O'Donnell: Here's Why People Think Obama Is The Antichrist

Courtesy of MSNBC

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell thought that Obama-is-the-Antichrist heckler incident earlier this week presented a good opportunity to revisit a favorite topic — The Rapture. On yesterday's The Last Word, O'Donnell spent an entire segment explaining who the Antichrist is and why people might think Obama might be him.

Here's the rundown:

• The global economic meltdown/inordinate number of natural disasters/rise of radical Islam has some fundamentalist evangelicals thinking this is the end of days.
• These cataclysmic events are leading to the growth of central governments which will eventually end in The Rapture (all good Christians will disappear) and the world will become one megastate led by an apparently benevolent ruler promising world peace. This guy ends up being....you got it, The Antichrist. 
• O'Donnell references a NYT editorial written by Washington State history professor Matthew Sutton this week, which points out that it is this fear of centralized government as a sign of End Times that is a big driver behind the alliance between fundamentalist evangelicals and the Tea Party.
• Some Christians have taken this one step further — they believe Obama is the Antichrist and will take over the the entire world.* Obama's tough stance towards Israel, his Nobel Peace Prize, and suspicions about his birth are used as evidence for these theories.

But O'Donnell wasn't the only TV host to address the Obama heckler.

Jon Stewart struck a lighter note, suggesting to viewers of last night's The Daily Show that he may know the identity of the heckler. 

"This is the trouble with these Hollywood events," Stewart said. "There is always the chance Mel Gibson is going to show up."

Watch the Daily Show clip below.

*O'Donnell fails to make a distinction between Christians who believe in the Antichrist and Christians who believe Obama is the Antichrist. There is a difference.