The Regressive Evangelism of America Part 5: Armageddon it
Why White Christian Nationalists are obsessed with war, nukes, and Israel
At the very end of February, the United States entered into—well, let’s just call a spade a spade—a war with Iran alongside Israel. The Trump Administration launched an operation they called “Epic Fury,” which many rightfully pointed out sounded like it was named by someone who had spent a little too much time on Fortnite.
And as we heard from Fox substitute anchor turned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Trump hater turned Trump fangirl Secretary Marco Rubio, the United States had successfully pulled off this war/not a war/end to a 47-year-long war/military operation without a hitch—despite having U.S. military members killed and one of our jets being shot down by friendly fire from Kuwait.
But as this was going on, there was another trend popping up time and time again from the White House down the chain of command, all the way to the online MAGA influencers.
It started on March 3 when a story broke that a unit commander told non-commissioned officers
that the Iran war was part of God’s plan to usher in the End Times and bring about Jesus Christ’s second coming, according to a complaint filed with a religious freedom watchdog.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has fielded more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the U.S. military between the war’s start on Saturday morning and March 2, reported journalist Jonathan Larson on his Substack page, and the group told him the complaints came from more than 40 different units stationed in at least 30 military installations.
The complaint stated:
“He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.’ He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this, which made his message seem even more crazy.”
These are hardly the only instances of this.
Secretary Pete Hegseth has become the de facto preacher of the 2nd Trump Cabinet, starting off events at the White House with prayers to “King Jesus.”
He also stated at a press conference following the launch of Operation Epic Fury–where he also danced around not committing to keeping boots off the ground–that “when I pray every day for [our troops] and for this mission–I pray simply for the biblical wisdom to see what is right and the courage to do it.”
And even our elected leaders on Capitol Hill joined in on this rhetoric, with Speaker Mike Johnson—who has long held apocalyptic views and committed acts in that same vein, like helping to transport five red heifers from Texas to Tel Aviv—saying that Iranians have “a misguided religion.”
Senator Lindsey Graham didn’t even try to bury the lede, saying out and out to the press that “this is a religious war and we will determine the course of the Middle East for a thousand years.”
And then you had your religious leaders and influencers from around the MAGA universe chiming in and capitalizing on the moment.
Texan televangelist and chairman of Christians United for Israel—the largest Zionist organization in America—Pastor John Hagee led his congregation in thanking God “for the fabulous military victory over the enemies of Israel “ and “for our president, Donald Trump, whose wise courage has crushed the enemies of Zion.”
Lance Wallnau, another prominent Texas televangelist associated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and the Seven Mountain Mandate, celebrated the attack on Iran, declaring Trump to be “a prophetic instrument of God” who “has an assignment to protect Israel” and now “the return of Jesus is back on the menu.”
So if you haven’t been following this as closely as some of us have, you probably have one reaction right now, which is:
Yes, it’s hard not to feel like, despite everything these people are saying about religious fanaticism in the Middle East—and to quote Marco Rubio again, who said “Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics”—that we are in fact the ones in The Bad Place with the religious zealots running our country.
But you might be asking yourself a few questions, and with good reason:
Why is a religion based on peace so hell-bent on war and destruction?
Why are Christians so invested in the State of Israel and its defense?
And why are we all of a sudden centering Christianity in our military operations?
Well, if you will join me, let’s go once again down the rabbit hole of Evangelical Christian Nationalism and what it’s doing to our politics.
Fire and Brimstone
Modern-era Christianity, across most sects, has largely been seen as a peaceful religion. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world and is the provider of peace and goodwill to all who inhabit the Earth.
However, American Evangelicals often view Jesus much differently than that.
Similar to their choice between charity and the Prosperity Gospel, they do not view Jesus primarily as the peaceful lamb. They see Jesus as the Lion—the one who roared into the Temple, flipping over tables and ejecting the money changers.
As Kristin Kobes Du Mez details in her book Jesus and John Wayne, Evangelicals like Jerry Falwell “couldn’t stomach ‘effeminate’ depictions of Christ as a delicate man with ‘long hair and flowing robes.’ Jesus ‘was a man with muscles. . . . Christ was a he-man!’”
It’s why, during Iran-Contra, Falwell promised Reagan he would help get his message out “in layman’s language,” and he did so by taking out full-page ads in major newspapers deriding “freezeniks,” “ultralibs,” and “unilateral disarmers” who were undermining Reagan’s efforts to rebuild the nation’s military strength.
“We cannot afford to be number two in defense!” he warned.
Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, the father of the so-called Christian Men’s Movement, had no use for “sissified” portraits of Jesus that failed to reveal his true character.
“Christlikeness and manhood are synonymous,” he insisted, and to be Christlike—to be a man—required “a certain ruthlessness.”
These evangelicals want Christ as King and Warrior because they genuinely believe that Armageddon will be a physical battle in the Holy Land, and they want every ounce of force and strength imaginable to ensure victory over the forces of evil.
Those militant depictions of faith, mixed with apocalyptic theology, also led to movements preparing for this Great Battle.
The Quiverfull movement, which takes its name from Psalm 127:4-5, encourages members to have as many children as possible, because “culture wars and holy wars need as many soldiers as possible.”
Virginian evangelist Samuel Davies once said in 1758, speaking to Christians before the French and Indian War, that “even the God of peace proclaims by his providence to arms, and the art of war becomes part of our religion.”
Now you have modern Christian Nationalists like William Wolfe during the Biden Administration echoing Davies and saying “we are getting close” to a point where Christians will have to “heed the call to arms.”
“To be ruled by cowards in a time of war is a curse, because God hates cowards,” Wolfe added at a Jesus and Politics conference.
These depictions of Christ as warrior, militant faith, and the End Times-as-war mindset inextricably link Evangelicals’ male-dominated culture war to the real physical wars being waged by conservative administrations in the Middle East.
Just like those families building their ranks through large numbers of children, they believe the U.S. military should be as strong and as large as possible.
They do not believe that the meek shall inherit the Earth.
They believe the strong will take it by force at the end of the world.
The United States must maintain a large and powerful military to join Christ at the Mount of Olives at Armageddon.
And where is this battle supposed to take place?
Where is the Mount of Olives located?
In the modern-day Levant—where Israel is located.
And who was prophesied to be the enemy in this battle?
The nation of Elam, east of Babylon, was historically associated with the Persian Empire—modern-day Iran.
The Evangelical Obsession with Israel and the Middle East
Most people understand how important Israel is to the Jewish faith, as it is a Jewish state.
What many people are surprised to learn is that Israel’s existence is arguably even more important to American Evangelicals.
After all, the largest zionist organization in the US is Christians United for Israel.
A large part of American Evangelical Christianity is built upon apocalypticism and Zionism in order to fulfill that apocalyptic theology.
The Christian Far Right has a fanatical obsession with ensuring that the United States maintains a close alliance with Israel and guaranteeing Israel’s continued existence—because securing an ally in that region will mean direct access to the site of Armageddon once the end times begin.
And some already believe they have begun.
Why do these Christians consider themselves Zionists?
One word: dispensationalism.
Dispensationalism iis an evangelical theological system that interprets the Bible through a literal historical lens, dividing human history into distinct “dispensations,” or eras of God’s administration. It emphasizes a strict distinction between Israel and the Church, premillennialism, and a pre-tribulation rapture.
Within this framework, modern Israel is viewed through a prophetic lens.
The re-establishment of Jewish sovereignty in the Levant is seen as a necessary step toward the end times.
It is sometimes described as “Armageddon Theology”—a vision of the future where Jews and non-Christians are destroyed while believers ascend to heaven.
It’s why so many of these far-right Christians are comfortable sending billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.
It’s why Donald Trump invested so much political capital in Israel, sending his son-in-law Jared Kushner as his emissary and even moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term.
It’s why many far-right Christians openly call for wiping Palestine off the map—figuratively or literally—because they believe all of that land must ultimately fall under the control of a Western ally.
It’s why former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee is now the ambassador to Israel.
Many people scratched their heads at that decision.
But it makes complete sense when viewed through the lens of dispensationalism.
Their goal is not to support a Jewish state.
It’s not even truly to support Israel.
It’s an ends-justify-the-means arrangement.
Jesus Is Coming, Look Busy
You may have noticed a number of Evangelical influencers posting TikToks of themselves dancing with captions like:
“We’re at war with Iran! Me: Knowing Jesus is coming back.”
Former OnlyFans star turned conservative influencer Nala Ray posted one such video.
And maybe your reaction was simply: well that was weird.
Even putting aside the “let them eat cake” attitude toward the loss of human life in war.
But again, with dispensationalism, Evangelicals’ literal interpretation of the Bible leads them to believe the end of days and the return of Jesus Christ will come through a literal war in that region against a Middle Eastern power.
They believed it during Iran-Contra.
During Operation Desert Storm.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During the Global War on Terror.
And now during Operation Epic Fury.
Some believe this so deeply that they think they can speed up the end times by creating conflict in the region.
They do this in several ways:
Many American Christians are actively trying to fund the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount—an effort tied to eschatological expectations primarily within Orthodox Judaism.
Speaker Mike Johnson helped facilitate the delivery of red heifers to Israel while the country was carrying out a genocide in Gaza, because it is believed that a red heifer must be sacrificed during a war to initiate the end of days.
But the primary way they influence events is through political power.
Through positions inside presidential administrations.
Through alliances with lobbying groups and super PACs like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which support congressional candidates willing to sign blank checks for military aid to Israel and back U.S. intervention in the region.
Because war in the Middle East means Jesus might be returning soon.
And the more conflict there is, the more they believe prophecy is unfolding.
It becomes a kind of theological “hurry up and wait.”
Which is exactly why having a deeply ideological Christian at the head of the U.S. military—like Pete Hegseth—is such a liability.
We don’t know how far some of these actors are willing to go to bring this worldview to fruition.
And the more they use Christian-coded language and Bible verses on Department of Defense social media accounts—and the more the Secretary of Defense publicly leads prayer services tied to military action—the more it appears that they see the U.S. military as a vehicle to fulfill their theological prophecy.
It does not appear they are ending forever wars in the Middle East anytime soon.
And when those people also have influence over the man holding the nuclear codes, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Know Your Enemy
The more we understand how these people operate, the better we can work against their goals—no matter how fanatical those goals may be.
These self-described Christian Nationalists are not operating on the fringes of American politics anymore. They are continuing to make their way into the halls of Congress, state legislatures, federal agencies, and even the White House. Evangelical preachers now regularly pray over President Trump in the Oval Office, and their theological worldview increasingly bleeds into the language and policy priorities of the administration itself.
And the most important thing to understand about these movements is that they are not operating randomly.
They have a framework. They have institutions. They have funding.
And they have a worldview that tells them they are not simply participating in politics—they are participating in a cosmic struggle between good and evil.
These far-right Christian Nationalists are constantly searching for signs of the End Times, and they will frequently shoehorn almost any major cultural or political development into that framework.
When Social Security numbers were first proposed, evangelical preachers condemned them as “the mark of the beast.”
Many did the same thing with barcodes in grocery stores during the 1970s and 80s.
More recently, some claimed COVID-19 vaccine cards were the mark of the beast.
Others insisted the vaccine itself was the mark.
The “mark,” of course, comes from the Book of Revelation, where it is described as a sign of the impending apocalypse and the rise of the Antichrist.
Their literal interpretation of scripture leads them to believe that the Book of Revelation is not metaphor or allegory, but rather history written in advance.
And if Revelation is history told ahead of time, then every war, every technological development, every political shift must be interpreted through that lens.
Every generation of believers tends to assume they are living in the final chapter of human history. But within modern American Evangelicalism, that belief has been weaponized and turned into a political organizing tool.
Because if you genuinely believe that you are living in the final days before Armageddon, then normal political restraints stop mattering.
Compromise becomes weakness. Pluralism becomes betrayal. Democracy itself becomes optional.
After all, if you believe you are fighting the literal forces of evil before the end of the world, why would you feel obligated to follow the same rules as everyone else?
That is how a religious movement becomes a political one. And eventually, how it becomes a governing ideology.
The perversion of religious doctrine to fit political ambition has created a feedback loop that pulls more and more people into this worldview. Evangelical Christianity places enormous emphasis on conversion—bringing as many people as possible into the fold during one’s lifetime.
But for many believers shaped by apocalyptic theology, that mission carries an even deeper urgency.
A large portion of Evangelical Christians believe that at the end of the world there will be a literal battle between the armies of good and evil. Jesus will lead the army of Good, composed of every person who accepted Him during their lifetimes. Satan will lead the army of Evil, made up of everyone else.
That belief does not simply shape personal faith. It shapes how adherents view politics, diplomacy, war, and international alliances.
Every election becomes a battlefield. Every foreign policy decision becomes a step toward prophecy. Every conflict in the Middle East becomes a potential sign that the clock is running out.
And if that is how you interpret the world, then escalating conflict is not necessarily something to avoid. It might actually be something to encourage. Which is exactly why this ideology becomes so dangerous when it begins to influence the highest levels of government.
Because if the people making decisions about war, nuclear weapons, and global diplomacy genuinely believe they are helping to bring about the end of the world as part of God’s plan, then the consequences of those decisions become impossible to predict.
At that point, policy is no longer being guided by strategy, diplomacy, or even basic self-preservation.
It is being guided by prophecy.
And prophecy, unlike policy, does not require evidence.
It only requires belief.
The End (of Times) Justifies the Means
The danger of Christian Nationalism is not simply that it blurs the line between church and state.
It is that it replaces politics with theology.
When people who hold these beliefs gain power, war stops being a tragedy to avoid and starts becoming a sign that history is unfolding the way it is supposed to.
Conflict becomes validation. Escalation becomes faith. And peace becomes an inconvenience that delays the inevitable.
That is why the rhetoric surrounding Iran, Israel, and the Middle East coming out of the current administration should alarm anyone who believes in the basic principles of secular government.
Because when political leaders begin talking about foreign policy in the language of prophecy, they are no longer just governing a country.
They are trying to fulfill a story. And the problem with trying to fulfill an apocalyptic story is that it has only one ending.
The Book of Revelation does not end with diplomacy.
It ends with war.
Which means the more influence these movements gain over American politics, the more the rest of us may find ourselves dragged into a conflict that was never about national security, democracy, or even geopolitics.
It was about proving that the end of the world had finally arrived.
And that is not a foreign policy.
That is a death wish masquerading as faith.
TL;DR
Many American Evangelicals and Christian Nationalists do not just view the Middle East through the lens of geopolitics — they view it through the lens of prophecy.
Rooted in a theology called dispensationalism, they believe that wars involving Israel and Iran are signs that the biblical End Times are approaching and that Jesus Christ will soon return.
This belief helps explain why many on the Christian Right aggressively support Israeli expansion, escalating conflict in the region, and even frame modern wars as part of God’s plan.
When those beliefs begin influencing U.S. foreign policy and military leadership, the risk is no longer just bad strategy — it’s the possibility that global conflict is being justified as a step toward Armageddon.