Recently, Glenn Beck seems to have started undergoing a transformation from a Tea Party leader to a Religious Right leader as he increasingly sells his brand of right-wing conspiracy-theorizing in religious terms.
What started with his partnership with David Barton as rapidly expanded to include all sorts of Religious Right activists and now Beck has started claiming that his upcoming "Restoring Honor" rally is literally being orchestrated by God and that "the Spirit of the Lord is going to be unleashed like you've never felt it before" and miracles will take place at the event.
Beck's move to establish himself as a religious leader among conservatives is being met with alarm from some evangelical activists due to the fact that Beck is Mormon, forcing people like Barton to defend his associations with Beck by claiming that Beck shouldn't be judged by the label he wears but by the fruits that he produces.
But it doesn't look like activists are buying that excuse, as Brannon Howse, president and founder of Worldview Weekend, dedicated his program on Friday to raising alarms about this new development:
Please remember Brannon started the website keepglennbeck.com to support Glenn when the radicals wanted his advertisers to stop advertising in his program. With that said, Brannon believes Glenn has now moved into an area where we must draw a clear line theologically and doctrinally. While Christians can join Glenn in opposing tyranny, socialism, cultural Marxism, and the like but we cannot join him spiritually. Glenn's website describes the event at the Kennedy Center as "Glenn Beck's Divine Destiny" and states that the event will include "uplifting music, nationally-known religious figures from all faith will unite…" Glenn's website also promotes Glenn's "Daily Spiritual Thought" and "join Glenn Beck live each weekday morning at 7:05a ET for prayer." Why must we respectfully and lovingly tell Glenn we cannot agree with him nor find common ground in the area of Biblical doctrine and theology?
Is Glenn now using his TV program to push his Mormon faith? Glenn has the right to push his Mormon faith on TV but Glenn needs to be upfront about it ... The point of today's program is that Christians need to be wise and not fall into the trap of compromising on the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an effort to be politically correct, tolerant and find religious unity with anti-Biblical beliefs and religions. We appreciate the strong and courageous stands that Glenn has taken but Christians understand that Glenn is now, by his own choice, promoting something that is not compatible with Biblical Christian doctrines. We can be co-belligerents on many moral issues with non-Christians but we cannot find common ground theologically and doctrinally. Christians must understand that the Jesus of the cults is not the Jesus of the Bible.
You may recall that, a few months back, Howse severed ties with Janet Porter due to her associations with the "kind of whacked out folks" who preach Dominionism.
Similarly, Howse's Worldview Weekend has had a long relationship with David Barton, so it'll be interesting to see how Howse handles Barton's increasing involvement with, and defense of, Beck's Mormon faith.
