The video is absolutely chilling.

It captures Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan saying about Barack Obama: "The Messiah is absolutely speaking."

But there was much more to his address in February at the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day event in Chicago.

The speech was called "The Gods at War." It was a carefully crafted endorsement of Obama not only as a presidential candidate but also as a political and spiritual "savior" who will unite the world and correct America's course "as an evil imperialist empire."

"Brothers and sisters," Farrakhan said, "Barack Obama, to me, is a herald of the Messiah. Barack Obama is like the trumpet that alerts you something new, something better is on the way."

Farrakhan points out that the man Nation of Islam followers refer to as "the Savior," Muhammad, had a black father and a white mother, just as Obama did.

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he said. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

The racist demagogue went on to paint an end-times picture of the world — high levels of stress, new incurable diseases, sightings of UFOs, unusual weather patterns, the collapse of the economy.

But because of Obama's campaign, he said, "People are being transformed from what they were. His language is raising them above their racial, ethnic, cultural, religious differences, and he is welding people into a bond that has never been seen before."

"If this man is doing what has never been done before by any politician, white or black, where is God in this, and why now?" he asked rhetorically. "We have never seen Caucasian people vote like this for a man of color. Why is this happening at this time? It is because the gods are at war, and you don't even know that the war has already started, and you are being victimized by the arch deceiver who sees this world coming down. At the same time, we are witnessing the rise of a young man of color in the country that persecuted us. You know, when the gods are at war, you have to understand the kind of world that God wants to bring in against the world that Satan has us living in."

Farrakhan made clear he believes Obama is a divine tool.

"Would God allow Barack to be president of a country that has been so racist, so evil in its treatment of Hispanics, Native Americans, blacks?" he asked. "Would God do something like that? Yeah. Of course he would. That's to show you that the stone that the builders rejected has become the headstone of the corner. This is a sign to you. It's the time of our rise. It's the time that we should take our place. The future is all about you."

Farrakhan suggested he would keep a low profile in the campaign despite his enthusiasm for Obama.

"That's why you have never heard me make any comment," he explained. "I love that brother, and I want to see that brother successful. I don't want to say anything that would hurt that brother, and I don't want them to use me or the Nation of Islam."

Returning to the theme that Obama is a mystical figure, Farrakhan said, "(He) is not the Messiah for sure, but anytime he gives you a sign of uniting races, ethnic groups, ideologies, religions and makes people feel a sense of oneness, that's not necessarily Satan's work; that is, I believe, the work of God."

He went on to point out that when religious scholars talk about Christ or the Islamic Mahdi, they never talk in racial terms — again, pointing to Obama's mixed racial background.

Americans need to decide right now whether they want Louis Farrakhan's Messiah in the White House. The polls show Obama would win today. That reality is even more chilling than Farrakhan's delusions.

Joseph Farah's newest book, "None of the Above: Why 2008 Is the Year To Cast the Ultimate Protest Vote," is available now. To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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