Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Obama: In the shadow of the Antichrist

Is Barack Hussein Obama the Antichrist? Many people are thinking along these lines. A Google search of the terms "Obama" and "Antichrist" brings back 10,100,000 pages. A more refined search of "Is Obama the Antichrist?" yields 514,000. Since the sudden rise of the hitherto unknown Barack Hussein Obama to the highest office in the world, many have speculated about the possibility that Barack Obama could indeed be the Antichrist that is to come before the ending of the world.

Now, I personally do not believe that Obama is the Antichrist. I think if he were the Antichrist, the quasi-religious veneration we see of him today by his devotees would be even more absurd and frightening than it is now; furthermore, I think we would see less dissent. As it stands, a very large number of Americans are upset with Obama. The real Antichrist will have a more universal appeal than Obama and will not suffer from the kinds of criticism that Obama gets regularly. There are other factors as well, but I don't think it is worth arguing about. Barack Hussein Obama is not the Antichrist.

However there is a connection between Obama and the Antichrist inasmuch as Obama, I think, represents a kind of "rehearsal" for the coming of the Antichrist by the powers of darkness. Of course, the first epistle of John tells us that the spirit of Antichrist is present wherever someone denies Jesus (1 John 4:3), but we know from Revelation, from the constant teaching of the saints and Church tradition that before the end there is to come a singular deceiver called the Antichrist (or "the Beast") who will lead the world into error and apostasy and persecute the Church.

Anytime a ruler does these things, he is a type of the Antichrist. Henry VIII was one of the devil's rehearsals for the Antichrist, as were Nero, Frederick II, Hitler, Robespierre and any ruler who uses his charisma and influence to attack and persecute the Church while promulgating a false spirituality. In this vein, we can see how Obama falls along these lines - a charismatic ruler who spurns the teachings of Jesus while allowing himself to be venerated as a kind of pseudo-Messiah. These historical rulers are all types of the Antichrist to come, and thus we can discern a little bit about what the coming of the Antichrist will be like by looking at the circumstances surrounding the lives of his historical predecessors, including our own president.

First, we could cite Obama's meteoric rise to power as typical of the Antichrist's own ascension. While the Scriptures never say that the Antichrist will rise from obscurity or come to power quickly, I think we can deduce this as a logical necessity given what the Antichrist will try to accomplish. In Obama's case, if he had been on the political scene for decades (like Kennedy or Bill Clinton), we would know him intimately and would have scrutinized him from every angle. People would have substantial knowledge about him and would be incapable of whipping up the novel religious enthusiasm that comes with a well-known and well-established personage. St. Hippolytus, in his treatise "On Christ and Antichrist," notes several of the phrases applicable to the Antichrist in the Old Testament, which he centers on the Israelite tribe of Dan, and mentions certain words like "leap", "spring", "swiftness" in connection with the coming of the Antichrist, suggesting a sudden appearance on the world scene (On Christ and Antichrist, 14-15). When the Antichrist does come, his appearance will be sudden, his rise swift, and his background elusive.

Second, we could mention Obama's claim to be a uniter of people. The first thing we have to mention here is that the Antichrist, in order to rule the world, must necessarily be a great uniter of men, and since time immemorial Christians have viewed the Antichrist as a man who speaks peaceably to unite but strikes out ruthlessly against opponents. St. Paul says that the end will come at a time when men are crying for peace (1 Thess. 5:3), while Revelation portrays the end as coming amidst a period of intense warfare. Is it peace or war? How can we resolve this?

The obvious answer, and one most Christians have adopted, is that the Antichrist initially comes as a great uniter and a man of peace, but once in power, quickly reveals himself to be a man of blood. We can compare this to the manner in which Obama claimed to bring hope, change and bipartisanship, but in reality seeks domination and suppression of those who oppose his agenda. The Antichrist to come will also come as a man promising peace and brotherhood, but will quickly establish that this "peace" is the same kind of peace Islam promises: one of total submission enforced by the sword.

Third, the Antichrist will be adored with religious devotion and even worshipped. While Obama is not (as far as I know) openly worshipped, we can see a trace of the Antichrist's spiritual agenda in the quasi-messianism with which people venerate him. If you are sickened and frightened by how the press and the Obamites in the world speak about the President, then you have a foretaste of the way in which future generations of secularists will fawn over and adore the Antichrist, only in the latter case the devotion will be outright, explicit, and (eventually) mandatory.

Finally, we could cite the way that Obama supporters cling stubbornly to their pseudo-Messiah and his bankrupt ideologies in bland ignorance of the facts and the truth. If you have ever thought of Obama supporters as brainwashed, then you are getting a glimpse of the mental hold that the Antichrist will one day exercise over his supporters. The Antichrist will cause people to believe wholeheartedly in the most blatant lies and despicable untruths while convincing them to utterly ignore or disbelieve in obvious facts which are inconvenient to him. Many have asked, "When the Antichrist comes, how will he deceive people? Won't we all see these signs being fulfilled and know it is him?" To the elect, perhaps, but to the majority of the world applies the words of our Lord and St. Paul:

If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (Matt. 24:23-24).

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:11-12)

The people will be deceived not by any natural power of persuasion (though he will be immensely persuasive as well), but by a strong supernatural delusion which comes upon them, fortified by lying signs and wonders worked by the power of the devil.

In conclusion, Obama is part of an overall strategy by the powers of darkness. This is a dress-rehearsal, a dry run, of what will be coming at the time of the end. The devil is not ready to bring forth the Antichrist yet, but he is testing the waters by sending someone who resembles him in order to see how Christians react, to see whether they are alert or spiritually lazy. Right now, many Christians are united in opposition to Barack Obama, and the devil sees that the time is not yet - but it is short. This is how the devil operates, and the gloablists who do his will. They push a little until there is a reaction and then back off; push, backoff, push, backoff, but all the while making incremental progress, thus wearying people of the fight and slowly accustoming them to accept as tolerable what they once would not have tolerated, and to take as a good what was once considered evil. When the world has been nudged far enough and the time is ripe, the evil one will appear.

This is a win-win strategy for the devil, at least as far as Obama is concerned. On the one hand, if the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama is a success, then people will be more amenable to more ungodly socialist-utopian schemes and will more easily fall for an even more deviant demagogue in the future, thus paving the way for the eventual coming of the Antichrist. On the other hand, supposing Obama utterly fails and the economy and the nation are trashed even worse than they currently are, then people will ever the more clamor for a strong leader to come and fix their problems and will more readily yield up their liberties in exchange for someone who promises to "fix things." Either way the devil wins, because people have lost the unction to do things for themselves and look only to their leaders to "make everything right" and "fix" everything. Whether or not Obama succeeds, the air is ripe for the appearance of the Antichrist so long as people lazily wait for some government or strong executive to come take care of business for them rather than take hold of their own destiny.

So while Obama is not the Antichrist, he certainly is a shadow of him and gives us a terrifying glimpse into what type of mania we can expect before the end. All the pieces are in place for the end game to start - but while the devil will have his momentary triumph upon this earth, we know how the story ends and Who is really in control.

A few months ago I put together a little booklet on the End Times that you can purchase here through Lulu.com. It is about 64 pages and contains a compilation of everything pertaining to the end of the world in the Scriptures and the Catechism and a commentary on how Christians have generally interpreted these passages. For some reason, the cover looks blurry on this link, but it is not blurry in real life. While I am not (generally) an alarmist, as time goes on we do need to always have these thoughts in the back of our minds.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of arguments that you made could also be made against Bush. He built up the makings of the police state with the department of homeland security, and the Patriot Act. Then you have to factor in the whole doctrine of preemptive war, and the unjust war in Iraq. Additionally he added the socialist medicare prescription drug plan advancing socialism. I don't think either party is safe at this point there is much difference between the two. No party is pro-life, we have the republican's which advance war, and the death penalty, and we have the democrats which advance abortion and perhaps euthanasia. Because I consider both parties guilty of serious intrinsic evils I feel the only morally sound vote we have left in the US is either the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party. (And it depends on the libertarian as some of them are pro-choice, and others recognize abortion as force against another person and oppose it).

Boniface said...

Anonymous-

I'd disagree, because what makes a ruler a type of the antichrist isn't that he is all powerful, or that he is a despot - it is his quick rise to power, the quasi-religious veneration given to him and his opposition to the church. While it could be argued that Bush opposed Christian principles in preemptive war (which I think is up for debate), he certainly was not venerated the way Obama is nor did he rise from obscurity. So, while he may have been inept or immoral, those things don't make him a type of antichrist - but with Obama it is more clear-cut.

Jack. said...

nice pic of his holiness the Lord high incopotent of Chigcago :)

Mr S said...

I notice the moon,
the leaf-less dead tree
and
the blue turban.

But how come the ears are not more pointed?

Anonymous said...

America has been betrayed by Wall St. We are in the process of being destroyed through economics and then conformed into a collectivist world government. The ideology of Communism always includes purges of the resistors ans dissidents and religious.
Welcome to the New Dark Ages!New World Order

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

That picture will give me nightmares tonight.

Your point that Obama is a rehearsal of the Antichrist is a new one to me, Boniface, but it certainly stands up. I shall be thinking about it more.

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong with the death penalty. And If the war in Iraq is against Islam,I am all for it.