Until the end of time

An interesting series on the End Times is underway over at Kos. The author was kicked out of his fundamentalist church two years ago for questioning the war and has put together a mix of personal conjecture and facts on dominionism, the Rapture Index, and Christian reconstructionism. He opens with a provocative question: is Bush deliberately trying to trigger Armageddon?

Most commenters agree that, at the very least, his handlers are fully aware of Rapture symbology and use it plentifully. Attacks on the UN (the AntiChrist), provoking Russia (Gog), demonizing abortion (Moloch), unqualified support for Israel (though to my knowledge the feds are not yet funding the Red Heifer breeding program), the code words embedded in his speeches ("the untamed fires of freedom," "yesterday, today, and forever," etc.)....

Says Jon Carroll at the San Francisco Chronicle, "The Rapture Index, as of this writing, stands at 153. Anything over 145 is labeled by the Rapture Actuaries as 'Fasten your seat belts.'"

Check in on the series if you're interested. Personally, I prefer the more ecumenical approach of Tom Lehrer:

Oh we will all fry together when we fry.
We'll be french fried potatoes by and by.
There will be no more misery
When the world is our rotisserie,
Yes, we will all fry together when we fry.

... You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas.
Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollahs.

And we will all go together when we go.
Every Hottentot and every Eskimo.
When the air becomes uranious,
We will all go simultaneous.
Yes, we all will go together
When we all go together,
Yes we all will go together when we go.

(c) Tom Lehrer, 1959