A rather momentous event occurred in the White House on March 5 that was ignored by most of the mainstream media. Some 20 evangelical Christian leaders gathered around the president in the Oval Office to pray over him and for U.S. success in the war against Iran.
The evangelical leaders should have included the presence of War Secretary Pete Hegseth in the prayer. He is certainly aligned with their religious sensibilities, impacting and shaping the U.S. military along evangelical lines for years to come. He is organizing the U.S. military according to his extreme religious worldview, railing against “woke” Ideology and DEI initiatives. He has fired or sidelined at least two dozen generals and admirals, without much explanation. They include: General Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs; General Haugh, of NSA and Cyber Command; Admiral Franchetti, chief of naval operations; Admiral Fagan, Coast Guard commandant; General Slife, Air Force vice chief of staff; Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, Navy Reserve Chief; Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, senior Nato official; Rear Adm. Jamie Sands, Naval Special Warfare; Lt. General Jeffrey Kruse, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
With Hegseth, it hasn’t just been changed from the “Defense” Department to the “War” Department, the mission has also been changed to fighting “Holy” wars. Complaints coming from the rank and file about commanders using extremist religious rhetoric in justifying the unprovoked war in Iran, have been inundating the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. According to one complaint, “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth.” This from a combat commander to his troops, that could be deployed any day now to fight in Iran.
This was just one of 110 complaints in one weekend from service members reporting commanders using Christian Zionist Messianism to justify the unprovoked war on Iran. Hegseth, an open evangelical Christian nationalist, is remaking the War Department to align with his extremist worldview. This religious heresy in the War Department is almost certainly having an additional impact on the actions of a president, who already perceives himself to be God’s gift to humanity.
Take for instance one of his recent statements. In speaking about the decision to attack a second time the oil export hub of Iran, the island of Kharg, (even after it was already “totally demolished”), Trump said, “We may hit it a few more times just for fun.” Or when he said he feels honored to be killing Iran’s leadership, as they are “deranged scumbags.”
But apparently, even those gifted by God can be surprised. Recognizing the way Iran was targeting U.S. military installations in different Middle East countries, Trump remarked: “I was very surprised, the biggest surprise I had of this whole thing.”
So now the fires in the Middle East burn bright. It’s not just Iran, Israel and the United States. Bahrain, that hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been consistently targeted. They claim to have intercepted 125 missiles and 203 drones since the start of Iran’s attacks. Saudi Arabia has intercepted at least 10 Iranian drones near the capital of Riyadh and the Prince Sultan Air Base. The United Arab Emirates is in danger of attack because of U.S. bases there. Qatar and Kuwait have also been Iranian targets. Not to mention the destruction Israel is causing in Lebanon.
In the first 12 days of the war in Iran the U.S. spent $16.5 billion, with more than a thousand people killed and many more thousands injured and displaced. And our president thinks (or thought) that the Iranian people are going to rise up with open arms and welcome him as a liberator.
Rather we will see more violence and terror as violence begets violence; holy wars beget holy wars. We are seeing it already in this country with the synagogue attack in Michigan, from the man who lost family members to the war in Lebanon.
There is nothing “holy” about war. To make something holy, you dedicate or consecrate it to God. You don’t dedicate the death of small children at school to God. You don’t dedicate the destruction of homes and the displacement of millions to God. You don’t dedicate using the resources of this good earth for destruction and death to God.
You want something “holy”? Try the Prince of Peace and implement his teachings.
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