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The Gospel of God and Glenn Beck

 Posted by Shane Vander Hart
Aug 312010
 

image One of our contributors at Caffeinated Thoughts (and here!), David Shedlock, has blogged extensively about Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny event and Restoring Honor rally in Washington, DC.  Since Beck promoted this as being non-political, rather a religious revival of sorts I thought it would be appropriate to weigh in on it here.

I’ve been pretty silent on the subject, and had a chance to watch the Restoring Honor rally myself, and followed David’s liveblog of the Divine Destiny event the night before.  I felt I needed to weigh in, but wanted it to do it here since David has so thoroughly covered it at Caffeinated Thoughts.

I’ve been disappointed, but not surprised, by the lack of discernment shown by some of my evangelical brothers and sisters.  It seems that we many are ok with American nationalism and Mormon theology being confused for the Gospel of Christ.  Russell Moore in his summary of Friday’s event nailed it when he said:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

Let’s be clear, whatever happened on Friday, wasn’t the Gospel.  It was an American Civic Religion that was proclaimed, but it isn’t something to be celebrated by those who are Christ followers.  Actually, it is something to mourn.  But yet I noticed on Twitter and on Facebook, Christians celebrating this event.

Just to clear up my position, there is much in which I could work with Mormons, Jews, and other religious conservatives on… pro-life issues, pro-family issues, etc.  I have many areas of agreement with Glenn Beck, but  when it comes to bringing about a religious revival he loses me.  Revival will not occur through pluralism.  Moore continues:

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah…

…Where there is no gospel, something else will fill the void: therapy, consumerism, racial or class resentment, utopian politics, crazy conspiracy theories of the left, crazy conspiracy theories of the right; anything will do. The prophet Isaiah warned us of such conspiracies replacing the Word of God centuries ago (Is. 8:12–20). As long as the Serpent’s voice is heard, “You shall not surely die,” the powers are comfortable.

What we need is Jesus reigning in the hearts of men.  What we need is Christ and Him crucified.  Only the Gospel can bring about transformation.  Anything else is a cheap substitute that can not last and lacks eternal value.  Moore points out that any “revival” that takes place without the spirit of Christ takes place through some other spirit as the Apostle John warned:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already, (1 John 4:1-3, ESV).

So while the Friday night event was inspiring to some, and while Saturday was patriotic those events can’t accomplish the work only God can do (and has done) through Christ.  It may be unpopular to say, “but I can do no other.”  I’m a Christian first, and a conservative second.

HT: The Spyglass

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  • Kevin Haft

    “Christian first and a conservative second” is exactly right and that sentence brings clarity. Thank you. I am still torn. Critiquing the non Gospel message against scripture is appropriate if Beck claimed to proclaim the Gospel. You are right if people mistakenly believe what Beck said was the Gospel. It clearly was not. Having said that here is where I get a bit miffed. The Reformed community unlike in other times and places is currently silent. The Reformed community, after the passing of D. James Kennedy, doesn’t have a voice or platform to speak to the issues of our day through the lenses of the Gospel. In this vacuum even non believers recognize something is broke. Even the mormon senses and realizes that our condition is not a political one but rather a spiritual one. I wish Beck knew the Gospel and proclaimed it. He did not. But I also pray we in the Reformed movement will have a voice one day and proclaim the truth. That we shape and influence the public debate as did the Giant Reformers did in centuries past for the sake of the Gospel.

    • Fred Thomason

      Kevin,

      There are many voices in the Reformed community that constantly speak truth. It is a matter of not going to the ‘wells of the world’ i.e. mainstream television. I would suggest listening to more Reform figures such as R.C. sproul, John Piper, and John MacArthur. There are many powerhouses out there, who are preaching the gospel and teaching discernment.

      I understand what you mean by being torn. For me, I was listening to a podcast for Piper (I think), but he was talking about idols in the world. As he continued the message, he got a point where he said, “this country is not my God.” At first it threw me for a loop because I didn’t fully understand what he was referring to, but with much reflection and prayer, I understood it to mean just that.

      After hearing it, I had to think of the last time I defended my faith; confessed the gospel; or shared my testimony. I compared that to how many times I discussed my political standings.

      In this case, when it comes to GB, it has been a little awkward hearing GB refer to Muslims not being Christian, and this nation’s founding on Christian Values. This is all true, but he is a Mormon trying to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. What should I be more worried about?

      Anyway, this is a time where, Christians need to be reading and studying the word more than ever because how else will we know the character of God? How will he be able to test the truth?

  • Kevin Haft

    “Christian first and a conservative second” is exactly right and that sentence brings clarity. Thank you. I am still torn. Critiquing the non Gospel message against scripture is appropriate if Beck claimed to proclaim the Gospel. You are right if people mistakenly believe what Beck said was the Gospel. It clearly was not. Having said that here is where I get a bit miffed. The Reformed community unlike in other times and places is currently silent. The Reformed community, after the passing of D. James Kennedy, doesn’t have a voice or platform to speak to the issues of our day through the lenses of the Gospel. In this vacuum even non believers recognize something is broke. Even the mormon senses and realizes that our condition is not a political one but rather a spiritual one. I wish Beck knew the Gospel and proclaimed it. He did not. But I also pray we in the Reformed movement will have a voice one day and proclaim the truth. That we shape and influence the public debate as did the Giant Reformers did in centuries past for the sake of the Gospel.

    • Fred Thomason

      Kevin,

      There are many voices in the Reformed community that constantly speak truth. It is a matter of not going to the ‘wells of the world’ i.e. mainstream television. I would suggest listening to more Reform figures such as R.C. sproul, John Piper, and John MacArthur. There are many powerhouses out there, who are preaching the gospel and teaching discernment.

      I understand what you mean by being torn. For me, I was listening to a podcast for Piper (I think), but he was talking about idols in the world. As he continued the message, he got a point where he said, “this country is not my God.” At first it threw me for a loop because I didn’t fully understand what he was referring to, but with much reflection and prayer, I understood it to mean just that.

      After hearing it, I had to think of the last time I defended my faith; confessed the gospel; or shared my testimony. I compared that to how many times I discussed my political standings.

      In this case, when it comes to GB, it has been a little awkward hearing GB refer to Muslims not being Christian, and this nation’s founding on Christian Values. This is all true, but he is a Mormon trying to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. What should I be more worried about?

      Anyway, this is a time where, Christians need to be reading and studying the word more than ever because how else will we know the character of God? How will he be able to test the truth?

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  • http://www.earlychristianamerica.com/blog Wayne Sedlak

    Perhaps this will help… AGENT PROVOCATEUR DEFINED Agent provocateur [Fr, lit., provoking agent): one employed to associate himself with members of a group or with suspected persons, and, by pretended sympathy with their aims or attitudes to Incite them to some action that will make them liable to apprehension and punishment (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1981)

    For more on the Agent Provocateur http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?tag=agent-provocateur

  • http://www.earlychristianamerica.com/blog Wayne Sedlak

    Perhaps this will help… AGENT PROVOCATEUR DEFINED Agent provocateur [Fr, lit., provoking agent): one employed to associate himself with members of a group or with suspected persons, and, by pretended sympathy with their aims or attitudes to Incite them to some action that will make them liable to apprehension and punishment (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1981)

    For more on the Agent Provocateur http://earlychristianamerica.com/blog/?tag=agent-provocateur

   
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