Liberty University and Glenn Beck: Part 3

I have written two posts so far concerning the Glenn Beck sermon at Liberty University.  You can find them here and here.  The both contain emails exchanged between the Vice President of Communications at Liberty University, Johnnie Moore, and myself.  If you haven't read them, it will be important for you to do so as to add context to what I have written below.

I have a couple more things to say concerning Johnnie Moore's response to me.

Why is it so hard for Johnnie Moore and Jerry Falwell Jr. to say that Mormonism is not a Christian denomination?

I don't care if you call it a cult, false religion, or fringe group outside Christian orthodoxy.  I am not asking for Liberty to give Mormonism a label concerning what it is.  I am asking them to state plainly what it is not.  Jerry Falwell Jr. refused to do that in an interview with CNN.

Now, Johnnie Moore says, "Our students have no question about what Liberty’s doctrinal statement is.  It is posted publicly for all to see.  Our doctrinal statement is our public statement on Mormonism.  It is the same statement that Liberty was founded upon and it will never change."

Please interpret that doctrinal statement for me.  Is Mormonism a Christian denomination as Beck claimed, or is it the heretical fringe group that the Christian church has recognized it as since its founding?  I am getting mixed messages, and I am asking you to clear them up for me.  Are you willing to do so?

The end of Moore's email leaves me questioning Liberty's position, "By the way, many conservative evangelical leaders who are closer to Beck than me have told me that they believe Beck has had a born again experience recently.  I do not know his heart but our audience knows that he was speaking only for himself and expressing his personal opinions and beliefs, not those of Liberty University or even of Mormonism generally."

Has Beck rejected Mormonism?  Has Beck forsaken the teaching of his church?  As demonstrated in my first post, Mormonism teaches things about the man, God, and the atonement that are antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What if Beck were a Muslim?  Could he have a "born again experience" while still clinging to Islam?  Absolutely not.  Neither can one follow Jesus and continue to cling to the false god and savior espoused in Mormonism.

I am not questioning the intellect of your students; I am questioning the wisdom of allowing a false teacher to preach on the stage of Liberty University.

Moore wrote, "As Jerry Falwell, Sr., our founder, often used to say about speakers at Liberty who had different views than him, Liberty students are smart enough to eat the fish and spit out the bones! I believe that's as true today as it was in his day."

This statement is irrelevant.  I believe that the people in my congregation are just as smart as the students at Liberty University, yet I do not welcome heretics into my pulpit and trust my people to "eat the fish and spit out the bones."

I don't really know what Jerry Falwell Sr. would have done in the same situation.  Neither do I care.  I had a lot of respect for Jerry Falwell Sr.  I didn't always agree with him, but I appreciate the things he accomplished for the kingdom of God.  This isn't about what Jerry Falwell Sr. would have done.  This is about doing what is right.

The student body at Liberty University is very diverse.  It is made up of people from all over the world, people from lots of different backgrounds, and yes, people from different faiths.  Do you really trust those who are not indwelt by the Spirit of God to discern truth from error with regard to Mormonism and Christianity?  I don't. 

Even Christians who are indwelt by the Spirit can be led astray by false teaching.  That is why the Apostle Paul used such strong language when referring to false teaching.  Consider some of the things Paul wrote to his son in the faith Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:3-7

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

2 Timothy 1:13-14

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

2 Timothy 4:2-5

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Let's be clear.  Mormonism is a false religion, and Glenn Beck is a false teacher.  I have a responsibility in my church to protect God's flock from false teaching.  I will stand before God one day and give an account for my stewardship of that responsibility.  While leading a university and choosing convocation speakers is not even close to the same thing as pastoring a church, the leaders of Liberty University have a responsibility to protect sound doctrine as well.

You want to be the world's largest evangelical university?  Fasten your belt and accept the responsibility that goes along with that label.  You are not irrelevant.  Christians and the world are watching you.  What will they think about Mormonism based on what they see at Liberty University?

I am reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 18:6, "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."  These words haunt me; they should haunt Johnnie Moore and Jerry Falwell Jr. as well.

My next post will address Beck's response to the controversy.  Thanks for reading.