Glenn Beck is a conservative commentator, radio host, and author. He has been in the business for a long time and is a regular contributor on Fox News and other network news programs. He is also the host of the conservative radio show "The Glenn Beck Program" and hosts the radio show Glenn Beck Live with his wife and daughter.
00:12:10.380Honestly, the only meaning that really lasts for me, the only thing that grows deeper and more meaningful, my wife, my children, my relationships.
00:12:23.600The opportunity for each of us to be who we are, who we were born to be.
00:12:32.460You know, we throw words around like freedom and liberty.
00:13:16.900If you're doing something today and it doesn't have any connection to the eternal, why are you doing it?
00:13:24.220Or if you're doing something that doesn't have any connection to the eternal, then why don't you pause before you do it and find the connection?
00:13:34.240Because that's the only thing that you're going to do today that will last and be meaningful.
00:13:38.920All these truths that we now deny are eternal.
00:13:48.480And that is why we're in this epic battle of good versus evil now.
00:13:53.300This is why we, thank God, peacefully fight today.
00:18:20.840So, you know, we have a flaw in America, at least in the last hundred or so years.
00:18:36.540And that is, we're a nation that was built on the Judeo-Christian principles.
00:18:43.160And nobody ever really had a problem with that.
00:18:45.980But we took one of our responsibilities, if you're going to have rights, you have responsibilities.
00:18:53.620And if you're going to say freedom of speech and freedom for religion, then you need to let other people worship and pray and do what they do.
00:19:02.520And you have to be like, dude, I think, you know, I mean, praying mantis is not what you think.
00:19:10.040But I mean, that's what you want to do with the bug.
00:26:34.520How do we convince people who have not experienced, because I know you have, Max, you've experienced the reassurance, the knowingness that God's got you either way.
00:26:50.440And no matter what happens, it's like I can look at death and somebody dying and go, not that, you know, the normal, oh, well, they're in a better place.
00:30:00.760And one of the great discoveries that people who attempt to find faith discover is that we have a God who makes promises and who keeps promises.
00:30:15.020And understanding how our God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God is just such a source of strength.
00:30:26.040I read one person who spent a year and a half attempting to tally up the number of promises that God made to humanity.
00:31:03.540When he created the earth, he said, and God said, Genesis chapter 1 says, and God said, and God said, and God said, and God said, and every time God said something, something happened.
00:31:17.400So, and God said, that dzisiaj says, and God said, is Nothing, nothing to until the moment of sight, and God said again.
00:31:26.920And because our God keeps his promises, the fact of the matter is, his promises are irrevocable because he's unchanging.
00:31:36.200He's not victimized by moods or weather.
00:31:38.680He's faithful. He's strong. He never over promises and under delivers. Romans 4, 21 says God is able
00:31:46.940to do whatever he promises. Hebrews 6, 18 says it's impossible for God to lie. Doesn't say it's
00:31:55.000unlikely that God will lie or improbable, but it is impossible. He cannot lie. A rock cannot swim.
00:32:02.520A hippo cannot fly. A butterfly cannot eat a bowl of spaghetti. I can't sleep on the cloud and God
00:32:08.980cannot lie. So he never exaggerates. He never manipulates. He never flatters. He just doesn't
00:32:15.140break promises. And we're seeing, I know you gave a speech for one for Israel Ministries, and you said
00:32:24.540promises God made to Israel thousands of years ago are being fulfilled in our generation.
00:32:29.420Most people are not, that's not making news. Can you give us an example of the promises there
00:32:35.740that are coming true? Exactly. Well, God promised Abraham seed and soil. He said through your seed
00:32:46.420or through your lineage, the entire world would be blessed. And boy, is that not a promise that's
00:32:53.620been kept? Yes. I mean, look, we have the Bible. We have the church. We have Jesus Christ.
00:33:01.720I think we have much reason from the Jews as well, the way they study and debate and wrestle. And I
00:33:08.780think that stands out. And look at all the Nobel Prize winners that are Jewish. Yeah. It's just the
00:33:15.160most extraordinary nation in history. And they're the only nation who has had their land taken from
00:33:21.900them and then returned to them. And that's the second part of that promise. And that is soil.
00:33:27.580God promised Abraham a region, a territory. And in 1948, when they were reinstated or when they were
00:33:36.500regathered to their homeland, I think we saw one of the greatest miracles in all of history.
00:33:42.620And for centuries, theologians would read those promises and say, well, God can't keep that one.
00:33:48.380In fact, I think one of the reasons that anti-Semitism got so much fuel in the fire is
00:33:57.180because people thought, well, God made a promise to the Jews and he's not going to keep it. But then
00:34:02.440in 1948, he kept it. It's just extraordinary. It's a super sign that God keeps his promises and
00:34:11.180he'll continue to keep those promises.
00:34:13.100So I'm starting today a 40-day devotional series that will teach biblical covenants that I think
00:34:20.780it's the only way to combat total despair and also to restore our nation. We have to turn towards that.
00:53:07.800And what you learn in those is that God is faithful.
00:53:11.880What makes, I know you said I'm so dorky about this, Glenn, but what makes covenants cool to me, and that, wow, you don't expect that sentence to come out of your mouth.
00:58:29.640By the way, we're starting a 40 day, 40 night.
00:58:32.260I don't know, learning program, devotional or education program for the next 40 days, 40 nights, because we're going to ask you just a few days before Thanksgiving to stand together, stand together as church, your office, your friends, your family stand together with us on the air.
00:58:53.140And we will make a we will renew the American covenant.
01:00:17.980And they're saving the average person that calls in about seven hundred dollars every month.
01:00:23.740And if you can get that credit card down from 20, 25 percent down to seven and you make it all tax deductible, the savings really go a long way.
01:01:15.020So, Bill, let's let's talk about the covenant, and if we can put it into perspective of why it's important today in America for Americans to do this.
01:01:27.600Do you think you could you could explain that?
01:01:31.260Well, I'm going to go back to something Michaela said earlier.
01:01:35.280You know, when there's these different covenants that people make with one another.
01:01:38.880But in the Bible, you know, it's it's a lot heavier than that.
01:01:43.220And I want to go back to the idea of the cutting because blood is involved.
01:01:47.980You know, when you have a covenant in the Bible, almost always you're going to see blood.
01:01:52.220And the importance of that is because life is in blood.
01:01:57.180And so, biblically speaking, when you make a covenant with God or when God makes a covenant with you, it's it's basically saying your lives are intertwined with one another.
01:02:05.740And so in a national context, if we believe that we as a nation are in covenant with God, then our national life is dependent on that relationship with God.
01:02:18.060And so it's not a good thing when we say we don't want God in school.
01:02:26.720That's going to have a very, you know, there's going to be consequences of that.
01:02:34.100And so Americans need to be reawakened to, you know, we just don't use God when we want him and then throw him out when we don't need him or we don't think we need him.
01:02:44.360You know, this is an everyday thing and our lives are intertwined with this relationship we have with God.
01:02:52.320So it's, you know, that's a very basic idea, I guess.
01:02:59.120But when we tell God we don't want him, there is this risk that he's going to say, OK, you're going to turn away from me.
01:03:09.660Yeah, I think we know how well for those of us who are a little older, maybe, and remember America as she was, we have been greatly, greatly blessed.
01:03:20.920We're still blessed to even be standing at this point.
01:03:26.240And it feels as though lately that evil is just permeating everything.
01:03:34.500It's not that we've just said, hey, we're not interested in you.
01:03:37.180So we're actually doing things now as a slap in his face, I think.
01:03:44.900Yeah, it's like poking him in the eye and saying, I dare you to do anything.
01:03:49.680And there is a lot of history in the Bible where Israel, who was in covenant with God, by the way, my opinion, there are two unique nations in the history of the world.
01:04:02.980He asked Israel to enter into covenant with him.
01:04:05.780The other being the United States of America, because we ask him to enter into covenant with us.
01:04:12.360And you've already mentioned several people in American history who reaffirmed that.
01:04:17.800And by the way, in Hebrew, the name for the United States is Arzot HaBrit, which means the land of the covenant.
01:04:25.880So there's all these things that kind of underscore the idea that America is unique in that we are in covenant with the God of the Bible.
01:04:35.140And so then, when we break that covenant, if we decide nationally to turn our backs to him, then there is the risk that he turns his face from us, removes his presence from us, and then that allows another presence, one that wants to steal, wants to kill, wants to destroy.
01:04:53.100And that's what I believe, Glenn, we're seeing beginning.
01:04:56.620Well, it's been going on for a while, but now it's really gaining traction.
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01:07:14.020Are we from those people that came here from religious persecution or those who came and persecuted people by taking them from Africa or persecuting people here?
01:08:08.560The Lord has given us leave to draw our own articles, to make our own promises, to make our own laws.
01:08:16.340Now, if the Lord shall please to hear us and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then he has ratified this covenant and sealed our commission.
01:08:32.380The survival rate of people coming to the Americas was very, very low.
01:08:36.640He's saying we're making this covenant and if the Lord will hear us and bring us peace so we can just live, then he's ratified his side of the bargain and he will expect a strict performance of the articles and promises contained in it.
01:08:57.380But if we shall neglect the observation of these articles and promises and we dissemble with our God, fall in to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity,
01:09:17.860the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us and be revenged of such people and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.
01:09:34.200The price of the breach of such a covenant.
01:09:39.020I know you didn't make a covenant, maybe didn't know, but this is a covenant land.
01:12:20.440The hair of a Nazirite was considered sacred.
01:12:24.120In fact, in a normal circumstance, if a Nazirite completed a vow, he would cut his hair, and that hair would be burned on the altar.
01:12:32.440It couldn't be used for anything common because it was considered holy.
01:12:35.680The word in Hebrew that describes his hair is the same word that describes the crown of the high priest of Israel, the crown that said holy unto the Lord.
01:12:48.680So imagine a scenario where the high priest of Israel used to be the mediator between God and his people, and he used to represent what is set apart in the holy.
01:12:57.420Actually, if he were to take that crown and then throw it before pagans and idolaters and let them desecrate it and trample it under feet, in essence, that's what Samson did when he allowed Delilah to cut his hair.
01:13:11.840So my point would be this, where Samson's concerned, relating it to America.
01:13:16.820There's no doubt in my mind that God raised this nation up for a reason, for a purpose, and I believe it was to bring relief from oppression.
01:13:26.300You know, those people you were just talking about came to this nation to be delivered, to be free from that oppression, and to found a nation that would represent that relief from oppression.
01:13:38.820And Winthrop said, if God does this, and he allows us to do that, then we will take that as evidence that he has ratified this covenant.
01:13:47.920But he has expectations, and we have not always lived up to those expectations.
01:13:53.020We have failed many times, and yet we still stand reasonably strong.
01:13:59.360But here is where I believe we are at.
01:14:02.300We're at the risk of taking what is sacred, desecrating it, saying it is, you know, of no regard to us, and casting it down, so to speak, to be trampled underfoot by people who have no regard for God and the covenant and these kinds of things.
01:14:17.860And if we ever get to that place, if we cross that line, then what?
01:14:22.960When Samson woke up, he thought he would just go out like he'd always done, but he didn't realize that the Spirit of God had departed from him.
01:14:30.480And then he was turned over to his enemies.
01:14:43.280But then that last straw, the sacredness of who he was, that representation, when he discarded it, cut it, and discarded it, that's when it wasn't all of a sudden.
01:15:48.700I mean, those documents you mentioned, they were based on those principles that we find in the Bible.
01:15:53.980I mean, Winthrop went on to say in that model of Christian charity that if we don't keep our end of the bargain, to paraphrase, that we will become a byword and a parable.
01:16:06.300And he's quoting Moses, who was saying to Israel, if you don't uphold your end of the bargain in this covenant with God, here's what's going to happen.
01:16:14.160You're going to be turned over to your enemies because you considered what was sacred to be less than.
01:30:32.300So, they don't use that, but both makarioi, which is the Greek term, and ashray, which is the Hebrew term, are all about how lucky you are when these things happen to you.
01:30:43.340It has nothing to do with you getting something.
01:30:45.720It's just a description of what it is like when you live these kinds of experiences.
01:30:51.860And, of course, every one of us can identify with some of this experience because it's all, as I say in my book, sacred paradoxes, things that are upside down, that seem like the exact opposite of what they should be.
01:31:03.120And God uses all of those to, you know, move us in his direction.
01:31:07.400So, tell me about the word lucky here.
01:31:09.020I just want to dwell on this for a second.
01:32:01.180It's about all the things that come into life and ordinary living.
01:32:04.960So, luck plays a big part of that because good things happen and you think, oh, my gosh, how lucky, how blessed I am to be, you know, alive during this time.
01:32:18.000It's also lucky, by the way, because it means that I'll have crops.
01:32:21.840So, in that sense, luck and blessing are pretty much the same.
01:32:27.700But that's not what happened when the translation started changing the concept of this Greek and Hebrew idea.
01:32:36.680By the time you get to the Vulgate, the Latin translation, you move in the direction of a blessing given by someone else.
01:32:44.260So, as I suggest in my book, there might be an ecclesiastical reason for this because in ancient times, you had to go to the priest to get a blessing.
01:32:53.720And the idea is that he would bless you for some spiritual, you know, exercise or some attitude that you had, and you would be rewarded for that.
01:33:01.960So, now you become dependent upon the religious aristocracy to give you the blessing that you need in order to survive.
01:33:10.260But that's not what the biblical text is all about.
01:33:12.740The biblical text is about how lucky you are when these really terrible things happen to you.
01:33:23.560Blessed are the poor, for there is the kingdom of heaven.
01:33:26.740There's no priest there that is blessing you there, the poor.
01:33:34.240And what is the real, what's the real translation is that?
01:33:39.160Okay, so, the Greek term starts with this predicate adjective, makarios, which we've translated as blessed, as though it's a verb.
01:33:48.960But it's not a verb, it's just a description of the character of a person who is, in this case, poor before God.
01:33:57.960Now, the interesting thing about that word is that there are multiple definitions for, or multiple terms in Greek and Hebrew for what poor means.
01:35:06.160We're in desperate situations, desperate straits.
01:35:09.700Now is the time when we should be looking for the kingdom because that's when God arrives, when people are desperate for him.
01:35:15.400When we don't need God, you know, it's like Heschel says.
01:35:18.300We put him in exile, and then we think, oh, we can survive without him.
01:35:22.520But, in fact, what actually happens is that the world starts to collapse, as it is, and it's done many times before.
01:35:30.120And that's when desperation takes over, and that's when God starts looking to our hearts to see, you know, what to do next.
01:35:39.380So, the attitude is all about that kind of thing.
01:35:42.380So, you're lucky, and I speak as a recovering alcoholic.
01:35:47.920I look at all of the tragedies in my life, and I look at them and say, and it took me a while to get here, but I look at them and go, you know, if that wouldn't have happened, then I wouldn't have been here, and I wouldn't have been here, and I wouldn't have learned that, and I wouldn't have done that.
01:36:03.960And you can look at all of the horrible things in your life, and if you view them as a blessing, or lucky, would be a better word in that case, you're looking at the things that you fail, and where you have really gone down to the bottom.
01:36:22.540You are lucky if you view it that way, and you're, because your heart is open now.
01:36:32.880It's not like God comes, and he's like, well, I'm waiting for you to be humble, and I'm not going to show, I've got some other thing.
01:36:38.120I've got to play some pool at three this afternoon.
01:36:41.020He's, what he's, he's always trying to get you, but you won't listen.
01:36:46.140So, you're lucky because God's there, right?
01:36:49.320The kingdom of heaven is, isn't that the full translation?
01:36:52.900The kingdom of heaven is, so he's there, but now you're open to him.
01:37:01.660I mean, look, I often say it this way, the best resume you can have is your failure resume, because God can't work with your success resume.
01:38:08.620Yeah, actually, there is a word, hoti, and it means because of them.
01:38:12.960No scholar will tell you that it should be translated, for theirs is, because then it makes it sound like we get a piece of the real estate of heaven.
01:38:30.060The kingdom is at hand, and what he means is, he's dealing with people who are finally desperate enough to see that God is ready to answer them, that he's going to show up, right?
01:38:40.400And it's because of their desperation that God shows up, and you can see that in the history of Israel.
01:38:45.300I mean, think about the number of times that the prophets excoriate Israel over being too fat, too happy, too comfortable, that they ignore their social responsibility, they ignore the poor, and what happens?
01:38:59.440They collapse, and then when they collapse, they plead God, you know, forgive us, bring us back, and then he, you know, he shows up, right?
01:39:08.500And that's the kind of thing that goes on in this beatitude.
01:39:15.820I have to tell you, just that is so affirming.
01:39:20.820And, you know, in my life, at least, I've said alcoholics are going to save the world, because alcoholics know when you—they, A, have a bottom, and it's not death, and B, they know you've got to surrender to it.
01:39:35.420And then just surrender, and then just do the things that you're supposed to do, and it's all going to be good, because peace is already there.
01:39:45.700You just don't know how to access it, because you won't surrender.
01:40:06.320You know, the best person to step up for that job literally is the difference between you getting exactly what you want and need out of the deal and having to settle for something less.
01:40:18.180That's a decision that's going to stay with you for a long time.
01:40:20.920Years ago, I started Real Estate Agents I Trust because I was tired of dealing with mediocre real estate agents and honestly not knowing how to ask them questions on,
01:43:23.180And that makes me feel very vulnerable.
01:43:26.120And that's the time, because of this language, it says when you're in the, you know, when you confront death, especially death of a loved one, you realize how absolutely dependent you are on God.
01:43:42.400And that feeling of dependence goes right along with my desperateness for God.
01:48:15.620Well, I think the reason that more people don't understand this is because we've had, you know, a thousand or fifteen hundred years of the church's use of the Beatitudes as though they were spiritual rewards.
01:49:06.280My dad, I wondered if he ever got to rev his philosophical or spiritual RPMs to the red line because he didn't, you know, in his own way, he was challenged, but not the way people are challenged right now.
01:49:25.640Right now, we are entering a time where our RPMs are going to go up, you know, we're going to see what this internal engine can do.
01:49:36.140And that is exciting and a blessing to be able to fully have to access our brain and our spirit.
01:49:46.680Yeah, I think that when I talk about the Beatitudes, I often talk about these as the qualities of leadership.
01:49:57.060Because, you know, frankly, if you don't have leaders who exhibit these kinds of characteristics, you have leaders who are, you know, who have the egomaniacal attitudes toward themselves.
01:50:11.540I mean, when you think about what these Beatitudes say, they really say that this kind of heart of a person, this kind of character, is the person that, not only that you want to follow, but you can't wait to follow.
01:50:26.520Because their lives are completely dedicated to the things that matter to God, right?
01:50:38.500When you walk away from that, when you have leadership that's focused on power or on something like that, then, you know, you lose the perspective of what God had in mind when he created the human society.
01:50:51.940Okay, so we have, blessed are the poor in spirit.
01:51:56.220But the problem is, that verse, it literally is a line from Psalm 37, and the word there in Hebrew is chesed, and it doesn't mean mercy.
01:52:10.240It was mistranslated in the Septuagint and came over into the Greek as mercy, but it actually has this really interesting, multi-level idea of my social, political, spiritual responsibility for others and for myself.
01:52:30.840It's all, chesed is a really, really powerful word.
01:52:34.340We could spend an hour just talking about that one word, but what it means is, it's like the pay it forward program.
01:52:41.180It says, God did something for me, and I owe him for what he did, and he says, you have to pass it on to someone else for it to be, you know, be acceptable.
01:52:52.480You remember the parable that Jesus gave about the man who owed a huge amount of money, and the king forgives him, and then he goes out and takes his friend and says, give me what you owe me, which was a tiny amount.
01:53:09.020And when he throws his friend in jail, the king hears this, and he rescinds the forgiveness and deals very harshly with the man.
01:53:17.460And that's the idea, that if I'm going to show chesed, I'm going to show this community care in my life, then it has to be extended to the next person.
01:53:33.440It's got to go on through the society.
01:53:35.820Next one is, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
01:53:40.720Yeah, and you know that if you know anything about the Bible at all, you know that no one can see God.
01:53:46.480So the paradox here is, how in the world can you ever have a pure enough heart so that you can see God?
01:53:52.820Because the Bible tells you no man can see God and live.
01:53:55.480So something else is going on behind this.
01:53:58.640And my analysis is, okay, wait a minute.
01:54:02.620He's not saying that you're going to see God, that is, you're going to be in front of the, you know, the holy fire.
01:54:09.220What he's saying is, if you work on the purity of your heart, the integrity of your heart, you will begin to see God's invisible handiwork in the lives of men.
01:54:20.480And it's exactly what Jesus said when he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
01:56:12.620And what this beatitude is saying is, you're lucky when that happens.
01:56:17.040I mean, remember, all of these are not blessings.
01:56:19.120All of these are a description of how lucky you are to be in those positions.
01:56:24.120And, of course, it's exactly the opposite of what we think.
01:56:26.700You know, we want peace, comfort, wealth, happiness.
01:56:30.020And what God is saying is, those things are exactly the things that keep you away from me.
01:56:34.300And, of course, it's in the middle of all this other stuff that you're more likely to find who I am and who you are.
01:56:42.040And then from a leadership perspective, I think it's, you know, it's the code of conduct that we need in our leaders if we're going to see any change at all.
01:58:08.020They're always there because the reason that they're always there is because that inclination to do for myself is what makes me go out into the world and get a job and marry and have children and change the world to fit me.
01:58:51.120If I keep practicing lifting, you know, for biceps, I only get big biceps, but my quads are going to be no good unless I lift for the quads as well.
01:59:01.020And so what the Hebrew idea is, you need to practice both.
01:59:05.760Of course, you need to be not a couch potato.
01:59:08.200You need to get up and change the world.
01:59:10.660But in changing the world, you need to make that change happen on God's behalf.
01:59:16.180So you subvert that innate desire to change things so that it becomes a function of what God wants as well.
01:59:24.920And this list of beaters just tells you, here's the characteristics that you need to be looking for.