Here's a perfect example of what evangelical co-belligerism does to Christianity:Liberty University has invited Glenn Beck to speak at their graduation.
Glenn Beck is a Mormon. Contrary to postmodern evanjellyfish claims, Mormonism is a pseudo-Christian cult. That means that Mormonism is damnable heresy and Glenn Beck is a hell-bound heretic; regardless of how nice he is. See Watchman Fellowship's articles here:
Here's an important question for the administration of Liberty University:
Have you hit your heads?
It appears so. Given his previous deceit, it is not surprising that Ergun Caner, President of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary tweeted the following about the invite,
Glenn Beck at the LU Graduation! Love it! And I'm loving the snarking of the haters. LU folk: rejoice when they revile!
What? "[R]ejoice when they revile!"? Oh, you mean when discerning, Bible-believing evangelical Christians revile the fact that the school that you work for should be consistently training young people in the truths of the Christian faith versus confusing them by inviting a hell-bound cultist to speak at their commencement ceremony? To top that off, you call those (like me) who object to your administration's decision "haters". Au contraire, it appears that you sir, are the hater. The fact that you would gladly support such confusion shows those who have any measure of discernment where your heart and the heart of Liberty's administration is when it comes to presenting a consistent message regarding the truth of the gospel. If you want to know why Bible-believing Christians are upset at this decision, it is this: Your trumpet is producing an uncertain sound and you are rejoicing about it, just like much of the rest of evangelicalism. Instead of rejoicing, you ought to be mourning.
Given Caner's attitude and Liberty U's invite of Beck, its no wonder most of the professing evangelical Christians that I witness to are absolutely clueless about the gospel.
May God have mercy on the professing evangelicals in America, as the foundations of historic evangelical orthodoxy continue to erode.
May God have mercy on the professing evangelicals in America, as the foundations of historic evangelical orthodoxy continue to erode.
My Article on the Situation...click
ReplyDeleteGreat article, thank you for sharing. I also write about this at my blog, click the link above to check it out and use my DisQus comment feature to let me know what you think.
Ergun was on Focus on the Family radio today. Sad.
ReplyDeleteBeck is a crazy nice guy. He comes on too wacky for me. And Liberty is a lot different without Jerry, I think. Although Jerry would probably like Beck's moral crusade for America.
Thanks for the up date.
Would you have complained if Caner had invited a Jew?
ReplyDelete"Would you have complained if Caner had invited a Jew?"
ReplyDeleteYes.
But...but...but... Beck is a CONSERVATIVE!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow could you? How could you?
I simply do not understand how such a decision was even considered, let alone decided upon. Not to mention, of course, that this is at a Christian university's graduation ceremony. The celebration of their graduation is commemorated by a speech by a man from a polytheistic "Christian" cult? Do they even know what Mormonism teaches?
ReplyDeleteYeah, when the man speaks of Jesus in his speech who's he's actually talking about the Jesus of Mormonism who was begotten by Elohim, the god of Earth who is of flesh and bones, through the physical impregnation of a spirit child of his named Mary. When this man speaks of God in his speech who's he's actually talking about is the god of Earth who was once a man and achieved the status of godhood and lives on a planet/star called Kolob (Abraham 3:2-4).
Would you have complained if Caner had invited a Jew?
Yes. And the same for if they had invited a Jehovah's Witness, a Bahá'í, a Socinian, or a Oneness Pentecostal (just to name a few more).
I thought it was worse when Notre Dame invited pro-abortionist Obama to speak at its graduation a year ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ipetitions.com/petition/beckatlugrad/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crosstalkblog.com/2010/04/glenn-beck-to-be-liberty-us-commencement-speaker/
ReplyDeleteBeck's an interesting guy, for sure. But I must agree with Dusman here. What are the Liberty guys thinking? Have they lost their minds?
ReplyDeleteI met Beck once while tuning a piano at a venue here in the Philly area where he was performing a few years ago. I was *this close* to being his piano tuner because he was going to buy a new piano from the dealer I do subcontracting work for. We were going to have lunch but alas, that's when everything broke for him with CNN, so it never happened.
Darn him for denying me the right to be on the verge of someone else's greatness!
I think it's important to remember that Liberty is a university and not a church, and that a commencement address is not a sermon. From what I understand of Liberty U, part of what they're interested in doing is training intelligent young Christians to be effective voices in the world of public discourse. Beck is an important conservative voice in that discourse. So while he would be a terrible choice to speak at a worship service, he's not a bad choice to speak at a commencement ceremony, which is all about students entering that larger world.
ReplyDeletePlease give the students some credit, too: if the university has done its job, they'll be able to handle themselves in terms of differentiating from ideas that are compatible with their own identities and those that aren't. They don't need protecting.
Liberty leadership doesn't care that Beck is a Mormon, but you better believe that if Beck was a Calvinist, they wouldn't have even considered him to be a janitor.
ReplyDeleteI speak as a Liberty alumnus. I know first hand of what I speak.
1.) Beck has admitted that doesn't care about politics. He's an entertainer:
ReplyDeleteWith a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process." Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. "We're an entertainment company," Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/entertainment-fox-news-simon-schuster-glenn-beck-inc.html
2.) This has less to do with postmodernism than people confusing the Republican Party for the Great Commission.
Beck has admitted that doesn't care about politics. He's an entertainer:
ReplyDeleteOf course, Beck is speaking about his own political aspirations, of which he has none. He is not saying that he is not interested in politics. Anyone who listens to his daily radio show or watches his Fox TV show knows this; he has no interest in running for public office. But he is interested in exposing the lies and hypocrisy of the Beltway mentality. And he makes a lot of money doing that. I couldn't care less about that--God is sovereign. It does no good to be jealous of rich people. If God wanted me to be materially wealthy, I would be.
I think it's important to remember that Liberty is a university and not a church, and that a commencement address is not a sermon.
ReplyDeleteGood point, MPB, worthy of consideration.
And BTW, I thank God for rich people--they keep me busy and my family provided for especially during economic slumps, that is, God's provision through them.
ReplyDeleteAnd BTW, I thank God for rich people...
ReplyDeleteThe guy makes his money giving false hope to people. He may be a Mormon, but he's not peddling LDS theology. He's peddling political cliches. If he was really "exposing" anything, they wouldn't put him on TV.
The pathetic thing is that this sham is confused with a Christian worldview.
I agree that he's all tied up with promoting the civil religion, which is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. But false hope? What do you mean? As American citizens, people shouldn't ever hope that their secular government will clean up its act and do the right thing?
ReplyDeleteThis is a direct result of the church being interested in politics, and having a nation as an idol.
ReplyDeleteQuite the opposite, Rick. The situation we have now is a direct result of the Church's abdication of its role in influencing society and culture for the better. Salt and light. Engagement with the processes of government is part of that.
ReplyDeleteShould we just let the socialists take over, like we have been doing ever since about 100 years ago? Such thinking is irresponsible and at odds with the Christian worldview. The Scriptures say that God builds up nations and takes them down. He sets up rulers and removes them. If God is interested in who is running our country and representing us, don't you think we should be?
Did our Lord tell us to make disciples of all nations, but leave out the political leaders?
Allow me to remind everyone, once again, that we're _not_ talking about the church in this case. We're talking about a university. Two different kinds of institutions with two different purposes.
ReplyDelete"If God is interested in who is running our country and representing us, don't you think we should be?"
ReplyDeleteRulers, and kings, and presidents are ordained by God.
The Church is to be a witness to Christ, and His death and resurrection. We are to live for the King of kings, and His kingdom,and righteousness.
Surely that can make a difference in any nation on the earth.
There's a difference in the Church being the Church, and the Church being America.
I am a Christian, and so I worship the Father in Spirit and truth, and love Jesus, and live for Him, because He died for me.
And I don't like politics in the Church services, especially the pulpits, or even Christian College graduations.
As an American, I feel that I am a patriot, which isn't so popular in our day. I am very grateful for this nation and my freedom. And I shall fight to keep the freedom we have, mainly for my family; my grandsons, and their children.
However, if the USA loses it's freedom, then Blessed be the name of the Lord, for He gives and He takes away.
I leave with a quote I like:
" Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" -Patrick Henry
DonSands,
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with you to some degree. I am blessed to be in a congregation where politics is NEVER a part of the worship service.
That being said, I will not abdicate my responsibility as an American citizen to exercise those rights granted to me by God and by the government He has instituted. And the choices that I make, the mechanism I employ through which I exercise those rights, are informed by my faith. I do not exercise those rights in a vacuum, devoid of the knowledge of the Father and my Saviour the Lord Christ.
Now if we're talking about the Church's official participation in politics, that's a different matter altogether. I never cared for D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Hour for that very reason; the lines between the gospel and American Civil Religion were so blurred--it annoyed the heck out of me. And Beck is calling his upcoming gatherings "revivals," which annoy the heck out of me too.
Pilgrim,
ReplyDelete"I will not abdicate my responsibility as an American"
I agree, I think. I am simply thankful for my freedom as an American, and am free to be a Christian in America.
If I was a Christian in China, I would be thankful for for my freedom in Christ, and yet also for whatever freedom I have as a citizen of China.
And so it goes for all the various nations in this world.
In some ways it may be more blessed to be a Christian in North Korea, than in the USA.
And yet, I love the freedom we have in America, and would fight to keep it.
I hope that makes sense.
It is a difficult mixture for me, to be an American, but always a Christian, way first.
"Liberty leadership doesn't care that Beck is a Mormon, but you better believe that if Beck was a Calvinist, they wouldn't have even considered him to be a janitor.
ReplyDeleteI speak as a Liberty alumnus. I know first hand of what I speak."
You clearly are not familiar with their religion department which does employee quite outspoken predestination folks. Caner is frequently arguing this subject, yes. But he is over the seminary. Elmer Towns is over the undergrad religion hall.
Also FYI to the guy who would have complained if Caner invited a Jew.... because Jerry Falwell invited a very liberal Jewish leader to come speak at Convocation for about 15 minutes. In return, Jerry was allowed to goto the Jew's synagogue and give the message of salvation.
Also, this is the commencement speaker, the inspire and congratulate speaker. The Baccalaureate speaker is a very well known preacher.