Robert Jeffress: "President Obama is not the Antichrist. But ... is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist."

How very insightful. Really, I mean that.

Every elected official in some way is paving the way for the antichrist. It is almost as if this was all part of the plan…

One of my professors, Kevin Hughes, has written what is probably the most important treatment of how Christianity developed the idea of the Antichrist:

Constructing Antichrist: Paul, Biblical Commentary, and the Development of Doctrine in the Early Middle Ages

What Jeffress said is fear-mongering plain and simple. It is the Christianized version of the fear-mongering that takes place on much talk radio. If A happens then B is going to happen and then we’re all in big trouble. Christians get swept up into this and we start to fear the same thing that the world fears.Is it wrong that I do not fear the Antichrist? Of course I would prefer that I never have to live during the reign of the Antichrist. I would prefer that my children and grandchildren do not either. But I do not fear his mock reign. Because that is all it is—a mock reign. Jesus will never lose His throne. It is to his kingdom that I am aligned. You can take away my American dream, my American economy, my American freedom and comforts, but you cannot take away Jesus. You cannot boot him out of the schools. You cannot boot him out of our nation. He’s not going anywhere.Such fear-mongering reveals kingdom loyalties. When we “fight for America” through worldly fear-mongering we subtly reveal where our kingdom loyalties lie. The kingdom that we ought to be “fighting for” through loving proclamation is one that is not built by fear. It is built by love. And it is a kingdom in which such fear is not only wrong headed it is called idolatry. Our fear is reserved for our King alone.