by Keith Johnson

You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams, He'll appear out of nowhere, but he ain't what he seems, You'll see him in your head, on the TV screen, And hey buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off! He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru, You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan, Designed and directed by his red right hand - 'Red Right Hand' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Taken at face value, Glenn Beck’s journey from Top-40 shock jock to respected political pundit appears to be one of the most unlikely tales in the annals of American broadcast journalism. But upon closer examination, you come to realize that this is not your typical “rags to riches” story. Beck is not a “self-made man”—he’s a made man, whose rise to fame was facilitated through his powerful connections in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is much to suggest that they (the LDS), and quite possibly the Central Intelligence Agency, played the most significant role in resurrecting his once broken career and advancing him to his current superstar status.

To understand this, one must first become acquainted with Beck’s early days in radio. Beck got his first radio job at 15 at a newly launched FM station in Seattle, Washington. The station was owned by First Media, a Mormon company headquartered in Washington, D.C. and run by hotel magnate Dick Marriott.

In 1982, Beck moved to another one of their affiliate stations in Provo, Utah. Beck was somewhat of an upstart who was considered an outsider (or “Gentile” as non-Mormons are frequently referred to) who drank booze and smoked clove cigarettes.

He didn’t fit in well and only lasted six months before moving to Washington D.C. and taking a job at another First Media station. There he gained a reputation as a “brash, outspoken guy” with a dark sense of humor—but not political. He was also known to be a heavy pot smoker and it was here that he began his decade long cocaine habit.

By the end of 1983, another Mormon, Jim Sumpter, became Vice President of First Media and moved Beck to Corpus Christi, Texas where he was given his own morning drive program at their leading Top-40 station. Beck’s show was called “The Morning Zoo” and this is where he developed his shtick employing fake voices and sound effects while delivering a wacky and often irreverent brand of humor between songs, news, weather and traffic reports. Beck’s favorite character was “Clydie Clyde”, a Kermit the Frog/Yoda-esque voice that you can find traces of in some of his more recent rantings. Beck’s boss was Arnold Malkan, a hot-tempered Republican attorney engaged in a bloody ratings war with a competitor. In addition to legal wrangling, Malkan directed Beck and his crew to engage in guerilla style pranks and other hi-jinks against the staff of the other station. The whole chaotic atmosphere in Corpus Christie cultivated an intense party scene that Beck participated in with complete abandon. But he still managed to keep his radio career in check. By 1985, Beck was a polished and professional DJ who had the experience and ratings success to market his wares to other markets.

A struggling station in Louisville, Kentucky hired Beck on for their 4-hour morning drive slot. The show, called “Captain Beck and the A-Team”, was even more crude and vulgar than his previous persona. Beck was known to “attack” fellow disc jockeys in the area and would even test the limits of political correctness using toilet humor, fat jokes, racial impressions and calling for the bombing of Muslims.

It was during his years at this Louisville station that Beck began his transformation into what we now see today. According to an article written by Alexander Zaitchick for entitled “The Making of Glenn Beck”...

"The birth of Glenn Beck as Radio Super Patriot can be traced to the morning of April 15, 1986. This was the morning after Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. warplanes to bomb Moammar Gadhafi's Tripoli palace in response to the bombing of a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen. Beck sounded stoned during the show -- and given his later claim to have smoked pot every day for 15 years, might have been -- but even then his politics were anything but tie-dyed. After opening the show with a prayer and Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," Beck played patriotic music through the morning. The only track receiving multiple plays was a New Wave-ish spoof titled "Qaddafi Sucks." The song was a huge hit with listeners, dozens of whom called Beck to tell him how inspired they were by his patriotism. Caller after caller applauded him for "standing up for America." When someone argued that Reagan should have dropped more bombs, Beck agreed. "I personally don't think we did enough," he says. "We should've went over there [sic] and bombed the hell out of ‘em”

During this stage of his career, Beck’s drinking and drug abuse reached a crescendo. He was very depressed and even considered suicide. By his own account "There was a bridge abutment in Louisville, Kentucky, that had my name on it. Every day I prayed for the strength to be able to drive my car at 70 mph into that bridge abutment. I'm only alive today because (a) I'm too cowardly to kill myself ... and (b) I'm too stupid."

All of these things ended badly for Beck, who was fired after taking the station down to third place in the ratings.

Beck moved on to Phoenix, Arizona in 1986 and took another morning slot to replace an older DJ who was considered staid and boring. Beck’s presence injected knew life into the station but his reputation as a megalomaniac jackass made him few new friends among the staff. Beck became notorious for guerilla style antics, one of which resulted in his arrest, when he and a fellow jock stole Christmas decorations in the city of Scottsdale with the intention of transplanting them to Phoenix, which had no such decorations due to budget restraints. Beck’s energy and prankish mischievousness proved very successful for him and the station. But despite this, Beck became restless and moved on.

Next came Houston. It was 1989 and Glenn’s heavy drinking and cocaine usage once again worked against him in a major way. Beck worked alone at this station where he produced his worse radio performances of his career. Beck began taking himself “too seriously” and gave an inconsistent performance alternating humorous shtick and patriotic, political commentary. It didn’t work. Even after hosting a star-studded show from the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier patrolling the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, he was unable to get the ratings the station needed and was promptly fired.

1990 found Beck at a Top-40 station in Baltimore where he teamed up with yet another Mormon by the name of Pat Gray. The two hit it off but were personally on opposite ends of the spectrum. Gray was a conservative “goody two-shoes” while Beck was a drug addled “wild man”. The two resurrected Beck’s “Zoo” modeled format. Once again, he managed to get under his colleague’s skin. One employee recalls "He used to take people to a bar and sit them down and just humiliate them in public. He was a sadist, the kind of guy who rips wings off of flies." Despite their synergy, Beck and Gray were a ratings disaster.

After six months of unemployment, Beck and Gray emerged at a radio station in New Haven, Connecticut. Shortly after his arrival, the station was purchased by Clear Channel. It was 1992 and Clear Channel was just starting to become a major player in the radio world. During his first two years in New Haven, Beck slid further into the abyss. His drug usage was at an all time high and he was now mixing recreational drugs with prescription drugs. He was moody and abusive to coworkers and once again entertained thoughts of suicide. The previously cited Zaitchick article describes this period…

"By 1994, Beck was suicidal. He imagined putting a gun inside his mouth and squeezing the trigger to the music of his fellow Washingtonian, Kurt Cobain, recently killed by his own hand. Everywhere Beck turned, things were falling apart. His marriage was failing. Pat Gray, his best friend and creative partner, was sick of Beck's drama, and about to move his family to Salt Lake City. (He would later describe the station under Beck as "a pretty cancerous place to be.") Beck saw his daughters only through a pot haze and in-between blackouts. Twisting the multiple knives in Beck's gut was the regular humiliation of Top 40 promotional stunts. In a typical KC101 event, Beck dressed up as a banana and dove into a pool full of Styrofoam."

Finally, in 1994, Beck decided to clean up his act. He attended AA meetings, began reading more and embarked on a kind of spiritual quest to find meaning in his life. His friend, Pat Gray suggested that Beck consider joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but he rejected this initial overture. Throughout the next four years, Beck became less interested in his Top-40, morning drive radio persona and began injecting political commentary in with his new partner’s (Vinnie Penn) blue humor. He was inspired by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and began steering his show in that direction. This didn’t work out well between he and his employers, who wanted him to stay true to the “Zoo” format. They gave Beck his own weekday talk show on one of their AM stations in hopes that he was use that venue to get all the political stuff out of his system. But it was obvious that Beck just wasn’t in to morning drive spoof radio anymore and, by the end of 1998, he was released after the station refused to renew his contract.

By this time, Beck had ended one marriage and began dating the woman who would become his second wife. “She wouldn’t marry me unless we found a religion,” recalls Beck in an LDS Living magazine article by Jamie Lawson titled “Glenn Beck, The Real Story”. They embarked next on a “church tour” to shop around for the right religion. Beck’s friend, Pat Gray, insisted that they give the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a try. The LDS article describes what happened next…

“Mary [Glenn’s oldest daughter, who has cerebral palsy] was the first one to feel the Spirit,” said Glenn. “As we were walking out of the chapel, there was a Dunkin Donuts coffee calling my name. The girls didn’t like the church tour at all, but Mary asked, ‘Can we go back there?’ It stopped us dead in our tracks. She said, ‘I just feel so warm inside.’” Glenn agreed to keep going until someone said something that made him mad, which he thought was sure to happen. But it didn’t happen, and soon Glenn was seriously investigating the Church. “There were bodies of missionaries at my front door,” he laughs. “I think for seven months they were coming. The second, maybe the third discussion that we had, they turned white because I walked in with Mormon Doctrine. I had been reading it like a novel, and I was making notes because I wasn’t going to join something I didn’t firmly believe in. I really had turned over the stones and had really looked.”

"Then came the moment Glenn knew he was going to become a member. “I was sitting in Priesthood, and a guy who I had dubbed ‘The Amazing Mr. Plastic Man’—because he was the happiest guy on the planet—was teaching the concept of Zion. It wasn’t a concept that I had really seriously considered before. He asked, ‘How can it happen?’ Tears started to roll down his cheeks and he said, ‘It can only happen if I truly love you and you love me.’”

"Wiping tears from his eyes, Glenn continues his story saying, “During that Priesthood lesson I realized I was at a crossroads. There was no reason why I shouldn’t join the Church, other than I didn’t want to be a Mormon. And I thought, ‘Are you really going to let coffee, swearing, rated-R movies, and all that stop you?’”

His friend, Pat Gray (who is currently a conservative talk show host in Houston, Texas), baptized Beck on October 23, 1999. The next day, he received a phone call from a top New York agent. Beck had been struggling for years to find representation but it was only until after he was baptized that things started to come together. Three days after his baptism, Glenn was offered a job in Tampa, Florida to host his first talk first radio talk show and within a year, gave the station its first number-one program. And the rest, as they say, is history.

What should be clear from this brief biographical overview is that Mormons have had a significant impact on Glenn Beck’s life and career from a very early age. In fact, Glenn Beck’s first roommate in Provo, Utah was a returning missionary who often preached the gospel and tried to persuade Beck to be more receptive to the Mormon doctrine. Beck resisted for nearly twenty years but, in the end, finally came around to adopting that as his own personal faith. This in itself is nothing that should give cause to speculate that there exists some heinous conspiracy between the LDS and Glenn Beck to advance Mormon doctrine in national and world affairs. Or does it?

I find it odd that in today’s environment, those of the Christian faith are often the targets of so much bias in the media and from organizations purporting to be concerned with national security. Organizations like the ADL and SPLC consistently scrutinize Christians as insurgent supremacists hell-bent on overthrowing the government, while those of Mormon heritage seem to fly low under the radar. I personally don’t believe that any religion should be unduly attacked for their beliefs. But if we were to pick from any faith as one that has a history of insurgency and anti-government rhetoric, surely Beck’s Mormon faith stands out among them.

The Mormons have waged war with the United States three times since 1830. The church’s founding father, a Freemason by the name of Joseph Smith, was arrested in 1844 for trying to overthrow the United States government. From that time until 1927, all Mormons were required to swear out an “Oath of Vengeance” against America. There were two versions of the oath. The first was from 1845, and this version reads:

"You do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, his holy angels, and these witnesses, that you will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation; and so teach your children; and that you will from this day henceforth and forever begin and carry out hostility against this nation, and keep the same a profound secret now and ever. So help you God."

The 1890 version reads:

"You and each of you do covenant and promise that you will pray and never cease to pray to Almighty God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this nation, and that you will teach the same to your children and to your children's children unto the third and fourth generation."

The Mormon Church abandoned that oath in 1927 as part of a public relations makeover. But this attitude of authoritarian supremacy in directing the affairs of state continued to survives. In 1952, LDS apostle and future Mormon President Harold B. Lee stated:
“Joseph Smith...[said] the time would come when the Constitution would hang as by a thread and at that time when it was thus in jeopardy, the elders of this Church would step forth and save it from destruction. Why the elders of this Church? “We alone know by revelation as to how the Constitution came into being, and we, alone, know by revelation the destiny of this nation”

Glenn Beck is a living illustration of this kind of thinking. He often points to disenfranchised Americans, Constitutionalists and 9-11 Truthers as serious threats to this nation. But is he using them as a distraction to avoid criticism of his own anti-government rhetoric and to paint himself as the true model of patriotism? Is Glenn Beck being used to advance Mormon influence and hegemony in national and world affairs? One could easily come to that conclusion.

And what is it exactly that Mormon’s believe? An article written for OpEd News by Douglas A. Wallace titled 9-11 and the Mormon-Mossad-CIA Connection sums it up best:

“They believe that Zion will be built upon the North American continent at a place specific in Missouri and that Mormon leaders will become vice Regents of Christ ruling earth [The law shall go forth from Zion (in America) and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem]!”

In John Milton’s poem “Paradise Lost”, the “Red Right Hand” is a metaphor for the vengeful hand of God. Beck certainly sees himself in that role. Vengeance is a common theme in nearly all of his broadcasts. He consistently seeks to promote hostility, not only between the United States and its adversaries, but also among groups of Americans. Those who have known him have characterized him as an abrasive and cold-hearted egomaniac with an unbridled passion for whatever endeavor he decides to undertake. These are the characteristics of a tyrant and I’ve no doubt that Beck finds himself comfortable playing that part.

Applying one’s own personal religious convictions to their political agenda is nothing new, nor should that alone raise cause for concern. But when you examine the LDS Church’s long history and cozy relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency, certain questions arise that make one suspect that there could be something a bit more nefarious going on in the Glenn Beck camp. Shane Lester confronted the issue of the Mormons and the CIA in his book “The Conversion Conspiracy”. In it, Lester writes

“A CIA recruiter told the Salt Lake Tribune that returned missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who served in South America are valued assets in the CIA because of several characteristics: Foreign language skills, abstinence from drugs and alcohol, and their ability to integrate with the local customs and a respect for authority."

"The church’s private university, Brigham Young University or BYU is also a focal point for recruitment. A professor of Foreign Studies said, “With a degree from BYU, the CIA and FBI hire almost all who apply.” The unnamed CIA recruiter said, “The number of Mormons who work for the CIA and FBI is disproportionate compared to other private and government agencies.”

An article written by Associate Press writer Donna Anderson titled “CIA? Nope, just Missionaries” further describes this relationship between the CIA and the LDS:

“Utah is one of our good sources,” said Denver CIA recruiter Jack Hansen, now in Provo to recruit at BYU, whose student newspaper – The Daily Universe -- is currently running CIA job advertisements.

“We’ve never had any trouble placing anyone who has applied to the CIA,” said Dr. Gary Williams, head of the BYU Asian studies department. “Every year, they take almost anybody who applies. In addition, Williams said, “our Mormon culture has always been more supportive of the government than American culture as a whole.”

So am I suggesting that Glenn Beck is a CIA plant recruited out of the LDS Church? Of course that would be pure speculation. But Beck certainly is the kind of person who would make an ideal candidate. Beck is compromised. He is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who could easily fall off the wagon at any given time. Considering that Alcoholics Anonymous only boasts a 3% permanent recovery rate, Beck’s abstinence for over a decade seems nothing less than miraculous. Is Beck a kept man? Do handlers who are making sure he stays clean constantly surround him? If so, then those same handlers could easily turn the drugs and booze back on, and completely destroy his credibility, the minute he steps out of line.

If Beck is CIA, then it certainly makes sense why he is constantly attacking Ron Paul, especially given this statement Paul made on his show on January 25, 2010:

“There has been a coup. Have you heard? A CIA coup. The CIA runs everything!”

While all that I have written may sound like the postulating of a deranged conspiracy theorist, I believe that I have laid a foundation that is worthy of further investigation? Glenn Beck remains one of the most influential voices in political discourse. I personally believe that he has done more harm than good and that any effort to expose him is no wasted effort.

So do your own research, come to your own conclusions and above all…know your Saints.

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by Keith Johnson, posted on: http://revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.com/