Sunday, May 4, 2014

An Open Letter to Liberty University Administration

Note: I wrote about this issue here, and I challenged people to write emails here. I will be emailing this letter to Johnnie Moore and Jerry Falwell Jr. tomorrow morning. Please join me!

Dear Johnnie Moore and Jerry Falwell Jr.,

In 2004 I began my journey at Liberty University as a calloused, apathetic, individual. Through the ministry of fellow students and professors I began to understand the importance of the Gospel, which God used to break down my apathy. Because of my experiences at Liberty, it saddens me to see that Liberty allowed Glenn Beck to preach a religious message in Convocation.

Mormons are not evangelical Christians and do not have the same beliefs that Christians do. In his sermon Glenn Beck said that he was from a "Christian denomination." At Liberty I was taught that Mormonism is a cult and that they deny salvation by grace through faith, along with holding many other false beliefs.

Paul in the book of Galatians has this to say: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8-9). You may say that Glenn Beck preached a gospel message that is the same as the one that Paul preached, but the Mormon church adds works as a necessary part of salvation. In fact, they mean different things when they use terminology (i.e. "atonement," "gospel," "etc.") that is also used by conservative evangelical Christians.

Unless Liberty University publicly repudiates the claims of Glenn Beck that Mormonism is a denomination of Christianity, many people may be misled. This is a serious issue, ultimately, because it is a Gospel issue. According to the Bible, Mormons are false teachers, not Christians. I respectfully request that the University make a public statement concerning the false teaching of Mormons, and clearly explain the difference in belief between the University and Glenn Beck on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Tad Caldwell
Class of 2008

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