The Antichrist and the False Prophet?

Bob, in the I am a Christian Too blog, posted this piece that echos some thoughts that I've been having lately. As a progressive Christian I believe that Biblical prophecy speaks to us today not because God was 'foretelling' events that were to come, but because it functions as parable. The issues prophecy addresses are human and universal. Just as the parables of the prodigal son and the lost sheep contain universal spirtual lessons on grace and forgiveness, so the prophecy-parables of the Antichrist and False Prophet speak of their opposites.

But let’s just look at the Anti-Christ/False Prophet imagery for a second. The Anti-Christ is supposed to be a leader that deludes us into thinking that bad is good and good is bad. He would charm us into following him into doing unspeakable acts, say, torture, kidnapping, false imprisonment, ghost detainees, or murder.

The Anti-Christ would be supported by the False Prophet, who would create a false religion to pervert God’s will. This false religion would make us hate instead of love, applaud war instead of peace. It would paint its enemies, say, homosexuals, Muslims and liberals, as undeserving of God’s love, nor ours. This religion would wreak death (the death penalty, war, poverty, disease) instead of life (peace, compassion for the imprisoned, food for the hungry, health care for the sick).

The religion of the False Prophet would become intertwined with the governmental power of the Anti-Christ, quite the opposite of the historic separation of Church and State in the U.S. Government leaders would be qualified for their roles by virtue of their religion (Harriet Myers anyone?). The false religion would defend the immoral actions of the government, while the government would enforce the false morality of the false religion.

So here we have an immoral/amoral system of empire supported by and intertwined with a false religion of death. Sound familiar? Bush/Dobson anyone?