Renewal
Glenn Beck – a Modern-day Jeremiah?
Who we trust–who we seek out for perspective and advice–says a lot about our values and priorities.
If we’re wise, we’ll trust God as our most important Wonderful Counselor. We will also seek out godly people (another way of hearing from Him)–those with wisdom in various dimensions of life from whom we can learn, benefit, and be encouraged to make good decisions.
In 2006, I’d never heard of Glenn Beck. Over the past couple of years, I’ve listened to him occasionally on the radio and a watched him a few times on television. The more I hear, the more my respect for the man grows–especially in one area that he talks about constantly.
I’m beginning to wonder if he’s a modern-day Jeremiah to America and this generation.
First of all, I admit that I listen to many people to gain understanding. Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth With A Mission, believes that the more humble a person is (and that’s a good trait!), the more you will recognize authorities in your life–in many different categories.
My wife and parents are high on my list. Shirley gives me wise family counsel and compassionate perspective. My parents are prudent financial and “life” counselors. I have board members and leader friends that I go to for business and corporate advice.
There are also other astute voices in the public arena that I pay attention to:
- I like Rush Limbaugh when it comes to understanding liberalism (secularism).
- I respect Michael Medved, Ann Coulter, and Charles Krauthammer for their intellectual clarity on social issues.
- I’m amazed at the constitutional insights of Mark Levin and Jay Sekulow.
- For political hunches, I appreciate the perspectives of Sean Hannity, Dick Morris, and Karl Rove.
- On family issues, I trust James Dobson. On military strategy, I admire both Oliver North and John McCain.
- I have many religious heroes–including numerous YWAM leaders, Rick Warren, Leith Anderson, Franklin Graham, David Yonggi Cho, and David Wong.
- Danny Lehmann and Nancy Wilson are my evangelism heroes. I love the literary brilliance of Max Lucado.
This list could go on and on. There are so many voices that I value in my life and work.
When I started listening to Glenn Beck, I asked myself: “What can I learn from this man?” What wisdom or perspective does he possess that I need to hear and comprehend? After listening carefully for a couple of years now, his role is coming clear.
Glenn Beck, a Mormon, a former alcoholic–a man born and raised in my home state who is now a shooting star on both radio and television–just might be America’s foremost prophetic voice.
He just might be a Jeremiah to this generation. (He’s also an expert on “progressivism.”)
Here’s why. Jeremiah the prophet served during the time of Israel’s greatest testing as a nation. By the time he was born, Israel had grown as a tribe for nearly a thousand years, and a nation for four hundred. They had experienced numerous cycles of national revival and decline.
In Jeremiah’s day, they were facing a terminal judgement situation. If they didn’t turn to God they would lose everything–at least for a time.
Jeremiah pleaded with the nation to return to the Lord. He called them to return to God for forty faithful years (627 B.C. to 586 B.C.). Unfortunately, it’s not recorded once in the book in the Bible that bears his name that the people took the message seriously.
So in 586 B.C., God allowed the Babylonians to carry Judah off into captivity–they experienced a national collapse–and their way of life was lost for centuries. In fact, they never really recovered.
Back to Glenn Beck. Over a year ago, Glenn began to call the American nation back to God.
One day I turned on the radio to listen to his show (the third largest audience in the U.S.). He spoke for twenty straight minutes on Ephesians 6:10-18 (putting on the armor of God). I was stunned. Another day I heard him speak for fifteen minutes on the need of Americans to turn to God. In the coming months, he kept returning to that theme.
Some months ago he announced he was facilitating a gathering in Washington D.C. called 8-28 (August 28). He said there was a need for the nation to come together to get right with God, understand our Christian heritage and founding, and restore respect and honor. Later he announced that he’d rented the Kennedy Center on 8-27 for a leaders night before the main event on August 28.
That sounded awfully familiar. On April 28, 29, 1980, I served as the capital city coordinator of Washington For Jesus (WFJ) which brought 700,000 people to our nation’s capital to fast, pray, and call the nation back to God and its roots. John Gimenez, a Puerto Rican ex-con had received a burden from God to bring the people of faith together in the nation’s capital. A highlight of that day was watching 1.4 million hands stretched out toward the Capitol Building while an African American named Ben Kinchlow prayed for major changes in the United States government and leadership.
Six months later, Ronald Reagan swept into office and multitudes of corrupt incumbents were tossed out. Reagan’s election was viewed as “morning in America” and brought twenty-five years of economic growth and prosperity. According to Arthur Laffer (an economist I trust), the Reagan Revolution gave birth to the greatest period of economic growth and freedom in the history of the world.
Yes, I said that right. Between 1982 and 2007, 20 million US jobs were created and America’s household net worth increased by 32 trillion dollars. That’s Trillion with a T. Prayer, repentance, unity, faith and sound economic principles brought blessing to the nation during that era.
WFJ–a unifying event–was a part of the equation.
God had used an ex-con to bring us together.
Now he’s using an ex-alcoholic Mormon.
Our God is amazing.
In 2010, radio/TV personality Glenn Beck is calling the nation to once again gather in Washington, D.C at the Lincoln Memorial. He says we need to return to God. He believes we need to understand our history (David Barton of Wallbuilders will be teaching this subject on 8-28). He says we must put on the full armor of God, and restore faith, honor, integrity, and respect in American life.
I know of no other person–with anywhere near as large a megaphone–making this call in America today. It’s the right emphasis, at an extremely critical time.
If you live in the Washington D.C., or can travel to the nation’s capital for 8-28, I strongly encourage you to go. In other parts of the nation, between 10am and 1 pm EDT on August 28, 2010, let’s bow our hearts before God and ask for his gracious intervention in our national affairs. We need his forgiveness, favor, and vision to awaken a nation for his glory.
Glenn Beck just might be a modern-day Jeremiah.
What kind of responders will we be to his message?
The New Protestants
;)
Switzerland recently celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, one of the leaders the Reformation–a movement that greatly altered the history of the world. Calvin was a second generation reformer, following in the wake of Martin Luther and others, who took on the religious and cultural corruption of the 16th century with a Christ-centered viewpoint that eventually produced free nations, human rights, free enterprise, moral reforms and a global Gospel explosion.
Calvin and Luther were protesting the corruption of their day and pointing the way to renewed societies that honored Jesus Christ and cared about their fellow human beings. They became known as Protestants-Protesters–who wanted to limit kingly and ecclesiastical power and release the power of Christ in individual hearts. That Reformation gave us our modern world of just laws, not powerful men; Freedom, not slavery; Abundance, not universal poverty; Faith and hope, not servitude and despair. In the 21st century, I believe a new Reformation is beginning. It’s made up of millions of people who see their culture gasping for life, their freedoms being eroded, and chaos looming on the horizon due the growing tentacles of state power and control. Call them the New Protestants. And they’re not going away. Like Luther and Calvin, may they be victorious. These new Protesters are showing up at “tea parties” around the American nation. Many raised their voices at town hall meetings. Others have formed 24/7 prayer groups to cry out to God for spiritual and moral renewal. Some of them are young and passionate. Others are seniors who are disciplined and determined. They come from every economic strata, all fifty America states, and are truly a rainbow coalition of many races and cultural backgrounds. What are they protesting? Here’s a partial list:
- The thirty year holocaust of abortion
- The break-up and re-definition of marriage
- The main-streaming and glorification of immorality.
- The growth of Big Goverment and loss of liberty.
- Heavy taxation and regulation.
- Economic and ecological fascism.
- The corruption and unconcern of those in high places.
What unites them is an almost unspoken set of values that once made America great–and will bless any nation on earth that chooses to embrace them. Those values come from the Bible and are empowered by Jesus Christ in the heart of individuals. The New Protestants are much bigger than any group of organization. But one expression of their vitality took place this summer and is specially worthy of note. On June 30, 2009, representatives of some of America’s largest faith-based groups gathered in Washington, D.C. to announce that they will organize and mobilize their grassroots constituencies in a common cause–to formally announce the formation of the Freedom Federation. The Federation encompasses individuals of different races, faiths and backgrounds who are committed to the preservation of freedom and American values, founded on the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Freedom Federation is not a separate organization, but an association of like-minded national organizations with large and unique religious and political constituencies.
The Freedom Federation is committed to defending and extending core values expressed in the Declaration of American Values, the organization’s founding document. These include the right to life, the institution of marriage, parental rights, religious liberty, an environment free of pornography and indecency, the right to property, freedom from excessive taxation, and national sovereignty. The statement is posted on the Vision America website at www.visionamerica.us. Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on a Wittenberg Door in 1517. The Freedom Federation unveiled their ten values on June 30, 2009. The Declaration of American Values represents a cultural revolution that you are invited to join. Here are the basic points of agreement:
The Declaration of American Values
We the people of the United States of America, at this crucial time in history, do hereby affirm the core consensus values which form the basis of America’s greatness, that all men and women from every race and ethnicity are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We adhere to the rule of law embodied in the Constitution of the United States and to the principles of liberty on which America was founded. In order to maintain the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves and our posterity, and recognizing that personal responsibility is the basis of our self-governing Nation, we declare our allegiance:
1. To secure the sanctity of human life by affirming the dignity of and right to life for the disabled, the ill, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and for the unborn from the moment of conception. Every person is made in the image of God, and it is the responsibility and duty of all individuals and communities of faith to extend the hand of loving compassion to care for those in poverty and distress.
2. To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.
3. To secure the fundamental rights of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children regarding their upbringing and education.
4. To secure the free exercise of religion for all people, including the freedom to acknowledge God through our public institutions and other modes of public expression and the freedom of religious conscience without coercion by penalty or force of law.
5. To secure the moral dignity of each person, acknowledging that obscenity, pornography, and indecency debase our communities, harm our families, and undermine morality and respect. Therefore, we promote enactment and enforcement of laws to protect decency and morality.
6. To secure the right to own, possess and manage private property without arbitrary interference from government, while acknowledging the necessity of maintaining a proper and balanced care and stewardship of the environment and natural resources for the health and safety of our families.
7. To secure the individual right to own, possess, and use firearms as central to the preservation of peace and liberty.
8. To secure a system of checks and balances between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches within both state and federal governments, so that no one branch – particularly the judiciary – usurps the authority of the other two, and to maintain the constitutional principles of federalism which divide power between the state and federal governments.
9. To secure our national sovereignty and domestic tranquility by maintaining a strong military; establishing and maintaining secure national borders; participating in international and diplomatic affairs without ceding authority to foreign powers that diminish or interfere with our unalienable rights; and being mindful of our history as a nation of immigrants, promoting immigration policies that observe the rule of law and are just, fair, swift, and foster national unity.
10. To secure a system of fair taxes that are not punitive against the institution of marriage or family and are not progressive in nature, and within a limited government framework, to encourage economic opportunity, free enterprise, and free market competition.
If you agree with these principles, then you’re one of the New Protestants–in name.
If you pray, speak up, act, care for people, and vote–then you, too, can become one in deed–and join this encouraging and growing Reformation.
A Quiet Plurality Speaks
;)
“912” may go down as another day that changed the course of America.
9-11-01 brought the terrorists to our shores. 9-12-09 brought the quiet plurality to their feet.
It was thrilling to see over 100,000 American citizens who converged on the American capital on Saturday, September 12, 2009. to send a message to our elected officials. “A quiet plurality,” is how Georgetown University professor Stephen Wayne put it. Their message was pretty clear:
- We’re not happy with the pork-laden and ineffective stimulus plan and don’t want greater deficits placed on the backs of our children and grand children.
- We want the Administration to get out of the private business sphere and set it free to soar.
- We don’t want the government to run health care in this nation.
- We won’t accept higher taxes on anybody or anything.
- We’ve had enough of the quasi-statist take-over and want our freedom back.
Of course the main driver behind the mass “Tea Party” in Washington DC was the issue of national health care. Just days before the event, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress trying to rally flagging support for major government involvement in the health care future of the American people. Using his distinct oratorical skills, the President offered various tid-bits to various constituencies (anti-abortionists, seniors, those desiring tort reform, etc.), but there were two major problems with the speech.
First, the president didn’t tell the truth–as Congressman Joe Wilson passionately reminded us. There is a huge credibility gap between our current leaders in Washington and grassroots America citizens who have been doing their homework, coming out en masse to town hall meetings, and letting their elected officials know that they no longer trust them. Here is a sampling of false claims as compiled by PrayInJesusName.org:
Falsehood #1: “No federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.”
THE TRUTH: The Capps Amendment to HR 3200 has a Section 4B that reads: “Abortions for Which Public Funding Is Allowed. — The services described in this sub-paragraph are abortions for which the expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for the Department of Health and Human Services is permitted.” The Washington Times reported: “You can’t get more explicit than that.” And FactCheck.org exposed Obama’s untruth this way: “Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.”
Falsehood #2: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.”
THE TRUTH: The Democrat controlled Congressional Budget Office said Obamacare would add $220 billion to the deficit over 10 years, but will not succeed at shrinking the overall costs of our nation’s health care. Republicans claim it’s more like $600 billion increased deficit spending (confirmed by Associated Press, September 9, 2009).
Falsehood #3: “Don’t pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut…That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.”
THE TRUTH: The Washington Post reports Obama proposes “to squeeze more than $500 billion out of the growth of Medicare over the next decade….[which has] fueled fears that his effort to expand coverage to millions of younger, uninsured Americans will damage elder care. As a result, barely one-third of seniors support a health-care overhaul, several polls found” (Washington Post, August 9, 2009). Even the liberal Washington Post admits Obama was not truthful.
Falsehood #4: “If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage.”
THE TRUTH: Whether working or not, rich or poor, you will be ordered to get mandatory government-run health-care coverage, or pay a fine a $3800 fine per family, under the new Senate plan being railroaded through the finance committee by Max Baucus D-MT (New York Times, September 9, 2009). Obama pretends you’re “able” to get coverage, when he knows it’s mandatory (with a big tax increase or “fine” penalty).
Falsehood #5: “The claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.”
THE TRUTH: Mandatory “end of life” counseling in HR 3200 “shall” include counseling every five years to the elderly, giving doctors a monetary incentive to persuade you to sign a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order to pull the plug on Grandma, just like the Obama administration already pressures all Veterans to sign them (confirmed by the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, read extensive details at prayinjesusname.org). And under the British NHS government-run health plan, “Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors have warned” (The Daily Telegraph, September 2, 2009). Dr. Ewing Cook just admitted intentionally killing patients who signed DNR authorizations during Hurricane Katrina. “I gave her medicine so I could get rid of her faster…there’s no question I hastened her demise.” Bottom line: Grandma, don’t sign Obama’s DNR order, even if your doctor gets a bonus check from the President for talking you into that. Click here to view a John Stossel video that confirms many of these falsehoods.
Erick Erickson adds this commentary on untruths told to the American public: “Barack Obama said the plan will not cover illegal aliens. This is a lie. Joe Wilson was right. The legislation clearly says it will not fund illegal aliens BUT the legislation also prevents anyone from checking on the citizenship status of any person seeking healthcare. He is trying to have it both ways. The entire speech from Barack Obama was loaded with half-truths and flat out lies. For example, he said he would not force the government option on anyone. But, the legislation provides an incentive for private employers to shove their employees onto the government plan.”
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council put it this way: “While the outburst [Joe Wilson] calling the President a liar was unfortunate and inappropriate, I am sympathetic to the frustration on the part of many in Congress. The President’s speech to a joint session of Congress was unprecedented in how many times the President referred to those who disagree with him as being untruthful, yet he himself was misleading on a number of factors. The speech was not one of a leader looking to unite, but of a campaigner looking to further divide this necessary debate on health care.”
Secondly, though this lack of candor is bad enough, the fatal flaw in the current push toward socialized medicine in America is this: It places trust in Big Government to provide for people’s needs. Government is an able protector of life and liberty–that’s its God-given calling in a fallen world (Romans 13)–but it’s a lousy provider due to its lack of competition, innovation, and concentration of power. That’s why wise civilizations, including our founders, favored limited forms of government to keep it honest. Governments handle power, and as Lord Acton rightly said in the 19th century, “Power tends to corrupt; Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
In the Obama speech, he condemned insurance companies, medical professionals, talk show hosts and commentators, and also the American people (those who don’t choose to have medical coverage). But he didn’t say one bad or suspicious word about government. Why? Because Barack Obama believes in government and its concentration of power. That’s a fatal flaw in his thinking and in our current leadership.
The greatest thing we have to fear is not free peoples and their enterprises–it’s the corrupting power of government to destroy that freedom in the name of providing for us all. It’s never worked in all of history. It will lead to our demise and destruction as a nation.
But the march on Washington shows that the people know better. A quiet plurality is beginning to make their voice heard.
The politicians had better be listening–and all of us should be praying–that God will use the present debate to bring a spark of revival and reformation to the United States of America.