Beck's Upcoming Documentary: It's The End Of The World (Again)

Glenn Beck is not not saying it's the end of the world.

As we've documented extensively, Beck has made a habit of dabbling in end-times soothsaying over the years, hosting a rotating cast of hucksters warning about impending doom and often openly suggesting that we are (maybe, probably) living in the end times right now.

Though Beck likes to dance along the line of yelling, “The world is ending!” his chosen experts on the subject are less coy about it.

Take, for example, the upcoming Insider Extreme “documentary” Rumors of War II (which I strongly suggest they subtitle “Judgment Day”).

Here's the preview on Beck's website, featuring a variety of talking heads saying things like, “It's coming -- Israel knows it, we know it”; proclamations that “all three major monotheistic religions believe increasingly that the signs of the last days are in motion and that we're getting close to a very cataclysmic moment, or series of moments”; and onscreen text subtly hinting at “UNTHINKABLE EVENTS PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE”:

You may recognize some of the talking heads that popped up in that preview. Wall Street Journal columnist and frequent Fox News guest Stephen Moore appears, and his presence here is somewhat perplexing (though Moore told Media Matters during an interview at CPAC that he was “good friends with Glenn” and that “next to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck is the most important conservative”).

Also offering his expertise was Joel Richardson. Richardson was a guest on Beck's Fox News program in February, where he claimed, among other things, that Muslims want to receive “the Mark of the Beast.” And if it wasn't obvious enough from that description, Richardson is a complete crackpot.

In addition to writing a book alleging that Islam is the “primary vehicle that will be used by Satan to fulfill the prophecies of the Bible about the future political/religious/military system of the Antichrist that will overwhelm the entire world just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ,” Richardson has essentially declared himself a prophet.

Appearing on a show called It's Supernatural!, Richardson told the host that a “prophetess” told his wife that she would marry someone with “significant insight into the end times” and who will “release new prophetic understanding.”

Also cropping up in the preview was Joel Rosenberg. Beck has hosted Rosenberg several times to discuss whether we are (maybe) living in the last days.

Last week, Jeffrey Weiss published an article at CNBC.com about “Armageddon entrepreneurs” who are “profiting from fear.” Weiss described how they “scan news reports in search of events they say line up with biblical prophesies.” (In recent weeks, both Rosenberg and Richardson have pointed to the Japanese earthquake as evidence that Jesus should be here any day now.) Mentioned in the article were two Beck-endorsed end-timers, Rosenberg and Pastor John Hagee. David Endrody, a vice president at Rosenberg's publisher, is quoted in the article saying that Rosenberg's (Beck-promoted) book, The Twelfth Imam, is “gaining momentum again after its initial release last year.”

Since Beck hosted Richardson on his Fox News program, Richardson's publisher, WorldNetDaily, has been hawking his book as “the book Glenn Beck raves about.”

The relationship seems to be mutually beneficial for Beck -- who gives his ramblings a veneer of credibility by hosting these “experts” -- and these authors, who use the publicity to sell more books.

Losing out, of course, are Beck's viewers, who are being sold a bunch of nonsense.