So says Greg Leasure of the Liberty Champion, which is Liberty University’s (LU) “student-run newspaper,” ((http://www.liberty.edu/academics/communications/coms/?PID=25454, accessed 5/1/14.)) in his April 29th piece Glenn Beck inspires at Convocation. Leasure tells us that the:

Former Fox News talk show host challenges students to find their purpose and keep faith as their foundation… also in attendance [was] Liberty President Jerry Falwell [who] gave Beck a glowing introduction.

“He spoke here for our Commencement in 2010, … (and) at that time I told the crowd at Commencement, ‘Glenn Beck has risen to influence American culture at a pivotal time in our history. His message has engaged millions of Americans in a struggle to preserve their nation’s founding ideals…’ That is even more true today than it was four years ago.” (source)

As you’ll see below, Falwell informs us that LU “had the privilege” of bestowing upon Beck “an honorary doctorate.” Now, here at Apprising Ministries I’ve talked before about the consequences of Glenn Beck believing the doctrine of the non-Christian cult of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).

For example, in Apprising Ministries To Glenn Beck I told you that Beck is a baptized and practicing member of the LDS Church. ((Glenn Beck would have to be a Mormon of the highest standing to have had the Temple marriage that he describes here: http://bit.ly/1iDJtgD, accessed 5/1/14.)) Then in The “Jesus” of Mormonism a la Glenn Beck I showed you the Jesus preached by the Mormons; which is the one that Beck believes in.

If he introduced himself the LDS “Jesus” would say:

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 star Kolob. He died and was resurrected by his father—after earning his way to godhood—as did his father before him, and so 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.”

Quite obviously, if you know your Bible, this is not the Jesus revealed in those Holy Scriptures. ((I previously contrasted the major various views about Jesus you’ll run in to here: Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?)) So, as a faithful Mormon, Glenn Beck believes in a Jesus who does not exist; and therefore, cannot save anyone. And the Bible is clear in that — No one who denies the Son has the Father (1 John 2:23). 

This means that, no matter how nice a guy he may be or how much he loves the United States, Glenn Beck does not even know God; in other words, he’s in no position to speak for or about Him. Yet LU’s Greg Leasure tells us Beck opined to LU students:

“It is through humility that gives you power, because you realize God is the only one that can help you,” Beck said. “God gives you everything, even the troubles in your life. Give him praise for the troubles in your life, because they are just as important.” (source)

Really; which God does this, Glenn Beck? The one true and living God of the Bible, or the non-existent god of the LDS Church, whom I introduced you to previously in The god of Glenn Beck? At 7:29 of the video below Beck speaks of “the atoning power of Jesus Christ” to applause from LU students.

Again, the question that needs to be asked is, which Jesus? Is it Christ Jesus of Nazareth, God the Son—the eternal second Person of the Holy Trinity, or the first-born spirit child of a resurrected man who became god and would sire the Mormon Jesus’ earthly body through sexual union with his daughter Mary?

Please understand that I’m not a supporter of Jonathan Merritt as one might guess from my earlier post Homosexuality and Jonathan Merritt. However, when someone as milquetoast as Merritt writes Glenn Beck preaches Mormon theology at Liberty University, it becomes worth our attention as he points out:

Glenn Beck believes Joseph Smith was a prophet. Glenn Beck believes he is wedded to his wife for eternity. Glenn Beck wears special garments under his clothes to remind him of promises he has made to God. But none of this is startling because, well, Glenn Beck is Mormon.

But it may surprise you to learn that Beck preached a sermon at Liberty University on April 25 that was rife with Mormon theology in which he showcased a valuable Mormon relic. During the sermon, Beck asked if Liberty students were willing to give their lives for their beliefs: “What are you willing to do? What is it that means something to you?”

Beck then told the story of Joseph Smith’s death (15:15-16:54), describing Smith as a martyr of the faith. According to Beck, a Sheriff falsely accused Smith of owing a debt for stealing a stove. “[Smith] reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch…he gave it to the Sheriff and said, ‘I owe man nothing.’ They let him go. And they killed him,” Beck said.

Beck picked up Smith’s pocket watch, a Mormon relic, and showed it to the crowd: “This is his pocket watch that he pulled out.” (source)

If there was any doubt as to Glenn Beck’s devotion to the mythology of Mormonism you only need to see that section cited above from the video below. In his passionate preaching, to my ear, Beck clearly portrays the vile blasphemer Joseph Smith as a Christian LU students should admire and emulate.

However, at 14:38 during his “inspiring” sermon Beck actually informs LU that:

“I share your faith. I am from a different denomination. And a denomination that I’m sure can make many people at Liberty uncomfortable—I’m a Mormon—but I share your faith in the atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ.” (source)

No, the LDS Church is a non-Christian cult preaching another Jesus, by a different spirit, with a different gospel (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4). In Mormonism is a non-Christian Cult I shared the following from Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989), author of the classic textbook The Kingdom of the Cults. ((Regardless of what one may think of some of his views, in his day Walter Martin was universally recognized as an expert in the field of Comparative Religion and non-Christian cults having their origins in the United States.))

In first defining what a religious cult is Martin wrote:

A cult, then, is a group of people polarized around someone’s interpretation of the Bible and is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact that God became man in Jesus Christ. ((Walter R. Martin, The Rise of the Cults, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978], 12.))

Martin then classified Mormonism as a non-Christian cult because:

The Savior of Mormonism, however, is an entirely different person, as their official publications clearly reveal. The Mormon “Savior” is not the second person of the Christian Trinity,… Mormons reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and he is not even a careful replica of the New Testament Redeemer.

In Mormon theology, Christ as a preexistent spirit was not only the spirit brother of the devil(as alluded to in The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 4:1-4, and later reaffirmed by Brigham Young in the Journal of Discourses, 13:282), but celebrated his own marriage to “Mary and Martha, and the other Mary,” at Cana of Galilee, “whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified” (Apostle Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, 4:259; 2:82)…[and] the Mormon concept of the Virgin Birth alone distinguishes their “Christ” from the Christ of the Bible. ((Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, Ravi Zacharias, Gen. Ed. (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2005), 252, emphasis mine.))

And this is why, in this case, I now find myself in full agreement with Jonathan Merritt here:

There seems to be no outcry from students, parents, or faculty over Liberty’s invitation of Beck or of his sermon so far. Perhaps the silence is because this is business as usual for the evangelical mega-school…

So what does all this mean? Given the school’s history, Beck’s sermon may be nothing more than Liberty doing what it has always done best: thriving amidst controversy and leading with conservative politics rather than theology.

But it may also be one more sign that Mormons are becoming more mainstream in American life–even increasingly welcomed by evangelicals who would have rejected them only a few years ago. (source)

Further reading

• FOUNDER OF THE MORMON CHURCH JOSEPH SMITH SPEAKS…
• THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS VS. THE GOSPEL
• JAMES ROBISON SAYS JESUS IS IN THE HEART OF MORMON GLENN BECK