The star of a 3-million audience radio show, and host of a CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck was in Salt Lake today (Dec. 3, 2006) to do a Christmas show. I truly felt fortunate because I heard one of the most spiritually moving testimonies I’ve ever heard “ and Ive heard a lot!”  The show itself was pretty entertaining and had a lot of twists in it that bent my mind a bit in new directions, and was fun. It was somewhat politically incorrect (Joy to the world except for France).

It also was the story of the Christmases of his life, and his search for meaning through it all.  He told a story of the last Christmas before his mom committed suicide when he was 12.  She was so poor as a single mother, and used her last $20 to get him a Christmas sweater, and that was all he got that year. She was so optimistic that he’d value it.  He was disappointed, but played along telling her it was great.  He didn’t really value it though, and I guess inadvertently tossed it on the floor. She saw it and was saddened, so he picked it up and put it away neatly. 

The grand finale was a real tribute to Christ Himself.  He felt that most things in our lives are of temporary nature, and that’s some of the reason God allows bad things to happen (because it isn’t permanent). But the most valuable, permanent gift ever, like the love behind that sweater, is Christ himself.  Never throw Him on the floor. Treating Him nicely and neatly is better, but for Heaven’s sake WEAR THE GIFT OF REDEMPTION!

How Glenn Became LDS

He held a special session for the Salt Lake audience afterwards.  At least 99.9% of the audience stayed. He wanted desperately to convey his conversion story to an audience that would understand it and value it.  It was a powerful story of how God hunted him down, or stalked him over the years. He was always powerfully drawn to radio, and pursued it vigorously after his mother died.  By age 18 he was assigned to a station in Provo, where he got his first taste of Happy Valley Kool-Aid drinkers.  When he was sent to Washington (D.C.?) a new co-worker was also LDS.  He ran into several later, and all of it was preparing him toward a day when he could be more receptive.  (As a lost, prideful alcoholic, he says there was very little wickedness he didn’t do).

I forget how he ran into Pat Grey (www.patgrey.com), the guy who influenced him the most, but they had a good relationship for many years while the Lord continued to guide Glenn on paths that He wanted him to go down.  At the bottom of alcoholism and sadness, he and Tonia decided to go church shopping.  He was open-minded about every Christian church except the one with all the weird freaks he knew.  Pat Grey says, You owe me at least one visit while you’re shopping.  So he went to check that guilt off the list. 

While there, they corralled him into gospel essentials class, where he was shocked to find you could ask questions.  He hit “Sister” with a “Where’s Gandhi going, Heaven or Hell?” expecting a qualified Hell as the response which seemed to be the position most other religions claimed of the unbaptized. Doubly shocked to find that she turned it back to the class where there were some pretty decent responses. “What’s this, the teacher asks the students?”

(He didn’t explain, but I suppose they recognized that Gandhi was a noble and great one whose role on earth was foreordained.  He was so in tune with truth and light that it’s hard to believe he would turn down this facet of Truth when he ultimately learns that Christ is the Redeemer).

So they left church that day with his daughter saying “I felt pretty good there, let’s try it again next week, please!”  He likewise thought, “Well, nothing in particular ticked me off, but I’m sure it’s coming!”

So he started going through 1,500 missionaries, and pummeling them with a cover-to-cover read of Mormon Doctrine.  The bishop in the area was going crazy as Glenn would ask things that even the Prophet has never been asked. They paid tithing, had callings, all before committing to baptism.  He resisted because he didn’t want to be one of those plastic people.

One day Super Plastic-Man, with his amazing plastic family (his icon for the too-good-to-be-true-but-suspectedly-off-the-mark-perfect Mormon) was teaching priesthood and their spirits communicated over a discussion of Zion.  They were both in tears and he suddenly had a sensation that this plastic man was actually among the most Real people he’d ever seen (see my essay on What is Real).

Finally, he came to baptism for all the right reasons “in part because He was convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel (which he had intellectually been for awhile I gather), but more because he felt the awful burden of the sinfulness of his life crushing him, and he needed the redemption promised by baptism lest he end up like his mother.  He was very emotional at this point and you could just see he felt Christ had redeemed him and begun building a beautiful park on a former landfill (a talk from Oct, 2006 conference).

His Spiritual Life After Baptism

So then came a new life of wonderment, happiness, enlightenment, commitment, and utility in the service of the Lord.  He mentioned how his patriarchal blessing said something like, “if you’re committed to me, success will unfold before you with ease, but in all of this beware to be humble.”  (I forget his words.  They were pretty different but the gist of it was something like that).  He noted that as he was about to go national, he felt prompted to write the First Presidency, I guess in part to let them know of his desire to commit his life to the Lord in service (and though he didn’t say it, probably also to warn them to get ready for potential embarrassment in front of millions).  He did write, and after a delayed reaction at the mailbox, he let it drop.  At that instant he felt the spirit confirm, You have passed the test.  I can now use you, and I will.  Ever since he has been picking up in popularity, and he feels he really is called to what he is doing, and approaches the job as a mission from God.

He ended with a heartfelt plea for all of us to prepare for the coming Storm.  In case you don’t listen much, his biggest subject is the rise of Islamic Jihadists, which he believes will instigate World War III, which he believes is already in the early stages. I likewise believe there will be such a Storm, but I approach it on my site from an economic angle, which is where I feel the Spirit has been moving me.

He noted he felt sorry for Westerners and it was a little unclear why.  He talked of how New Yorkers are nervous about their status as targets, and I got the sense his pity for Westerners was because he believes we will have to serve as a hospital for the nation in a great calamity (maybe spiritual and temporal?).  I guess something like that may be possible.  I certainly believe there is strong potential for calamity at an international scale, and crippling at home.  The West, and Mormons in particular, while unprepared in my opinion, may be far more prepared than much of the country.  We could be like Joseph whose wheat program saved not only Egypt but his own family from demise.  Thus beside his show and his conversion story, an important message was his conviction that a Storm is coming, and that the wise will pay attention and do all that they can to prepare for that day.

Is Glenn 2006’s Most Famous Saint?

Glenn Beck may be 2006’s most visible member of the Church among non-members who give him an ear, and his status is rising fast.  I am excited to believe that he could be catalyst for hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to give a second and third look to the Gospel of Christ, as espoused by the Latter-Day Saints.  Surely this is happening now.  It’s like converting Dr. Laura or the Pope (well, Not so much, as Glenn would say).  People like Glenn have a real following who want to know how to be more like Glenn.

The nation is full of people, generally conservative and God-fearing in nature, who are “seeking for truth and no not where to find it”.  They hone in on conservative talk radio as something that seems to be trying to cut through the spin and political correctness of secular America, and just tell it like it is.  Glenn does not shy away from his religion, though I believe wisely he does not direct attention to it on his show.  He is telling people the common-sense of our church (food storage, value of family, emphasis on Christ, etc), but like a teenage girl who wants to ensure a meaningful relationship, he leads them on but won’t give his audience that all important good-night kiss (i.e. they stay curious for longer because he leaves them wanting the answer.  They ultimately have to ask around or research for themselves, “I sure like that guy and he seems to have gained a lot from his religion.  I’d better Google out what he belongs to”).

He’s virtually given away the secret with all his reference to Salt Lake on his show, but I hope he’ll back down a bit and just note true doctrine that resonates with people enough that they remain curious to dig out where this stuff is coming from.  If you tell them the answer (LDS), their curiosity is satisfied.

At least until the missionaries knock at which point I’m convinced that untold thousands who previously wouldnt take time, or even held prejudices against Latter-Day Saints, will now keep the door open a bit longer.  I think he’ll be a real bridge to Evangelicals, and to the hip 20-somethings.  “Glenn Beck’s in your church isnt he.  Yeah, hes always talking about how much his religion means to him.  He seems so normal in an abnormal way, and he’s spot-on in so many things.  How did he get conned into joining up with you guys?”  I think that conversation will be repeated thousands of times, and many will look seriously, where before they thought we were all just plastic freaks with beliefs so strange on the surface that it isn’t worth a truly open inquiry.

Hooray for you, Brother Beck!  May you continue to have courage to stand out as an honest truth seeker.  You are on the Lord’s errand, and you’re surely catching the Devil’s attention.  May the Lord give you strength and place words in your mouth (and stop you from putting your foot in your mouth).  May He bless and protect you and your family when the Devil tries to mock, ridicule, and silence you.

Your story reminds me of the apostle Paul.  He was a “non-member” who persecuted the Christians, but he was also a truth seeker who mistakenly believed the Christians had it wrong.  When Christ stalked him out, he felt so powerfully redeemed that he never lost energy in preaching the good news among the nations.  His story, conviction, and articulation of the gospel moved thousands to a position they could be fed to lions before they would be moved away from the Rock.  Second only to Christ, he is responsible for Christianity thriving clear up unto our times with more than a billion who believe Christ is the Redeemer.

Where many great Latter-Day Saints have “let their candle so shine before men” with the Good News of the Restoration, you Brother Beck are positioned in a light-house with a multi-million candle power spotlight.  Keep warning the world of the Devil’s rocks, and light the way to the Tree. Your history, talents, and job are helping you relate with millions who would otherwise just mock and scorn the rest of us Plastic People.  In the Lord’s toolbox, He has enough screwdrivers (short hair, Kool-Aid, Utah RMs).  He really needs a good power saw, and tag, you’re it!

I just pray the Lord will protect you from those who prefer darkness over light, so that your light can shine bright for a long, long time.

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