As if it isn't bad enough to start an illegal war with no plans, we're also being led by people at the top and by far to many members of our military leadership who believe in the Armageddon story or at least that we are involved in a holy war.
Independent journalist Jonathan Larsen reports on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which has been contacted by U.S. troops across the Middle East. They say their commanders claim the U.S. war on Iran is a Christian War. "One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus."
Larsen's full article gives the details, and is worth reading in full.
MRRF was founded by the former Air Force attorney who brought to light the fundamentalist Christian indoctrination that was happening at the Air Force Academy more than 20 years ago. Despite his work and that of his organization, fundamentalist indoctrination continues there.
Carmen Celestini (@philofwrite.bsky.social on BlueSky) is a researcher in conspiracy theories, religion, gender, extremism, end times, and hate. She is a lecturer at the University of Waterloo.
Prompted by Larsen's story about Iran, she posted a thread recounting what she called a "short history of the end times/rapture in the American military":
Cold war: Forces were seen as the defense against godless communism, but also as a rich environment for missionary outreach.
1959 – National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) estimated 50% of those in service were not affiliated with a church or had a religious background.
1952 – Mainline Protestant denominations aggressively promoted annual preaching missions on US military bases. Battle was fierce between Mainline and Evangelicals for influence in the military Chaplaincy. NAE created a chaplain-endorsing agency – called the Commission on Chaplains – as liaison between Evangelical and Fundamentalist denominations in the military Chaplaincy
The US military recruited chaplains through endorsing agents in a system created to avoid Constitutional problems with the government endorsing religion within the military.
This was the beginning of Evangelicals' attempt to take over. Creation of the officers' Christian fellowship during WWII. Officers were placed in the military to meet and share their faith. This fellowship changed in the Cold War from a prayer group to a missionary movement.
The Vietnam War composition of the military chaplaincy changed. Up to then it was primarily Protestant denominations and Catholics. These religious leaders spoke out against the war. Evangelical leaders did not: they saw the Vietnam War as God's work. And Evangelicals soon filled the gap of Catholics/Protestants leaving the military.
1967 – The Assemblies of God retracted its commitment to pacifism and proclaimed worldly war as a counterpart to the spiritual struggle.
Other Fundamentalists applied the tactics of guerrilla combat to the spiritual fight. Developed "Infiltration," filling the ranks of secular institutions they deem as "American" with undercover missionaries. They saw the military as a way to send their missionaries into the world.
Reagan cemented the Evangelical hold on the military when he changed regulations governing the denominational breakdown of the Chaplaincy based on religious demographics of the whole military.
In 1987 Protestant labeling in the military was an umbrella term for all denominations, so numbers increased dramatically. The Pentagon allowed Fundamentalist Bible college grads to fill the required Protestant placements in the Chaplaincy. More than 2/3 of the military's active duty Chaplains were associated with Evangelical or Pentecostal denominations.
Between 1994 and 2005 the number of Chaplains from evangelical and Pentecostal churches rose and in some cases more than doubled. DOD stats show 40% of active duty personnel were Evangelical while in civilian population it was 14%. In the early 2000s, Evangelical Chaplains represented 60% of the military chaplains.
Fundamentalists were the most represented faith among military officers. The Officers' Christian Fellowship (OCF) was active at 80% of the US military bases worldwide. After 9/11 membership in OFC grew 3% each year. They saw the war on terror as a spiritual battle. The OFC website's stated goal is "to create a spiritually transformed US military, with Ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered with the Holy Spirit."
Church support groups such as Navigators, the OCF, Overseas Christian Servicemen's Centres and the Full Gospel Businessmen were operating active chapters globally in and around US military bases. Note the Chaplain Corps is the second oldest branch in the Army, second only to infantry.
The most prominent group is the Military Ministry – an affiliate of Campus Crusade for Christ.
Basic training broke people and their missionary was there to spread the good news, when they were broken and more open to the word. They claimed bases are excellent locations to pursue their strategic goals.
They created books, events, strategic plans to share Christ and convert. Military personnel were "chosen people" to spread the gospel.
A Christian Embassy – ministered at the Pentagon, with more than 350 Bible study classes, using their curriculum – is held regularly among the 25 to 30k members. Curriculum is spiritual warfare, warfare for Christ, as a force multiplier.
Pete Hegseth clearly comes out of this tradition.
I had no idea the chaplaincy was so tainted and infiltrated by these people. Where is Father Mulcahy when you need him?
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