we are to call out false doctrine and prophets. What we cannot do is judge a persons heart.

I appreciate that you are concerned about proper Christian behavior....I really do. However, as others have pointed out, I don’t find it sinful to rebuke the teachings of mormonism. Jesus commanded his followers to spread the gospel and to be wary of false teachers.

I never judged Beck’s soul or have stated anything hateful about him personnally. I have only pointed out that his statements and book proclaim unChristian doctrine, so he should’nt be viewed as a spiritual leader.

You seem so worried about maintaining the proper decorum and tone of this thread, but you don’t seem worried at all about false teachings. You have also stated you doubt whether some of us are true believers. Why don’t you give us the benefit of the doubt - instead, you don’t want any statement made about Beck, which I find strange.

Let’s assume you’re actually interested in carrying on a discussion.

First indicate where I have expressed any “resentful hate”? Let’s get the ad hominems out of the way if they’re so essential in establishing your pov.

Second, I’m an ex-mormon. I have been married to a mormon for over 20 years, our son is being raised in the mormon church, I still affiliate with many mormons, in Scouting, at work and in some social settings. Does that earn me enough qualifications to have leave to speak of mormonism?

Third, have I posted anything that is untrue or have I attacked Beck? I’ve been posting about the church, and what it is that Beck is tacitly supporting even though I’ve acknowledged that he may be personally ignorant of it. There’s nothing “bad” about being ignorant, it just means you don’t know.

No argument with the premise of Beck’s show. I don’t recall ever saying so either.

What gives you leave to label someone who disagrees with a doctrine that is attempting to co-opt Christianity as a “hater”? Are you not guilty of “hating” because you disagree with us? See how easy, yet completely unproductive this can be?

If you want to discuss something, come sit at the grown up table and quit calling people names because you don’t have any other ammo in your pouch.

Because someone who believes in Jesus Christ would have immediately accepted the observation that Jesus wouldn’t have engaged in this forum.
______________________________________

Have you read the posts ???

the LORD Jesus Christ is all the way through this thread...

Here He is again...

The LORD Jesus Christ said to dila, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man or woman comes to the father except by me.” (The LORD Jesus Christ, John 14:6)

To the Christians in this thread He says,

“Where two or three are gathered in My name there am I, in the midst of them.” (The LORD Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:20)

If you dont think the LORD Jesus Christ is here, you dont know Him...

“I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.” (The LORD Jesus Christ, Matthew 28:20b)

I don’t see any gleeful celebrations

I see false teaching and false christs being uncovered

WWJD - besides his scathing rebuke of the scribes and pharasees? Or whips driving the money changers out? Or saying “depart from me I never knew you”.

So afraid of ‘judging’ - you fail to follow his other commands (John 7:24). Refusing to judge heretical doctrines is to be negligent in a crucial aspect of our Christian calling.

Funny you cite only one verse out of context, perhaps you need to study further eh? Let me help you some more.

Jude 3-4: “...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

II Tim. 4:2 “...Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.”

I Cor. 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things…”

I Tim. 5:20 “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”

Amos 5:15 “Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate...”

Phil. 3:17-18 “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”

Eph. 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

John the Baptist judged (Matt. 3:7), Paul judged (Acts 13:10), Stephen judged (Acts 7:51), Jesus judged (Mark 11:15), David judged (Psalm 139:19-24), (Also read Jude 23, I John 4:1, James 4:4).

WWJD indeed!

Since it is not possible for you to know my back ground and my interest in historical prospective, I'll let your comment slide.
Jesus was a militant in the Spiritual sense. He was not as you apparently want Him to be weak. He is the Son of God. He had a mission. He carried it out.
Jesus knew what needed to be done and He did it. He and His brethren all paid a physical price for their words. Jesus with stood torture and the Cross for what He did. (Thank you Jesus) Your weak Jesus could not have done that.
I actually feel sorry for you that you have apparently relegated Jesus to a meek and insignifate looking and acting figure.
All the brethren who followed Jesus had different styles of preaching and spreading the Good News. If you choose to be meek and unoffensive then fine that is your style, my style is more the style of John the Baptist and Paul.
I am done now. There is little point in continuing a conversation with you.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.