Obama the Antichrist

Oh please, say it ain't so! I'm reading "Belief Watch" by Lisa Miller in the current issue of Newsweek, and I discover that there's a website called RaptureReady.com that is obsessed with the apocalypse and the rapture. And we learn that the head of this site, a fellow by the name of Todd Strandberg, even has a "Rapture Index." For some unknown reason, if the index goes over 160, "fasten your seat belts." And--gulp--Obama's win pushed the index to 161! (Ah, the mystical appeal of putting something into numbers. But, these numbers can and do change. As noted in the site, some 45 factors are taken into account; the index has been as high as 170 in 2008, and even today, shortly after the Newsweek column, the index is down to 159--whew, good news!)

So how can Obama be the Antichrist? Well, recently one of the winning lottery numbers in Obama's home state of Illinois was 666--need we say more, or think more? Seems self-evident that Barack is it. Not only that, but he's a nice guy! According to Miller's column, the Antichrist "will be a sweet-talking world leader who gathers governments and economies under his command to further his own evil agenda." I'm sure we can all remember Barack's platform, which included his daily call for Total World Domination.

At this website I found that there are other eerie, spooky signs of the Second Coming. Did you know that JFK got 666 votes for the Democratic nomination at the 1956 DNC? Did you know that Ronald Wilson Reagan has six letters in each of his three names? Did you know that numerologically, both the names of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William Jefferson Clinton (supposedly) add up to 666? And did you know that the Contentious Introvert once ate 666 kernels of niblets corn in a single sitting? We're talking convergence here.

All this stuff would be funny....if it wasn't funny. According to Miller, one-third of white evangelicals believe the world will end in their lifetimes. I can only regard such beliefs as mass hysteria, colossal ignorance, and total idiocy. A significant portion of my professional life is devoted to helping people think more clearly, but it's an uphill battle. Whether I pass on tomorrow or 50 years from tomorrow, I fear that these yahoos will still be around, poisoning the brains of any gullible person who wants to believe them.