Just saw a billboard. “Crack kills. Jesus saves.” By the EndTime Warriors for Christ. After an initial giggle over the clumsy phrasing, I got to thinking about this. End Time warriors, huh?

Mostly I was wondering if this was another group that The Watch needed to keep an eye on. Who funded it? Who was it connected to? Was this another group being funded by some far right Neo-Con theocracy advocate? So I looked up the phrase. I was rather surprised by what came up, and more than a little depressed.

Here's a good sampling:

Prophetess SwanSong - An example of the kinds of nutjobs that worry normal people. It looks like every dream this woman has is a direct message from God that she can then confirm using the Bible.

RevivalSchool.com - Apparently God still prefers to reveal his Ultimate Truth to people who aren't the least bit credible. Why doesn't God ever speak through a Rhodes Scholar?

Signs of the Times - Wow. Apparently God has a blog. Who knew? If you need a good dose of direction from The Almighty, go here and read his blog.

Arsenal for Global (Spiritual) Warfare - This site speaks for itself, really. Annoyed by pesky demons? They can tell you how to identify and eradicate them.

Look, I'm not trying to belittle these people's religious beliefs. It doesn't disturb me in the slightest that people believe all sorts of bizarre notions, whether that be Jesus Christ, UFOs or the Divinity of Elvis Presley. What does disturb me is that there are people in this country who are so completely divorced from reality that they considered themselves to be “End Time” or “Spiritual” in some melodramatic battle between the forces of good and evil.

In short, some people can go see a movie like Underworld: Evolution and understand that it's a fictional movie about vampires and werewolves. Other people read books such Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series or John Kelly's End Time Warriors and believe that it's somehow Biblical truth revealed by God through these prophetic authors, not the works of fiction that they truly are.

There's nothing wrong with a little dress-up. Goth chicks (which I actually think they're kinda hot) are a good example of this. They dress is their moody clothing and consider themselves all tragic and hip, etcetera, but in the end they all know that there's a dividing line between the fantasy of buying a set vampire teeth so that you can play a role and actually being a vampire. There are a lot of Christians who are doing the same thing on the opposite side who can't distinguish the fantasy from reality. I fear that before it's all over with, a lot of people are going to get hurt.