The Modern False Prophets

Glenn Beck

Like a modern day John the Baptist, Glenn Beck has been traveling around the United States for the past several months, speaking to tens of thousands of people in order to prepare them for the coming of the messiah.

However, in this case the messiah is Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican presidential candidate that Beck hopes will deliver Americans from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the same way that Moses--with the hand of God--delivered the Hebrews from Pharaoh, the wicked ruler of ancient Egypt.

Beck truly believes that unless America elects Cruz to the White House in November, the United States is doomed to fall under God's judgment. Beck has become quite a preacher lately, combining Mormonism with charismatic Pentecostal-evangelicalism to warn America that her hour of reckoning is near. Either elect Cruz, or else.

Beck is seconded by the Rev. Rafael Cruz, Ted's charismatic, born-again father who claims that God ordered Ted to run for the presidency. Here's what Pastor Cruz said recently:

My son Ted and his family spent six months in prayer seeking God's will for this decision. But the day the final green light came on, the whole family was together. It was a Sunday. We were all at his church, First Baptist Church in Houston, including his senior staff. After the church service, we all gathered at the pastor's office. We were on our knees for two hours seeking God's will. At the end of that time, a word came through his wife, Heidi. And the word came, just saying, "Seek God's face, not God's hand." And I'll tell you, it was as if there was a cloud of the holy spirit filling that place. Some of us were weeping, and Ted just looked up and said, "Lord, here am I, use me. I surrender to you, whatever you want." And he felt that was a green light to move forward.

Is that a true story? Let's hope that Pastor Rafael isn't making that up because Christianity already has a lousy image in the world, courtesy of all those pedophile scandals and prosperity scams. Prosperity scams? Think of them as modern indulgences, or the promise of blessings and answered prayers for money.

Beck certainly isn't making it up because he admits that he's spent about $500,000 backing his messiah wannabe. What's intriguing about that admission is Beck's further admission that he recently laid off 40 employees from his Blaze media company, although the political commentator claims that the layoffs had nothing to do with his spending spree on Cruz.

Rather, he claims the layoffs were done to satisfy a bank that loaned him a large sum of money to help him keep the financially struggling Blaze going. Certainly, that's business, but it looks and smells extremely bad when innocent folks lose their jobs while their boss is blowing a ton of cash on what looks to be a loser presidential candidate.

But maybe God did speak to the Cruz family. Maybe we'll witness a miracle in Cleveland at the Republican convention in July. Maybe front-runner Donald Trump will announce that God has told him to step aside and make way for Ted Cruz. Anything's possible, isn't it? But that's highly unlikely.

There are two valuable lessons to be learned from this: (1) True Christians don't try to do God's will via the ballot box and (2) the bible warns us that many false prophets will appear in the last days and deceive multitudes.

Concerning the first lesson, the apostle Paul wrote this: "No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules." (2 Timothy 2:4-5)

Paul reasoned that the gospel is advanced by the power of God rather than by secular means such as elections. In other words, godly civilizations don't come about by elections; they come about when the church successfully contends for the faith by making and keeping it relevant to the world. A godly civilization produces godly politicians rather than the corrupt and lying wretches that have become commonplace in America and in other places in recent decades.

Secondly, many people invoke the name of God to lend credibility to their endeavors. While some folks fabricate prophecies, others do hear things. Unfortunately, they hear the words of demons rather than the word of God.

Paul warned: "The (Holy) Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." (1 Timothy 4:1) And Jesus Christ Himself issued this prophecy: "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." (Matthew 24:10-11)

I seriously doubt that God spoke to the Cruz family. Certainly, God does allow nations to choose their political leaders. And as a wise man once said: Wicked people choose wicked leaders after their own hearts. Reality tells us that unless Ted Cruz is wicked, then he's not the leader for modern America.