Posted on 09/02/2010 6:59:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In the days following Glenn Beck's highly publicized rally in Washington, D.C., conservative Christians have come out expressing their concern not over the increasingly popular broadcaster, but over the apparent confusion among Christ followers.
"There is something very strange going on here. I don't understand the disconnect on the part of Christians," said Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Americans from across the country converged on the National Mall on Saturday for the "Restoring Honor" rally led by Fox News commentator Beck. Reports indicate that the event drew anywhere from 87,000 to 500,000 people. Beck, a Mormon, was joined by a diverse group of religious leaders – including evangelical Christians – as he called on America to turn back to God.
Mohler, one of the nation’s pre-eminent evangelical theologians, found that Beck's rally cries were resonating with many Christians.
"What concerned me about that event on the mall was not so much Glenn Beck and the politicians in the program; it was the picture of those religious leaders standing together," he said Tuesday on The Janet Mefferd Show.
During Saturday’s three-hour event, over 200 religious leaders stood behind Beck, linking arms at certain points. Dr. Richard Land, a well-known Southern Baptist, and Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Maryland were among the conservative Christians standing there.
While Land does not agree with Beck's theology, he told National Public Radio that the event was about a deep concern of Americans that the country has taken "a fundamentally wrong turn and is headed in the wrong direction."
Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, Calif., who was also at the event, said the rally was about extolling virtue and honoring God.
And the event was evangelical in tone, he said in a commentary on CNN.
"Despite the pre-rally discussions of Beck’s Mormonism, the rally’s litany of evangelical speakers gave it the Jesus-centeredness of a Billy Graham Crusade. All theological references were clearly evangelical and biblically based," Garlow wrote.
After observing the rally, Mohler came away with a different take and a big concern.
"The bottom line is ... we've been used and we've allowed ourselves to be used at times by politicians and others who co-opted God talk," he said Tuesday on The Janet Mefferd Show.
"We (conservative Christians in America) … have just assumed that because they were using our language, they were talking about the same Gospel or talking about the same understanding of God or talking about the same theological structure and that's just not true," he stressed.
Mohler doesn't disagree on uniting with others on common concerns and moral convictions.
But he underscored the need to "distinguish that from standing together in the faith."
"One of the healthiest things that can happen among conservative Christians is the ability to recognize, to discern the difference between civil religion and authentic Christianity," he explained.
The conservative theologian said he and many other believers agree with Beck on many of his political views. He also expressed appreciation for how Beck identifies "many really horrible and very dangerous liberal ideas."
But "[j]ust to debunk liberal ideas does not give you then the authority to be taken at your word ... to be speaking truth when then you talk about the Gospel," he cautioned.
"We just have to be mature Christians [and say] 'let's look at the Scripture. Let's look at what is being said here. We have a problem."
Continuing, Mohler outlined the fact that Mormons hold to a very different understanding of God than that of Christian theism.
"We're talking about very different deities here," he said. "And I think many Christians just have no idea as they were watching that event."
"How many American Christians who are watching that (rally) and resonating with the call for spiritual revival know that the man who is up there speaking, using words about Gospel and God and all the rest, believes that there was a male and a female deity, that the Godhead is a reproductive pair, that eventually we will be divine ourselves if indeed we follow the path of righteousness?" Mohler added.
Since January, Beck has been working on the themes of faith, hope and charity. He said his aim is to restore history, honor, and "our faith" in the country.
The popular commentator has discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ repeatedly on his television program, even using evangelical language such as atonement through the shed blood of Christ.
But Mohler commented, "That's bizarre language for a Mormon to be using in this light and to have evangelical Christians affirm that he's talking about the same Gospel we are ... it's the same language but it's not the same Gospel."
What both Mohler and Mefferd believe is happening is spiritual rallying on vague terms.
"When we see some of the talk that has come out of the rally and some of the people associated with the rally, all about God, God, God, I just have really strongly felt that it needs to be a very precise definition when we bring God into the discussion on anything," radio host Mefferd stated.
Mohler described the scenario as having all the cards on the table but turned over so that the faces are not seen.
"You're having the language, but you're not having the definitions here," he noted.
"It really is not so much a concern politically, it's a concern theologically. If we are Christians, we have to understand the name of God is not just some kind of generic noun we can throw around."
While Mohler recognized that some Christians would be irritated listening to his take on Beck and the rally, the theologian hopes they'll be irritated enough to go and look at Scripture.
Amid the theological ambiguity and confusion, Mohler reminded Christians that a revival or spiritual renewal cannot happen without a heart that has known salvation through Jesus Christ.
"You can't have spiritual renewal where biblically speaking there's spiritual deadness," he said. "The reality is we can't biblically believe that they really know the one true and living God unless they know Him through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
here is what Beck has said.. his wife would not marry him unless they had A CHURCH...together they visited various churches and finally an LDS friend invited THEM to a mormon church. They both loved it and so they joined it..
But look at Catholicism!
They pray to “saints”, worship and pray to Mary, the mother of God, even though Scripture clearly tells us to pray to the Father, in the Name of Jesus. And they seem plenty “works oriented” as far as salvation is concerned.
They deviate from Scripture as well. Not sure which faith (LDS or Catholicism) does more.
I pray in the Name of Jesus that more will come forward and expose the mormonism of Glenn Beck as not being Christianity...
It would be easy to make too big a deal out of this whole thing. Beck has always sounded like more of a real Christian than a Mormon to me. Fact is, he may know little or nothing about Mormon doctrine.
Understanding doctrine = knowing and understanding the Gospel.
That's exactly right..... Becks political philosopy should not give him a platform to promote his religion, but he is walking a very fine line as the Mormon Leadership will in time require more of him in that respect...subtle though it will be at first...and just as we have witnessed at his rally. He has not yet swallowed the Mormonism doctrines in entire and prayerfully we will see him turn away in time. Otherwise he will loose the Christian communities support if he attempts to "preach" Mormonism.
I am really tired of the jihad against Mormons on this web site. It's an embarrassment. It takes up valuable bandwidth, time and energy that could and should be put into a positive effort to get conservatives elected. The negativity of these anti-Mormon diatribes is dragging down the whole web site as well as the conservative movement.
...and it makes you all look like a bunch of nuts.
My advice to everyone is: Don't feed the animals. Don't get pulled into these threads, like I just was. If we don't post on these threads, they will die off a lot quicker. They can't argue if we don't respond.
It is faith that saves, not belief.
Even demons believe and shudder.
Do you have FAITH that the living Christ has paid the penalty for your sin? Or do you just believe.
Now here is where Mormonism and Christianity split. Mormonism teaches that Christ paid the price and conquered over death - therefore all mankind is “saved” regardless of faith. Mormonism ALSO teaches that only those who keep the commandments and partake of ordinances and covenants by “worthy” LDS members within the LDS Temple will receive Celestial glory and dwell with their “heavenly father.” All others will live eternally separated from God - I don’t think that is what Christians think of as Salvation, this is hell.
Christians have faith that Christ paid the penalty of their sin and this allows them communion with God through the Holy Spirit. Belief in some kind of god is not what saves them, but faith enough to rely on Christ as their Savior is vital. God saves them through faith and not the works of ordinances and covenants. If you have ‘faith’ then you rest in the arms of Christ - if you have ‘belief,’ but not faith you don’t rest in Him, you strive to save yourself.
Truth is not found in numbers.. many are called but few are chosen .. the road to numbers is wide.. the way of truth is narrow..
I think He is concerned for the name of Christ and His honor
Evangelical Scholar Troubled by Theological Ambiguity at Beck Rally (Many Christians Seem Confused)
Before I read through the thread, I predict, 95% of posters don't get, that if you make it about God, you have to have the God part right.
"The bottom line is ... we've been used and we've allowed ourselves to be used at times by politicians and others who co-opted God talk,"
Had this rally been promoted as a political rally - I would not have had any problems with it. But it was promoted as a religious rally - no politics. Yet we see the spinoffs - most everyone can see that plainly it was a political rally with God mixed in. Were this to have been a spiritual rally to bring us back to God, it would have taken a whole different form and message.
Wow how sad...
And that fact doesn't make them "non-Christians". God knows those that are His (men don't), and they are scattered all over the face of the earth inside and outside organizations of men (wheat among the tares). The true Church is invisible and is comprised of individuals in whom the Holy Spirit resides. Only God knows who they are. End of story.
And you would be wrong.
Mormon?
Good question. I hadn’t thought about that. I’d like an LDS source, I guess, since I’d like to know what LDS believe, not someone elses viewpoint on it.
Amen.
Not true.. .that is the excuse Christians give for him
Here is his “testimony”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKtAPT9KEfM
Not true.. .that is the excuse Christians give for him
Here is his “testimony”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKtAPT9KEfM
And you could be right about the guy. I do get the feeling that Beck wants people to “think” he’s a regular Christian.
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