Capping a week in which he attempted to explain the “plan” he “think[s]” God wants him to “articulate,” Glenn Beck informed listeners of his radio show today that “an individual” at the Vatican purportedly told him that we are entering a “period of great darkness” and that Beck himself was “wildly important” to the upcoming struggle.

Glenn Beck frequently paints himself as fighting on behalf of “good” against the forces of “evil.” Beck has said that “the opposition side” (aka progressives) could turn America into a force for “great and powerful evil.”

Some other examples:

• Last August, during a paranoid rant about the Obama administration supposedly trying to destroy him, Beck said that there is “evil at play” in the administration.

• Discussing a report about euthanasia in Canada, Beck tried to scare his listeners about health care reform by stating that “eugenics is starting all over again,” and saying a “great and powerful evil is here.”

• While lying about Democrats supposedly “using water as a weapon” for health care votes, Beck claimed that the Dems were “so far past the line of evil.”

• In his epic meltdown after passage of the health care reform bill, Beck got Biblical, saying that “the fruit of this tree is extraordinary evil.”

Beck also frequently implores his audience to “fall to their knees” and pray for a variety of reasons. Last September, Beck told his listeners to pray to prevent a Satanic “perversion of the country.” After passage of the health care bill, Beck appallingly said that “it's like 9/11 all over again except we didn't have the collapsing building,” and that everyone should pray.

He has told his listeners to “pray that Obama moves to the center,” then asked them to pray for his protection from the “uber-left” if he does so. Similarly, Beck once told his listeners that “this game is for keeps” with “the left”, and asked them to “pray for protection.” And he once told his viewers to “fall to your knees” and “thank God every day for the people at Fox” airing his show.

Which brings us to today.

Today, Beck used two outrageous recent stories to launch into his latest religious-tinged discussion. The first was the deplorable story of a teenager high on oxycontin that ran over and killed an elderly woman with her van. The second was a despicable story from the UK, in which Daily Mail columnist Virginia Ironside advocated letting “nature decide” whether premature babies should survive. Crazy stuff, to be sure - but Beck used this to launch into an attack on the idea of “progress.” (Right after he explained how “an individual” at the Vatican informed him of his importance, that is). From his radio show today:

BECK: We are entering a - we are entering a dark, dark period of man. Um, I was, um, I was in the Vatican, and I was surprised that the individual I was speaking to knew who I was. And they said: 'Of course we know who you are. What you're doing is wildly important. We're entering a period of great darkness, and if good people don't stand up, we could enter a period unlike we have seen in a very long time.'

It was odd to stand in the Vatican and hear those words. Of all places that would understand the Dark Ages. We are dealing with people who want to deconstruct the world. They say they are for progress, but their progress is to deconstruct. Their progress is to go backwards. Instead of inventing our way out of something. Instead of heralding achievement and merit, they destroy it. Instead of respecting life, we devalue it.

Of course, Beck doesn't clarify whether the “individual” he talked to was a Vatican official or a tourist from Omaha, but the impression he wants to give his listeners is clear: the Vatican itself has identified Beck as “wildly important” in the coming “dark, dark period of man.”

You may see the ongoing debate in our country about health care reform, financial reform, and a variety of other issues in terms of how they will affect our policy decisions. Glenn Beck envisions things on a slightly larger scale - with himself at the center of it all.