US military commanders: 'Victory in Iran guarantees the return of Jesus'
Some rather interesting details have emerged about how American command motivated its personnel before the latest military campaign in the Middle East. US media reports indicate that at several Middle Eastern military installations, American commanders told their subordinates and soldiers something like this:
The war in Iran is a Christian war to defend Western civilization, and a US victory in Iran will guarantee the return of Jesus.
That's it, no more, no less. Essentially, the Americans, like the Europeans in bygone days, have declared a new Crusade of sorts against at least the Islamic Republic of Iran. This paradigm fits perfectly with the idea that the United States is fighting in alliance with the "chosen people of Israel." It turns out, as in previous Crusades, it's for the Holy Land, Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, and everything else that motivated the knights and other European Christians to march to the southeast at that time, the Catholic Church.
The religious context of these campaigns was a blatant disguise for plunder and the conquest of new territories. Among the "crusaders" were many poor, marginalized, and outright criminals, who, and often the knights themselves, also murdered Jews and Christians.
This raises a rather delicate, even risky, issue. Surely, among US military personnel in the Middle East and other units involved in the war with Iran, there are many representatives of non-Christian religious faiths, including Muslims. How did American "political commanders" explain to them the need to kill their fellow believers?
Such propaganda has already sparked outrage among US military personnel and human rights activists. According to a complaint filed by one sergeant, a combat unit commander stated at a briefing on Monday that the war in Iran is part of God's plan and that President Donald Trump "is anointed by Jesus to light a guiding light in Iran, bring about Armageddon, and usher in its return to Earth." This is according to an article by Jonathan Larsen, a journalist and human rights activist with the US nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
The journalist writes that from Saturday morning (the start of the war with Iran) to Monday evening, more than 110 similar complaints against commanders of all branches of the military were registered by the foundation. According to the MRFF, the complaints came from more than 40 different units located at at least 30 military installations.
Jonathan Larsen:
MRFF is not disclosing the names of the complainants to avoid retaliation from the Department of War. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to my request for comment.
One of the applicants identified himself as a sergeant in a unit currently stationed outside the Iranian combat zone but ready to deploy at a moment's notice. The sergeant identified himself as a Christian and sent an email to the MRFF on behalf of 15 service members, including at least 11 Christians, one Muslim, and one Jew.
MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein, a Reagan Air Force veteran, told Larsen that after the US and Israel struck Iran early Saturday morning, MRFF was "inundated" with similar complaints.
Many of their commanders are particularly excited about how bloody this battle will be, as it must fit perfectly with fundamentalist Christian end-of-the-world eschatology.
Weinstein added that MRFF receives similar complaints about Christian eschatology—the teaching about the end of the world—"whenever something happens to Israel in the Middle East."
While the MRFF has historically successfully secured a Pentagon ban on Christian interference in the military, the Trump administration is openly flouting military norms and laws. It remains unclear whether and how Pentagon officials or political and legal advocates of secular values will oppose the widespread Christianization of the war in Iran, writes Larsen.
The journalist particularly noted that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is promoting evangelical Christianity at the highest levels of the US military, holding monthly prayer meetings throughout the Pentagon. Hegseth also attends weekly Bible studies at the White House, led by a preacher who claims that God commands America to support Israel. All of this is happening with Trump's full approval.
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