There is a joke about the Pope. Completely tired of driving around, on a trip to New York the Pope decided to drive himself. After some persuasion, he convinced the driver to hand over the keys to the limo. Unfortunately, given that his areas of expertise were more in the theological, ecumenical, and spiritual realms than the physical realm, he was almost immediately pulled over for speeding. However, the officer who stopped the car found himself in a difficult situation and called the police chief.The conversation went like this:Police: Chief, I just stopped a limousine for speeding.Director: Then give him a ticket.Policeman: I can’t. He is really important.Director: That makes more sense.Policeman: No, sir, this is really important.Chief: What is he, the mayor?Police: Bigger.Director: Senator?Police: Bigger.Director: President?Police: Who is bigger than the president?Policeman: I think it’s God.Chief: Why do you think this is God?Policeman: Well… his driver is the Pope.This joke feels a little too real, since the annals of history are filled with examples of people who claimed to be walking in God’s ways—priests, rulers, con men, and others. Of course, in some traditions, God himself is the charioteer.Dr. Gregory House, TV’s most beloved misanthropic curmudgeon, famously said, “If you talk to God, you’re religious. If God talks back, you’re psychotic.”Unfortunately for us, since time immemorial, before rulers had to rub our dirty hands in exchange for votes, they often claimed that God spoke to them – and they had armies, so no one could call them psychotic.In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs claimed to be living gods. The Chinese emperors claimed that they were governed by the Mandate of Heaven. European monarchs claimed the divine right of kings. It is not surprising, therefore, that divine intervention is also integrated into modern democracy.
God’s chosen warrior?
There is a saying that the Lord works in mysterious ways, which may explain why God chose a former reality TV star suffering from dementia to carry out a good work.
Over the past decade, American evangelists have claimed Donald Trump is God’s “chosen warrior,” even though he couldn’t quote a single verse of the Bible during the 2016 Republican primary debate (but that didn’t stop him from selling Trump-themed Bibles).When Trump survived an assassination attempt, the chorus reached a fever pitch. Prominent MAGA conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec claims that since the bullet was fired at 6:11 p.m. — apparently God also follows Eastern Daylight Time — this moment was prophesied in Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the armor of God, so that you may be able to fight against the schemes of the devil.”Matthew D Taylor, a senior scholar of Christian nationalism, explained to Politico after the assassination attempt that the reaction reflected evangelicals’ hard-line belief that the event represented “a modern fulfillment of prophecy.”This makes it only a matter of time before God intervenes in the confrontation between the United States and Israel.
Another holy war?
The American establishment offered various explanations for the attack: regime change, Israel doing it anyway, feminism, and the elimination of nuclear weapons.It was perhaps inevitable that theology would eventually join this list.In an article published by Asia Times, a combat unit commander reportedly told non-commissioned officers at a briefing that the Iran war was “part of God’s plan” and that Trump “was anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to trigger the end of the world and mark his return to Earth.”The report, citing complaints filed by several service members with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, claims commanders described the conflict as “part of God’s divine plan” and cited passages about Armageddon in the Book of Revelation.This rhetoric fits well with interpretations circulating in evangelical media, prophetic forums, and Jerusalem street sermons. In these circles, the Israel-Iran war is increasingly framed through biblical eschatology.
Critics cite the Book of Revelation’s description of Armageddon – the gathering of armies before final divine judgment – and the prophecies of Gog and Magog in the Book of Ezekiel, which describes the last days of rival nations’ rebellion against Israel before their destruction by God.In many of these interpretations, modern Iran becomes the rebirth of ancient Persia, Israel becomes the stage for history’s final act, and the war itself becomes a possible sign that the final act of biblical prophecy is unfolding.Trump’s defense secretary and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has long spoken about conflicting with language in the same theological universe.In his 2020 book “American Crusades,” he describes contemporary geopolitics as a civilizational struggle between Christianity and its enemies, arguing that those who enjoy Western freedoms should “thank the Crusaders.”For Heges, symbolism is more than rhetoric. His body is decorated with Crusader motifs, including the Jerusalem Cross and the Latin phrase Deus Vult – a medieval battle cry meaning “God willing” closely associated with the First Crusade.
Familiar Historical Resilience
It would be optimistic, even foolish, to think that America’s “holy war” was started by a former Fox News host or a former reality TV star.In the early days of the war on terror, George W. Bush described the anti-terrorist campaign as a “crusade,” a statement that aroused strong reactions in the Muslim world. The White House later clarified the statement, but the remarks revealed how easily the language of jihad has entered modern geopolitics.Bush often describes the fight against terrorism as a battle between good and evil, describing the conflict in moral terms that echo ancient notions of providence and destiny.During the Cold War, Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as a “godless evil empire,” turning the competition between Washington and Moscow into a moral contest between good and evil.Earlier, the nineteenth-century doctrine of Manifest Destiny held that the United States had been chosen by God to expand across the North American continent.In the American imagination, the country often sees itself as the heir to two civilizations: the power of Rome and the intellectual legacy of Renaissance Europe.
In this arc, crusades, prophecies, and apocalyptic language act like ancient American muscle memory—turning war into a moral mission and geopolitical struggles into stories of destiny.The enemies change and the scriptures cited vary, but the basic narrative remains remarkably consistent: God is always on America’s side.
Christian Zionist Worldview
Like the Indian subcontinent that gave birth to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, the Middle East is also the cradle of several of the world’s most influential faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This is why the region has long been imagined by some as the Promised Land and by others as a sacred place.In the Christian Zionist worldview, Israel is not just a nation but sacred geography, a belief rooted in the covenant described in Genesis, in which God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land. Biblical imagery reinforces this vision. In Isaiah 51:3, the prophet describes the restoration of Zion in almost Edenic terms:“The Lord will comfort Zionand will look with pity upon all her ruins;He will make her a desert like Eden,Her wasteland is like the garden of the Lord. “The promise is simple yet powerful: a barren land becomes a Garden of Eden. For believers who tend to read the Bible in conjunction with modern geopolitics, this passage demonstrates that Israel’s destiny was never simply political. It’s always part of an older story.This belief occasionally appears directly in political rhetoric. Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, has argued that “it would be nice if they took everything away,” referring to the biblical interpretation that Israel’s Promised Land stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates. Trump’s Arab allies reacted strongly. Huckabee’s remarks drew on a nineteenth-century evangelical theological framework known as dispensationalism—a doctrine that divides history into divine dispensations that culminate in the return of Christ. During this time, the restoration of Israel took center stage. For believers influenced by this interpretation, the modern nation of Israel becomes evidence of the biblical promises unfolding in contemporary history.Therefore, supporting Israel is not only diplomatic but also theological.
Punchline
Which brings us back to the Pope joke. The real problem today is that much of the world resembles a police officer who pulls over a speeding limousine.The rules state that he should give the driver a ticket. Unfortunately for the rest of us, limousines are now a metaphor for the American military-industrial complex—the most powerful war machines ever built.This raises a troubling question: How do you tell someone who believes they are doing God’s will to slow down?
