Not Supporting Israel Explains Unfortunate Events: Oil Disaster Edition

Pastor Carl Gallups, who last year brought us “Jesus saw Satan as Baraq Ubamah“, is back with a new video; as before, over to WorldNetDaily:

Is oil catastrophe fulfillment of Genesis prophecy?

“April the 19th, Israel celebrates its independence in 2010,” Gallups says in narration on the video. “On April the 19th, Fox News reports that the U.S. will no longer automatically support Israel in the United Nations. The next day, on April the 20th, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes. Coincidence? Or the hand and judgment of God?”

…In the Book of Genesis, God told him, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse … .”

Here’s the Fox News report:

The Obama administration is reportedly signaling another major shift in policy towards one of its staunchest allies, Israel, and this shift could change the way it votes at the Security Council. The change would mean an end to the US’ use of its veto power in the United Nations Security Council when certain anti-Israel resolutions are introduced for a vote.?

Reports surfaced a couple of weeks ago, that a senior US diplomat met with Qatar’s foreign minister in Paris. They discussed the possibility that the US was giving serious consideration to not using its veto if a vote on Israeli settlements was to come up. It has been the policy of successive administrations to veto virtually all anti-Israel resolutions at the Security Council.?

While the Israeli spokesperson at the United Nations would not comment on the reports, US officials at the UN told Fox News that there is no such initiative before the Security Council and they are not “pursuing or encouraging such action”, but some critics believe they are playing a game of smoke and mirrors.?

So, the US has perhaps been “considering” this for a while; reports “surfaced a couple of weeks ago”, but the story only reached the attention of the omniscient creator of the universe after it had appeared on Fox. And God’s response to the development – which actually reflects long-term US opposition to settlement-expansion – is to blight the Gulf of Mexico around the same time as Israel’s Independence Day.

Gallups – who also promotes birther conspiracy theories – is pastor of the wonderfully Landoveresque Hickory Hammock Baptist Church in Milton, Florida. He also has a radio show, which has interviewed Alan Keyes, Joe Kovacs, Orly Taitz, and Mario Appuzzo.

But is he for real? A few days ago he posted a strange interview on his church’s website:

“The videos that I have produced concerning the question ‘Is Barack Obama the antichrist?’ are first and foremost, ‘novelty’ pieces and ‘political satire.’ How so many people who claim to be so ‘enlightened’ could have missed that is beyond me. The same type of stuff was done with Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Saddam Hussein and Hitler,” Gallups said.

…When asked what the most surprising reaction to his videos was, Pastor Gallups responded, “Well, you expect some of the leftist media or the rabid Obama supporters to miss the satire or the novelty element. That certainly has happened. There have been hit pieces scattered all over the net calling me all kinds of ugly names. Again, that was to be expected.”

…Gallups said, “Amazingly, I think Rachael Maddow, an outspoken leftist and Obama supporter ‘got it’ more than anyone else who reported on the videos. She noted within her report that it clearly ‘had to be’ satire. She got it, and biblical ‘scholars’ didn’t. Funny, huh?”

So how much of his other Biblical teaching is just “satire”? Does his congregation take it as such? Does WorldNetDaily know this? This is weird – he is a Biblical fundamentalist, and at the time his “Satan as Baraq Ubamah” piece was presented as being in earnest. Indeed, he even revised his video after an initial round of debunking. It seems to me that he’s simply thrown in the towel on that one, and he’s attempting to save face by announcing it was just a joke all along and that therefore those who called him out have been shown up (He’s not alone in this: I had a similar response from Joel Richardson when I debunked his claim that the stage setting for Obama’s 2008 primary acceptance speech was based on the pagan Pergamum Altar, which the Book of Revelation calls “the Throne of Satan”).

And as for “ppsimmons”, under whose name the videos are posted and who supposedly conducted the interview:

Ppsimmons, himself, and his staff produce other vids. Ppsimmons chooses, thus far, to remain anonymous. He feels that it adds to the “allure” of his site.

UPDATE: Right Wing Watch notes:

Yesterday, Cindy and Mike Jacobs of Generals International hosted a special webcast with Chuck Pierce on their website that focused primarily on explaining how the BP oil spill in the Gulf is due to President Obama’s poor treatment of Israel. 

Jacobs explained that years ago Bob Jones prophesied that following the death of Oral Roberts, the Gulf Coast would be hit with an oil spill and two hurricanes.  Apparently that prophecy is now coming true and it is because God is angry with Obama’s attitude toward Israel.

And from Rick Scarborough:

Our government, since the current administration has taken over, has been more courteous and kind to our enemies in the Middle East than they have to our allies. They way they’ve treated Israel has been shameful and I think a lot of the tragedy we’re facing right now could be attributed to that, if in fact you believe there is a God in Heaven, and you believe that the Bible is true, and you believe that God keeps his promises and also holds forth the judgment the he promises to those that transgress his law.