Lisa Miller

  • Home
  • About Lisa Miller
  • Contact Lisa
  • About “Heaven”
    • Praise for “Heaven”
  • Book Clubs

Is Obama the Antichrist?

November 17, 2008 By Lisa Miller

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. Former “Saturday Night Live” ingénue Victoria Jackson fueled the fire when, according to news reports, she wrote on her Web site that Obama “bears traits that resemble the anti-Christ.” Now Strandberg was receiving up-to-the-minute news from his constituents in Illinois. 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.

Ever since Jesus Christ was crucified and, according to the Gospels, rose again in glory, his followers have been anticipating the end of history—the time when their Lord will return to earth and reign for a thousand years. The question has always been when. Most Christians don’t worry about the end too much; it’s an abstract concept, a theological puzzle for late-night pondering. A few, however, have always believed that it is coming—and soon. Millennialist movements, as they’re called, gain prominence especially when the world grows chaotic, during wars and at the turn of every century. 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. These mostly conservative Christians believe a great battle is imminent. After years of tribulation—natural disasters, other cataclysms (such as the collapse of financial markets)—God’s armies will vanquish armies led by the Antichrist himself. He will be a sweet-talking world leader who gathers governments and economies under his command to further his own evil agenda. 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 in the hearts of America’s millennialist Christians. 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. Obama’s own use of religious rhetoric belies his liberal positions on abortion and traditional marriage, Staver says, positions that “religious conservatives believe will threaten their freedom.” 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.

Before Christ comes again, those who are saved will ascend to heaven, according to this end-times theology, in a huge, upward whoosh called the Rapture. Strandberg is so certain that the Rapture is coming, he’s bought a number of Internet addresses in addition to RaptureReady: AntiAntichrist, Tribulationus and RaptureMe. In the event that RaptureReady crashes during the apocalypse, anyone who needs an update will, with a simple Google search, be able to get one. 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.

Filed Under: BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller, Newsweek Tagged With: apocalypse, Christians, Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller is a staff writer at New York magazine. She is a former columnist for the Washington Post, former senior editor of Newsweek magazine, and author of "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife."

About Lisa Miller

Lisa-Miller-Headshot

Lisa Miller is a staff writer at New York magazine. She is the former religion columnist for the Washington Post, former senior editor of Newsweek magazine, and author of "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife."

In 2014, Lisa Miller was nominated for the National Magazine Award and featured in Best Magazine Writing of 2014.

read more...

NOMINATED FOR THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARD

Lisa-Miller-Headshot

Recent Tweets

  • “It’s definitely the case that most people with schizophrenia do not commit violent crimes. It’s also true that peo… https://t.co/qknpGwsrkY January 18, 2023 2:44 pm
  • “Hospital is not prison. A person who has not been accused of a crime cannot be jailed." https://t.co/xboQYkrg3k January 18, 2023 2:42 pm
  • So the ER doctors, with few other options, often knowingly discharge people back onto the street. https://t.co/xboQYkrg3k January 18, 2023 2:41 pm
  • "Given the hard realities of living on the street, patients who are unsheltered frequently present a full slate of… https://t.co/m6jkKTod1H January 18, 2023 2:40 pm
  • “It made us feel like he was taking control of our lives,” she told me. https://t.co/n8gFpH4rC5 October 11, 2022 1:17 pm
  • https://www.twitter.com/lisaxmiller

Recent Posts

  • Children of Quarantine
  • My Therapists Were Right About Uncertainty
  • Why Did I Think She Wouldn’t Die?
  • The Making of a Molotov Cocktail
  • Two Weeks With Rachel Noerdlinger, the Movement’s Publicist

Copyright © 2023 Lisa Miller