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<\/p>\nAlain Stephens is an investigative reporter covering gun violence, arms trafficking, and federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Since the Trump<\/span> regime launched its war on Iran, his administration has gotten a lot more biblical.<\/p>\n In the last few weeks, Trump and his circle have delivered a chorus of mandates \u2014 many sounding as if sent from the Almighty himself \u2014 from encouraging lawmakers to support legislation \u201cfor Jesus\u201d<\/a> to billing America\u2019s 250th anniversary as a moment to rededicate the nation under a single, unified God.<\/p>\n Trump has surrounded himself with a constellation of evangelical advisers who not only support his policies but also frame them as divinely sanctioned. Their specific strand of evangelical theology interprets global conflict, especially in the Middle East<\/a>, as a precursor to the end times<\/a>. For Trump, this alignment may well be transactional, another way to energize and consolidate a critical voting bloc. But for many of the religious figures now orbiting him, the stakes are far more cosmic: The war is not simply geopolitical; it is eschatological.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s already bleeding influence into America\u2019s war machine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has overseen a steady infusion of Christian symbolism and practice<\/a> into military life \u2014 hosting prayer gatherings<\/a>, elevating hard-line evangelical figures<\/a>, and pushing a more overtly religious tone across the force.<\/p>\n Reporting shows his tenure has included efforts to reshape the chaplain corps<\/a> and integrate his Christian worldview more directly into military culture. The aesthetic is not subtle: Hegseth has embraced Crusader iconography<\/a> \u2014 he has tattoos of the Jerusalem cross and the phrase \u201cDeus vult,\u201d which means \u201cGod wills it\u201d \u2014 while framing America\u2019s conflicts in civilizational and religious terms<\/a>. In a prayer given last week at the Pentagon, Hegseth asked God<\/a> to aid in pouring down \u201coverwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n Even some on the right have begun to voice their unease. One conservative commentator, reacting to the growing influence, bluntly described Trump\u2019s leading faith adviser Paula White-Cain as a \u201cpsychopathic doomsday cultist<\/a>,\u201d warning about the theological currents shaping the administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n As someone well-versed in Christianese<\/a> \u2014 I was raised deep in the evangelical Bible Belt of Texas, and even met a young Paula White growing up \u2014 this dialect signals a real shift.<\/p>\n Suffering, in this worldview, is not merely tragic; it is necessary to actuate the return of Christ.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n In evangelical media ecosystems, Iran is not just a strategic adversary but part of a prophetic story \u2014 one tied to interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the battle of Armageddon. Suffering, in this worldview, is not merely tragic; it is necessary to actuate the return of Christ.<\/p>\n And as White-Cain, now the head of the White House Faith Office, put it<\/a>: \u201cTo say no to President Trump would be to say no to God.\u201d<\/p>\n This tension \u2014 between political expediency and apocalyptic belief \u2014 is no longer theoretical. It is being operationalized.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Days after launching unilateral strikes on Iran, Trump convened nearly two dozen evangelical leaders for private counsel. The pastors stood around him, laying hands<\/a> to pray for strength and protection for his latest military campaign. At the center of that circle is White-Cain, a longtime Trump ally who has served as his \u201cspiritual adviser\u201d since his first presidential run.<\/p>\n White-Cain\u2019s rise is emblematic of the fusion now underway. Once a televangelist with deep ties to charismatic Christianity, she built a following through prosperity gospel<\/a> preaching \u2014 a theology that links faith with material success \u2014 before being elevated as a key Trump confidant.<\/p>\n Early on, she rose to prominence through her connections to figures like Bishop T.D. Jakes<\/a> and appearances on networks like BET<\/a>, positioning her within both Black churches (which is where I met her) and evangelical media spaces alike. During his first term, Trump established the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative<\/a> and appointed White to lead the newly minted office.<\/p>\n But White-Cain is not just a political ally. She is part of a broader network of evangelical leaders who have long framed global conflict in explicitly prophetic terms. Figures in this sphere have publicly described Middle East wars as signs of the \u201clast days<\/a>,\u201d argued that geopolitical upheaval fulfills biblical prophecy<\/a>, and emphasized that spiritual warfare is inseparable from physical conflict.<\/p>\n White-Cain\u2019s own writings and appearances wrap modern politics in stark, spiritually dispensationalist end-times framing. Dispensationalism<\/a>, for the uninitiated, is a strain of evangelical Protestant theology that reads the Bible literally, divides history into distinct eras of God\u2019s plan, separates Israel from the Church, and anticipates a coming rapture and a thousand-year kingdom on Earth.<\/p>\n In an April 2025 interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, White-Cain opened by asking whether the world was ready to kick off Armageddon itself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Christian vision of the End of Days foretells of some profound transformation and redemption,\u201d she said in the interview, as reported <\/a>by the Times of Israel. \u201cBased on the events that are unfolding today, do you feel that we are seeing these signs of that vision come to fruition?\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes, by her telling, are nothing less than annihilation. This matters when those voices are whispering prayers into the decisions of a president directing military force.<\/p>\n She\u2019s not alone. She\u2019s brought others into Trump\u2019s religious power network \u2014 including Alabama pastor Travis Johnson<\/a>, who has been spotted around Trump\u2019s religious events<\/a> and moving in the same circles<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He presents himself as a global traveler spreading Christian \u201clove\u201d and \u201cpeace.\u201d On X, he also told his followers<\/a>, \u201cIslam is not just a religion, but a system of military conquest\u201d \u2014 casting American Christianity as a necessary bulwark against it.<\/p>\n After Israeli missile strikes \u2014 which coincided with the start of Ramadan \u2014 decimated Iranian leadership, Johnson posted<\/a> with a glib jab: \u201cBye, Felicia. Khamenei has left the building.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Robert Jeffress, pastor of megachurch First Baptist Dallas and one of Trump\u2019s most visible religious defenders, is also among those lending supernatural support to the president. Jeffress has spent years advancing a worldview that injects Christian nationalism with cultural and religious exclusion. He has described Islam<\/a> as \u201ca false religion\u201d that is \u201cinspired by Satan,\u201d and once declared<\/a>, \u201cAmerica\u2019s collapse is inevitable and there is nothing we can do to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n Others in Trump\u2019s spiritual cadre push similar lines with parallel prophetic and apocalyptic bluster. California pastor Greg Laurie, another regular<\/a> in Trump\u2019s prayer closet<\/a>, linked the assassination of Iran\u2019s ayatollah to end times gospel in a video<\/a> he posted on X.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I can see the next event on the prophetic calendar would be the rapture,\u201d he told his audience. \u201cThen of course the great tribulation period \u2026 culminating in the Battle of Armageddon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Laurie, like many evangelicals, reads Iran as biblical Persia, which is named in the book of Ezekiel as an ally of Magog<\/a>, a prophesied war machine that will one day converge on Israel in the final chapter of human history.<\/p>\n There are those in Trump\u2019s religious sphere who haven\u2019t given up hope \u2014 but only because they see themselves as locked in a holy war for the soul of a nation. Josh McPherson, a rising voice in Christian nationalist circles, has been blunt in his preaching for a theocratic military force, often teaching in camouflage and combat boots. He has advocated<\/a> that \u201cgodly righteous men and women submitted to the Heavenly Father\u201d should be running the most powerful military in the world.<\/p>\n In a recent podcast interview<\/a>, McPherson frames American Christians as a critical line of defense against the spread of Islam, which he describes as \u201cdemonic\u201d and a \u201cscourge\u201d while advocating for mass deportations. If action isn\u2019t taken now, he predicts the apocalyptic vision where future generations of Christians will have to respond to an \u201cIslamic Jihadist invasion, where the only way to push back is with bullets and guns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Taken together, this is not a random assortment of fringe pastors. It is a coherent theological ecosystem, one that frames war as prophecy, opponents as demonic, and global collapse as necessary to bring about the return of Christ.<\/p>\n That convergence \u2014 of theology, rhetoric, and military power \u2014 is now drawing scrutiny on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have formally called for an investigation<\/a> into Hegseth and the Defense Department, warning that \u201cextreme religious rhetoric\u201d may be seeping into the chain of command and shaping how the war on Iran is being prosecuted.<\/p>\n The danger is not just metaphysical. There is a long body<\/a> of research<\/a> showing that when political power fuses with religious certainty,\u00a0war intensifies. Religious framing makes wars far more difficult to end, not easier. Conflicts become existential, not negotiable. Identity replaces strategy. Destiny replaces diplomacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n And for volunteer troops fighting in a pluralistic democracy, intention matters.<\/p>\n A soldier should not be asked to die for a religion he does not serve.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n For a soldier, sailor, or Marine who pulls the trigger or launches the missile, it muddies the distinction between national defense and participation in what could amount to religious ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n Where strategic decisions are guided not by how to end wars, but how to beget new prophetic ones.<\/p>\n Where the end result could mean dying not in service of your country, but instead as a preordained martyr.\u00a0<\/p>\n A soldier should not be asked to die for a religion he does not serve, to usher in an ending he does not want, or to fight for a vision of the world rooted in prophecy rather than policy. That is not national defense; that is ideological conscription. And when a state begins to wage war on those terms, it is no longer defending itself \u2014 it is surrendering its power to something far more dangerous than any enemy abroad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Prophetic Gospels<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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