U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for "Armageddon," Return of Jesus

[douglas9]

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,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.

From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.

The MRFF is keeping the complainants anonymous to prevent retribution by the Defense Department. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to my request for comment.

One complainant identified themselves as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in a unit currently outside the Iran combat zone but in Ready-Support status, deployable at any time. The NCO said they were Christian and emailed the MRFF on behalf of 15 troops, including at least 11 Christians, one Muslim, and one Jew. (Full email printed below.)

https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for

[Delarage]

1. Trump is more like an anti-Christ

Christian nationalism is based on the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and ought to be defended as such. Yet the Christianity at play here has a certain set of characteristics: it is white, masculine, patriarchal and not afraid to embrace violence. Christian nationalism defines Christianity as a religion of power, where God is on the side of might.

The comparisons between Germany in the 1930s and America under Trump are coming in thick and fast: attacks on education, vilification of certain groups, the demise of truth, limiting of free speech and authoritarianism are all on full display — so too is the use of Christianity as a prop and a costume for the Project 2025 agenda.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/is-trump-the-antichrist-other-hard-questions-for-christians/105378092

[mwmisses4289]

2. Doesn't hegsith claim to be some variant of fundamentalist christian?

Hasn't he said something about feeling our military needed to be more christianized in order to be as strong as possible? That he feels so strongly about this that he is doing everything he can to get rid of anyone in the military who doesn't believe as he does?
Smh

[reACTIONary]

10. What to know about the archconservative church Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-to-know-about-the-archconservative-church-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-attends

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he's proud to be part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.

Hegseth recently made headlines when he shared a CNN video on social media about CREC, showing its pastors arguing women should not have the right to vote.

Pastor Doug Wilson, a CREC co-founder, leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the network's flagship location. Jovial and media-friendly, Wilson is no stranger to stirring controversy with his church's hard-line theology and its embrace of patriarchy and Christian nationalism.

[mwmisses4289]

11. Thank you for that.

Whatever those idiots think they are, they definetly aren't any kind of christian!

[yardwork]

18. Hegseth is a Christian Dominionist.

Among other bat shit crazy things they believe that the End Times will be hastened by a war in the middle east, which Israel will win. This will usher in Armageddon and all the "true Christians" will be raptured into heaven and everybody else (including Jews, Muslims, Hindus, most people who call themselves Christian but aren't the right kind of Christians, and of course the rest of us heathens will go straight to hell.

The fact that a drunkard who actually believes this shit is now in charge of the military is Really Bad.

[reACTIONary]

26. POE...

Purity of Essence... Peace on Earth

[yellow dahlia]

28. Really bad.

[tanyev]

3. So the omniscient and omnipotent God they believe in just isn't getting the job done?

He needs a little prodding from Donald J. Trump?


😒

[reACTIONary]

27. Gota have a lot of drama...

Last edited Tue Mar 3, 2026, 08:59 PM - Edit history (1)

.... that's what gets the suckers in the tent and keep them there.

[2naSalit]

4. This needs more attention...

If true and I suspect it is.

[yellow dahlia]

29. Agreed - it needs to be taken seriously.

And unfortunately - it's believable.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

5. If it's End Times then.....

Why pay taxes?

[raging moderate]

6. So they think they have the right to ORDER GOD AROUND?

They think they have the right to PERSECUTE OTHER PEOPLE?

[mdbl]

7. You just can't fix stupid.

[mountain grammy]

8. Thank goodness for the MMRF

Great organization! This needs more attention. We’re starting a war and it’s some kind of religious campaign??? Stop this bullshit now!

[wolfie001]

9. Those 6 christo-fascist pieces of shit on the Supreme Court are in total agreement

They are on a mission to fuck over America. Literally and figuratively.

[surfered]

12. This is what Ambassador Huckabee believes:

According to Scripture, when Christ comes again, he does so in Israel. That is why these Evangelicals support Israel. They need for it to exist for Christ’s return when they will be raptured while all the Jews die.

[Seinan Sensei]

14. This is what Russell Vought believes also

He is Dir of OMB, author of Project 2025
Somehow he manages to stay below people’s radar.

[yardwork]

19. A stunning number of people in the U.S. believe this.

It's getting far too little attention.

[yellow dahlia]

30. I was nervous when he was put in as ambassador.

[turbinetree]

13. Great trying to figure out were it says in the bible that god is all about war.......fucking guy couldn't find it

but it sounds great, because there is no reference to do battle in "god" name....................you know the "Prince of Peace" and all that shit.............he wants to be delusion like all of the others that talk in Christian tongues.............and as for fear from that dickhead Hegseth............he really can pound sand............

[yardwork]

21. Read the last book of the New Testament, called Revelation.

It's a little difficult to read because the person who wrote it appears to have been a hermit who lived in a cave and was either schizophrenic and/or a regular user of hallucinogenic drugs.

Nonetheless that one section of the bible has become the foundation of a belief system followed by millions of Americans, including a disturbing number of Trump officials, including the head of our military.

They're convinced that a war in the middle east will bring the return of Christ and heaven for all true believers (that's only them; the rest of us go to hell).

It used to be you had to go to a tent revival in an isolated mountain hollow to hear this kind of thing but now the U.S. government is run by people following this script.

[The Madcap]

34. It's mostly an allegory about the situation in Rome, etc., in the 1st Century CE

But most seem to take it as a prediction valid 2000 years later.

The result will not be what they want. You can't force the hand of God.

[OGBuzz]

15. Christian Fundamentalist lunatics embarking on a Second Crusade in....

order to hasten the Rapture. I don't recall this being part of Trump's campaign platform. I only recall something about the price of eggs.

[yardwork]

22. It was a secret part of his campaign.

Word went out through the fundy world, they were promised this, they voted for it.

[OGBuzz]

31. Trump is decomposing in front of our eyes....

both physically and mentally, so I understand the urgency to fulfill his sacred promise to his flock.

[yardwork]

36. I doubt he considers it a sacred promise!

But you're probably right that Hegseth and the others see the need to get a move on or they'll miss their chance at triggering Armageddon.

[PatSeg]

16. These people are freaking terrifying

and apparently they're everywhere.

[SergeStorms]

17. OK......

this level of stupidity has no freaking place in our government.

Trump and his minions are throwing a bone to the christian-right because they're starting to doubt Orange Jebus.

This freaking madness MUST STOP!

[angrychair]

20. This is incredibly disturbing

And violates every rule I can think of when it comes to reasoning for combat operations.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

23. Well, what could go wrong then? This seems like a solid foundation upon which to build...

...your entire worldview and kill a bunch of people. /S

Sadly, I have no doubt this is true. It's been in the evangelical world for a while now. And they've been totally wrong so many times now that they are really desperate to force things and somehow prove they weren't wrong at all.

As a mental exercise, religion makes all things possible. Even believing that a draft-dodging, lying, grifting, perverted, vain, narcissistic, POS of a person was “anointed by Jesus" to do anything--much less usher in a fantastical reign of peace to be presided over by a man from the middle east.

So, apparently we are attacking the middle east in order to be under the rule of someone from the middle east?

We're going to need a bigger sign...at the "No Kings" protests....

[Wednesdays]

24. And it's the Iranians who are the religious fanatics?

[gfarber]

25. Armageddon Rejoicing

There once was a briefing on high
Where a captain looked up to the sky,
Said, “Trump’s heaven-sent spark
Will set Iran in the dark—
It’s Armageddon, oh my!”

A sergeant sat biting his lip
At talk of apocalypse trip,
While more than a score
Filed complaints—then some more—
From bases in every branch’s grip.

From thirty installations they cried,
“Why’s command so uncritically wide-
Eyed with glee at the thought
Of a war heaven-bought,
With Revelation as guide?”

Said Weinstein, “Each call that we field
Has the same starry zealot revealed:
They rejoice in the fray
As the End Times’ display—
Every missile divinely unsealed.”

“They’re delighted how graphic it grows,
How the bloodshed the prophecy shows;
They can’t wait for the scene
From Saint John’s fevered dream—
As if carnage’s how glory flows.”

But beware, cried a voice on TikTok,
With a fury that quite shook the clock:
“If you cheer for this fight
In messianic delight,
You’re a monster!”—and feelings went shock.

The MAGA crowd grumbled, “Unfair!
Such language! Such heat in the air!”
They can dish with a grin,
But when fury comes in,
Their own outrage is fragile as prayer.

If Congress would summon that flame—
Though with fewer expletives to name—
They might stiffen their spine,
Show some backbone and brine,
And seem less like they’re losing the game.

© 2026 Glen Farber. All Rights Reserved.

[Doodley]

32. Trump couldn't even tell you what a Christian is or what a Christian value is.

[Blue Owl]

33. The Four Pedophiles of the Apocalypse

[LetMyPeopleVote]

37. It's all about the Apocalypse: Another disturbing reason behind the right wing's pro-Israel obsession

As a Jew, it is common knowledge the support from the American religious right is due in some part due to a belief that the existence of Israel is essential for their belief in a second coming.

Link to tweet

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/apocalypse-another-disturbing-reason-behind-right-wings-pro-israel-obsession

Politics professor Elizabeth Oldmixon explained in an interview with Vox the strange thread of Christianity that fosters an apocalyptic vision the inspires much of the right-wing support for Israel.

�These are the folks who believe that there will be a millennium in the future, a golden age, where Christ reigns on Earth, [and] they believe that before Christ will return, there will be a tribulation where Christ defeats evil,� she said. �There will be natural disasters and wars, and perhaps an Antichrist, as the book of Revelations notes. Then at the end of that period, the people of the Mosaic covenant, including the Jews, will convert. Then after their conversion, the great millennium starts.�

She continued: �You have this group of people looking around for signs of the end time, and in the 20th century when Israel was founded, this was seen as a major sign. This was electrifying for that community because the gathering of all the Jews in exile to the Holy Land is a prerequisite for all of these events unfolding. So for the subset of evangelicals in the 20th century, support for Israel became a really, really important political position.�

And as evangelical Christianity grew into a central part of the GOP�s coalition, pro-Israel policies became cemented in the party�s ideology.

The alliance between the evangelicals and pro-Israeli Jews, though, is a peculiar partnership. The Christians enter into the bargain with the assumption that, when they reach their goal of the apocalypse, any Jews will either become Christians or go to hell. But their pro-Israel allies don�t seem to mind this much, perhaps because they don�t believe this version of the apocalypse will ever actually come to be � and as long as it is just a fantasy, their interests and those of evangelicals remain aligned.

For example, the US embassy in Israel by trump to appease these nut cases. This story may be crazy but the nut cases who want an apocalypse worry me