By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors
(CNN) - On our sister blog The 1600 Report, CNN's Alex Mooney notes a discrepancy in the official White House transcript of a California fundraiser Monday night, during which a person who heckled President Barack Obama was escorted out by security.
Here's the White House transcript's account of the heckler:
AUDIENCE MEMBER: The Christian God is the only true living God, the Creator of the heavens and the universe.
But Mooney observes that the White House pool report records the heckler as being much more blunt, yelling "'Barack Obama is the Antichrist!"
The president interrupted his remarks at the fundraiser, held at Los Angeles' House of Blues, to respond to the heckler.
"First of all, I agree Jesus Christ is the Lord," Obama said. "I believe in that. I do have a question, though. I think the young man may have left his jacket... "
Ironically, the remark about Obama as the Antichrist came the same day that The New York Times ran an op-ed arguing that the Antichrist is assuming a bigger place in the public discourse, as evangelical Christian ideas about the end times gain traction.
In a piece titled "Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics," Washington State University history professor Matthew Avery Sutton argues that, for some Christians, Obama fits into ideas about the Antichrist, whose arrival is believed to be a portent of the end times and Jesus' second coming:
For some evangelicals, President Obama is troubling. The specious theories about his place of birth, his internationalist tendencies, his measured support for Israel and his Nobel Peace Prize fit their long-held expectations about the Antichrist. So does his commitment to expanding the reach of government in areas like health care.
The op-ed was the most e-mailed piece on nytimes.com for much of Tuesday.
In the 2008 campaign, Republican presidential nominee John McCain released an anti-Obama ad called "The One" that ridiculed Obama for what it said was his messiah complex. Some critics claimed the spot was a veiled attempt to paint Obama as the Antichrist, though the McCain camp denied it.
What do you think? Is there a gathering movement to paint the president as the Antichrist? Are such charges overblown attempt to discredit Obama's critics?
Read Mooney's full report here.
CNN I guess it is time to start Rallying your Liberal Base???????
Oh god.. first the scuba diving "ELITE" fbi agents sweeping the ocen floor for "TERRORISTS" and now obama labelled "ANTI-CHRIST".. I am not angry, just feel sorry and people complain the country is going down the drain.. IMO, its past the drain..retards
When you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?
hmmm... nutjob... that's a tough one, but I'll bet it's funnier to watch with kaleidoscope glasses.
Nut job- they turn white, i've tried it...
Stupid proposition. Obama is simply a deeply misguided liberal, academic, elitist. Nothing more than we see everyday on MSNBC.
Most of them left FOX.
As opposed to the mentally challenged, dimwitted populists of the GOP? Okay... I guess we'll keep Obama.
Not the anti-Christ. But he's a devil of a poor President leading us all to an economic hell.
Drinkin a bit too much of that teaparty koolaid little dude. When all is said and done, most of our economic problems were started by the previous Prez – so what does that say? Eh? Quite a bit of us think he's done as good as a job as humanly possible. We wish he were a little more inhuman... you know? More progressive. Got that?
Ummm....I think we were already there way before Obama came along...and if the KKK ..oops I mean Teabaggers and wolves in sheeps clothing in congress STOP going against him on EVERY single issue... DAMN the country, them maybe he could get a fair shot at getting this country on the right track.
Why is it so obvious to so many Christians that the idea of an antichrist is plain silly, but the idea of a good fairy in the sky still so readily accepted. It is all superst.itious nonsense, regardless of the attributes we assign to our sky-gods.
Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?
uhmmm... to remind you to kiss your a$$ goodbye before the plane hits the ground?
Because any idgit can put on a flotation device quickly and jump. A parachute is more complicated and the person has to remember to jump out and away from the plane and then pull the cord while terrified. Add a kid or two to this and parachutes would just be expensive flotsam to their jetsam. It is not because when the Rapture occurs all the born again pilots will be wafted up to meet Jesus in the sky along with all the believer drivers in cars, buses, and trains. My mom told me in the 60's that all air lines insisted that either the pilot or the co pilot be a non-believer if the other was born again. That is about as factual as thinking there is an AntiChrist. If there were it would be Cheney not Obama. As a kid I was told it was Ronald Reagan. I guess another reason would be that if the plane is falling rapidily earthward it would be unlikely many could get out with a parachute safely. Too high and you freeze to death and there is insufficient oxygen. Too low and there is not time to open the 'shute. You are just dead if it falls rapidly. If it lands safely in water you really do not want to be in a parachute.
If a cow laughed real hard, would milk come out her nose?
Bwahahahahahah!
Actually "anti-Christ" is appropriate in terms of non-Christ-like. A person can put a label on themselves as Christian, but the test is in their actions, which the Bible declares as "Good Fruit" (John 15:5). Jesus also said, that if you love me, then you will obey my commandments [actual Greek is precepts]. Upon casual observation of President Obama's policies, his is: 1) Blasphemous to God’s Word by taking scripture out of context, especially with the Sermon on the Mount – which is the basis of Jesus’ standard for behavior (read John Stott: Sermon on the Mount); 2) Rebellious – which God equates to the “sin of witchcraft” (1 Sam 15:23), by his support of behaviors that God has identified as an abomination; 3) Murderous – by his removing of laws to protection of the unborn; and the list goes on. In conclusion, if the fruit of the Holy Spirit is evident to the virtues of being Christ-like, then I would agree that our President is very “anti-Christ” in his behavior – irrespective of his profession to the contrary.
You're the guy shoveling manure for nutjob's cow.
You could just say he's a dreadful President. Bringing religion into it makes you sound like a fool.
You need to read your Bible.. the only test as to whether a person is a Christian is if they have been called by God and saved by God... actions don't confirm or deny a person's spirituality if that were the case then no one would be saved. I would reccomend spending lots of time in Romans and Ephsians esp. Eph 2:1-4..
Thank you, we need more christians like Bush whose decisions led to the deaths of 4,000+ soldiers, because if Jesus was about anything it was about spreading christianity through war. Of course all of the things Obama has done to help the poor and needy are nothing like christ or what he represented. In fact Jesus would've been first in line to criticize increasing FEMA aid... you are a joke and have no idea what you are talking about. You are one of the tin foil nut heads this article is warning us about.
If that is all you need for a definition of an anti-christ, pretty much everyone is anti-christ. Murderous? How many people support the death penalty?
Obama did not make abortions legal. Roe vs Wade happened a long time before he came along. I have never met a Fundamentalist Christian, and I was raised by these disgusting abusers of freedom, children, women, and individuality, who did not take scripture out of context. The whole bunk about the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus is out of context.
You are interpreting the Word in order to judge your President. You cite the Sermon on the Mount but do not include the compassionate portions of it; which is most of it. Very typical of your type to only see the Bible as a means of judging others. There is your blasphemy. You use the Word to slander others. You judge others when you know very well only God can see into the heart of people and only God has the right to judge them. I have come to realize that Fundamentalists today are even more bigoted and heartless than they were 50 years ago. I was abused by these monsters as a child but their point was to make sure I was saved. A stupid and sickening kind of behavior but the motive was one of concern for my soul. My mother followed the Old Testament and bruised me to make sure I went to Heaven. What I see in Fundamentalists now is hatred and a deep desire to see the non-fundamentalist fry in HeII. No compassion. They want this to be the End of Days and have been working towards it since their inception. Even if it were all true this lack of compassion and constant judging of others is likely to be seen as blasphemous and lacking in compassion. My poor mother who made my life so miserable gave her life to serving in these kind of Churches. She destroyed her child and her marriage. Now she has Alzheimer's and no clue that she was ever a Christian. If there is a God, I spit on Him.
Obama is a President of mystery. Curiosity seekers searching for just one old girlfriend who remembers him are having about as much success as a Mormon archeologist.
To all those stating this isn't news... it absolutely IS news! I am currently runnning around like a manic looking for my bug out bag because WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!
**moves on to the weather**
OMG!! HURRICANE!!! WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!
The real problem is the democrats painting this failure of a President as the Messiah.
Those who still support Obama do not do so because they believe he is the Messiah. They do so because they believe that his faults are far less than those of the alternatives put forth by the Republican party. Given the nature of the Republican party these days, they would almost have to be.
BTW.. I am an independent.
Ted Haggard for president! Now he's a christian you can count on to act like a christian!
LOL.....good one, that's funny.
THIS is the state of political discourse in this country!? Obama is the Antichrist? Is this in addition to or instead of him being a socialist nazi muslim kenyan illegitmate half-breed? Is there any chance he is just an intelligent charismatic guy who is trying to do his best at the most difficult job in the world? Is it possible to disagree with the man and not demonize him? Will people ever wake up, turn off their propoganda and start thinking for themselves? Can't they see our enemy is not each other? Can't they see how the people in power continually lie to us, distract us with nonsense wedge issues, and corrupt the system to its very core? Is there any hope?
these aren't people
Almost every American President in recent memory has been painted as the Anti-Christ. It's comical actually.
I agree this story is incredi-absurd. Nope, no hope. :/
In all probability a movement to paint President Obama as the Anticrist will happen because our world is full of nut cases who will do and say anything negative about our president. He is the most disrespected president Americas has ever had and the name callers and lie mongers will stop at nothing to try to discredit him.
And it still won't work.
You're right. He's not the anti Christ. But he is an utterly failed political leader who needs to be voted out of office promptly.
I agree with you! The state of political discourse in this country is low...
@jasmin: saying the state of political discourse in this country is low is like saying the core of the sun is kinda warm...
He is also one of the few who has not cheated on his wife and has no secret dirt in his past. He had too good a view of the decency and common sense of human beings.
There can be counter-arguments made that he is the second coming of Jesus.
How many end of days are these nut cases going to "predict" before they finally come to the realization that they are mentally challenged and diluted.
They have been doing it since the day after Jesus left. Chiliasm is as old as the religion itself. It makes an interesting area to research for fun. I did it in University, having been raised on the whole mythology as if it were truth. Even the Vikings had End Times where the Gods would fight each other instead of God making war on the human non-believers. The activities usually flare up when things are rough and when the date is interesting. Like 500 CE, 1000 CE and so forth. Jesus said he would be back soon. When that did not happen the Bible was scoured for signs of the End. This lunacy will continue and they will blame everything on some one they don't like. Very fearful people who are not able to think for themselves and, instead of standing up and helping, they spread hatred.
ALL endtime "predictions" fly against numerous warnings against the Gospels and in Paul's letters and are therefore heretical.
Matthew 24's most notable "God alone knows the day and the hour…" is the most direct warning against such predictions. The Apostle Paul put it more poetically in his letter to the Thessalonians (1Th 5), that the day of the Lord "will come like a thief in the night" and "destruction" will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman." Personally, I would have used another analogy ("like an anvil falling from the sky"), but whatever.
When I hear the word "endtimes," I also think of Matthew 7:15 and the warning about false prophets "…which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Hmm... yunno... that sounds more like a man or woman posing as a pastor (as in 'shepherd of a flock') than a leader of a country.
Want more? Take a look at 2nd Peter 2:1: "…there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
Teaching about Endtimes is fine – the bogeyman is a useful heavenly pixie that will keep good little boys and girls "good" for a little while longer. But you cross the line when you actually try to pull a prediction – that's a heresy (because it goes against scripture). And any man or woman who screams out that someone is the Antichrist is themselves a heretic, because they repeat false teaching.
World without end, amen. Now... shaddap with the bogeyman stories and pass the pipe.
I love this guy!!
Excellent. Thank you.
Get a stool sample and test it for demonic properties.
THATS CRAPPIE
He's not the anti-Christ. Not even close, if you believe in that sort of hogwash to begin with. He's just a REALLY poor President who will only have a chance to win a 2nd term b/c the GOP is a mess right now.
Why is he a bad president? Because he didn't clean up Bush's mistakes fast enough?
If anybody is the antichrist it is the catholic church and pope.
Does the antichrist wear a funny hat..... or poop in the woods?
That's what I said...