Mormon Glenn Beck: Hurricane Irene and East Coast earthquake a ‘blessing’ from God

Fox News host Glenn Beck speaks during the National Rifle Association's 139th annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina in this May 15, 2010 file photo. (CHRIS KEANE - REUTERS) Not willing to be outdone by Pat Robertson, Glenn Beck recently weighed in on God’s communication by way of natural disasters, telling his listeners that this week’s East Coast earthquake and hurricane are a “blessing” and a message from God to “be prepared.”

“How many warnings do you think you’re going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? This hurricane that is coming thorough the East Coast, for anyone who’s in the East Coast and has been listening to me say ‘Food storage!’ ‘Be prepared!’ ‘Be somebody that can help others,’ you’ve heard me say this for years. People have made fun of me. That’s fine, I don’t care. I’ve been telling you, ‘Don’t be in a panic situation.’ If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control. Things can happen. Be prepared and be someone who can help others so when disaster strikes, God forbid, you’re not panicking.”

Listen to the Beck clip via Mediaite below:

Beck, one of Mormonism’s most famous converts, is actually touting one of the unique aspects of the Latter-day Saint faith: food storage.

Section 78 of the Doctrine and Covenants revelation was given, Mormons believe, to Joseph Smith by God in 1832 and includes the command to “organize and establish a storehouse,” which Mormon leaders have interpreted as a requirement to, when possible, “store and save a one-year supply of food.” The church Web site even includes a Food Storage Calculator “to help you determine your longer-term food storage needs.” The food storage is one pillar of self-reliance, emphasized within Mormonism so that “the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world.” Beyond personal storage, the church also provides temporary welfare services to its members “to help people to help themselves.”

You can watch a video below of Mormon elder Robert D. Hales explaining how frugal living and resource planning is understood within the context of Mormon faith.