Glenn Beck's "Twelve Values": #6 Charity

Paul Derengowski, ThM

Charity, I think the opposite of charity is socialism. It's greed. But we've tried to force charity down. Charity is not socialism and socialism is not charity. Charity is about us as individuals. We care. We want to change our heart. Government's not charity. Charity's not patriotic. Pure charity is to be god-like. We lose our focus on ourself and worry about others.—Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is so conflicted and contradictory over just what he thinks charity is it is almost embarrassing to read him. Nevertheless, given that his Mormon worldview is the same, conflicted and contradictory, is it any wonder that his statement about charity is the same?

First of all the opposite of charity is not socialism. The opposite of charity is to be merciless and unloving. Socialism, in the biblical sense, was actually practiced by the early Christian church (Acts 2:44-46; 4:32-37), and is a prescription to the very greed that often follows a capitalistic system that has gone awry. Please note, though, I said socialism in the biblical sense; not in the Soviet, People's Republic of China, or Barak Obama sense. Those forms of socialism are perverse counterfeits of biblical socialism, and will only serve to oppress a people, while exalting a human dictator to rule mercilessly in the place of God.

Second, no one is forcing charity down. Instead, what is being forced is a relativistic worldview that godless and gutless political and religious leaders have been fostering for decades and it is being done at the expense of the truth. And unfortunately Glenn Beck just happens to belong to a religious organization which is a part of the relativistic worldview, and he is using relativistic means to spread his message. How? By subjectively reasoning that it is just to covertly indoctrinate people into Mormonism, and then disguise his effort as the "Nine Principles," "Twelve Values," patriotism, etc. And frankly, that ranks right up there with a description of being uncharitable.

Third, charity is not about individuals, as if one is acting in an "Individual" sense to save himself (like Mormonism teaches), or as the husband who calls his wife forth from the grave at the Resurrection (again, like Mormonism teaches). Moreover, charity is not about "rugged individualism," as one other famous radio talking head often repeats. It is about a people who love and act merciful toward each other within the teaching and direction of Almighty God who has revealed Himself in Scripture. Perhaps one of the reasons why Beck and others either miss this point, or pervert it altogether, is simply because of their aversion toward the Bible. They don't read and study it, and when they do, they do it with the presupposition that it is erroneous to begin with, which in turn leads them to set themselves up as the final authority on matters of truth and objectivity. Sadly, then we end up with statements like the one above by Beck which leads people into error.

Fourth, Beck's Mormonism starts to come out with the statement about our wanting to change our heart, which is an absolute lie if he actually understood the Bible. What he is advocating, though, is what Mormon's call "Free Agency," which teaches that all people are not as bad off as God says that they were after the Fall of Humanity; that everyone possesses the inherent capability of choosing to "change their hearts," accept God's gift of salvation when they so desire, or go on to become a god if he will simply put enough effort into it. The fact is the sinner before God has absolutely zero capability within himself to do anything, until God so chooses. "We love," wrote the apostle John, "because He first love us" (1 Jn. 4:19). "No man can come to Me," said Jesus, "unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (Jn. 6:44). Paul wrote, "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13). So, no man or woman wants to change their hearts, in and of themselves, because they are not only not capable, they do not have the desire either (Rom. 3:11).

Fifth, Beck comes into full Mormon bloom with his purity unto godlike statement, which comes right out of the biblical misstatement that Mormon missionaries and apologists frequently throw around, when Jesus said in the middle of his Sermon on the Mount discourse, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). As has been noted time and again, the modus operandi of Mormonism is to keep the individual Mormon constantly thinking and breathing Mormonism during every moment of the day for the specific purpose of leading that Mormon to believe he will become a god one day. So, when a Mormon quotes or alludes to a passage like Matthew 5:48, he thinks that it means one must perform perfectly the laws and ordinances of the Mormon church, and that by doing them he will become like his "Heavenly Father," who is a god.

What is terribly tragic, though, about this whole line of thinking is that Jesus is not talking about the deification of men, and when asked about the degree to which a Mormon must subscribe to the tenets to make one perfect in this world, to eventually attain godhood in the next world, of all the years I've asked the question, I have yet to receive an answer. Why? Because the Mormon intuitively knows he cannot do it. Yet the admonition from Mormon leaders, like the late Spencer W. Kimball, when asked whether it would take a superman effort to accomplish what Mormonism is demanding, said, "'Yes,' I said, 'but we are commanded to be supermen. Said the Lord, 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which in heaven is perfect.' (Matt. 5:48.) We are gods in embryo, and the Lord demands perfection of us'" (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 286).

Sixth, Beck's final statement is as convoluted as everything else he has written, for Mormon charity cannot be fixated on anyone else, simply because he doesn't have the time to really care about anyone else but himself. That's not to say that he doesn't care about those in his immediate circle of family and friends. The operative word is really. In reality the Mormon must focus his attention on his prescribed duties to become a god. He must not only do as already seen above by becoming perfect in this lifetime—Mormon apostle Melvin J. Ballard taught, "This life is the time to repent….every man and woman who is putting off until the next life the task of correcting and overcoming the weakness of the flesh are sentencing themselves to years of bondage, for no man or woman will come forth in the resurrection until they have completed their work, until they have overcome, until they have done as much as they can do" (Three Degrees of Glory, 13)—but he must do so by a diligently keeping of all the laws of God. It is the direct antithesis of why Jesus came to set people free (Gal. 5:1), meaning that the Mormon expectation is futile, as well as anti-Christian. Nevertheless, that is the real Mormon attitude that is veiled behind all the Mormon TV ads, the sweet-sounding music of the Mormon tabernacle choir, and the conflicted principles and values of Glenn Beck.

It is quite evident, therefore, that Glenn Beck not only has no clue as to what charity truly is, it is also quite clear that his Mormonism in instrumental in causing his cluelessness. Not only does he confuse individual and social responsibilities in his effort to redefine charity, he eventually arrives at a conclusion that his Mormon leaders would be proud of: "Pure charity is to be god-like." And it is because of all these conflicts that it would be best for the normal, rational person to turn Mr. Beck off, and say, "Thanks, but no thanks. Your idolatry and idolatrous perspective on life, and the deceit you're engaging in to advocate them, are not only not American, they're not Christian either."

NEXT: Glenn Beck in Sincerity