Nope, Obama is still NOT the Antichrist and I’ve got the bible prophecies to prove it.

Because I’m getting so much search engine traffic for variations on “Obama Antichrist” since the election, I’m reposting what I wrote about that theory in August. Look, I can’t stand the guy. I didn’t enjoy Carter’s first term, and I’m pretty much dreading his second. But after Carter, we got Reagan, and I’m quite optimistic that’ll happen again.

Even if it doesn’t, for Christians in particular it behooves us to remember that life is eternal, so whatever discomfort and unhappiness we may suffer now isn’t going to matter much in the long run. A thousand years from now, are you going to care who was president in 2009?  Just think about it.  Think about what your core beliefs are, and if they don’t permit you to serenely face some political adversity, then you need to reassess your faith in a big way.

Calm yourselves, and read these bible verses that prove Barack Obama is just your standard issue Chicago thug politician/Marxist, and not Satan incarnate.  You’ll feel better.  Really.

Four Biblical Prophecies That Show Obama is NOT the Antichrist
August 10, 2008

First, let me say that no rational, bible-believing, knowledgeable Christian thinks that Obama is the Antichrist. This post is not addressed to those people. It is addressed to people who are gullible, people who look for faith-based reasons to confirm already held political views, and people who are new or nominal believers who don’t yet know their bibles very well. It’s addressed to people who really believe the Clintons left a string of murder victims in their wake.

Second, if Christians believed that Obama were the Antichrist, you wouldn’t see us fretting about a lousy election. The rise of the Antichrist presages the end of the world. An election is rather moot, at that point, don’t you think? Instead, you’d see us hunkering down with our bibles, praying, and witnessing to people like we should have been doing all along had we not been distracted by trying to buy a bigger house and the latest season of American Idol.

Third, even if Obama WERE the Antichrist (AND HE IS NOT) the whole point of prophecy is that these things are foreordained and cannot be stopped. Nor would a believing Christian want to try to prevent God’s will from being implemented, because one of the major tenets of the faith is that, you know, being God and the Creator of the universe and all that, He knows better than we do. So sitting around the Waffle Hut and planning Obama’s assassination is NOT the act of either a rational person OR a Christian of any sort.

Of course, those aren’t biblical reasons, but I wanted to preface the biblical reasons with a good, cold dash of common sense in the face. There are a number of bible prophecies about the Antichrist, and like the prophecies about Jesus, they must ALL be fulfilled in one person in order for that person to be the correct one. “Pretty close’ or “mostly” doesn’t cut it. Here are four of the scriptural reasons Obama is not the Antichrist.

1. Daniel 7:24 states that that the Antichrist will rise from among ten kings, and he’ll put down three of them. Revelation 13:1-2 shows that the ten nation union that the Antichrist leads will become a world government that he will dominate. Modern scholars often look to the EU to fulfill that prophecy, although it originally had only six founding members and currently has more than ten. In any case, it’s clearly not about America, and consequently the Antichrist is NOT Obama.
2. Revelation 13:11-12 is understood to predict that the Antichrist will have a false prophet – a miracle working partner – to promote him. Now, I could be snarky and talk about Al Gore and the inconvenient truth that the planet is cooling, not warming, and that the media and hucksters like Gore have been hyping normal climate changes for over a hundred years. And yes, the internet is practically miraculous in the progress and changes it has brought to our society. But sarcasm aside, it’s clear that Obama doesn’t have a false prophet out there promoting his alleged upcoming world domination and consequently the Antichrist is NOT Obama.
3. Revelation 17:11 – he will be the eighth ruler; coming from a group of seven rulers. That doesn’t apply to America or even the EU. Consequently the Antichrist is NOT Obama.
4. Daniel 8:23 – he doesn’t have a fierce or bold countenance, and he certainly doesn’t understand riddles or have any special brilliance – he has an incredibly weak grasp not just of history, but of current events! And the Gaffe-master is clearly not appreciably brighter than anyone else. Consequently the Antichrist is NOT Obama.

Sure, he’s arrogant and boastful, as in Daniel 7:8. Deceit is prospering under his hand, and in his own mind, he’s certainly great, as in Daniel 8:25. But it’s an all or nothing proposition, and Obama is as unqualified to be Antichrist as he is to be President.

Hope that clears things up. Now can we get back to bashing him for his leftist policies and defeatism?

— End repost —

ADDED: Fellow night owl Foxfier takes issue with the literal interpretation of the numbers, and points out that not all denominations interpret numbers in bible prophecy literally.  Quite true.  This post is aimed at evangelicals, mostly.  This is a group (and I’m in that group as a reformed charismatic) which tends to take prophecies literally unless they are painfully, obviously metaphorical. In fact, the whole Left Behind series is based on that concept, and the authors teach it as the proper way to interpret prophetical verses.  So numbers are considered accurate, specific numbers, and stuff like the four beasts is analyzed for deeper meaning. So if you aren’t one to take the numbers at face value, then move along… nothing to see here.