Radio host Glenn Beck spoke at a rally in Utah today for presidential candidate Ted Cruz and Utah’s Mike Lee, who is running for re-election. Beck, a Mormon convert, made an overtly religious pitch to the largely Mormon audience at the rally.

“I want to speak to you about something that may be controversial. And it’s not something that I have said when I have been out for Ted [Cruz] and now Mike [Lee]. But it’s something that this crowd needs to hear – that Utah needs to hear. The body of the priesthood is known to stand up when the Constitution hangs by a thread,” Beck said.

“I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints,” he explained. “What attracted me was not only the truth of the message, but also the people like President [Harold B.] Lee and President [Ezra Taft] Benson who knew exactly who we were – knew who we were as a country,” Beck said, naming prominent past presidents of the LDS Church.

“I joined many times. What held me through was the prophesy that the Constitution will hang by a thread, and this People would remember what our Founders did. It is our responsibility to stand for the Constitution,” Beck said.

At this point, Ted Cruz and the audience gave Beck a standing ovation.

The famous Mormon prophecy Beck was referring to is known as the “White Horse Prophesy,” which was purportedly made by the Mormon founder Joseph Smith in 1843.

In the prophecy, Smith allegedly told the Mormon faithful that at some point in the future: “You will go to the Rocky Mountains and you will be a great and mighty people established there, which I will call the White Horse of peace and safety.” Smith then allegedly claimed that at that future date, “You will see the Constitution of the United States almost destroyed. It will hang like a thread as fine as a silk fiber.”

Generations of Mormons – from Brigham Young to Glenn Beck – have repeatedly used that phrase about the Constitution hanging by “a thread” to signal their belief in Smith’s prophecy or some variation thereof, in which the Mormon faithful will play a key role in defending the Constitution.

As Pat Bagley explained in the Salt Lake Tribune, from the earliest days of the LDS Church, Mormons “considered themselves the last Real Americans, the legitimate heirs of the pilgrims and Founding Fathers. And, they believed, the very survival of the Constitution depended on the Saints. From Smith on, LDS leaders prophesied the Constitution would one day hang by a thread, only to be saved by Mormons.”

Beck has long been a proponent of the “White Horse Prophecy,” but rarely has he so explicitly expressed his faith in it publicly as he did today in Utah.

The leadership of the LDS Church, for its part, has distanced itself from the prophecy. An official statement on the LDS website in 2011 declared: “The so-called ‘White Horse Prophecy’ is based on accounts that have not been substantiated by historical research and is not embraced as Church doctrine.”

However, for Beck, there seems to be no ambiguity. He opened up candidly about his Mormon faith, at one point saying:

“I want to tell you this. Another thing I shouldn’t say, but I’m going to. I believe in the Book of Mormon. I don’t know about you guys. But I believe in the Book of Mormon. And that was written for a time to tell people what it would look like when it was all coming undone — so His People, who were called by His name, could humble themselves and He would heal our land. I believe in that. The question is: do you believe in that? Prepare for a time of miracles.”

Throughout the primary campaign Beck has chastised Christians for not supporting Cruz’s candidacy. He lodged this criticism again before the crowd in Utah: “There are many people of many faiths – good friends of mine — that are standing with the Constitution. But there are also many Christians who are failing in their duty.”

Beck closed by referencing what he characterized as a “prophecy of George Washington.”

He told the Utah audience: “This is the role you play. I testify to you right now. The role you play – you are fulfilling the prophecy of George Washington when he stood at the Constitutional Convention at that Philadelphia moment and he said, ‘Let’s raise a standard to which the wise and the honest will run to.’ That is you. That is your responsibility. Vote for Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. God bless you.”

Watch the full video of Beck’s rally remarks below:

 

Follow Rebecca Mansour on Twitter @RAMansour