STEPHEN VAN ECK
Jack Van Impe has been one of the leading proponents of “The end is Near” eschatology for, ironically, a very long time. But lately he has gone out on a limb in a way that will eventually prove him to be a False Prophet. Van Impe has cast his lot with those who have decided that President Obama is the Antichrist. (Also, for good measure, some sort of Commie.) A ridiculous, paranoid delusion that fails Scripturally and will also fail the test of time. Because Obama will serve 4, perhaps 8, years, and by the end of his term it will be abundantly clear that he was NOT the Antichrist. Van Impe, if he has any sense, will be embarrassed (whether or not he admits it) and everyone else will know he was wrong. When it comes to alleged Scriptural Prophecy, it’s a mistake to get too specific.
Speculation that Obama may be the Antichrist (a suspicion entertained by 24% of registered Republicans!) started well before he was elected, and it’s all too easy to shoehorn him into that role if you have only a glancing familiarity with the Real World. Van Impe inhabits an alternate reality consisting of Biblical fantasy, so it’s not surprising that he’s made what will prove to be a colossal error. What’s surprising is how he’s embroidered it with details. More than once he’s proclaimed that Zbigniew Brzezinski selected Obama to be our Future Dictator and started grooming him for the position in 1975—when Obama was 14! Even adjusting for the obvious error in time frame it’s impossible in the extreme to think that anyone would select anyone else for distant future leadership with any assurance of success that would make the effort worthwhile.
Over 40 years ago, before his big-time TV ministry, Jack Van Impe was just the pastor of a Baptist Church in Royal Oak, Michigan who had a local radio show on the side. Another station, WKNR (the one that started the “Paul is dead” rumor) would frequently run a snippet of one of his rants as part of their station identification: “There’ll be sex in the streets by 1975 because of Rock & Roll music!” Given the failure of that shocking prophecy (and his even worse failure to predict the disgusting rise of Disco by that time), Van Impe should have been chastened enough never to try playing Prophet again. But he wasn’t. And now he’s made a prophetic interpretation—unlike the long-pending Return of Christ—with a clear expiration date. In time, there’ll be egg on his face. I only hope he’ll be alive to feel the fool for it. For my part, I’ll be pointing like Nelson Muntz and singing, “Ha ha!” Join me then.
Too bad I wrote this mere days before the arrest of the Hutaree Militia in Michigan. It’s worth speculating to what extent Van Impe, or people like him, molded their twisted psyches. Like him, they have a Book of Revelation mentality. Like him, they believe the Antichrist’s advent is imminent. Like him, they are disaffected from the government. And of course, like him they live in Michigan. Van Impe’s eschatology and Obama bashing is likely to continue to incite the wrong kind of people.
On their April 25th show, the Van Impes ignorantly presented what are known as “The Maxims of Abraham Lincoln”. When I first came across these, I found them to be suspiciously anachronistic, so I looked into them. It turned out that they were written by an American Fascist organization in the 1940′s to lend Lincoln’s prestige to their arguments against “Socialism” (which to them meant “anything else besides Fascism”.) These quotes have been bouncing around in right-wing circles for decades, and I discredit them whenever I come across them. I’ve written and emailed Van Impe about his latest error– let’s see if he’s decent enough to retract them, or if he’s content to be a slob.
On an interesting side note, current GOP Chairman Michael Steele recited these bogus maxims at the Republican National Convention in 2004. He apparently is one of those Rightists who got the message that they’re spurious, but that didn’t stop him from repeating them anyway. He just dropped the erroneous attribution to Lincoln. Their fraudulent and Fascist origin? Not a problem!
Van Impe keeps repeating old, discredited Hal Lindsey stuff. He even embellishes it by claiming that Gog, Magog, Meschech, and Tubal in Ezekiel are all cities in Russia (they’re not), and that the word “rosh” in context with these other terms refers to Russia. “Rosh” is Hebrew for “head”, and even the King James Version translates it as “prince”. When Ezekiel refers to an attack on Israel from the North, Assyria and Asia Minor were the furthest north in the awareness of the ancient Israelites. They had no idea of Russia at all. Contrary to wild exegetes, the OT never refers to people and places that the Israelites had no knowledge of.
First Van Impe is biased inside and out how can you be a tele evangalist on Sunday and talk about Obama is radical and the Antichrist no he is PRESIDENT OBAMA not just OBAMA so what if the man wants healthcare for all citizens, stimulus bill to provide jobs, employment incentives for state workers. Everyone should have the prescriptions for sickness at a reduced cost, but the aristocratic republicans are whining babies. He is bad just like Roosevelt but Roosevelt started the Social Security Movement and all other great things. Van Impe is bashing the president constantly. Just think when bush was president bush never thought about healthcare, jobs, housing but everybody went along with him no one said a word. President OBAMA comes into the pic and he is all about restoration and accountability. Van Impe never once said “lets pray for the president that he makes good decisions concerning the country. All Van Impe is really a Christian Rush Limbaugh. February 2010 a missile was going to be fired and it will destroy the magnetic field that would put us into the dark ages here it is September 23 oh what february 2010 isnt here yet(oh humm) If he would have kept it simple as pray for our leaders and leave it like that no everything is OBAMA this OBAMA that and he will destroy
Van Impe made another Big Mistake in the 1990′s that he apparently paid no price for. He claimed that President Clinton was preparing for a UN invasion of the United States, after which true Patriotic conservatives would be put in Detention Camps. This, of course, did not happen. And you know what? The SAME charge is being made by delusional right-wing crazies today about President Obama. Here is a safe bet: The next Democratic President will be accused of the same thing. The Right Wing has a sick need to have a colossal Demonic conspiracy to be afraid of. They’re not happy unless they’re miserable.
Episode of January 8, 2012. Van Impe seems to think Obama was President on 9/11. Recalling the recent anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he pointed out that 2400 died that day. He went on to point out that Roosevelt declared war the next day. (Actually, he asked Congress to do so.) “But 3000 died on 9/11 and we did nothing!” (Incorrect. We invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.) “You want to be Roosevelt, Mr. Obama?”
Then Van Impe incorrectly declared that Obama doesn’t even want to put them on trial. Van Impe complained that the men responsible for 9/11 were sitting around Guantanamo. Actually, they all died 9/11. Except for Bin Laden, whom Obama got, contrary to Van Impe’s assertion that Obama is just “Politically Correct” (meaning weak and inert) when it comes to the War on Terrorism. Finally, he slandered Obama by accusing him of being anti-Semitic.
I’m blowing the whistle on the intellectual sloppiness of the Van Impes. Here is their regular practice: They repeat as fact anything that appears as a headline in some biased or crackpot publication. If it is in print and they like it, then it’s “true”. So we are treated to a succession of careless, sloppy, misleading, inaccurate and defamatory allegations based on muddy association.
On 9/9 they reached a new low. After Rexella said that they’re “not political”, they not only attacked the President with their usual litany of RW headlines, but they repeated as fact Allen West’s ludicrous, unsubstantiated allegation that 78 Democratic members of Congress are “card-carrying Communists”. This is McCarthyism!
I’m going to start sending Van Impe a detailed account of all his lies and distortions after every episode. I will remind him that HIS Bible says that ALL LIARS end up in the Lake of Fire! He certainly IS one!