Terry Meiners, Louisville’s most popular radio talk show host, joked the day after the election that he had gone to the market that morning to buy groceries and wasn’t able to purchase anything because he didn’t have the “mark of the beast” on him! Funny ... yes, but also reflective of the unease and even fear that a good many people (mostly Republicans) are feeling these days after the country elected Barack Obama as our next president.

The man has the almost eerie ability to inspire either affection bordering on worship or dread and loathing, depending largely on one’s religious views or lack thereof. Whether he and his presidency have any relationship with and relevance to the biblical “end times” we have heard so much about recently — especially through the auspices of the “Left Behind” books — remains to be seen. But as the “mystery man” governs America over the next four years, this writer will be looking for four trends to either be developing or not. What we see unfolding — or conversely, what we don’t see — will speak volumes about whether Obama is merely a mainstream politician with a winning voice, smile and a gift for rhetoric, or indeed is a “special” person on some kind of supernatural mission.

Trend 1: Let’s look at whether nations begin to consolidate politically under Obama. The Bible makes it clear that the Antichrist of Revelation fame will preside over a one-world government, with all nations eventually united under his control. If over the next several years we see the United States losing its sovereignty as it aligns itself within a confederation, that is probably a sign that fundamentalist fears about Mr. Obama have some merit. If on the other hand America remains proud, free and above all independent politically, the religious alarmists among us should be mollified.

Trend 2: Support or nonsupport for Israel. Should the United States begin to be more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause under an Obama administration, it would lend credence to the “Obama is the devil” crowd. America and Israel have had a special friendship since that country’s birth in 1948; if we begin to abandon our long-standing commitment to her defense and security — leaving her more vulnerable to attack by her many enemies — it would be a red flag to the doomsday club and reinforce their belief that Barack Obama is Darth Vader in disguise.

On the other hand, if we continue to unashamedly support Israel while condemning the excesses of the Arab extremists, there’s a good chance that the sun’s going to keep coming up in the east for a while yet.

Trend 3: A general diminishing of our freedoms and rights. In fundamentalist Christian end-time theology, the Antichrist will consolidate his power and establish a dictatorship akin to what Hitler did in Germany, except he (the beast) will be a worldwide “Fuhrer” before it’s over. Along the way, there will of necessity be a steady erosion of people’s freedom and rights, gradually creating a political environment where it is unhealthy, unwise and even illegal to say certain things that the state would rather go unsaid.

There are many people out there that believe President Obama will be going after their guns; there are many others that regard the proposed implementation of the Fairness Doctrine as the harbinger of a 1984 — style totalitarian society where divergent viewpoints will be stifled and only “approved” speech allowed. We’ll have to stay tuned for developments on this front.

Trend 4: Increased persecution of the religious among us. As I write this, huge and very angry mobs of gays and lesbians are demonstrating outside Mormon churches in California, attempting to make life miserable for those that actually had the audacity to say that marriage should be between a man and a woman. If Obama gets behind the gays’ strategy of getting the Mormon churches tax-exempt status revoked — indeed, if he supports any legislation perceived to be anti-Christian — it would be the equivalent to his showing up at his inauguration wearing a devil suit, horns and all.

So how can he dispel these fears among the faithful? For starters, he can continue to renounce the Jeremiah Wrights out there. He can say some nice things about faith-based programs, have Franklin Graham to the White House for a prayer breakfast, maybe go to a Baptist church some Sunday and join with the choir in singing “Amazing Grace." He has said he is a Christian — it should be easy enough to give the skeptics some proof that he really is.

For now, I suggest we all take a couple of months worth of deep breaths and give the guy a little rope. Depending on the flavor the man, he will either use it wisely to help pull us out of the pit we are currently in, or he will (metaphorically) hang himself with it by pursuing a far-left, radical agenda that will be anathema to most Americans. The man has an incredibly warm smile; I want to like him and certainly wish him all the best as he bends to his nearly impossible task. Within a year or two, we will probably know whether we have sent Mr. Smith or Sauron to the White House; until then, unless things have changed overnight, we can still pay cash for our groceries.



Olson is a former teacher and currently an antiques dealer in the Sellersburg and lives in New Albany. He can be reached via e-mail at dgolsonwriteon@yahoo.com.