New McCain ad includes tons of images of Obama as Anti-Christ

The McCain campaign has responded to initial criticisms
about their “THE ONE” ad by saying it was meant merely as a joke poking fun at
Obama’s strong support and Messiah-like imagery. But this was not some YouTube
video put together in someone’s basement.  It was a professionally and
carefully produced ad that had a much more sinister subtext that millions of
Americans will pick up on. The makers of the ad chose all of Obama’s quotes
very carefully and the ad is rife with image after image equating Senator Obama
to the anti-Christ, and especially to Nicolae Carpathia, the anti-Christ in the
popular Left Behind series.  One
or two images might be able to be written off to coincidence, but the number of
overt and subtle images packed into this short ad and the frequency of images
torn straight from the pages of Revelation and Daniel (the two primary
apocalyptic books of the Bible) that make no real sense in any other context
leave little doubt of the true purpose of this ad. 

This is the use of religion at its very worst in politics
because it is an attempt to subtly and perhaps even subconsciously play on some
of the deepest fears of millions of evangelical Americans.  From the title
of the ad (that immediately reminds anyone familiar with the Left Behind
series of the name of the false church set up by the anti-Christ) to the quotes
(with no respect to context) and images that the McCain camp chose to use,
which basically allude to every symbol of the anti-Christ possible short of
flashing 666 on the screen, this ad is an attempt to stir up already
circulating falsehoods about Obama and add more fuel to the fire.

The McCain campaign clearly believes that Democrats and the
press will not be attuned enough with the people who bought over 70 million
copies of Left Behind to realize what is happening.  But as with
apocalyptic writing that can seem just plain odd until one really studies them
and understands the symbolism and contextual language of the time, there are
numerous parts of this ad that make no sense in a high-budget presidential ad
unless they are understood for what they really are: attempts to scare people
with contextually bankrupt scriptural and Obama quotes and imagery tied
together to send messages of fear that Obama is somehow the anti-Christ.

Even the chosen format as an internet ad allows for it to
blasted out to targeted religious populations that will immediately recognize
its significance and forward it on to others in their community so that the
whispers and innuendo can continue in dark corners outside the scrutiny of the
general public who would be horrified by such tactics.

Our goal with this memo is to expose the McCain
campaign’s lies that they have tried to disseminate in darkness to the light of
public scrutiny.

Lest people simply dismiss this ad as pandering to a small
subset of people, here are some facts on how predominant and wide-spread the
Premillenialist (also known as Darbyist or dispensationalist) views are…A Time
Magazine poll that came out after the 9/11 attacks found that 1 in 5 Americans
believe the world will end in their lifetime; 1 in 4 felt 9/11 was predicted in
Revelation; and 1 in 3 Americans who support Israel said they do so because
they believe Israel must reconquer the Promised Land for Christ to
return.

The Left Behind series has sold nearly 70 MILLION books
(plus a 40-book children’s series, graphic novels, books on tape, movies,
etc).  Another recent poll found that 3 of 4 Americans believed that the
Left Behind series accurately depicted the events described in the Book of
Revelation, although less than half believed that was an accurate description
of how the world would end.

And a simple search for “Obama anti-christ” or “Obama
Nicolae Carpathia” turns up numerous hits and bloggers commenting about how
many people came to their posts doing just that search. This is a real
phenomenon being put forth and encouraged by modern day false prophets and now
we see coming to light in the McCain campaign’s TV ad.

Below, we break the
ad up into its different parts to more easily highlight and explain the
numerous allusions to Obama as anti-Christ.

Go to any “end times” website that explains how we will
recognize the anti-Christ, and most will begin by explaining how he will be a
charismatic figure and moving speaker based on the description in Revelation
13:5 that the anti-Christ will be given a “mouth speaking great things.”
He is initially seen as a blessing to the world that unites it and brings it
out of a period of great economic hardship and division by providing peace and
unity.

NARRATOR: It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed.
They will call him The One. 

In The Left Behind series, the false religion set
up by Nicolae Carpathia (the anti-Christ) is called THE ONE World
Religion.  Nicolae Carpathia began his political career as a young junior
Senator who, with Satan’s help, then embarked on a meteoric political rise by
preaching unity, hope, and peace in the midst of world-wide calamity following
the Rapture.  Revelation provides the
following description of the anti-Christ’s rise:

“[the beast] was given authority over every tribe
and people and language and nation, and all the inhabitants of the earth will
worship it…” Rev 13:7.

OBAMA: A nation healed, a world repaired…we are the ones that we’ve been
waiting for.

In the Left Behind Series, the slogan of the
One World Religion is, “We are God.”  What is very explicit in
this line, which is taken out of context from one of Obama’s speeches and
placed into a religious context here, is the insistence that we are the
ones we’ve been waiting for.  Throughout the Bible, Christians are taught
that their hope must be in Christ alone.  Especially in apocalyptic
writings, good Christians are called to turn away from the teachings of false
prophets and wait upon Christ to deliver them from the period of tribulation.
As you can see from the scripture below, again and again Christians are
warned against those who would claim to be Christ but are not (which is
actually the exact point the McCain claims it was making with this “joke”—Obama
isn’t the Messiah people are making him out to be).

“The man of lawlessness…will oppose and will exalt
himself over everything that is called God and worshiped”. 2 Thessalonians
2:3-4

“You [Lucifer] said in your heart’ “I will ascend
to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God… I will ascend above
the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:
13-14

“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many
will come in my name, claiming, ‘I
am the Christ, and will deceive many…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 appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the
elect ” Matt 24:4-24

NARRATOR: And he has anointed himself ready to carry the burden of The
One. To quote Barack: “I have become a symbol of America returning to our best
traditions.” He can do no wrong.

Again, if the McCain camp was really trying for some
heavenly image here or allusion to God shining his light on Obama or to Obama
shining his own light on the people, they would have used a different
image.  The classic and obvious image
most viewers would recognize as divine would be of the white beam of light
shining down from heaven (e.g., Monty Python or Simpsons spoofs).  But this is an odd orange light surrounded by
darkness.  So why would they not go with
the classic divine light imagery? 

Viewers will notice how similar these very odd pictures that
appear in the middle of the McCain ad are to the cover art and fonts of the Left
Behind series, especially to the image, font, and colors of the final book
in the series that would be most recent in reader’s memories.  The hidden
images in the clouds and sun in the ad, which took a great deal of editing and
are so strange that they had to be intentionally chosen and placed there by the
McCain camp for their symbolic value, are of screaming, frantic crowds.  One image has a man holding his hand up in a
fist (bottom right of the first sun image above), which will evoke black power
and Olympic protests, and another has a stair leading to heaven (second image
above). 

CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT LARA LOGAN: Do you have any doubts?

OBAMA: Never.

NARRATOR: Can you see the light?

OBAMA: A light will shine down from somewhere. It will alight upon you.
You will experience an epiphany and you will say to yourself, “I have to
vote for Barack.” 

There is one sign of the beast that is specifically
identified in Revelation…want to guess what it is?  The beast calls down fire from heaven to
alight on the earth in the sight of all to deceive the people of the earth.

“Then I saw another beast….that exercised authority
on the part of the first to make the earth and its inhabitants worship the
first beast…it performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to
alight on the earth in the sight of all; and by the signs it is allowed to
perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth…and it
caused all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to
be marked on the right hand or the forehead.”  Rev 13:11-16

An excerpt from Left Behind which is a good example
of how the anti-Christ is constantly described in the books as he fools the
people during his rise to power from junior Senator to world ruler:

“I wouldn’t
feel this way about anybody else [but Carpathia]. No U.S. president could turn my head
like this, no U.N. secretary-general.” “You think he’ll be bigger than that.”

“The world is ready for Carpathia, Buck. You
were there Monday. You saw it. You heard it. Have you ever met anyone like
him?”

“No.”

“You never will again, either. If you ask me, Romania
is too small for him. Europe is too small for
him. The U.N. is too small for him.”

“What’s he gonna be, Steve, king of the
world?”

Steve laughed, “That won’t
be the title, but don’t put it past
him. The best part is, he’s not even
aware of his own presence. He doesn’t
seek these roles. They are thrust upon him because of his intellect, his power,
his passion.”

NARRATOR: And the world will receive his blessings.

The constant references back to his blessings and
greatness and doing no wrong (which are clearly parodies), match nicely with
the idea in the Left Behind books and
scriptures cited by dispensationalists for how the anti-Christ will
operate.  He starts with many wondrous
signs and things people believe to be true blessing that are only later (when
it is too late and people have thrown in their lot with him) exposed for their
true purpose.

“For false Christs and false prophets shall rise,
and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the
elect.” Mark 13:22

OBAMA: This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and
our planet began to heal.

CHARLTON HESTON AS MOSES: Behold His mighty hand! [visual of seas parting
and Obama seal rising from the sea as supporters chant “Obama, Obama” in
background]

The Moses reference could be a joke about Obama
leading people to the promised land, but why did the makers of this ad chose
this very odd quote about the oceans and create this very odd image of parting
the Red Sea to have a seal the Obama rising out of the sea?  Why not have
Obama leading people or a clip of Moses leading people to the Promised Land?  And even if the McCain camp really thought
this was the clip that made the most sense to poke fun at Obama as Exodus
leader, why have the Obama seal (which was used by the campaign for a very
short time and would have taken some real digging to find) come rising out of
the sea instead of the much more recognized Obama logo or even a picture of
Obama himself?   This whole scene makes
no sense unless one understands that it is always from the sea that the
anti-Christ comes…and in the Book of Daniel the first beast that rises from the
churning sea is a creature with wings like an eagle. 

“Then the dragon took his stand on the sand of the
seashore, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea…and the dragon gave it his
power and his throne and great authority…they worshipped the beast, saying,
“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”  Rev 12:18-13:4.

“And I saw in my vision by night the four winds of
heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came out of the sea.  The first was like a lion, and it had the
wings of an eagle.”  Daniel 7:2-4

NARRATOR: Barack Obama MAY BE THE ONE. But is he ready to lead?

If the McCain camp was trying to spoof Obama as Messiah, they missed a

number of more obvious images and did a very poor job with this ad.  If they were trying to draw parallels to
Obama as anti-Christ, they nailed it.  Considering
that this ad cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce and was made by
marketing professionals who McCain is paying millions of dollars for their
expertise, which option of these two options do you think is more likely to be
THE ONE?