Slacktivist opines:
The point of the ad was to rally the fringe and at least one fringe-dweller was rallied enough to write that letter to his local paper. The problem for the McCain campaign, of course, is that he may not stick around to vote in November, having instead headed for the hills with the rest of his local Tribulation Force militia and their stockpile of canned goods, ammunition and krugerrands.
Now, he should know, but the quotes from LaHaye and Jenkins that he excerpted had me wondering:
Authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins don’t think Obama is the Antichrist. …
LaHaye and Jenkins take a literal interpretation of prophecies found in the Book of Revelation.*** They believe the Antichrist will surface on the world stage at some point, but neither see Obama in that role. “I’ve gotten a lot of questions the last few weeks asking if Obama is the Antichrist,” says novelist Jenkins. “I tell everyone that I don’t think the Antichrist will come out of politics, especially American politics.”“I can see by the language he uses why people think he could be the Antichrist,” adds LaHaye, “but from my reading of scripture, he doesn’t meet the criteria. There is no indication in the Bible that the Antichrist will be an American.”
Slacktivist thinks this interpretation — that Obama isn’t quite the antichrist — diverges from what the McCain campaign wanted to convey. But then, he also points out that what they wanted to convey wouldn’t inspire fundies to vote against him at all; they’d be more likely to contact RaptureFund and hold celebratory BBQs. But if Obama’s not the antichrist, just a lot like him, well, the antichrist is a bad dude. They don’t want somebody who’s even kind of like the antichrist, if it doesn’t mean it’s time for the big show. In fact, hey, you defeat the sub-boss to the antichrist, maybe the devil’ll have to bring out the big guns. Presto, done, get out of town.
Now, some people are going to miss the caveats. They’ll be stocking up on hamburger helper for their one sinful child and making lists of the dead people they want to look up. They are useful, because they fuel the dissemination of this idea to a <em>much larger</em> group of people who aren’t actually insane, but are familiar with and sympathetic to the idea of the antichrist as an individual with specific characteristics. This ad is for those people.
August 8, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Jeez – look, I know the wingnuts are stupid, but do we really have to delve into the purified moronitude of this most monumentally stupid idea, this deeply?
My neurons, my beautiful neurons – dying for this…
August 8, 2008 at 6:42 pm
You’ll delve into it, and you’ll like it!
I mean, you must like it: you read blogs.
August 8, 2008 at 7:49 pm
The antichrist’s name was Nero and he came and went.
August 8, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Slacktivist thinks this interpretation — that Obama isn’t quite the antichrist — diverges from what the McCain campaign wanted to convey. But then, he also points out that what they wanted to convey wouldn’t inspire fundies to vote against him at all; they’d be more likely to contact RaptureFund and hold celebratory BBQs.
Well…I’m reminded of the aphorism “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
August 8, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Personally, I’m more worried about obo.
You know, the anti-Bob.
August 8, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Can these dumbfucks get their sorry asses raptured already? Quit telling us about it and just go!
August 9, 2008 at 6:09 am
As I recall, the late Pope was rather convinced that Dubya might be the Antichrist. Now that is a theological point I could get behind.
August 9, 2008 at 7:45 am
My favorite response to the end-times nuts is to very calmly ask them, “why are you wasting your time thinking about this?” Because according to their own twisted mythology, most of it concocted over the past 150 years out of thin air (the “Rapture” is never mentioned in the Bible – they just pulled that shit right out of their asses), the folks who are right with Jesus are going to get Raptured at the get-go and none of this stuff is going to matter to them anyway. So, why are some churches exclusively focused on this fairy tale, rather than concentrating on trying to live the words of Christ which would, you know, indemnify them against all of the scary bad things they’ve cooked up in their imaginations? Clearly it’s because there’s nothing to be found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John to effectively scare the crap out of the dull-witted. Fear is a better motivator. So it’s all “end times” this and “tribulation” that and “antichrist” the other with these folks – because that’s what keeps plenty of asses warming the pews 2 or 3 times a week and tossing money into the plate. “Go forth and sin no more” is definitely a healthier philosophy for a happy life, but it doesn’t prop up the revenues as effectively.
Fortunately for the fundamentalist churches, the vast majority of their adherants have never read the Bible themselves to see that their church’s manic obsession with this “Rapture” isn’t even in the book; those of them that do read it in a lot of cases don’t have the reading comprehension skills to understand the meaning of what they’re reading. In the end it comes down to “well, pastor Joe Bob said it so that’s the way it is” – never mind that pastor Joe Bob is only human and prone to error as are the rest of us, and that to suggest otherwise would put pastor Joe Bob on the level of Christ which would be blasphemy….logic is not a strong suit among the fundamentalist set. Complaining about it isn’t going to change it; we’d do better by using what we know to concoct a new, more compelling fairy tale about how, for example, Jesus wants them to convert the atheists by giving us their money and possessions, or how Jesus thought that involvement in secular politics prevents eternal salvation, or something of that type. You know, the gullible will always be with us. Perhaps it’s time we started looking for ways to harvest them, rather than adopting the attitude that they’re too stupid to be of use. Yes, they are stupid…but they can be useful to anyone unprincipled enough to take advantage of them. Our choice is to decide whether we want to be principled and continue to allow these people to be used as a hammer to strike us, or if that’s a hammer we should pick up and use for ourselves. The hammer’s gonna be there one way or the other; the only difference is who picks it up and swings it. Might as well be us.
August 9, 2008 at 8:24 am
The belief that one political candidate is the anti-Christ, as pronounced by strong advocates of an opposing political candidate, is a fundamental tenant of our extraordinary democracy. We have proven that Ignorance deserves equal time with Knowledge, that Corruption should be allowed to shake hands with Virtue, and that Stupidity belongs at the dining table, drooling soup all over Wisdom. Hallelujah!
August 9, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Yeah, but he is the Anti-White. White, Christ, close enough.
August 10, 2008 at 1:10 am
Seriously though, if you’re really NOT voting for someone for religious reasons, surely the Great Old One qualifies sine qua non. All the same arguments apply, pro- and con- so I don’t see the contreversy.
I’m still looking for Lagavullin in pint bottles for C’s sake… And I am as educated as they get among swing votes.
This seems to be a non-issue.
August 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Wait… so, like, Obama isn’t good enough to be the Antichrist? Is being the Antichrist something only white people can do right? Affirmative Action my ass.
August 10, 2008 at 4:21 pm
… There is no indication in the Bible that the Antichrist will be an American.”
At the risk of stating the obvious, does this not prove rather convincingly that Obama is not, in actual fact, American? Wake up, people.
August 10, 2008 at 4:26 pm
WTF?!?
These clowns are actually having a semi-serious discussion about whether Obama is the fucking anti-Christ?
August 10, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Of course Obama’s not the anti-Christ. Bush is.
That’s what Pope John Paull II thought.
August 11, 2008 at 4:23 am
Of course Obama is not the Anti-Christ. Obama is Teh Manticore!!
August 11, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I found it on the intarnets, you cannot deny the truthiness! Observe:
http://larouchepac.com/news/2008/08/09/larouche-denounces-obamas-godfather-george-soros.html
I demand a full Editors investigation! If this isn’t proof of Anti-Christiness, you too are involved in the conspiracy, Editors.
August 11, 2008 at 9:20 pm
a group of people who aren’t actually insane, but are familiar with and sympathetic to the idea of the antichrist as an individual with specific characteristics.
I believe this is a standard example of the null set.
August 12, 2008 at 7:42 am
Yeah, but he is the Anti-White. White, Christ, close enough.
Yeah, but remember what NAACP spokescracker Toby Kieth told us about Obama not actually being black, either. Maybe he’s a grey.
August 12, 2008 at 8:25 am
I’m still looking for Lagavullin in pint bottles for C’s sake
Join me, in my pinkie extended boycott, and we can make this dream a reality…
August 12, 2008 at 8:36 am
I believe this is a standard example of the null set.
Well I believe you enjoy Chardonnay.
August 12, 2008 at 9:15 am
The anti-Christ already ruled. Ronald Wilson Reagan – count the letters – 666. Coincidence? I think not.
August 12, 2008 at 9:42 am
Bob -
Oh yeah, smart guy? Then how come we haven’t reached the End Times yet?
Boy, when Jesus comes back, he’s going to give you such a smack!
August 12, 2008 at 2:45 pm
SFAW – So you accept the claim that Reagan is dead. Not me. I never saw him with a wooden stake through his heart.
August 12, 2008 at 9:39 pm
You think I enjoy Chardonnay? Zut alors! Such swill! No, when I meet with my gay Muslim communist atheist friends, we drink only the finest Château Lafite Rothschild and nibble arugula with our pinkies extended, while mocking the common schmoes who eat “ham-burgers” and drink canned malt beverages. The swine.
August 13, 2008 at 7:17 am
Actually, I think the only people spared the tumult of the ‘Eschaton’ are the 144,000 *virgin* males — 12K from each of the tribes of the Hebrews. Everybody else has to suffer. Inasmuch as they rely on the Apocalypse of St John, thass whut it says therein anyways.
So a lot of them are going to be in a baaad way. And that means all them wymmins too.
August 13, 2008 at 7:20 am
Major, when I meet my Islamofascist buds we durst not drink any filthy *Kaffir* al-kuh-ool. We drink mango juices and smoke the hash-heesh. Must be a different cell.
August 15, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Fortunately for the fundamentalist churches, the vast majority of their adherants have never read the Bible themselves to see that their church’s manic obsession with this “Rapture” isn’t even in the book
Not the rapture, no, but the Revelations to St. John has some seriously weird shit in it. As Kleber notes, it probably was intended to be interpreted just the way it generally is, as tripped-out allegory on contemporary politics. Read it yourself — seems like today’s fundies have got the spirit of the thing about right, if not all the details.
(The Gospels are another story — that they don’t have right at all.)