Not long ago Apprising Ministries brought out in Focus on the Family Promotes the New Evangelization of the Roman Catholic Church that the “Protestant” evangelical business ministry Focus on the Family (FotF) featured Christopher West who happens to be very versed in the apostate Roman Catholicism of the late John Paul II, yet another heretical pope who dared usurp the place of God the Holy Spirit by pretending to be the Vicar the Christ.

And then in Focus on the Family Says It’s “Un-Christlike” to Consider the Roman Catholic Church Apostate AM showed you, with an assist from David Cloud’s Way of Life, that the fools in charge of FotF have joined in with e.g. Purpose Driven Pope and publicity hound Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren in an unwise attempt to reverse the Lord’s Reformation. FotF tells us “that anti-Catholic sentiments” such as I have just:

expressed are more than just uncharitable and un-Christlike. They´re also harmful to the richness of your own Christian experience. … To dismiss the Roman Catholic Church wholesale is to obliterate the first fifteen centuries of Christian history. (Online source)

Well, as one whom God graciously delivered from the religious bondage of the Roman Catholic Church into the glorious liberty of the sons of God I take a different view. Ok, while that position concerning the apostate Church of Rome by FotF is dead wrong it’s at least understandable considering the RCC was once part of the Body of Christ. However, what you’re about to see should even be enough to shake awake a Rip Van Winkle or two in evangelical leadership.

From the December 19, 2008 CitizenLink from FotF we read where Karla Dial, guest reporter, tells us:

For nearly a decade, Glenn Beck has been spreading the conservative political gospel through his syndicated radio program, The Glenn Beck Show, and has done the same as the host of his call-in television program on CNN since 2006. He’ll move to the Fox News Channel in January. But these days, Beck is hoping to spread a more eternal sort of gospel through his new book, The Christmas Sweater. (Online source)

Note FotF informs us that Beck “is hoping to spread” a “gospel.” Then we’re told:

The story, though not strictly biographical, is Beck’s own. The sweater was a real gift from his mother when he was 13 — the last Christmas before she committed suicide. A brother also committed suicide, and another died of a heart attack when Beck was young. Beck spent several years addicted to drugs and alcohol, coming to the verge of suicide, before turning his life over to God at the age of 35. Now he has a message for readers and viewers about facing life’s storms, and finding hope and redemption… (Online source) 

Here we find out that part of this “gospel” Beck “is hoping to spread” is that he turned “his life over to God” where he found “hope and redemption.” And then FotF asks Beck:

2. What message do you hope people take away from The Christmas Sweater?

I think the message that you can’t really escape is (that) the Christmas sweater is the metaphor for me of the atonement for Christ. We’ve all been given a gift. We celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus — but the real point is the death, and why He died. (Online source)

Man, this sounds great, right? Well, it would be except that what FotF doesn’t tell you is that Glenn Beck is a baptized and practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Uh-huh; Beck is a Mormon, and you can hear his tear-filled conversion to the god (read: demon) of Mormonism in the video clip below. So now, in addition to reversing the Reformation, apparently FotF is also lining up in lock-step with the spiritually obtuse while Joel Osteen Blesses the Mormon Church as a Christian church.

Ya just can’t make this stuff up folks. As you will see in the article “We’re Christians just like you!” by Bill McKeever from the fine Christian work Mormonism Research Ministry, according to Mormon theology—in direct opposition the the Bible—God was “not always God”; instead, he is a “glorified, perfected human being with a body of flesh and bones,” and:

God is only one among many Gods?

Joseph Smith said, “I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the elders for fifteen years” (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.35).

Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church, once stated,

“How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. That course has been from all eternity, and it is and will be to all eternity. You cannot comprehend this; but when you can, it will be to you a matter of great consolation” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:334, October 8, 1859).

However, Isaiah 44:6,8 tells us that the God of the Bible knows of no other Gods. “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God…Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Online source)

And, in complete contradictinction to the Jesus of the Bible, the below from the AM piece Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? will give you a good synopsis of the Mormon Jesus whom Beck believes in. But in reality the Jesus of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actually another Jesus preached by the non-Christian cult of Mormonism who cannot save anybody; and this for the simple fact that, he does not even exist:

I am the Jesus Christ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). My original Church went through a total apostasy and I took the Priesthood from the earth. In 1820 by one account—as there are nine different accounts—I appeared with Heavenly Father to Joseph Smith who would be the prophet to restore my Church. I told him that everything the historic Christian Church had taught was an abomination in my sight and that all who believe in those doctrines are corrupt. I am the spirit child who was born first to Heavenly Father, whose name is Elohim, and who has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.

Elohim was once a man who lived on the planet Kolob. He died and was resurrected by his father—after earning his way to godhood—as did his father before him and on back. Heavenly Father pro-created all of us through sexual relations with one of his celestial wives and we are all his spirit children. I was born first; next was Lucifer, and then on down the line comes you. When the head of the gods—of which there are countless numbers—called a council of the gods I came up with a better plan of salvation than my brother Lucifer did. So I became the Savior for Heavenly Father’s children on earth. I was conceived for my earthly mission when Heavenly Father came down and had sexual relations with his daughter the Virgin Mary.

I sweat great drops of blood for your sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then on the cross I finished my work; and because of that atonement, all persons on this earth are going to be resurrected. And so now you have a chance to earn your way to becoming a god just like me by working the Gospel Principles taught by the Mormon Church. But be careful because my blood was not sufficient to cover some of your sins as my prophet Brigham Young once taught for me. He said, “There’s not a man or woman who violates the covenant made with their God that will not be required to pay that debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out. [And y]our own blood must atone for it.”

*Update*

If you now click on the source links above concerning the Glenn Beck story you will see: This article is no longer available. Following below is a composite response we have received here at AM from inquiries to FotF  concerning their promoting Beck, his “gospel,” and his conversion to the Mormon god:

Thank you for your e-mail to Focus on the Family.

It was good of you to contact us with your thoughts concerning Karla Dial’s CitizenLink interview with conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck. Honest feedback like yours is always welcome here at Focus headquarters. You are correct to note that Mr. Beck is a member of the Mormon church, and that we did not make mention of this fact in our interview with him.

We do recognize the *deep* theological difference between evangelical theology and Mormon theology, as you alluded in your message, and it would have been prudent for us at least to have pointed out these differences. Because of the confusion, we have removed the interview from Citizenlink, and we appreciate very much your bringing this to our attention.

In response to your comments about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we’d like to share Dr. Dobson’s perspective with you. A number of his neighbors have been members of the LDS church, and he has great respect for their high moral standards and strong family-centered values. He also appreciates the enthusiastic support that so many in the Mormon community have shown to Focus on the Family over the years.

At the same time, it is only fair to point out that Focus on the Family is committed to a traditional, conservative, evangelical interpretation of the Christian faith, an interpretation to which, in our view, many Mormon doctrines stand in *direct* contradiction. In other words, we do not see the LDS church as simply another Christian denomination.

On the other hand, it is not the purpose of our organization to engage in theological debate, but to meet the needs of families everywhere, regardless of their church membership or doctrinal orientation. In short, we are pleased to have your friendship and we welcome the opportunity to serve your family in any way we can despite the doctrinal disagreements that exist between us.

As we’ve indicated, Dr. Dobson is not a pastor or theologian, and he has made a deliberate decision to direct the attention of our ministry away from matters of biblical interpretation and theology. If you have further questions about the differences between evangelical Christianity and the doctrines of the LDS church, we suggest that you contact a Christian ministry that routinely discusses theological topics.

Two recommendations we would like to offer are Chuck Swindoll’s ministry, Insight for Living, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Dr.Dobson has great respect for the theological views and biblical integrity of these two men, and we are sure that their ministries are well qualified to discuss any questions and comments you may have about Mormon beliefs and traditional Christian views. The addresses are as follows:

Insight for Living
P.O. Box 269000
Plano, TX 75026-9000
1/800/772-8888
http://www.insight.org

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
1 Billy Graham Parkway
Charlotte, NC 28201
1/877/247-2426
help@bgea.org
http://www.billygraham.org

We hope this reply has been helpful. Thanks again for caring enough to contact us. Don’t hesitate to let us know if we can be of any further assistance. God bless you and Merry CHRISTmas!

See also:

MORMON CHURCH: DEITY OF CHRIST

DR. RICHARD MOUW: MORMON APOLOGIST TRUSTING THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE

MORMON CHURCH: JESUS LITERALLY GOD’S CHILD

THE MORMON CHURCH’S VIEW OF THE BIBLE