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. With AntiFriday Bonus: Apocalyptic political smear?
Posted Under: America,Anti,Believing,Entertainment,Politics,Suggestions
This Wall Street Journal article sums up the “controversy” over a McCain Web ad (on YouTube, here) that some say suggests Obama is not just aloof and full of himself and naive … he’s the antichrist! A highlight is expert commentary from Left Behind * co-author Tim LaHaye:
[He] said in an interview that he recognized allusions to his work in the ad but comparisons between Sen. Obama and the antichrist are incorrect.
“The antichrist isn’t going to be an American, so it can’t possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania.”
The story also notes that “suggestions that Sen. Obama is the antichrist have been circulating for months in Bible-study meetings” in some towns, and also that the ad’s imagery is suggestive in ways that will be obvious to anyone versed in what an expert calls “apocalyptic popular culture.”
I’m hoping that this draws a Paris Hilton-style response video from the actual antichrist.
UPDATE: Here is barackobamaantichrist.blogspot.com. “Hello. You have stumbled upon this site by searching ‘Barack Obama Antichrist’ which was in the back of your mind, you were curious if anyone else had thought about it, so you gave it a google. Welcome. You are not alone, explore the site.” Be sure to view the poll results. [Thx to extra-special adviser E for that.]
[If you’re not a big apocalyptic pop culture follower, Left Behind was discussed in the November 13, 2005 Consumed.]
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Reader Comments
Was there a Romania in the Biblical era? Once again the absurdity of so many forces–politics, religion–rear up.
What a bizarre ad. If it didn’t close with the “10 Commandments” clip I might have given some credence to the Antichrist notion. (I haven’t read the WSJ article—not a subscriber However, my first 18 years were steeped in fundamentalist Christianity, so I’m well aware of how powerful the idea of the Antichrist is among believers. That LaHaye quote is hilarious.) It could be that the Moses bit is meant serve as a contrast between a pretender and an actual “One” (whatever that may mean), but to me the ad equates Obama with Moses, which is confusing because of the prophet’s stature in the Christian hierarchy. If McCain is mocking/disparaging Obama, he’s doing the same to Moses.
Maybe it’s a reference to that other “One” of recent pop culture vintage, and McCain is really afraid that Obama can actually stop bullets and fly …
“The antichrist isn’t going to be an American, so it can’t possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania.”
What, Kenya, Hawai’i and Indonesia aren’t obscure enough?
And, for more on how absurd LaHaye’s whole Millenialist nonsense is, definitely check out Fred Clark at the Slacktivist – after four years’ effort he’s almost all the way through blogging the first of the Left Behind books and brings some seriously thoughtful analysis to a seriously bizarre/awful phenomenon.