Troops fed up with military leaders' 'right-wing evangelical theocratic thinking'

Members of the military sit for a meeting convened by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Quantico, Virginia, U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

As Trump marches troops into danger in Iran, his commanders appear to be beating the drums of the End Days, and soldiers are getting sick of it.

Former MS NOW writer and politics writer Jonathan Larsen told “Left Hook” creator Wajahat Ali that a combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a Monday briefing 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), said Larsen. The complaints — which are anonymous to prevent retribution from commanding officers —arose from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told Larsen Monday.

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.

The NCO wrote to the MRFF that their commander “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”

One letter reads: “I am an NCO rank withheld in our unit. This morning, our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefings by urging us ‘not to be afraid as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He … specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that ‘President [Donald] Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth.’”

“What ends up happening is these people, when they're in control, they leverage the power that they have access to, if not force, then coerce and incentivize the embrace and adoption of right-wing evangelical theocratic thinking. If not white Christian nationalism, then Latino Catholic nationalism, whatever ... whatever form it might take,” Larsen said.

Ali told Larsen that the religious nationalism is really just white supremacy using “Jesus as a mascot.”

“And Jesus is not in the driver's seat,” said Ali. “Jesus is pretty much in the backseat with the duct tape over his mouth, draped in a Confederate flag with an AR-15 slung over him. And this is nothing new, but it has been supercharged thanks to the fact that these white Christian nationalists are all throughout the White House now in the Trump administration.”

Larsen reported on his substack that while the MRFF “historically has been able to get the Pentagon to swat down Christian incursions into the military, the Trump administration is openly disdainful of military norms and law. It remains to be seen whether and how wholesale Christianization of the Iran war will be opposed by officials inside the Pentagon, or political and legal advocates for secular values outside it.”

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