In an interview on Sunday with Chris Wallace, Glenn Beck said:
“Let’s turn back to God and see how that works.”
My question to Glenn Beck is: Which God?
In an interview with Bill O’Reilly before the Washington “Restoring Honor” rally, Beck offered the following thoughts:
“Because honestly, right now, I mean, the one part of culture that I am doing a lot of is faith. But general faith. We have got to get back to our churches, our synagogues, our mosques, whatever it is, as long as it's not telling to you blow things up. Get back to God and get back to the Founding Fathers."
In 1816, John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, stated his opinion on the matter:
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."[1]
Jay’s words suggest a singular spiritual perspective, which left no room for a "general faith" and certainly not the faith of Joseph Smith. Smith’s doctrine didn’t come into being until the late 1820’s. The fact that many Christians are willing to overlook Beck's faith and stand with him in his call for "revival," speaks to an out of focus allegiance to the temporal realm where politics inform faith as opposed to faith informing politics.
Personally, I like Glenn Beck’s television program—I wish that more Black folks watched him instead of that imbecile, Keith Olbermann. If Beck were holding a symposium on American history, I’d be all over it—If he hold’s an anti-socialism rally sign me up. Nevertheless, when it comes to Glenn Beck calling for a spiritual revival, I slam on the brakes and yank on the emergency brake lever.
I would not attend a revival meeting held by Beck anymore than I would attend one headed up by Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan or the Dalai Lama, unless of course for the purpose of standing in the midst of those men to proclaim the true Gospel of Christ as understood by the Founding Fathers. Apart from sharing the true Gospel, I could not stand in agreement with any of them. Why? Because spiritually each one is equally dangerous.
It is revival we’re talking about...right?
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14
Coming together in agreement with unbelievers can only result in causing confusion in the minds of the lost. If a person seeking truth sees “general faith” as an equally viable path to God, be it Mormonism, Islam, or any faith other than the Gospel of Christ, from a Biblical perspective that person is in trouble.
No, Glenn Beck calling for revival is far more troubling for me; I would have preferred Beck hosting a political rally. I can stand with him on small government and in opposition to Obama Care. We can agree on the evils of abortion; I am foursquare in favor of the defense of traditional marriage. However, this “general faith” thing—not so much. Liberation Theology is an abomination. But then, so is teaching that God was a man who attained godhood.
Christians are not to appear as having spiritual common ground with unbelievers. At all costs, believers in Christ should avoid that sort of confusing behavior, which is a serious issue for Christians to consider.
“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” James 3:11
The Lord said in the parable of the Ten Pounds "Occupy until I come" and America is a good place to hang out until Christ establishes His kingdom. The “occupy” spirit undergirded the founding of this nation. The vast majority of the Founders recognized that the spiritual trumped the temporal. Therefore, the founders of our nation were wise enough to base American society on the immutable Word of the God of the Bible, not a hodgepodge culled from a generic god, “general faith,” derived from Islam, Mormonism, or the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
We may live in a pluralistic society today, but those immutable principles have remained just that.
Christians are admonished in II John that, as Christians, we are to walk only in truth. II John continues:
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
The premise of John’s words also refers to Christians partaking in “revivals”with people professing a different Gospel.
Beck does not stand for the Biblical doctrine of Christ, which is at wide variance with the teachings of the Latter Day Saints and Joseph Smith (who if he lived during Old Testament times, would have been stoned to death as a false prophet when his “prophecies” went unfulfilled). How then can Beck call for revival and how can Christians stand with Beck?
For those of you who would say I am sowing division, you are right! Because I believe my God when He says:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 10:34-39
If you believe that man has an immortal soul and the idea that false religion can imperil it, I hope you would share your faith with as much enthusiasm as many of us muster up in debates with our liberal friends on the issues imperiling our nation.
I love God more than Glenn Beck or politics—and I love Glenn Beck so much that if I ever meet him, I will introduce him to my God and what He teaches about salvation and deliverance from dead works.
Digital Publius
[1] Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed., (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV, p. 393.
