Book Write-Up: The Final Antichrist, Barack Obama

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.