From the Heartland: Obama as Antichrist

Working and living on this deepest blue of the nation's blue islands of liberal influence, it can be startling to get a dispatch like the following from one's far-flung friends in Red State Land.

This morning, we received the following message from a friend in one of those parts of the country Governor Palin likes to call "Pro-American."

This friend, we are at pains to point out, is a gainfully-employed, college-educated and highly intelligent person who happens to share with his wife a strong attraction to the Christian faith. He writes...

"After watching the last debate, I looked at [my wife] and asked if Barack Obama reminds her of [Nicolae] Carpathia, the one who turns out to be the Antichrist in the Left Behind book series."

"She said that she had come to the same conclusion earlier, but didn't say anything because she thought it might sound too wacko. I figured we couldn't be the only ones to see that, and finally got around to doing a quick Google search that indicates we're actually a few months late in seeing the similarities."

He goes on to point out that so many others have made that connection, the Left Behind authors, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, put out a press release early in August to try and tamp down some of the evangelical enthusaism.

"I can see by the language he uses why people think he could be the antichrist," said LaHaye, "but from my reading of scripture, he doesn't meet the criteria."

How reassuring.

Our friend also included his own disclaimer at the end of his message: "I won't go on record saying I think he is the Antichrist, but I certainly feel that I am more suspicious about it than I should reasonably be."

Hooray for the Heartland!