As the Trump administration continues to grapple with the fallout from the betrayal of its core campaign promise to abandon the cycle of endless wars in the Middle East that have marred U.S. history since the dawn of the new millennium, the American public isn’t the only target of the barrage of propaganda it has unleashed in a hapless attempt to save face. The administration has undertaken the same tactics with the hopes of brainwashing its military in order to build support for Trump’s war in Iran. Instead of political rhetoric, the propaganda aimed at U.S. troops is rooted in a darker Messianic message that underscores the ulterior motives driving the conflict.
According to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (”MRFF”), a non-profit civil rights watchdog aimed at protecting the religious liberties of enlisted personnel, U.S. military commanders are accused of telling troops that Trump’s war in Iran is designed to be the apocalyptic catalyst that brings forth the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. According to the MRFF, it has received over 100 complaints from troops across 40 different units spanning 30 different military sites making this accusation. One complaint from a non-commissioned officer filed with the MRFF distilled the nature of these allegations by detailing how their combat-unit commander claimed that Trump has been “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” The complaint goes on to read that “He [the 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.”
A complaint received by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation alongside others from 40 different units across 30 installations, which claims that military leaders are briefing their troops that Donald Trump is commanded by God to strike Iran in order to expedite Armageddon. pic.twitter.com/gkDyBMNrtN
— Dissident Media (@DissidentMedia) March 3, 2026
When confronted with the volume of complaints filed with the MRFF by U.S. military personnel, a White House official denied the accusation that commanders were invoking any end times prophecies to cultivate support for Operation Epic Fury. Instead, the White House official responded by reiterating the objectives the Trump administration has put forward: destroying Iran’s ballistic missile program, its munitions industry, and its navy. Pentagon officials did not respond to requests for comment regarding the complaints filed with the MRFF.
Despite the rejection of the accusations made in the complaints filed with the MRFF by the White House, remarks made by the president of the watchdog served as a testament to their veracity. MRFF President Mikey Weinstein, a former officer in the U.S. Air Force, stated that all 110 complaints his organization has received echo the same narrative justifying the war with Iran as being “biblically sanctioned.” After leaving the U.S. Air Force, Weinstein served as legal counsel in the Reagan White House after being appointed to its Office of Management and Budget. He then was named the Committee Management Officer of the Iran-Contra affair as Assistant General Counsel of the White House Office of Administration. After leaving the Reagan administration, Weinstein entered into the private sector, where he served as the first general counsel to two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation before departing from that role in 2006 to focus on the MRFF, which he founded that same year.
The eschatological narrative U.S. commanders are accused of conditioning troops with in complaints made to the MRFF follows a troubling tone instilled by senior officials of the Department of Defense. No official has been more vocal with this rhetoric than Secretary of Defense Hegseth, who has long echoed the views of conservative theologian Douglas Wilson in advocating for the restoration of guiding principles rooted in Christianity over U.S. governance and society. However, like most members of the Trump administration, Hegseth’s version of Christianity is perverted by the contradictory belief in “Judeo-Christianity.” This corruption of Hegseth’s “Christian” worldview is evidence from remarks he made in 2018, when speaking during the Arutz Sheva conference at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. During his speech, Hegseth categorized the decision of the first Trump administration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a miracle. Hegseth then proclaimed that “there’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible,” going on to proclaim that “a step in that process, a step in every process, is the recognition that facts and activities on the ground truly matter.” Years later after being appointed Secretary of Defense in the second Trump Administration, Hegseth now appears to be manifesting that vision by leading the U.S. assault on Iran.
Pete "LARPing Crusader" Hegseth boasts about the possible miracle of the building of the Third Temple.
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) March 4, 2026
Video from 2018. pic.twitter.com/8jJuiQ4JjC
Christian leaders aligned with the Trump administration have also amplified the message that war with Iran is a sign of the coming Apocalypse in an effort to cultivate support for the conflict. Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, a frequent visitor of the White House during the first Trump administration spoke to his congregation the day following the onset of Operation Epic Fury. Hagee orated that President Trump “tried to reach a peaceful solution with Iran to no avail” during his sermon riddled with political talking points designed to foster support for the war. The website for Hagee Ministries reiterated the position put forward during the sermon, stating:
“God bless our forces in the Middle East for their brilliant execution of Operation Epic Fury! This arranged war with America began in 1979 with the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days. Will this recent Operation bring lasting peace to the innocent people in Iran? What does God have in store for those who are threating the peace of Jerusalem? The events unfolding right now are fulfilling prophecy. Are you praying every day, asking God to intervene on your behalf? There has never been a more crucial time to pray!”
During the sermon, Hagee did not limit his message that God is using Trump to wage war on Iran alone. He also extended that plan to include Russia. Given that his sermons are being used as a tool to foster support for US foreign policy, that subtle remark may foreshadow an even more dire conflict to unfold ahead.
Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee says Israel bombing Iran alongside the United States is part of biblical prophecy, which includes plans for Russia in the near future.
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) March 1, 2026
He begins to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and thanks God for the victory over the enemies of Israel.
“We… pic.twitter.com/DRWofdYQYJ
Paula White, a televangelist and spiritual adviser to President Trump assumed a position established by his administration as the Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office on February 7th, 2025. She previously served in a similar capacity as Special Advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the first Trump administration from May 3rd, 2018 to January 20th, 2021. Since being re-integrated into the second Trump administration, White has come under public scrutiny for her radical evangelical messaging which calls upon Christians to stand with Israel. The overt and overzealous pro-Israel messaging of faith leaders aligned with Trump like Hagee and White has amplified concerns that the Trump administration has structured itself to further Zionist interests ahead of American interests, an assertion that has been prevalent nowhere more than in criticisms of its foreign policy.
Despite its best attempts to dispel the idea that the U.S. has engaged in Operation Epic Fury at the demand of Israel, Trump administration officials have only strengthened that belief. When speaking with reporters on March 2nd, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted “we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action” when explaining the calculus behind the Trump administration’s decision to begin bombing Iran. Senior United States Senator from Virginia Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and member of the Gang of Eight — the group including the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees which the administration is required to brief on intelligence operations — confirmed the assessment made by Secretary Rubio when he stated that “There was no imminent threat to the United States by the Iranians. There was a threat to Israel. If we equate a threat to Israel as the equivalent of an imminent threat to the U.S., then we are in uncharted territory.”
Rubio Today: It’s false to say I said the U.S. had to attack because Israel was going to attack. That’s not what I said.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 3, 2026
Rubio Yesterday: We knew Israel was going to strike Iran, and that would trigger attacks on U.S. forces. If we didn’t act first, Americans would suffer higher… pic.twitter.com/J6PckZmD2q
While remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Senator Mark Warner illustrate the Israel-driven interests behind entering into war with Iran, the speech made by Secretary Hegseth in 2018 reveals a deeper motive that goes far beyond the political realm, revealing the esoteric forces ultimately shaping it to do their bidding. The remarks made by Hegseth in 2018 center on the sacred tenet of the building of the Third Temple at the core of Jewish eschatology. Moreover, they highlight how the version of “Christian” nationalism shamelessly espoused by members of the Trump administration like him and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is nothing more than a vehicle to further instill Zionism as the driving force behind U.S. policymaking. The complaints filed with the MRFF reveal how deeply that influence has corrupted the Trump administration, erasing any doubt that its decision to wage war on Iran is not a religious mission anointed by any Christian concept of God. Instead, it is one being done at the behest of its masters in Israel, who, as its actions show, the Trump administration has come to revere more than Christ.
Reprinted with author’s permission from ZeroHedge.
