The Bible Sez: Newsweek Is THE BEAST of the Apocalypse!!

It is all clear in Revelations 13:

John of Patmos, After Eating the 'Shrooms: And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.... And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven...

The Chapter 7 bankruptcy of the Washington Post company is coming in May 2012. You read it here first.

Why am I so certain that Newsweek is the blaspheming beast of the Book of the Apocalypse of Saint John the Theologian? Because of this episode of... well, I can't call it he said-she said journalism because Lisa Miller doesn't quote anybody who is not anti-Obama, does she?

Belief Watch: Is Obama the Antichrist?: On Nov. 5, Todd Strandberg was at his desk, fielding E-mails from around the world. As the editor and founder of RaptureReady.com, his job is to track current events and link them to biblical prophecy in hopes of maintaining his status as "the eBay of prophecy," the best source online for predictions and calculations concerning the end of the world. Already Barack Obama had drawn the attention of apocalypse watchers after an anonymous e-mail circulated among conservative Christians in October implying that he was the Antichrist.... One of the winning lottery numbers in the president-elect's home state was 666— which, as everyone knows, is the sign of the Beast (also known as the Antichrist). "It is very eerie, and I take it for a sign as to who he really is," wrote one of Strandberg's correspondents.... According to a 2006 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a third of white evangelicals believe the world will end in their lifetimes.... In this world view, "the spread of secular progressive ideas is a prelude to the enslavement of mankind," explains Richard Landes, former director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University.

No wonder, then, that Obama triggers such fear.... Mat Staver, dean of Liberty University's law school, says he does not believe Obama is the Antichrist, but he can see how others might.... The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts: "They are expressing a concern and a fear that is widely shared," Staver says.... Strandberg says Obama probably isn't the Antichrist, but he's watching the president-elect carefully. On his Web site, he has something called the Rapture Index, a calculation based on signs and prophecy of the proximity of the end. According to Strandberg, any number over 160 means "fasten your seat belts." Obama's win pushed the index to 161.

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Comments

[aimai]

Next week's Newsweek coverage
"Is Obama really an Albino in blackface?"
Following Week
"Is Obama really a trannie?"
Following Week
Is Obama Gay?
Conclusion of our coverage
"Why do liberals accuse the media of anti Obama bias?"

aimai

[When the Rapture comes, can I have your car?]

"The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts..."

Well, actually, they ARE nuts.

[Leila Abu-Saba]

Has anybody polled how many white progressives believe the world is going to end in their lifetimes due to 1) Climate Change; 2) Peak Oil; 3) Ecological Collapse; 4) Nuclear War or 5) Global Corporate Fascist Borg Takeover?

[MaryCh]

But but but but...what about RONALD WILSON REAGAN!?!?!!???

(cue spooky/end times music)

[Still Fixing It Up]

Sorry, they ARE nuts. Anybody who believes in the "antichrist" is nuts.

[Leila Abu-Saba]

Like I said in Twitter, I was just thinking this morning how I ought to buy Newsweek every once in a while, to reward them for writing that interesting series on the Obama campaign which I read partly in a waiting room and partly online. Now this. Forget about it. I'm not rewarding this silliness. Let 'em expire.

[Jack]

"The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts."

Wha? If someone, say, a child, asked me what "being nuts" meant, I would site believing Obama is the Anti-Christ as an example.

[Joshua Whalen]

Someone pass this on to the fundies:

It's 666 in HEBREW numerology, NOT ROMAN numrology. Hebrew characters sum differently. Sorry.

[Joshua Whalen]

Oh, yeah, and it's the numeric value of each letter, not the sum of the letters of each name, so "B" would be 2, "A" would be 1, etc...

Of course, it wuld help if they would read something besides the new testament once in a while. Oy.

[rea]

I thought Tolstoy proved convincingly in War and Peace that Napoleon's number was 666?

(Of course that just proves that Obama is really Napoleon)

[Nathan Myers]

Anybody who says nuts aren't must be nuts too. Or a liar. Which is worse?

I gather the official diagnostic manual for psychiatrists distinguishes private delusions from those shared by one's parents. So, technically, perhaps, some of them aren't nuts, just their ideas. It really comes down to whether they got the nutty ideas first, and sought out other nuts, or were raised nutty. Probably there are plenty of both, but I doubt he's checking.

"One who can make you believe falsehoods can make you commit atrocities" -- Voltaire

Falsehoods, check.

[Wendy]

I'm so glad that Todd Strandberg and that other guy think that Obama probably ISN'T the Antichrist. That's so reassuring. This really is a ridiculous article. And those evangelicals are, in fact, nuts.

[Eric Blood Axe]

And I heard that 666 was diocletian! DCLXVI.

[sm]

"Of course, it wuld help if they would read something besides the new testament once in a while. Oy."

Of course, they could try reading the Gospels.

[Robert Waldmann]

Brad I think you are unfair to Lisa Miller. I think raptureready really is fringe loony (not just loony but loony in a way which is not widely shared). Thus there is no need to criticize it for the majority of Newsweek readers (note 2 thirds of evangelicals don't think the end is nigh). Those waiting for the rapture aren't going to be convinced by arguments or evidence.

To present the contrasting view of those who note that people have been saying its about now for thousands of years and all have been wrong is to treat Sandberg with excessive respect. To report on him as a phenomenon not engaging with him as a part of a debate is to dismiss him.

I will make an extreme analogy. When Newsweek reports what Osama Bin Laden said, they don't present counter arguments. Now I've gone too far. I'm not saying Miller is hinting that Sandberg is like Bin Laden in any way except that she is making it clear that his statements aren't to be taken seriously. That seems about right to me.

Now there are cases in which journalists do this which are plainly crazy. I recall a complaint by you and others about a journalist who reported on a creationist guided trip down Grand Canyon. That is another issue. There are many more creationists than non creationists in the USA. That view is loony but it is not fringe loony.

The view that some other reporter chose to report on without presenting the counterarguments is not one that most readers would dismiss on their own. Nor, I hope is it one that is invulnerable to fact and argument. That other reporter was an anthropologist in his or her native culture, treating not only the subjects of the article but also his or her readers as aliens with whom reasoned debate was impossible.

[justsayin]

Of course Bush, who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and who happened to turn America into a country that tortures, gets a pass.

It was Christ, no doubt, who told him who to torture.

But seriously, I know there are Fundamentalists who do lament Bush turning America into a country that tortures and give Obama credit for already being on record to right that wrong, as much as it pains them to admit it.

[christofay]

Unfortunately Paulson's/Bernanke's TARP crap catcher won't be there for them in 2012 for a re-flotation.

[Maynard Handley]

"note 2 thirds of evangelicals don't think the end is nigh"

Have they categorically and publicly denounced the other one third?
That is the standard applied to muslims (regarding "terrorist sympathies") and it seems only fair to apply the same standard here.

[derrida derider]

Yep, I reckon Lisa Miller done good. She just reported it all deadpan. The overwhleming bulk of her readers will laugh at those loonies - which is just the reaction she intended.

Ever heard of the term "giving them enough rope to hang themselves"?

[disinterested observer]

" Has anybody polled how many white progressives believe the world is going to end in their lifetimes due to 1) Climate Change; 2) Peak Oil; 3) Ecological Collapse; 4) Nuclear War or 5) Global Corporate Fascist Borg Takeover?"

I believe that the correct answer to this is zero. There may be many people who believe that all of these things can have a serious impact on human civilisation - together or separately - and that 1,3 or 4 would potentially wipe out a large proportion of the human race as well as lots of animals and plants, if they occurred. Worrying about nuclear war is also a concern of conservatives as well - hence " star wars" type missile defence.

But I don't think that any progressive believes that thw world will literally end as a result of any of these, and that some proportion of the population will be beamed up to heaven as part of the process.

[paulamarie]

Hey Brad.

Not typed you for a long time. Has it really been a decade. Know you from Henwood's talk-email.

As things have gotten confusing I increasingly look to you and others I feel I know to find insight.

Thanks for the blog.

"Yes dear, conspiracy theories really do come true." (tuck, tuck)

[George J. Georganas]

The Book of Revelation was written in Koine Greek (the English of its time). The 666 number is Chi-Xi-Stigma in Greek numbering. One interpretation states that those are the initials of the antichrist's slogan, namely : Christ without a Cross, meaning that the antichrist will peddle salvation without sacrifice. An indictment, perhaps of over-leveraging ...
The Newsweek and its sources sound pretty blasphemous, however, under any theology.

[rbh]

I always thought Bush was the Antichrist.

[pants]

This article is high quality entertainment.

The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts: "They are expressing a concern and a fear that is widely shared," Staver says.

Right, because widely shared beliefs of the masses are *never* nuts...

[Dirty Davey]

As I read it, the statement that "they're not nuts" is a paraphrase of what the Liberty University Dean has said, and not a statement by Miller.

[Neil B]

Dirty Davey, the clause The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts: is written without quotes. Since there is a colon leading to the quote, it is not entirely clear that the writer herself is "responsible" for the content. But to avoid any ambiguity, she shouldn't have written that in her own hand unless she means it. Then Miller follows uncritically with a quote of psychobabble, that the idea must be sane because it expresses "wide-spread" thoughts and feelings. Harrumph!

And no, derrida derider (and see above re psychobabble), it is dangerous to simply report "deadpan" on cranks with disruptive ideas of supernatural hatred of our President Elect. Hence Lisa Miller is carrying water, however unintentionally, for ultra-right theocranks who despise Obama. Indeed, her sympathetic treatment gives indirect aid and comfort to some creepos who would actually take a shot at Obama (why not try to kill "The AntiChrist" even if that is contradictory to fulfilling prophecy, those folks hardly care about clear logic ...) Yes I was serious.

Leila, you seem to know that those white progressives etc. base their fears on rational scientific grounds and not irrational preachments, and as "disinterested observer" noted: few believe the world will actually "end" because of those things. However, life will suck quite enough anyway if they keep getting worse. In any case some readers would think your comment a put-down.

[Neal]

It used to be that the evangelicals believed that God selects our rulers (Bush, as God's chosen hand).

So what happened to that belief with Obama? Is their faith so small that they now cannot accept that God chose Obama also?

[sero]

Same as the New Yorker cover. The Professor has a tin-ear for this kind of thing.

[Neil B]

BTW, the sum of the numbers in Roulette (1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 35 + 36) = 666! Is Las Vegas trying to tell us something?