Michael D. Fortner. The Final Antichrist: Barack Obama. Trumpet Press, 2020. See here to purchase the book.
As the title indicates, this book argues that Barack Obama will be
the biblical Antichrist. According to Fortner, Obama will lead a revived
Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Obama is also cooperating with the Deep State
to undermine President Trump.
Among Fortner’s arguments for this claim are:
—-Obama’s Muslim background and pro-Muslim, anti-Israel policies as President;
—-Obama’s anti-Christian statements and policies as President;
—-A hadith about the mahdi that some Shiites and Sunnis are applying to Obama;
—-Obama’s possession of occultic pieces (the kris), as well as his dreams (occultic);
—Obama’s support for Alinsky, who praised Lucifer as an anti-establishment figure;
—-Obama dressed up as Satan at a party;
—-Obama still has popularity among Germans, and Germany has
archaeological pieces of Pergamum, which is Satan’s seat, according to
Revelation 2:13;
—-Providential hints that Obama will be the Antichrist: the 2008
YouTube video associating Obama with the baraq from heaven (Satan) of
Luke 10:18, and Satan in Roma Downey’s Bible miniseries looking like
Obama;
—-“Yes we can” comes across as “Thank you, Satan” when played backwards;
—-Numerological details, including about Obama’s address;
—-Obama’s cooperation with the Deep State to create a shadow
Presidency and to undermine President Trump; Fortner speculates that the
Deep State might assassinate Trump (as it did with JFK) and Obama could
take the reins in a time of crisis;
—-Obama’s mesmerizing public speaking skills and messianic pretensions;
—-Dreams and visions that Christians have had indicating that Obama
is the Antichrist; these Christians were neutral on the issue, sometimes
even skeptical, before having the visions.
Some thoughts and impressions:
—-Fortner, in a paragraph, addresses the question of why Obama would
promote homosexuality if he is a Muslim, since Islam opposes
homosexuality. Fortner’s response is that Obama supports cultural
libertinism as a way to undermine the U.S., then he will impose his
Islamic dictatorship. Fortner deserves credit at least for engaging this
question. A question that he does not address in this book is why a
Muslim would be the Antichrist: Muslims worship only Allah and detest
idolatry, so would a Muslim demand worship for himself, as the
Antichrist will? Fortner has written other books about prophecy, and he
might address those questions there.
—-The book is fairly well-written and contains some interesting
details, such as that hadith about the mahdi. While Fortner cites a lot
of right-wing sources, some of his sources are more mainstream, such as
the New York Times.
—-Fortner does an effective job raising questions about Obama’s
policies as President, but, of course, he is not the first to have
raised them. It stood out to me that some of Obama’s anti-religious
freedom policies took place early in his first term. I long assumed that
Obama tried to bring different people—-religious and
non-religious—-together early in his first term but became more
intolerantly liberal as time went on. Actually, forebodings of his
negative policies were early.
—-The book is a little lacking on Scripture, but, as I said above,
Fortner has another book about the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
—-In my opinion, Obama’s time in the sun as a politician has passed.
It is no longer 2008, when his oratorical skills sent a thrill up Chris
Matthew’s leg. Obama has a legacy as a rather ineffectual President.
—-I’m not sure what to do with the visions. Some are more obvious
than others in what they are saying; Fortner interprets some of them.
Christians have dreams about all sorts of things, sometimes
contradictory with each other, so I have difficulty seeing them as
messages from God. I also am hesitant to dismiss the possibility of
visions, however. There are times when God appears to have an active
role in guiding people.
—-There are a lot of details in the world. I suppose you can pick
some of them and construct a story. But does the very existence of those
details necessitate that your story is true? Some liberal Christians
take statements in Daniel that the Antichrist will be a loudmouth and
apply them to Trump; is them saying that God’s providential way of
cluing us in to Trump being the Antichrist? I doubt it.
I am still giving this book four stars because I enjoy reading eschatological speculation.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Bookcrash. My review is honest.