Beck Wants to Lead, But Will Evangelicals Follow?

Beck wants to lead, but will evangelicals follow? [Excerpts]

WASHINGTON (RNS) Southern Baptist executive Richard Land was pleased at how religious Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally turned out to be.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a black evangelical leader, was pleasantly surprised that the Fox News talk show host said things “some of my close friends could have written.”

And Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. was among the faith leaders to enlist in Beck’s new “Black Robe Regiment.”

“Glenn Beck’s Mormon faith is irrelevant,” said Falwell. “People of all faiths, all races and all creeds spoke and attended the event. Nobody was there to endorse anyone else’s faith but we were all there to honor our armed forces and to call the people of America to restore honor.”

But other conservative Christians say Beck’s leadership at an event attended by evangelicals and other conservatives was nothing short of scandalous.

“The answer to this scandal ... includes local churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and disciple their congregations to know the difference between the kingdom of God and the latest political whim,” Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog the day after the rally.

“It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

There is no doubt that Beck has a following. Gallup has ranked him as the fourth most admired man -- just ahead of Pope Benedict XVI -- and millions tune in to his daily broadcasts.

But, as his religious rhetoric attests, Beck has gone fishing for a new audience recently.

Weeks before the rally, he gathered about 20 prominent religious leaders for a dinner at which he said God was leading him to talk about revival in America, Land said. The night before the rally, he held a “Divine Destiny” event that promised to leave participants with a “strong belief that faith can play an essential role in reuniting the country.”

That kind of language has some evangelicals upset.

“I believe that Beck used his conservative veneer and doublespeak to co-opt leaders of the religious right,” wrote Brannon Howse, founder of Worldview Weekend, which sponsors Christian worldview conferences.

Others, such as Lou Engle, founder of The Call rallies across the country, said Beck will get qualified support.

“I think evangelicals will see him as a moral voice, not necessarily a spiritual voice,” he said.

Experts say Beck’s ability to reach evangelicals will depend on whether he speaks a broad message or delves more narrowly into his Mormon beliefs.

http://blackchristiannews.com/news/2010/09/beck-wants-to-lead-but-will-christians-follow.html

[TBC: In the August 2003 issue of the newsletter we addressed the unbiblical beliefs of Mormonism. See: http://www.thebereancall.org/node/2594. There is no room for evangelicals yoking together with Mormonism.]