If Obama is the Anti-Christ, McCain Must Be Heir Apparent to the Dalai Lama

Persistent speculation that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ foretold in the Biblical Book of Revelation reached absurd new heights yesterday when nationally syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck asked Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church, on national television, if Barack Obama was the anti-Christ. Hagee, who had just declared his support for Obama's rival John McCain in the U.S. Presidential race, answered, "Not a chance."

In a country defined by its Constitutional separation of Church and State, how can the question whether one of the candidates running for President is the anti-Christ be considered newsworthy?

The anti-Christ is a purely religious concept. For this reason alone, the discussion of Barack Obama as a potential anti-Christ has no place in the political arena. Is anyone asking that question of political candidates across the board? No, of course not. Because the question is ridiculous.

Barack Obama, the Messiah

If Obama might be the anti-Christ, isn't it also possible that Barack Obama is the Messiah? Or maybe Barack Obama is the heir apparent to the Dalai Lama?

Perhaps John McCain is Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or the Chupacabra. We'll never know if we don't ask, right?

John McCain, Heir Apparent to the Dalai Lama

What of reports that John McCain plans to meet today with the Dalai Lama- does this mean McCain is the heir apparent to the Dalai Lama? Why else would these men arrange to meet? While Dalai Lama might seem like a positive moniker for McCain on the surface, McCain's assumption of the role of Tibetian leader would tend to invalidate his U.S. citizenship and disqualify him from serving as U.S. President. Oops.

McCain's association with the Dalai Lama might even raise questions about his current citizenship status. "McCain Is an Alien," that next headline might scream. Hadn't we better check into McCain's possible alien status now, rather than wait for the press to break the story?

New Political Litmus Test

The political litmus test to prove qualification for Federal office could get ridiculously long.

Step 1: Religious consensus on candidates' anti-Satanic status.

Step 2: Certification that candidates profiles do not match those of mythical, marauding beasts.

Step 3: Police verifcation that none of the Presidential candidates is potential fodder for an episode of Unsolved Mysteries (could one of the Presidential candidates secretly be the Boston Strangler or the Zodiac Killer?)

Step 4: Fortune teller prediction that nothing in the candidates' futures is worthy of voter insomnia.

The Real Story

The news hounds seem to be missing the real stories here.

Story 1: who is initiating and fueling these persistent and aburd allegations that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ? Richard Nixon is dead, so we know it's not one of his dirty tricks.

Story 2: how ignorant is the American public that it not only tolerates but participates in public debate on this subject? If ever there were proof of educational decline in the USA, public debate about whether one of our Presidential candidates is the anti-Christ would seem to be that proof.

Have Americans Discussing Obama as Anti-Christ Actually Read the Bible?

The sudden flood of religious speculation by Americans who apparently never read the Bible is astounding. Barack Obama is said to be described with particularity in the book of Revelation (usually inaccurately called the book of Revelations).

The details vary, but the book of Revelation is said to describe a man, sometimes a Muslim, sometimes a Christian or at least a nominal Christian, who beguiles with his speech... A man who is shrewd, unique, rising from the ranks, and arising from a nation of wealth and power... You won't find these words, so often cited as matching Obama's description, in the book of Revelation.

Since the emergent American Bible experts seem stymied by archaic Biblical language (mistaking the word "Beast" for "Muslim," for example) perhaps they will fare better with a little interpretation from snopes, the ultimate source for debunking urban legends.

Snopes on Revelation

"Contrary to popular belief, the New Testament book of Revelation... does not provide a laundry list of signs for identifying the appearance of an anti-Christ. In fact, it neither uses the term "anti-Christ" nor describes such a figure- Chapter 13 of that book merely recounts the appearance of "beasts," who are depicted in animalistic terms..."

Obama as Anti-Christ, Snopes.com

Revelation describes a beast with seven heads and ten horns wearing ten crowns rising up out of the sea with the name of blasphemy on his heads...

The wisdom offered at the end of the passage describing the beast states that the number of the beast is the number of a man and his number is six hundred, three-score, and six.

If you want to find mention of anti-Christ in the Bible, snopes will point you to the gospels of John. These gospels don't describe a specific man, however, but rather describe anti-Christs in the plural as those who deny that Jesus is Christ.

The most absurd claim of all, which permeates much Obama as anti-Christ speculation, is that Revelation describes the anti-Christ as a Muslim. Not only is Obama not a Muslim, but, as snopes points out, the Bible was written four hundred years before Islam was established.

Sources: "McCain to Meet with Dalai Lama Friday in Aspen," http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/McCain_to_meet_with_Dalai_Lama_Friday_in_Aspen.html; Holmes, Elizabeth, "McCain to Meet the Dalai Lama," http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/07/25/mccain-to-meet-the-dalai-lama/, July 25, 2008;

http://www.camshrine.com/showthread.php?tid=301; "Obama as Anti-Christ," http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/antichrist.asp.