Tag: war

Toxic Eschatology & Sanctified War

~ Bruce Ray ~ 1 Comment

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword away! All who use a sword will be killed by a sword.” Matthew 26:52 (God’s Word Translation)

Dozens of newsfeeds from across the political spectrum have reported that military commanders have been telling their troops that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that works to ensure that military personnel have religious freedom, has reportedly received over 200 complaints from personnel serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Space force.

One of the complaints from a non-commissioned officer (NCO) received by MRFF said, “This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be ‘afraid’ as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He 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.'”

You can read the full text of the complaint at Journalist Jonathan Larson”s Substack. (It was redacted to protect the identity of the NCO.) The Pentagon has not officially commented on the complaints, but referred journalists to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Monday briefing on the bombings of Iran. In that briefing, Hegseth said that “crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons,” leading many people to assume that the US is hell-bent on a holy war against Islam.

Because no one in authority is commenting on the record, it is impossible to know the veracity of the complaints or the claims in them. However, the story has gone viral. For many people, the story rings true–thanks to Christian Zionists like Franklin Graham, who posted, ““Pray for our military in the operation against Iran, for [President Trump], and that the people of Iran will be set free from the bondage of Islam.” On Sunday, March 1, Pastor John Hagee–another Christian Zionist–delivered a sermon entitled, ““God’s Coming “Operation Epic Fury” Against Iran,” before his 25,000 member congregation in San Antonio, TX. This sounds like a Holy War to me.

I grew up with “end-times” theology and the search for evidence that the prophecies from the book of Revelation were being fulfilled. The war with Iran is putting “end-times” speculation into overdrive. Some people are almost gleeful about what is happening when the bombs fall because they are convinced that the more the war escalates and the more nations are involved, the more likely Jesus will show up to takes us all out of here in the rapture and then usher in the final battle (Armageddon), the end of human history and the start of the 1000 year reign of Christ. (THE Millennium). According to this particular brand of eschatology (study of the end), to be opposed to this war is equivalent to opposing God. And opposing God puts the opposition on the side of evil, which God will destroy. Our only hope of salvation is to be on God’s side–the side of the state of Israel and the United States.

The theological sanctification of this war is dangerous because it will only promote escalation. It is destructive to human life. Christians should never gloat about lethality, ruthlessness or killing our enemies. And we should never celebrate acts that kill and maim children or accept the deaths of civilians as just “collateral damage.” Finally, it is damaging to the Christian faith because it promotes arrogance and hatred of those who are not like “us”–the exact opposite of the love ethic that Jesus embodies; and it distracts us from what Jesus actually calls us to do–announce good news of Jesus’s “already presence” in the world and invite the world to embrace God’s reign of peace.

The only sword we are instructed to carry is the sword of the spirit–the life-giving, love-affirming, grace-filled, liberating Word of God. Any other sword needs to be put away or be turned into a plowshare or a pruning hook.

This is NOT a Christmas Sermon

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

“We think about God as a God of love. We know that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but should have everlasting life.’ We know that God loves. But did you know that God also hates? Do you know that God also is a God of war?” –Franklin Graham *

This is NOT the way I would start a Christmas sermon. And if online comments are any indication, few other pastors would either. Rev. Graham spent the next 8 minutes telling the story of God’s “hatred” for the Amalekites after they had ambushed the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 17:8ff). The Amalekites were defeated, thanks to a miracle, but God never forgot the attack. Four hundred years later, God commanded King Saul (1 Samuel 15) to completely obliterate the Amalekites as punishment for their attack in the wilderness. Saul was told to kill every man and woman, every infant and child, every animal–cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys. Saul violated God’s command by sparing the king of the Amalekites and keeping the best of the animals. Because of Saul’s failure to obey, God rejected Saul as King.

Rev. Graham mentioned Jesus’s birth, his death for the sins of the world, his resurrection and the promise of his second coming toward the close of his sermon, but I was so distracted by the first 8 minutes of the message focused on God’s 400-year-old grudge and the retribution God ordered that I couldn’t concentrate on the remaining 5 minutes.

This was a Christmas message? And what was the message those in the audience were to supposed to take from the sermon (especially in the context of the location–the Pentagon, headquarters of the Department of War–and recent military action–the destruction of small boats and the people onboard)? Was it a message that God destroys sinners and uses patriots to accomplish God’s destruction? Was it a message to suggest that God is on side of the modern-day state of Israel and a justification for its ongoing genocide of their enemy, the Palestinians in Gaza? Was it affirmation that God blesses the use of US military might to punish God’s (and our) enemies? Was it a subtle blessing of our leader’s incessant pursuit of punishment of those who oppose him? Was it a reminder to the US military brass that following orders is a moral obligation no matter what those orders are? Was it a warning on the consequences of disobeying the Commander in Chief?

Whatever people took from the sermon, Brian Kaylor, editor-in-chief of Word & Way, noted that “Graham offered the Secretary of War [Pete Hegseth] a Christmas gift by proclaiming a God of war.” Hegseth took that gift and ran with it. On December 17, the Secretary of War issued an order for the destruction of a boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, claiming the boats were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” without providing evidence. Four people were killed in the attack. And then, on December 18, two more boats were destroyed, killing 5 people. Since September 2, over 100 people have been killed in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

Here’s a message from Jesus, the Word made flesh who dwells among us: “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven, [who] causes [the] sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

* (These are the opening sentences of Franklin Graham’s sermon at the Pentagon’s inaugural Christmas Worship Service on December 17, 2025.)

War and Peace

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” – Jesus (Matthew 5:9)

“Cursed are the warmongers, for they will be called the children of Apollyon.” – (the implied antithesis of Jesus’s statement)

On Friday, #47 signed an Executive Order (his 200th such order to date), renaming the “Department of Defense” the “Department of War” because it sounds tougher. He then turned over the microphone to his re-named Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. 

After making an odd (and questionable) historical observation that under the name “Department of War” the military had never lost a war, and that under the name “Department of Defense” the military had never decisively won a war, Hegseth said,  “This name change is not just about ‘renaming;’ it’s about ‘restoring’. Words matter. It’s…restoring the ‘warrior ethos’; restoring victory and clarity as an end state; restoring intentionality to the use of force, so…the War Department is gonna fight decisively, not endless conflicts. It’s gonna fight to win, not not to lose. We are gonna go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We’re gonna raise up warriors, not just defenders. So, this War Department, Mr. President, just like America, is back.” He finished by adding, “America First.”

Within hours, the Department of Defense website was rebranded, “war.gov.”

Let’s go back 80 years to September 2, 1945.  World War II officially ended, but the world was in shambles. Upwards of 85 million people—3% of the global population–had been killed directly during the war or had died of disease and starvation, cities had been completely destroyed, six million Jews, gay people, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Romani people had been gassed and incinerated in Nazi concentration camps, two nuclear bombs had been dropped (by the U.S.). It was the deadliest military conflict in human history. 

Coming out of the devastation there was a global cry for peace.  On October 25, 1945, the United Nations was officially established with a mission “to maintain international peace and security, promote friendly relations among nations, and foster cooperation on economic, social, and humanitarian issues.”  

President Harry Truman, stood before Congress on September 6,1945–just days after the war had ended–and proposed the creation of a unified department of national defense to address concerns about military preparedness that arose following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 1, 1941. Congress passed the National Security Act two years later which created the National Military Establishment—which combined the Department of the Army and Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps and the newly formed Air Force. President Harry Truman signed the act into law on July 26, 1947.  In 1949, the NME was renamed the “Department of Defense.” Its stated mission was to “provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security.”

Eighty years ago, our war-weary nation focused on preventing future wars, promoting international peace and cooperation, and pursuing diplomacy.  But it didn’t take long for us to return to war again and again.  And now we seem focused solely on American military supremacy through “maximum lethality.” without concern for “tepid legality.”

Earlier this week, the newly named War Department authorized the attack of a Venezuelan boat in international waters that was allegedly filled with drugs and manned by the Tren de Aragua cartel.. No one bothered to inform members of the Armed Service Committee of Congress of to the attack as is required by the War Powers Act,, and there was no evidence that the boat was delivering drugs to the US.  We’ll never know. The boat—and the eleven men aboard—were obliterated. “Maximum lethality, not tepid legality.”

Maybe we’ve always been a nation of warmongers who ignore accepted boundaries and bend the rules of engagement, but this open embrace of thuggery and this promotion of the “warrior ethos” feels different. Maybe it’s because the people promoting it—like Pete Hegseth—claim to be followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Maybe it’s because anyone that questions the administration’s pre-occupation with war and domination is considered “weak” and “woke” and is deemed “the enemy.”  Jesus wouldn’t survive this administration. 

God isn’t going to bless warmongers. The blessing is reserved for the peacemakers—those who “seek peace and pursue it.”   Right now, it feels like we are being led by the children of Apollyon—the Destroyer.  And we know what their end will ultimately be.

So, I’m going to go the mountain of the Lord to learn the ways of peace—where swords will be turned into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks and where nations will no longer pursue war. Let’s go there together.