“A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” Many responded with WTF because it felt like it might have been yet again some new dystopian thought from the mind of Stephen Miller trumpeted out of the mouth of Pete Hegseth.
What that comment reflects is actually a pairing of Dispensational Premillennialism and Christian Nationalism; two long held beliefs shaped by a particular understanding of Christian scripture and located within a particular culture. Both are embraced by Christian fundamentalists and adherents of the prosperity gospel. Norman Vincent Peale, the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, whose message of the power of positive thinking coupled with faith, is considered the forerunner or the prosperity gospel promoted now by the likes of Joel Osteen and Pamela White-Cain. The prosperity gospel advances the belief that personal health, wealth and happiness, is a sign of God’s favor. It is a transactional understanding of faith that posits that what you give comes back to you tenfold…is one example. The flip side of the prosperity gospel is that if a person is poor, not in good health, and suffering under unfavorable conditions they do not have God’s favor and can be dismissed as unworthy of dignity and concern “the undeserving poor” and “the welfare queens” of Reagan’s day. This belief can reinforce the notion that, while we are called to charity and compassion for the “least of these”, we certainly don’t have to consider them our equals. It can also explain why Pam Bondi, with tears in her eyes and a cross around her neck, accused Democrats of focusing on the Epstein files to detract from the fact that the Dow Index was over 50K. In the world of the prosperity gospel, the health of the nation is measured by the stock market. It gives preference to the rich; a reality seen clearly in the economic disparity found in the United States.
Let’s move on to Dispensational Premillenisalism. Premillennialism is the belief that the second coming of Jesus Christ will usher in a thousand years of peace; a belief which is taken from a literal reading of the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation. Coupled with this belief is the belief that seven years of tribulation and war will precede the second coming of Christ and that this war will be fought in what is now known as the Middle East. Hence the comment, “Jesus has called Trump to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon; the final battle between the forces of good and evil. Dispensationalists argue that history is divided into distinct periods of time; the final era when there will be a physical restoration of the nation of Israel and its people to the land. It is worth noting that the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is a devout evangelical and ordained Southern Baptist minister who frames his political positions within the context of his conservative faith beliefs and is a strong supporter of the state of Israel.
The Book of Revelation, found with Christian scripture, does not, however, predict a rapture or Armageddon. The idea of the rapture came from the mind of John Nelson Darby; the idea of dispensational from the mind of Clarence Larkin. Both ideas were ensconced in the Scofield Bible (a study bible based on the King James version and detailing the ages/dispensations). There is nothing biblical about these ideas and both come from the evangelical movement within the United States. A biblical understanding of the Book of Revelation is that it is a treatise against the Roman Empire and its abuses and a call to faithfulness during trying times.
Christian Nationalism, on full display during the insurrection of January 6, 2021, has its seeds in the belief that the United States was founded on Christian beliefs and that the Founding Fathers meant for it to remain as such. Despite the Establishment Clause found in the First Amendment, that the state may not establish a state church and people are free to believe (or not) according to their own beliefs, Christian Nationalists continue to affirm the Christian faith as God’s plan for the nation. At its core it is the belief that Christians are America’s first citizens, architects and guardians of the faith and, as such, they must promote a fundamental understanding of the Christian faith. Christian nationalism also gave rise to the concept of Manifest Destiny which led to the genocide of native peoples. These beliefs are grounded in an evangelical/fundamental framework of Christian faith and is often coupled with white supremist ideology. Its main adherents are white evangelical communities of faith.
Though Christian Nationalism is more a political ideology than a theological understanding, this ideology is wrapped up in biblical and faith language. This distortion of biblical understandings is what led Tom Homan and J.D. Vance to assert that they could teach Pope Leo the true understanding of the Christian faith. It fuels the fantasy world of Pete Hegseth, who fancies himself a warrior in Christ’s army (another distortion of the teachings of Jesus) who will lead the Christian Jihad/Holy War under the command of Donald Trump.