Stairway to Armageddon

Crazed US commanders push End Times on US troops. (w/Mikey Weinstein)

American commanders are pushing fringe End Times beliefs on Middle East troops—with potentially apocalyptic results. In the video above I interview Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (the organization that broke the story).

In short, U.S. military commanders have been framing the conflict with Iran in apocalyptic religious terms. Mikey says his organization has received more than 200 complaints from service members who report hearing superiors describe war as a catalyst for the biblical End Times. They are, in Mikey’s words, using a “weaponized Jesus” to promote their theology.

Weinstein warns that the rise of Christian nationalism inside the most technologically powerful military in history poses a grave risk to global security. (No kidding! These commanders control lethal weaponry—and they want an apocalypse!)

I have no problem with any kinds of belief people hold in their private lives, but this kind of thinking has no place in military conflict. It brings to mind Gen. Jack D. Ripper, the Dr. Strangelove character who starts a nuclear war because he’s against fluoridated water. It’s unhinged.

It also does incalculable harm to morale—not only among Jewish, Muslim, atheist and other non-Christian soldiers, but for Catholics and mainstream Protestants whose churches reject these fringe beliefs. That’s why, throughout the conversation, Weinstein stresses that his organization is not anti-Christian—95 percent of its clients are Christians—but pro-Constitution and committed to preventing religious coercion in the military.

Weinstein also criticizes Pentagon leadership for promoting Christian nationalism, a fundamentally un-American form of totalitarianism that’s closely linked to End Times theology and far-right politics.

This is a critically important story. It’s also one that I can’t find in The New York Times, the “paper of record”—unless it’s been very well hidden. Please give the conversation a listen. It’s very important—and frightening.

You can learn more about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation here:

https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org

Transcript (lightly edited):

Richard Eskow: So, Mikey, I know we’ve been hearing about commanders telling their troops to rejoice because this war with Iran is going to bring about Armageddon. It sounds too crazy to be true, but you’ve been hearing directly from soldiers in the field about it, haven’t you?

Mikey Weinstein: Well, we’ve been fighting this battle for 21 years now. We’re proud to have received eight Nobel Peace Prize nominations, the last five from individuals who themselves won the Peace Prize. I say that not out of arrogance or hubris, but to establish our credibility.

We fight Christian nationalism in the most technologically lethal organization ever created by humankind: the U.S. military, which controls all the nuclear weapons, drones, laser-guided weapons, and conventional weapons. So this is not new to us. But this White House — I don’t even refer to him as President Trump — these are just fundamentalist Christian fascist gangsters, as far as we’re concerned.

They can’t seem to come up with a reason why we attacked a nation that was provoking us about as much as Mickey Mouse was. First it was that we were going to eliminate their nuclear weapons capacity — but I thought we already did that back in June and July. Next it was regime change.

Then they moved on to saying we’re going to punish Iran because the Iranians and their proxies helped engineer, design, and deploy those IEDs all over Afghanistan and Iraq when we were fighting there. And of course, why would anyone be surprised? We have well over 200 client complaints, and the more than 100,000 military personnel and veterans we represent from 50-plus installations have reported the same situation: their commanders are justifying the war on the grounds that it will serve as an accelerant and a lubricant, Richard, to bring back their version of a tortured, weaponized Jesus in fulfillment of the Battle of Armageddon, as dictated by Christian eschatology and the End Times prophecy of the Book of Revelation. Among other things, they are promised — picture this clearly, Zero Hour folks — a 200-mile-long river, four and a half feet deep, filled with nothing but the blood of those slaughtered by their version of a weaponized Jesus at Armageddon.

Bear in mind, we have a Defense Secretary — Pete Hegseth, or “kegseth” as we call him, as in beer keg — who holds a Jesus praise service in the Pentagon’s largest auditorium once a month, during the duty day, in uniform. What message do you think that’s sending? It’s completely Christian nationalist. He’s been doing it every month since May.

The most recent one was Tuesday, February 17th. Hegseth invited his personal favorite, Pastor Doug Wilson, to preside, and the two were standing side by side, embracing. Wilson is quite a fellow. He believes that slavery in America was biblically sanctioned and tells everyone that many slave owners had a warm relationship with their slaves—the same relationship, Richard, they had with their living room furniture. He believes women shouldn’t be allowed to vote or serve in the military. Their role, as he sees it, is to bear children, raise families, shop for groceries, prepare food, and clean up afterward.

He believes Jews are complicit in the execution of Jesus, that Muslims can’t be trusted, and that LGBTQIA people probably don’t deserve to live. And all of this is effectively endorsed by our Secretary of Defense. Is anyone surprised it filters down through an organization like the Department of Defense, which is peculiarly adversarial, communal, ritualistic, and tribal?

Our clients — most of whom are also Christians — are reaching out saying, “Help us.” We are the best tool available to fight the fascistic Christian nationalist Pentagon we now have. This has been building through George W. Bush, Obama, Biden, and the first Trump administration. The options are to sue in federal court — though you need a plaintiff willing to put their name on a lawsuit —

Richard Eskow: Right. And assuming you can find a judge who’s not an ideologue.

Mikey Weinstein: — knowing full well any ruling will be appealed, and we all know what’s going to happen at the Supreme Court. Or we embarrass them and expose it through the media. And Richard, that’s exactly what you and I are doing right now. We’re engaged in producing kryptonite against this hideous situation.

Richard Eskow: And just to be clear, we’re not talking about persecuting Christians. As you say, many of the people calling you are themselves Christians.

Mikey Weinstein: 95% of our clients of over 100,000 are Christians, about 3/4 Protestants of every denomination.

Richard Eskow: And if you’re a Christian who doesn’t believe the Rapture is imminent — which I think describes most Christians — this is not exactly good for troop morale, to put it mildly.

Mikey Weinstein: Well, it destroys good order, morale, discipline, unit cohesion, the health and safety of the troops, and mission accomplishment—which is what our US Supreme Court determined back in 1974, in a case called Parker v. Levy, was the compelling governmental interest for the First Amendment versus members of the military, to make our military as lethal as possible.

That’s why you protect those things. We represent about 18% of all Muslims we know of in the military, along with hundreds of Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists. We even have 12 members of the Church of the Jedi, right out of Star Wars. We don’t care what their beliefs are.

About 84% of our staff of more than 1200 around the world and in the continental United States, paid and volunteer, are also Christians. Our largest and earliest endorsing organization is the California Council of Churches impact organization. That’s 5,500 individual Protestant churches in and around California, 21 different Protestant denominations, about 2 million Protestants.

Some people like to go after me, saying Mikey and his foundation eat Christians for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. But we don’t. We’re not anti-Christian. We’re pro-Constitution. And that means it’s not just about the separation of church and state, Richard — it’s also about another part of the Constitution most Americans don’t know, because civics stopped being taught in high schools.

That’s Article VI, Clause 3, which says we will never impose a religious test for any position in the federal government or military. And let me be clear: if you’re in the U.S. military, you are in the federal government. When our constitutional framers crafted this great divide — this Grand Canyon — between the spiritual and the temporal, between church and state,

— they had studied European history, Richard, and seen how much of the bloodshed had occurred when men of the cloth became men in political power. They looked at Cromwell in England. They looked closer to home at the Salem witch trials.

And they said, not here.

Richard Eskow: And the Irish can tell you a thing or two about Cromwell. I want to get to this point, Mikey, before we go any further, because some people might be wondering why I support your organization so strongly. Here’s why. Right or wrong, I was raised to believe two things: First, that the military exists to defend our country. Serving in it means defending our freedoms. Second, that one of those fundamental freedoms is freedom of religion. So I already see a conflict there.

But beyond that, you mentioned at the beginning of our conversation the extraordinary technology our military has at its disposal. I’m seriously disturbed by the idea that we have commanders in the field, at a global flashpoint where Russia and China are not going to want to lose access to Iranian oil, among other things —

Mikey Weinstein: Or North Korea.

Richard Eskow: — or North Korea. And we have people there who think this is wonderful because now we can destroy the world and bring about the Second Coming. This is not only morally wrong to me. It’s also a global security threat. Am I overreacting?

Mikey Weinstein: No, if anything you’re underreacting. We are staring into the abyss. I wish I had more time — I have about two more minutes — but I appreciate the chance to talk. You are articulating this perfectly, Richard. This situation is not merely a national security threa. It is a security threat of formidable magnitude to our entire planet. Historically, whenever we have married an extremist version of any religious faith—especially fundamentalist Christianity—with that arm of the state that wages war, we don’t end up with babbling brooks or streams or creeks, Richard. No, not lakes or ponds either. We get oceans of blood.

Richard Eskow: And unfortunately, I know you have to go — including to right-wing media. Another thing I was taught growing up: you go where the sinners are.

Mikey Weinstein: Yeah.

Richard Eskow: Good luck to you. Thanks for spending time with us. We’ll be in touch.

Mikey Weinstein: Thank you so much, Zero Hour! Appreciate it.