No mere Antichrist, he.

For anyone else on LJ, following the DarkChristian feed is a scarily good analysis of what's going on with the Dominionist activists. Dogemperor, who posts quite a bit on neopente/dominionist activities over on Daily Kos, posts quite a bit here. Good to read for those looking for more information/regular updates on these issues.

Think about how many Americans believe in creationism.

It's "look at those people, they're looking at a politician as if he were the Messiah." Then they say, "look, you're a reasonable human being, you don't think Obama is a religiously prophesied savior of the world, do you? You don't want to be a part of that group, do you? They're icky, and irrational!"

It's a pretty boring sort of straw-man, except for how deep into the media it got. But I guess the Republican political machine is really good at making things up out of thin air and getting the media to respond to it.

McCain the Antichrist?: Jenkins said his teams suspicions were further heightened when genealogical research showed that McCain’s great-grandfather was actually not John McCain, but John Mihai. Mihai is an ancient Romanian name, and according to Bible-believing Christians, the Antichrist is likely to be a Romanian. “What clinched it for us was that the name Mihai means ‘who is like the Lord,’” said Jenkins. “As far as we’re concerned, that was enough. It means that McCain might easily pretend to be the Redeemer.”

If they succeed in this fight it is paradoxically not a defeat just as it is not a defeat to drown an old woman hoping to see a witch float.

Therefore it is my opinion that this is not just a get out the vote campaign it is a motivate the crazies campaign.

It doesn't make a lick of sense. Even putting aside all the rather awful thoughts that lead one to such a conclusion, if the antichrist had ridden, would a good Christian care if he became President? They've all got a ticket to ride if it's true, and it's not like you could stop him. It's God's Will or something that he come into power. (N.B.: I am not a Christian or a theist.) It'd be like going back in time to stop the crucifiction - nice sentiment, but not really a good idea with the tenets of the faith.

I'd be interested in his documentation for that, seeing as there's a reputable professional genealogist who shows no such person on McCain's family tree.

Or something like that.

People who note that "Mihai" is probably a variant spelling of Michael, meaning "who resembles God?" are just trying to clutter the issue with facts. The important part is that it's Roman, and good biblical scholars have tied it to McCain.

I mean, even the McCain campaign must see the potential audience as nothing else than a small group of extremists (to avoid a more explicite term), right?

So wouldn't it reduce McCain's appeal to moderate voters? Especially if this propaganda enticed a fanatic into (attempted) violence against Obama? I assume the backlash would be enormous.

Or is it a cynical way of saying: "If the Obama-supporters glorify him lika a messiah, we will condemn him as the anti-christ", ie just hyperbole?

[1] But I cannot believe that even a higher turnout among fanatics can possibly offset the negative effect even among non-religious conservatives, let alone moderates.

* Though some of his supporters can be a bit perfervid, I haven't noticed these messianic tendencies in Obama himself. The guy's a confident politician, that's all**. In fact, I'm really peeved at the way the ad twists Obama's statement, "We are the change we've been waiting for." That's not Obama putting himself forward as a single glorious figure; it's entirely the opposite. It's Obama appealing to us as citizens to mobilize to take our country back. I can see why right-wingers might not recognize that, though, as an empowered citizenry is anathema to the form of "government" they've been working so hard to impose.

** And I think that's what really bothers the Right -- he's a Democrat who acts like he's proud to be one. Democrats are supposed to be embarrassed to oppose The Party of Real Americans[tm], not proud!

He never actually talked about his religious beliefs, but "anti-Christ" was actually a word that was always on the tip of his tongue. I'm guessing he finds the anti-Christ imagery of the ad hilarious.

I wonder, though, if they got permission to use that clip from The Ten Commandments.

That's not what this is about, or what any of the dogwhistles McCain's campaign has made is about - they're about setting up emotional associations so that when you go in there and vote with your gut, you won't pull the Obama lever. McCain's people don't want to sway your consciously held opinions - they want a shudder to go up your spine in the voting booth. They want to make you associate Obama with feeling uncomfortable, and then convince you that when you vote, you should do so based on your gut instinct.

And therefore you have this ad, that does nothing for those not steeped in the Left Behind imagery, but gets a certain section of the population to feel more uncomfortable about Obama. That the ad also almost works as a shot at Obama's supporters is just a nice plausible deniability cover.

His Left Behind posts are a must-read even if you have little interest in the books; they're not only an extensive course in How Not to Write, they're an in-depth analysis of twentieth-century Christian fundamentalism and evangelicalism, American Christian culture, and the mindset of the kind of people the McCain ad is targeting. So he knows from Antichrist.

Just this evening I was chatting with acquaintances who come from both sides of the Atlantic, and remarked that living in Britain had made me realise how very alike Canada and the States are after all, and how Americans are not actually buffoonish idiots (as the common stereotype goes). And now this comes along.

You have to realise, from other perspectives it does look kind of weird that a presidential candidate is promoting the message that his opponent is actually a mythological villain who is prophesied to emerge at the end of days to set himself up in place of the son of God.

My guess is that if you ask Americans their understanding of Darwin's evolutionary theory, the percentage of people whose answer had any fidelity to it wouldn't break double digits. I don't think you can get 10% of Americans to describe Darwinism as anything resembling "Nature intends diversity."

Instead, most people will refer to a phrase that was popular at the time Darwin published on evolution, which is "survival of the fittest," which Darwin even included in the title of one of his chapters. What's wrong with this answer is how people infer dominance, not diversity, as the founding virtue of evolution.

The implication that we know we are strong from our dominance was central to Bush winning in 2004. Kerry was picked in the primaries as the authentic war hero that Bush wasn't. Then he was swiftboated. Then Kerry backed off of contending for the role of hero-candidate -- and fulfilled no other role. So voters in 2004 were offered the choice of we know we are strong from our dominance and... nothing. But since most people believe the wrong thing, they made a natural pick of choosing a second Bush term. Having only seen it work before, domination is the central theme of McCain's campaign again.

Addicts often need to be humbled to begin recover. If there are still enough addicts who need more humbling than 8 years of President George Bush can provide -- there's always Nader 2012 to look forward to.

I saw it as attack ad fail, because I thought they were likening Obama to Moses! I mean, they fade from Obama to Heston parting the Red Sea -- that's an obvious visual simile to me.

Given that, I don't have any doubt about the intent of the ad.

Sara Robinson also commented on this at Orcinus.

The comments at both sites confirm that real people believe that Obama is the Antichrist, a Muslim, a communist, or any combination thereof.

More generally, I haven't read Revelations recently (actually, now that I think about it, ever) but I watched The Omen a couple times... Wasn't the Antichrist supposed to be born of a prominent family? Or is that a mistranslation of "government-cheese eating"?

Of course, if it's still effective to its real target audience, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe we're supposed to be happy that an outright declaration would have been laughed off the screen.

My infallible crystal ball reveals that we've just seen the beginning of the crapfest.

I realize that the bad guys could have used an Obama vote against FISA as evidence of unpatriotic tromping on the graves of the victims of 9/11 (instead of unpatriotic tromping on the beleaguered Bill of Rights). That doesn't mean I have to like it. Even not voting on it (the path McCain chose) would have been better. I figure that correcting FISA should be one of those "first 100 days" line items that President Obama needs to deal with to retain credibility with a big chunk of his supporters.

Oh, and regarding peculiar religion-influenced worldviews: I just found this map of Pangaea with lots of cute dinosaurs (but no sodomy), horned-helm vikings, Russian dolls and (quote) "Negros" - and the designation where Ham, Shem and Japheth lived. Apparently it is meant for children:

http://www.teachinghearts.org/dr0imappangea4.gif

Scott @ 13: I guess from the McCain campaign's point of view, the nice thing about the ad that viewers with rapture beliefs can take in the subtle hints about the Antichrist, while other viewers can just, like you, interpret it as a (wannabe) snarky satire on the enthusiasm Obama generates.

The whole Hollywood-esque-atology put forth by LaHaye, Jenkins, and others is pure, speculative pablum. Where they get the idea that the Bible teaches the anti-christ will come out of some obscure place (like Romania) is beyond me. I'd like to see them quote chapter and verse on that one!

That the 666/anti-christ nonsense continues to be bandied about (politically or religiously) is just further proof that these whackos have no interest in teaching the truth to those who listen to them. When I used to attend church regularly, I never once heard anyone make reference to, or even try to explain the footnote found in some Bibles that some manuscripts have 616 in them, and not 666. I suppose the thinking is that if you ignore it, it'll go away.

The most maddening thing about this idea, though, is that you can't kill it. Any positive thing about Obama is more proof of Antichristness. And, they don't even abide by their own Scripture-interpreting rules, but conveniently ignore previously held "truths" about the Antichrist.

Man, am I depressed for America (and especially Oklahoma) now.

*Yes, I'm from Oklahoma and was raised fundamentalist, so my drawing well (friends and family) is a bit skewed. Still, it was very depressing when a friend who I thought long past this crap asked me quite seriously whether I thought Obama was Antichrist. (Not to mention the depression of my sister asking me, with other siblings agreeing).

**Dreams From My Father.

Depends on tone and context, of course.

Re the actual thread topic: this is another one of those situations in which "the door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly." (Ogden Nash, "Seeing Eye to Eye is Believing")

If he weren't black, I don't think the smears about his being the antichrist*, or a secret radical Muslim, or not really an American citizen** would have gotten the traction that they have.

* Is Barack Obama the Anti-Christ?

** They're starting a new round of this one, too.

Bryan @ 15 gets it exactly right.

Has anybody else taken the Pick Your Brain survey about Obama on the ad side? I am clearly not very good at noticing thin lips vs. thick lips, for example. I wonder what the results will be.

The "Obama as Messiah" meme I've seen all over the net, pretty clearly responding to his charisma and the enthusiasm of a lot of his followers. I've never seen anyone take it as having a religious meaning at all.

But this is lovely. So Obama, who (I've heard it on the net, it must be true) is an atheist Muslim Jewish member of a radical black Christian church, is also the antichrist? There's something just breathtaking about the shotgun approach to smears being taken here.

Next week on Youtube: Obama and Area 51: What They Don't Want You to Know

I don't recall if anyone ever took that seriously or not, but I do remember it. It was based on a misreading of the text in Revelation regarding 666... "and he provides athat no one should be able to buy or to sell, escept the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or THE NUMBER OF HIS NAME..." (Rev. 13.17)

I mentioned in my comment @ #44: "When I used to attend church regularly, I never once heard anyone make reference to, or even try to explain the footnote found in some Bibles that some manuscripts have 616 in them, and not 666."

Here's an example of what I mean. Thomas Nelson, Inc., in the New King James Version, does not have a footnote re: 666 in Revelation 13.18. In their New American Standard Bible, however, you find this: "Some mss. read 616". Oxford University Press, in their New Revised Standard Version (with Apocrypha), have this footnote: "Other ancient authorities read six hundred sixteen".

One of the better explanations I've heard regarding 666 vs. 616 was put forth by a Presbyterian pastor in South Carolina. Letters in the ancient Hebrew and Latin alphabets doubled as numbers. He pointed out that the name Nero Caesar, transliterated into Hebrew, added up to 666 when the corresponding values of the letters were totaled. When the corresponding values of the Latin letters were added up, it came to 616. Thus, he was an advocate of the idea that John was referring to Nero in that passage, and that copies of the manuscript sent to Hebrews had the number 666, while those sent to Roman Christians had the number 616. (Many put the date of the writing of Revelation during the reign of Domitian, 86-91 AD, but this gent obviously puts it during the reign of Nero, 54-68 AD. As I recall, he felt there was sufficient internal evidence within Revelation to support this belief.)

Ancient peoples whose alphabets doubled as numbers had the practice of taking their name, or the name of another, and adding up the corresponding values to find the "number" of their name. The practice was common enough that it sometimes resulted in graffiti in that might read something like, "I love 327."

Fred Clark's exploratory dissection of the Left Behind books is brilliant and frightening. It provided a frame of reference for a lot of weird, disturbing things that I had encountered throughout my life but never understood. There is a certain subset of American Christians who hate this world, want it gone, and look forward to running the next one. And they have the ear of the White House. There is a larger subset who follow the preaching of the first group without considering the implications; this is helped by a religious upbringing that basically primes the listener for emotional appeals and dog whistles.

The worst part of the LB mindset as far as Obama's campaign is concerned is the assumption that any charismatic political figure who preaches peace is really eager to sow chaos, enslave the populace, and slaughter millions of innocents. Any peace. At all.

To show it's not strictly aimed at disenfranchising Christians, I would also add the Tooth Fairy and Alien Reptile Tony Blair to the list of things you won't be allowed to believe in and also vote, even though I'm willing to look at the evidence for the latter.

Stackpole still, in my mind, has the best explanation of why these people are the way they are:

One of the most dangerous aspects of a magical world view is that it repopulates our world with demons that can force us to do things we do not want to do. As a result, adults no longer have to accept responsibility for themselves or their unruly children. Whereas the line, “The devil made me do it,” brought laughs twenty years ago, now it is seen as a defense for murder, an excuse for suicide and a shelter from blame for a host of other crimes.

Worst of all, this magical world view brings with it a fanatical self-righteousness that slops over into accusations of diabolical duplicity when it is questioned. Doubting the existence of Satanism and a conspiracy is not just doubting the evidence for the same. It is not just doubting the word of a witness concerning sacrifices of which one can find no trace. Within the magical world view, the mere act of doubting becomes an act of treason against God. To question the existence of a worldwide Satanic conspiracy means the skeptic is either a high ranking member of that conspiracy out to spread disinformation, or a poor, pitiful, ignorant dupe of that conspiracy.

A magical world view enables a person to see relationships between things that do not exist. It invests power in things that cannot be controlled and, therefore, responsibility for actions does not have to be accepted. It creates around a believer a smug cocoon that insulates him from any fragment of reality that might disturb him. Finally, it puts everyone who dares challenge their beliefs in the camp of the Enemy in some cosmic struggle between good and evil.

In reality, a person questioning the existence of the Satanic conspiracy is merely pointing out that the emperor is wearing no clothes. In that case, one can understand why the emperor’s tailors get upset and suggest the person doing the pointing is a tool of the devil. Then the question comes down to one of whether the crowd will believe the evidence they have before them, or if they will buy into the tailors’ fantasies.

Makes me shiver, it does.

The website I am using to help me sum up is pointing out, helpfully, that "Bob Marley is the devil" in Hebrew also adds up to 666.

Rapture nutcases take note:

After signing up at my.barackobama.com/vp, "You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone," Plouffe says.

The three twos add up to another six - 666 - which means that Obama is the antichrist!

JMO.

there is a certain subset of American Christians who hate this world, want it gone, and look forward to running the next one

Doesn't that come from the Christian doctrine that the world we know is only a test of our faith, and that only the next life is important?

any charismatic political figure who preaches peace is really eager to sow chaos, enslave the populace, and slaughter millions of innocents. Any peace. At all.

See, now, as an outsider, this confuses me. How do people who believe this square the belief with what would seem to me to be one of the central tenets of their religion: that Jesus was the Prince of Peace?

Doesn't that come from the Christian doctrine that the world we know is only a test of our faith, and that only the next life is important?

That isn't actually bedrock Christian doctrine, as prevalent as it may seem sometimes. The essential doctrine is that the world was created good, life is meant to be enjoyed, and we are intended for joy--it's just that sin has stained the picture. On the other hand, while we are to enjoy the here and now, this life is also eternally important because it's what we do here that shapes what we become when we leave (to use a modern image) this bubble of space-time. It isn't the next life we go to. It's the next stage of the same life.

any charismatic political figure who preaches peace is really eager to sow chaos, enslave the populace, and slaughter millions of innocents. Any peace. At all.

See, now, as an outsider, this confuses me. How do people who believe this square the belief with what would seem to me to be one of the central tenets of their religion: that Jesus was the Prince of Peace?

By ignoring most of the Bible and rearranging the rest in a way that purports to provide a precise calendar of events for the end of the world. This is the bad exegesis that underlies the heresies expressed in Left Behind. It is not, repeat NOT, what "the Bible says." Unless you use scissors and glue on your Bible first. The man who laid out the calendar was not a trained theologian, IIRC, which doesn't matter to the aforementioned true believers because theology, to them, is not the Queen of the Sciences but a temptation of Satan. No kidding. Another bedrock belief of this group is that "The Bible says" only one thing, ever, and anybody who reads any approved* translation with a truly receptive spirit will get it, so that anybody who disagrees with what "the Bible says" is denying Christ. Hence no theology or any other form of critical thinking about the Bible. Basically the precursors of the current generation cut themselves off from two thousand years of Christian thought and laid themselves open to any demagogue or con man who could mouth the right phrases. This is helped by a third belief widespread in this group, that feeling a strong emotion means that the Spirit is moving in one's soul. There is also a fourth belief--a heresy, actually--that America is the Chosen Nation or even the Kingdom of Heaven incarnate. Imagine what a cynical person can do when presented with millions of people who are tied to the reins of these beliefs. No, don't waste your time imagining it; just turn on the news.

Fred Clark's articles about LB and the mindset behind it, BTW, are indexed here:

http://exharpazo.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-to-slactivists-left-behind.html

*In some groups, only the King James Version is approved. That is, any other Bible is inaccurate at best and Satanic at worst. I am not kidding.

Well, only someone with the power of the antichrist would be able to make all of that stuff true at once. Hence the conclusion is derived from the premises. It's like resolving the inconsistencies and errors in the Bible by declaring them Mysteries and proof of God's omnipotence.

Also, the spelling of Nero that I had read about adding up to 666 was, transliterated into English, Neron Kesar, if memory serves.

Yup, that's the one.

Fragano Ledgister @64:

What website is that?

I was using www.c2kb.com/gematria (it's in Hebrew).

Well, only someone with the power of the antichrist would be able to make all of that stuff true at once.

i'll give it a try. it was "an atheist Muslim Jewish member of a radical black Christian church," right?

well, judaism & islam are both religions that you can be born into, as well as converting into. but judaism is matrilineal, & islam is patrilineal. so if he had a jewish mother & a muslim father, he would, in a manner of speaking, be both muslim & jewish. you stay a jew no matter what you do, according to judaism, so a jew can emphatically be an atheist (i don't know if islam holds the same way).

& then, when he joined the radical black church, he maybe didn't let on that he's an atheist muslim jew, so they let him become a member. simple (unless i'm wrong about the muslim stance on freedom of conscience, or unless these conditions contradict some necessary condition of being the antichrist).

none of this is true of barack obama, of course (except for possibly the muslim father part?), but it *could* be true of somebody.

yes. it's learned out from the talmudic verse which goes, (i'm sure someone will come along & correct my translation* as well as know where exactly this verse is) "a jew, even if he sins, remains a jew." according to my source, it was rashi in the middle ages who first said "sins" applies also to converting out of judaism.

this is what i was taught growing up (modern orthodox), & as far as i know it is the mainstream belief in all denominations of judaism.

* which i found in jewish humor, which is the first book i could think of that i own which refers to it. less than scholarly, i know, but it was written by an orthodox rabbi.

As a non-religious* Jew from a Reform/Conservative family (on my mother's side), I can say that at least in our area I'm still a Jew.

*I'm carrying on a fine family tradition of non-religiousness. My father claims to have given up church for Lent (out of an Irish Catholic family), and my mother's parents didn't keep kosher.**

**He also makes sure to eat a ham sandwich*** with a glass of beer for Easter/Passover/Eid/etc., just to offend every possible religion he can think of.

***After all, who could pass up a good excuse for a yummy bacon or ham sandwich? With home made mustard on a good bread?

This reminds me of David ben Mohammed O'Shaughnessy.

Are you sure about Islam? I thought adults are only seen as Muslims if they have said the Shahadah and meant it seriously, no matter who their parents were.

Are you sure about Islam? I thought adults are only seen as Muslims if they have said the Shahadah and meant it seriously, no matter who their parents were.

i'm not sure. i was pretty sure you can have, you know, newborn babies who are muslim because of who their parents were, but it's possible it doesn't stick if you don't believe.

g d,

What's the other spelling that adds up to 616?

that would be nero kesar, without the extra nun (n).

* The obligation is to drink whiskey.

Ah, yes, the most confused Protestant in Belfast.

Not quite as ominous as plans for FEMA Happy Camps, but still, it's not for lack of trying.

That ham sandwich needs to be more offensive (and your posting made me hungry).
Add a slice of cheese for additional anti-Koshreth points, a slice of roast beef just to really piss off Hindus, a slice of GMO tomato for the bio-Luddites.

Fragano @ 85: Yes, that would be the same church, although my father is a lapsed Lapsed Catholic, as he doesn't drink whisky anymore.

... Slacktivist, Fred Clark, who has been doing a brilliant ana[ly]sis/takedown of the Left Behind series from the liberal evangelical Christian point of view, ...

I asked a Moslem colleague, and he told me that this is not the case, that being Moslem is strictly a matter of faith and not of heredity.

If I decoded that properly, his name is RICHARD SCHURZ.

123+208+6+126 = 463

The original poster had a two-letter screen name.

Two is the number of the world.

463 * 2 = 926

926 = 3+3+3, 2, 6 = 3+3, 3*2, 6 = 6,6,6 = 666!