Glenn Beck seems to be on a crusade. He's been on a "trilogy tour: Restoring Honor, Courage and Love" to America. He has become quite the Tea Party darling filling arena's with 10's of thousands of people eager to hear this new Profit "Prophet of Love" who combines his version of The Word of God with his version of American history.
Last night I accidently caught a large part of his most recent speaking engagement at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. I found it bizarre to say the least. A mixture of revivalism, American history, scripture and politics mixed with patriotic and hymnal music. The crowd was enthusiastic and very supportive of this charismatic "preacher." Gone were the ravings of a Faux News lunatic replaced by a softer, gentler, seemingly caring individual who is devoted to taking back America. Follow me below if you wish to take a closer look at a Mormon who the republican christian base seem to be embracing.
According to CBS Local News http://dfw.cbslocal.com/... more than 65,000 people came to Beck's three day love fest including The Westboro Baptist Church:
“I think he’s a false prophet. I think we better run from him. I think he needs to shut up,” said one protester who did not want to be named.
But those who came to hear Beck speak and support the conservative movement were very enthusiastic:
Back inside the stadium, Beck supporters did the wave, sang the Star-Spangled Banner and cheered when Beck welcomed them all to the “Republic of Texas.”
In his welcoming message, he encouraged his supporters to have faith, hope and perform charity.
“The courage to stand up for what you believe in and to stand in support of those things we find dear and sacred,” he said.
He later added: “We must not become America in name only, we must always strive to be a great country. We don’t have to spend our inheritance, we can build on it, invest it, improve it, make it bigger and better. That’s your choice. It’s our choice. Our inheritance is America.”
Even Michele Bachmann was there. According to RH Reality Check
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/...
But this was not the fightin'-words Bachmann of rallies past; the woman who spoke at Restoring Love's "Women's Conference" was a softer, gentler Bachmann, who issued an old-fashioned church lady sermon about the woman with the alabaster box.
Hmmmm....... Both Beck and Bachmann toning it down? That seemed to be working with the stadium sized crowd of conservative christians that I saw last night. Missing was Beck's infamous blackboard, but he still managed to include many props. The Sacramento Bee sums it up nicely:
http://www.sacbee.com/...
During his message, Beck rang an authentic copy of the Liberty Bell flown in from Philadelphia, and spoke passionately of how George Washington prayed at Valley Forge. He showed the audience a Bible printed by the United States Congress in the late 1700s, and sitting at a desk once used by Abraham Lincoln, he told the crowd that "it's time for us to stand for what we believe in. It's time for us to square our shoulders and take action. Let's not be America in name only."
Challenging the audience to stop relying on government to be the helping and healing hands God called them to be, Beck reminded the tens of thousands assembled that it is the obligation of every American to ensure that their nation endures and prospers. "Let us tonight restore love," he declared, "for love will hold us together."
Probably what I found to be most disturbing were the subtle and somewhat subliminal messages that I felt Beck was issuing: "it's time for us to stand for what we believe in. It's time for us to square our shoulders and take action. Let's not be America in name only." What kind of action are you suggesting Glenn?
So while we laugh at Mitt's latest foible (at our own peril), maybe we should also be watching another Mormon who is drawing stadium sized crowds, hearing voices from God and being called a modern day Prophet. He's gathering the republican christian base and calling them to action, and according to Dana Milbank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... he's sending coded Mormon prophecy to the nation's 6 million Mormons as well.