Vote for me or go to hell!

If you had and doubts the Israeli election offers a timely reminder that the wrathful god of the Old Testament still rattles his ancient stamping ground in Israel. According to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jewish party Shas, God is concerned enough about the election outcome he is willing to personally(?) intervene.
Regarded as God's man on earth by many ultra-Orthodox Jews of non-European origin, Rabbi Ovadia has long played an active role in Israeli politics.
"I hereby issue a religious ruling that everyone must vote for Shas," commands the modern Moses.
He has previously said that anyone who votes for Shas will go to heaven, whereas supporters of Mr Olmert's Kadima party will be consigned to hell.
The good Rabbi’s rantings have put this blogger into something of a personal quandary.
To show the power of his relationship with ‘he who’s name shall not be spoken’, Ovadia cursed former PM Sharon for the "disengagement" from holy Jewish soil, saying Sharon would "sleep and not wake up" — this was taken by many supporters to foreshadow the stroke that has left Mr Sharon comatose since January 5.
There are also reports that "a series of astrologers, future-tellers and various mystics interviewed by the media in the past few days" have all predicted a massive last-minute upset for Kadima, which has already seen some slide in its support in recent days.
Oddly for a party with such a direct line to the eternal one, they need to rely on various other supernatural sources as well, but then it would be wrong for someone who thought corruption immoral to question the greater wisdom of God.
You heard it right, old Yahweh, it seems, is quite well disposed to a bit of odd corruption.
The Rabbi’s party has been partially fighting its own corruption scandals. A month ahead of the 1999 election, the star of the corruption headlines was Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who was convicted of bribery and sentenced to four years in prison.
Added to this is the resentment of many secular Israelis. There is a view that most ultra-Orthodox Jews are taking advantage of the state's largesse to avoid military service and live on welfare while ostensibly studying religion.
But the Rabbi doesn’t have the religious field to himself. One naysayer goes so far as to make some interesting, if unsupported points against the spiritual intervention argument. His claims:
1. There is no clear relationship between political affiliation and God. 2. It is a promise that can only be validated by a visit to the Garden of Eden itself after the elections – a journey most of us will try to stave off as long as possible. Even we journalists would forego the scoop of a lifetime in order to avoid that journey.

I guess there always has been and always will be ready followers of religious whackos. The culture is alive and well in our supposedly sophisticated western democracies, in which I guess Israel should be counted.
In fact out Christian nutters are far more closely aligned with the Raving Rabbi than with any real Christian teachings. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if our American cousins were didn’t start receiving threats of eternal darkness if they stray from the overtly corrupt Republican regime so fiercely supported by the religious right.
It’s got me worried now; I don’t recall any biblical entreaties to go forth and corrupt. But then again, I tend to have a rather simplistic view of biblical interpretation and I never actually perceived of a God who had the time and patience for petty intervention.