Glenn Beck met with Billy Graham on February 19.  

Beck is a Mormon, and a self-made
leader in the re-emergent Religious Right and Tea Party movements, and Graham
is a Baptist evangelist, long-time esteemed leader of American
evangelicalism.  An unlikely pair.  Yet, in the last Gallup poll for “most
admired man” Beck and Graham tied in the top 10, behind Barack Obama, George
W. Bush, and Nelson Mandela. For almost a year, Beck has tried to meet Graham,
who turned down the request.  But,
suddenly, this past weekend, Graham’s people arranged a meeting.

Beck broke news of the meeting on Twitter and followed up with a 25 minute report on his radio show on Tuesday. According to Beck, the scheduled sixty-minute meeting
extended to three hours during which time the two men prayed together and
discussed the current state of global affairs, politics, and faith.

Beck said that Graham is practically blind and is hard
of hearing.  Yet, according to
Beck, they spoke of the “darkness” in the world and more difficult times
ahead.  Beck claimed that he and
Graham shared concerns for being “prepared” morally, spiritually, and physically
for the coming tribulation.  Beck
implied that Graham agreed with his assessment that “the Left has given itself
over to Evil” by aligning itself with communists and dictators and “regular
Democratic voters.”  

Beck also implied that Billy Graham approved of his
leadership in the realm of religion and politics. Beck claimed that Graham said
that whoever “stands up” on the side of the “light” forms the righteous
community, and that all who resist the “darkness” are on the side of
truth.  Beck admitted that
theological differences separated the two, but further insisted that such
differences are miniscule against the threat of evil.  We need to “stand up” together, Beck insisted.  

Although such a report might seem benign, Beck’s meeting
with Graham and Beck’s description of it amounts to a sort of
theological dog-whistle for those in the conservative religious-political
community.  In his meandering way,
Glenn Beck implied that Billy Graham has given his blessing to Beck as his
heir, the One to lead the Troops of Light against the Demons of Darkness in the
upcoming tribulation.  According to
Beck, the Baptist Graham passed his mantle onto the Mormon Beck as the
spiritual and political leader of the next Great American Awakening.  Never mind that Graham has never been an
apocalyptic preacher, it is unimaginable that he said Democratic
voters have given into evil, and unlikely that he understands Mormonism as theological equal to evangelicalism.  Yet Beck
coyly implied that the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham gave his imprimatur to a union
between the old evangelical right and the new right-wing Mormon activism.  In the process, he by-passed a younger
generation of evangelical leaders, many of whom have become openly hostile to
the Religious Right in general and Beck in particular.  

Not being a conservative evangelical, I am not entirely sure
what evangelicals will make of this. 
There is, however, a very similar story in the Bible:

When
Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his
elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ He
said, ‘See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your
weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for
me. Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat,
so that I may bless you before I die.’

While
Esau prepared the meal for his father, his younger brother Jacob schemed to
usurp the blessing by disguising himself as Esau:

 So Jacob went in to his father, and said, ‘My father’; and
he said, ‘Here I am; who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau
your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so
that you may bless me.’ But Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found
it so quickly, my son?’ He answered, ‘Because the Lord your God granted me
success.’ Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to
know whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob went up to his father
Isaac, who felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are
the hands of Esau.’ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like
his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. He said, ‘Are you really my son
Esau?’ He answered, ‘I am.’ Then he said, ‘Bring it to me, that I may eat of my

To Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and the familiar Religious
Right leaders, you need to go check on Billy Graham.  Glenn Beck’s no patriarch of Israel, but I think he might just have made off with your
birthright.