National
Conservative commentator and Mormon "lightning rod" Glenn Beck's 8/28 "Restoring Honor" rally is now one for the history books. Easily a half-million people joined Beck on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C. this morning. My family and I gathered around my little Acer netbook with the eight inch screen and logged in to the Facebook broadcast of the event. Here are a few impressions I had about the rally and on what Beck achieved, both intentionally and unintentionally.
No matter what people tell you about Glenn Beck, he's the real thing. He isn't a put-on. He is a believer in God and in the American religion. That religion is the belief that all men are endowed by a Divine Creator with inalienable rights. It is a doctrine that transcends sectarianism and denomination. Beck's program was very much a religious revival, not a political rally. He called together patriotic Americans from all over the United States. For a moment, he was able to reach across boundaries of race and creed and bring people together--and together, they cried out to God for mercy, forgiveness, and his assistance.
A few blocks away, partisan civil-rights curmudgeons like Al Sharpton grumbled that the 8/28 rally wouldn't change anything and that Beck and the Tea Party Movement was trying to co-opt the legacy of Martin Luther King. The ironic thing is that, in four decades of hearing the rhetoric of ministers like Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, I don't ever recall them actually preaching the gospel. I never heard them preach repentance from sin. I never heard them encourage people to have faith in Jesus Christ. I never heard any of them tell their followers to shun sexual immorality, pornography, stealing, taking God's name in vain, or to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Glenn Beck, a rank-and-file elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, boldly invited Americans to come back to God. He called upon them to exercise faith, hope, and love. He called on them to practice charity and to tithe to their churches. He called on them to open their Bibles and to go back to their own churches. He challenged them with the words of Thomas Jefferson to "question with boldness the very existence of God." He urged them to put their families first and to set a good example. He asked parents to humble themselves and pray on their knees in front of their children. It was a pure gospel message.
The rally's focus was on the principles of faith, hope, and charity with a strong dose of 'honoring the troops" thrown in for good measure. The program was punctuated by inspiring speeches from speakers including Sarah Palin, who spoke as a mother of a veteran, not a politician. It featured Dr. Alveda King, pro-life activist and niece of the late Martin Luther King. There were presentations of medals for faith, hope, and charity to a lifelong pastor and civil rights pioneer, Rev. Rev. C.L. Jackson, baseball star Albert Pujols, and billionaire philanthropist John Huntsman. The rally featured patriotic music, traditional gospel music, bagpipes, and concluded with numbers from popular country artists.
During one symbolic moment, Beck introduced some 200 clergymen from various religions and denominations. He dubbed them the "Black-Robed Brigade," a reference to Revolutionary War America, where the preachers proclaimed "No king but Jesus" from their pulpits. Beck acknowledged that there would be inevitable doctrinal differences between these pastors, but they could find unity in knowing that God was the answer.
I believe that Glenn Beck's desire, in some measure, was to create a "King Benjamin moment." The Book of Mormon relates a landmark gathering of some of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas to hear the words of one King Benjamin. Benjamin declared principles of piety, humility, service, and faith to his people. He preached to them repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, who would be born in centuries to come, relative to his time. The result was a turning back to God by his audience that brought the Holy Spirit upon them. It was a moment of national renewal and personal recommitment to do good in God's name. This was Beck's template for the event that took place today.
As a Mormon, I have to consider an unintended message throughout Beck's work, which has culminated in this event. That message is: "Mormons are Christian believers." Despite nearly two centuries of misrepresentation and religious envy by sectarian Christianity, Beck has achieved the visibility, prominence, and has had the time day after day, week after week, to speak openly and truly about his core beliefs. Those statements of faith have disoriented and confused those who had previously believed the lies about Mormons. Just a few weeks ago, Beck discussed the heresies evident in "Liberation Theology" and declared his belief of individual salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. One confused person commented on Free Republic, a frequent forum for open Mormon-bashing, that "this would mean that Beck is 'born-again."
Jim Garlow, a popular and influential pastor who partnered with the Mormon faithful in California to defend traditional marriage was quoted recently in CNN's Belief Blog, saying, "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...' He understands receiving Christ as Savior."
Hallelujah! The light bulb has been switched on after nearly two centuries! Every single member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that a person must be "born again" and receive Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. Our holy books teach that salvation comes only in and through the atonement of Christ and that there is no other way a person can be saved. Those beliefs obligate us to do our best to keep God's commandments and to follow the example of Jesus in doing good. Glenn Beck's beliefs are mainstream Mormon beliefs. Joseph Smith, the Church's founder, was a Christian prophet. He was an apostolic witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As Rev. C.L. Jackson said in his speech today after accepting the medal for faith, "God sent his Son to this earth so that we could all gather, and I think that's the dream and the vision of Glenn Beck." I myself have reacted, defensively and perhaps provocatively, to the attacks of Christian pastors on Mormons in the past. If anything, Glenn Beck has brought mainstream Mormonism into the public eye and has reached out to our fellow Christians in a powerful way. Perhaps it signifies the crossing of a threshold where Mormons and our fellow Christians can work together for good, to revitalize our country, and enshrine the principles of faith, hope, and charity--restoring honor once again to our familes, our communities, and our nation.
We are Not Mormons..will somebody out there get this message!Even the elect will be deceived.....any Latter day Saint who would consider "following" Glen Beck and his band of cunning crafitiness is "deceived".They seek the honor of men and soldiers and Not God. They "profess" Jesus as Saviour but in their heatrs they deny Him. The rally was for Christian Conservatism. And Christian Conservatives denounce Latter Day Saints as Christian. Go to any of their churches,Assembly of God, Baptist,Church of the Nazerines,Penticostel,Born Agains etcetc. Beck has deceived you and your family and the tens of thousands who "follow" him and not Jesus Christ. Like King Benjamin said of old "But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not awatch yourselves, and your bthoughts, and your cwords, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and dcontinue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. "This does not mean the words of Beck!
Great article about Beck and his intentions Greg. Kudo's.
Glenn Beck is the real thing all right. He's a egomaniac who cares nothing about anything other than himself. He is the utter opposite of everything that Jesus Christ taught us, going so far as to tell his "followers" that if their churches preach social justive they should leave and find another place to worship. Churches are by their fundamental nature promoters of spreading social justice. If Jesus were living in today's society, he would definitely have liberal leanings!
Beck cares nothing for the betterment of America, but he does care about his Fox News ratings so he can continue to spew his hateful rantings all over television and into people's living rooms.
Charleston Spirituality Examiner
Glenn Beck practices his faith, and voices it in front of millions. I think believers or non-believers can respect him for that. The point of the rally was to bring us together as Americans, not to divide us further because of differences of religion. We, Americans, need real hope and for most of us that comes from our faith in God, which in turn guides our patiotism. Mr. Beck reminded us of that on Saturday and it needed to be brought to the attention of the masses. I'm thankful that he did. I was moved, not by the man, but by the message.
I have taught for years that mainstream X-tianity has just as serious theological and philosophical problems as the LDS Church has ever had, they just don't know what they are, and they are delusional about the weaknesses in their own theology. Free Will and Creationism are two of the biggest problems (not only have they not solved the first two biggest questions that leap off the first pages of the Bible, they actually have developed utterly contradictory models and explanations that make those thorny problems WORSE.....) that come to mind.
They cannot produce a consistent or sensical argument (apologetic) on the primary theological and philosophical issues of the Judeo-Christian faith, then deem to tell everyone in the world, dogmatically, about something so esoteric as ETERNAL SALVATION, while maintaining thousands of diametrically opposed sectarian views on what constitutes salvation. And then they call the Mormons cultists.
Yeah, Mormon theology has some real BONEHEADED doctrines and utterly laughable history. So does "orthodox" Protestantism and Catholicism. Yet, Mormon culture is pretty sublime, and can claim to be a truly indigenous American religion while other sects of X-tianity cannot (ref. Harold Bloom, The American Religion).
The two great pillars of both American Civil Theology and ancient Judeo-Christian Biblical Theology.....is FREEDOM AND LIBERTY.
Freedom (symbolism) = OT story of the Exodus, the central OT story
Liberty (symbolism) = NT story of Liberty from sin and death through the work of Christ Jesus
Those are two principles that we can unite behind, set aside the doctrine for the duration of the (T) t- ribulation (big "T" or small "t", the principles are the same, watchfulness, preparation, faithfulness, endurance,and the Blessed Hope of the Second Coming), defeat the Beast system by our TESTIMONY of Christ (be a Prophet Church, a witness of Christ in the end times).
That's the bottom line. You stay a rigid sectarian and put your faith in your denomination's superior theology (and ignore their giant errors whether you see them or not, or believe they exist or not), you will MISS THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH, YOUR LIFE, YOUR VOCATION IN CHRIST, YOUR DESTINY AS A HUMAN BEING, and you will allow many people to DIE when they could have been saved by realizing the potential of that destiny and vocation ofd the Church in the world.
Christ is the Exemplar.
Your destiny, the Church's destiny, cannot be realized without.
His life, His vocation, was to defeat the Devil (1 Jn. 3:8) and show us how to have Joy (abundant life full life in God) in the MIDST of Tribulation, how to turn defeat into Victory, and glorify God as His Creation, with Christ as the head of that Creation.
That's it. There's no higher calling or doctrine. Freedom in Christ the Creator, Liberty from sin and death through Christ's work and resurrection life Creation-Fall-(redemption)Recreation, and continuing on forever living that Creation life in Paradise with God, unending relationship with our divine Family.
Sonny Craigsonnyc@inbox.com
Read Full Article »