By Their Fruits
on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 5:44pm
For all those who have asked, thanks for your inquiry and for expressing your concerns about Glenn and his faith. Allow me to address those concerns first by offering some general principles that I find helpful, and then by listing some specific facts that also influence my position.
Concerning the first area, human nature frequently causes us to jump to quick (and often wrong) conclusions based on stereotypes; there is an unfortunate propensity to judge based on what is generally perceived about a particular group rather than on what we specifically know about the individuals in that group.
Jesus provided excellent guidance to help overcome this tendency:
• By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit....Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. MATTHEW 7:16-20What simple messages are contained in these three verses?
• "Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." "Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you." LUKE 9:49-50
• Whoever is not against us is for us. MARK 9:40
1. Judge a tree based on the type of fruit it produces, not the label that it bears. For example, if a tree is labeled as an apple tree but keeps producing oranges, which is more important: the label or the fruits? Obviously, the fruits.Let me now make specific application of these verses. In recent months, I have appeared numerous times on Glenn's program to talk about historical and political issues, particularly as related to faith and Biblical values. On those programs, I have had repeated opportunity to inform Americans about (as our WallBuilders' motto declares) "America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage." I have also participated in several major arena rallies with Glenn.
2. Don't impede the efforts of others if they are not attacking and trying to injure us, even if those individuals are not part of our particular religious circle.
3. If someone is not actively fighting against us, then consider him an ally, not an enemy.
As a result of these appearances, I have received numerous letters and calls from concerned Christians, some of whom respectfully inquire as to why I would appear with a Mormon, while others directly attack me for doing so. As far as I can tell, most of these concerns stem from judging Glenn based by the label of "Mormon" rather than by the fruits he produces.
For example, no one has yet been to point to any instance where Glenn has attacked or undermined Christ or Christianity on any of his programs. To the contrary, on repeated occasions it has been quite the opposite. (Recall his specific programs on individual salvation, atonement, and redemption through Christ.) Nevertheless, some of his critics refuse to take Glenn at his self-evident words but instead attempt to read into them some secret and hidden meaning, thereby judging him not by his fruits or words but rather by some conspiratorial and unseen meaning they seek to impute to him.
For Christians concerned about Glenn's faith, I would ask the following questions:What fruit do you see produced by Glenn? Good or bad? If you judged Glenn only by the fruits he has produced, would you still hold concerns over his faith?
- If you did not know Glenn was a Mormon, how would you describe his religious beliefs?
- Is God using Glenn to help recover our national strength and health, both politically and spiritually? If so, why would God be using him?
- Does Glenn stir and provoke us to good works? (Hebrews 10:24)
- Does he bring to light the hidden things of darkness? (1 Corinthians 4:5)
- Does he talk openly about atonement, redemption, and individual salvation through Christ? (I can definitely answer this in the affirmative, for I have seen him do so on numerous occasions not only on his program but also in the rallies where I have personally participated with him.)
(Incidentally, a recent poll on American religious affiliations and beliefs [1] shows that Mormons are more pro-life and pro-traditional sexuality than Evangelicals: 70% of Mormons oppose abortion but only 61% of Bible-believing Evangelicals do so; and 68% of Mormons believe that homosexuality should be discouraged in society but only 64% of Bible-believing Evangelicals believe this. Furthermore, in the 2008 vote on the California Marriage Amendment, it was Mormons and not the Evangelicals who gave most of the money and workers needed to protect marriage in that state. In fact, polling affirms that if the marriage issue had been left only to Evangelicals, the marriage amendment would have failed. We Evangelicals definitely need to get our own house in order.)
Recall the incident in Acts 10 where God shattered the thinking and paradigm of the Apostles by manifesting himself to and through Cornelius. In the Apostles' thinking, this was definitely not supposed to happen, for Cornelius was part of the wrong group. Nonetheless, God moved through Cornelius, making clear that His blessing was upon him.
Significantly, that Cornelius passage from the book of Acts became the basis for one of the most famous sermons in the remarkable American revival called the First Great Awakening (1730-1770). That sermon, known as the "Father Abraham" sermon, was delivered repeatedly by the Rev. George Whitefield over all parts of America.
The text of that sermon was recorded by John Adams (who was among the eighty percent of Americans who physically heard Whitefield preach a sermon during the Great Awakening [2] ). About that sermon, Adams recounted to Thomas Jefferson:
He [Whitefield] began: "Father Abraham," with his hands and eyes gracefully directed to the heavens (as I have more than once seen him): "Father Abraham, whom have you there with you? Have you Catholics?" "No." "Have you Protestants?" "No." "Have you Churchmen?" "No." "Have you Dissenters?" "No." "Have you Presbyterians?" "No." "Quakers?" "No." "Anabaptists?" "No." "Whom have you there? Are you alone?" "No." "My brethren, you have the answer to all these questions in the words of my next text: 'He who feareth God and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted of Him'" [Acts 10:35]. [3] God help us all to forget having names and to become Christians in deed and in truth. [4]
Whitefield's "Father Abraham" sermon based on the Cornelius incident had a profound effect on Americans. In fact, the message of that sermon was directly put into practice on September 6, 1774, when a seemingly innocuous motion was proffered to open America's first Congress with prayer. [5] Surprisingly, that apparently harmless request met unexpectedly stiff resistance – resistance by some of the most devout Christians among the delegates. As explained by John Adams:
It was opposed by Mr. [John] Jay of New York and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina because we were so divided in religious sentiments – some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists – that we could not join in the same act of worship. [6]
It was devout Christian Samuel Adams who broke through the religious objections when he "arose and said he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a gentleman of piety and virtue." [7] Significantly, Samuel Adams (an ardent Congregationalist – a Puritan) supported having a clergyman from the Church of England (a denomination literally hated by Adams' Congregationalists) deliver the original opening prayer in Congress. What Adams required was that the prayer be from a "gentleman of piety and virtue," thus recognizing Jesus' teachings in Luke 9:49-50, Mark 9:40, and Matthew 7:16-20.
Glenn fits well into both of those historic parameters, and hopefully, so, too, will those American Christians who might disagree with his label but find nothing to fault among his fruits.
In conclusion, I have been with Glenn in numerous settings; I have watched him up close and can heartily endorse both his public and his private life. I have witnessed his tender heart, his love for God, and his passion to keep God in America. Glenn and I have prayed together on numerous occasions; he has sought God for specific guidance on numerous situations and I have personally not only seen God answer him but have also seen Glenn completely change his plans after feeling the Lord was leading him to move in a different direction or address a different subject. I judge Glenn by his fruits, not by his labels, and I am honored to call Glenn not only an ally and a fellow warrior (and a General) in the culture war, but especially to call him a good friend.
God bless!
David Barton
[2]Allen Walker, The New Evangelism(Nahville;Abingdon Press, 1975) p. 39- 40
[3]John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, TheAdams Jefferson Letters, Lester J. Cappon, editor (Chapel Hill: TheUniversity of North Carolina Press, 1959) Vol 2, 1812- 1826 pp. 403- 4070
[4]Stephen Mansfield, Forgotten FoundingFather: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield (Cumberland House, 2001), p. 86.
[5]Charles Francis Adams, Familiar Lettersof John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution (Boston:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1875), pp. 37-38, John Adams to Abigail onSeptember 16, 1774.
[6]Charles Francis Adams, Familiar Lettersof John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution (Boston:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1875), pp. 37-38, John Adams to Abigail on September16, 1774.
[7]Charles Francis Adams, Familiar Lettersof John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution (Boston:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1875), pp. 37-38), pp. 37-38, John Adams toAbigail on September 16, 1774.