A Goody From Woody

Last weekend I gave lots of thought to Dr. Jay Adams’ book, A Call to Discernment, Distinguishing Truth from Error in Today’s Church.

What led me to think about Dr. Adams’ book was listening to a few minutes of Mr. Glenn Beck and his rally called “Restoring Honor” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The “blogs” last weekend went wild over Mr. Beck’s rally. People love him or hate him but few people are neutral in referencing him.

Just a bit of background on Mr. Beck. He grew up in Everett, Washington and was raised a Roman Catholic. He became a disc-jockey at the age of 13. His mother died and the family moved to Bellingham. Beck moved 4-5 times from one radio station to another, and married and divorced his first wife. He struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for a season and in the mid 90’s went thru recovery. He married his second wife, Tania, in 1999. They decided before marriage they wanted to be members of a church. With encouragement from his daughter from his first marriage, Glenn and Tania joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

No one can doubt Beck’s popularity, his love for his country, conservative values, love of our constitutional form of government, etc.

The irony of last weekend was a Mormon calling American Christians back to revival. Worse yet, non-discerning Christians proclaiming “Amen.” Christianity and the Mormon Church (they prefer to be called The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but most of the devout call themselves Mormons—no offense intended) are theologically not in the same category.

Christianity sees Mormonism as a cult. Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844) founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in 1830 in New York. The headquarters for the organization is in Salt Lake City Utah. The Mormon Bibles are the book of Mormon; Doctrine and Covenants; Pearl of Great Price; The Bible (KJV only or Smith’s “Inspired Version”); and authoritative teachings of Mormon prophets and other LDS “general authorities.” When you ask the question “who is God?”, Christians say “the One God is Triune (one God in three Persons, not three gods): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Often the title, “God” designates the first Person, God the Father. God is a spiritual being without a physical body. He is personal and involved with people. He created the universe out of nothing. He is eternal, changeless, holy, loving, and perfect.

A Mormon would have a totally different answer. “Jesus is a separate god from the Father (Elohim). He was created as a spirit child by the Father and Mother in Heaven, and is the “elder brother” of all men and spirit beings. His body was created through sexual union between Elohim and Mary. Jesus was married. His death on the cross does not provide full atonement for all sin, but does provide everyone with resurrection.

You can see we are not talking the same language as Mormons.

My point from the beginning is simple. American Christians are not discerning the call to revival that Mr. Beck is asking for. How can a Mormon who believes what he does about God, call American Christians, who do not agree with Mormon beliefs, to revival? And revival to what—the God of the Bible or the god of Mormonism?

Pray for the Becks. Pray for America.

Ask the God of the Bible for revival—not a political or economic change, but a heart change toward Christ—for His glory and our benefit.

God Bless,
Woody

P.S. Dr. Russell Moore at Southern Seminary in Louisville has written a great blog on God, the Gospel and Glenn Beck. I commend it for your reading. (Go to www.russellmoore.com.)