Glenn Beck is not a preacher or priest—he’s an entertainer with a political message

I first heard Glenn Beck on the radio right after 9/11. He was so silly in between thoughtful messages, I hated the program, and complained to the local a.m. station. Then I listened about once or twice a week in the car--Friday was really bad. Then he got a program on CNN (painful debut) and then moved to Fox where he really began to blossom with interesting guests. He's one of the best interviewers on TV or radio -- so different from Hannity or O'Reilly--and is fair even to those he disagrees with.

Then he said "take this job and shove it" and started his own TV network to add to his publishing and touring companies. Not only is he an author of many books, but he is a collector and devoted to American history. All over the country groups called 9/12 (for changing lives after 9/11) sprang up and he probably did more for book clubs than Oprah. A mention on his show shot authors to the top of Amazon, even those long dead. He had massive turnouts in Washington DC and Israel for his public presentations inspiring conservative movements without controlling them.

Liberals hate Beck, as do many traditional old guard GOP. Some Christians rail against him for his less than orthodox version of Christianity--a mixture of Mormonism, vague spiritualism with some Catholicism, and fundamentalist end times bias. But when he starts sounding like a preacher instead of an entertainer with a political message, I just tune him out. He is libertarian, pro-life, an advocate for the disabled, and a recovering alcoholic.

I know who my shepherd is and He knows me. I get hateful e-mails from Christian preachers and friends about Beck. Meanwhile the other side, the one that booed God three times at their last convention and put abortion in its basic beliefs, continues to take over the country.