Crazy with Messianic Religious Ultra-Nationalism - UPDATE

I would like to make three points in updating my recent article—the original of which is included below.

First, the spokeswoman for the Israeli Defense Forces threatened Russian leaders. Anna Ukolova, apparently of Slavic, perhaps Russian heritage, warned that Russian authorities who “wish Israel ill” could be subject to “elimination.” At the same time, she implied Israel has the capability to hack into Russia’s closed-circuit television cameras to locate and track targets. Asked by a journalist from Russia’s RBC radio if Israel has access to Russian traffic cameras, Ukolova avoided answering directly and instead said: “Khamenei’s elimination shows our capabilities are serious” and that “no one who wishes us harm will be left aside.”

IDF threatens ‘elimination’ for Russian leaders who ‘wish Israel ill’

Second, Russian ally, Tajikistan, is producing drones and transporting them to northeastern Iran over ground through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, two states also close to Russia, though less so than Tajikistan.

Third, the U.S. and Israel attacked a target with ballistic missiles that detonated just 350 meters from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is run by a staff that includes some 500 Russian engineers and workers (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/international/dangerous-nuclear-precedent-russia-blasts-us-israel-after-irans-bushehr-plant-attack/videoshow/129690209.cms).

To sum up, tensions between the U.S. and Israel, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other hand, are rising precipitously, with the latter two countries engaged in what they regard as existential wars — Russia in Ukraine, Israel in Iran and elsewhere. Moreover, the U.S. and Israel are operating at least in part on the basis of religious nationalism and messianism. In some parts of their polities and societies with religious eschatological and soteriological beliefs that promise the arrival or return of a messiah and the consequent advent of a utopia in the form of a heavenly reign or ‘messianic era’ under God. I posited in the original that this may prompt some inisde these countries societies and establishments to accelerate the fulfillment of prophecy and thereby escalate the Iranian War.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

A while back I wrote a short piece on the pattern of becoming one’s enemy visible in more or less recent history (https://gordonhahn.com/2024/08/06/becoming-the-enemy/). Little did I know how right I was and what new version of this phenomenon would soon emerge or in fact was emerging as I wrote. We in the West often hear about Iran’s own extreme religious nationalism or Islamic fundamentalism and its own eschatology of Islamist prophecy. We hear far less of Isreal extremist apocalyptical Zionist imperial wing and even less of the new Christian nationalism it is allied with here in the States. These latter two ‘fundamentalisms’ are both enacting prophecy as each sees it in the new Iranian War.

American Messianism: No Longer Just Democratic Eschatology

There has long been a strong strain of democratic messianism in the United States. Since its founding, Americans have believed in a teleological eschatology no less potent than communist messianism’s claim to an ultimate future utopia of a classless society under the dictatorship of the proletariat, where there would be no poverty, no crime, and no violence because these were epiphenomena of capitalist bourgeois states and societies. Americans, though somewhat less utopian, have believed that the superiority of ‘democracy’ (that is, republican governance) made its adoption a universal inevitability. Men are rational, and all will come to see someday the enlightened nature of the democratic choice. The world is in the midst of a universal transition that has one vector alone -- towards democracy – as Francis Fukuyama told us.

The republican nature of U.S. government soon evolved into a superiority complex that gave way to a sense that since the American system was the best and morally and ethically good, anything that benefited America was good. Paul Grenier, editor of Landmarks and president of the Simone Weil Center of Political Philosophy, wrote recently: “America’s goodness became an article of faith. As a result, that which is in America’s interests merged imperceptibly with what should be done, what is good in itself. What hurts America in any way and for any reason, for that same reason must be condemned”

On First Things' Nihilistic Apology for Trump's War with Iran

Nowadays, anything that stands in the way of the historically predetermined global expansion of republican systems or of its carrier, the United States of America, not only must be condemned, it must be attacked militarily, even destroyed. Moreover, the nature of the means used to achieve the political ends of U.S. foreign policy should not prevent realization of History’s grand plan. If republicanization of the world requires supporting Al Qaeda in Syria, then by all means it must be supported. If opening the road to full republicanization requires a strategic defeat of Russia, then by all means sacrifice Ukraine and the Ukrainian peoples to the far more powerful Russian state, society and army but ally with Ukraine’s neofascists and ultranationalists, train, equip, and whitewash them as supposed ‘freedom fighters.’ The impetus of the perfidious and heinous betrayal of the original American spirit is being compounded by another original element in the American revolution: Christian religiosity.

American-Christian, Ultra-National Messianism’s Advent to Power

It was a profoundly religious and Christian spirituality that produced the principles ‘all men are created equal’ and the ‘inalienable right to freedom.’ Unfortunately, religious thought and sensibilities offer great potential for righteousness, but they also possess the danger of self-ritheousness, which bestows on the self-claimed possessor of righteousness the right to act on behalf of God and to fulfill God’s intent, of which by virtue of one’s self-proclaimed righteousness one is intimately knowledgable. Thus, the ostenisble surety of Americans’ republican soteriology is intensifying the sense of their republican mission, for the U.S. is not just the vessel bringing democracy to the world, it is ‘God-carrying’ – a phrase I take from certain Russian messianists. America is now for many Americans, much as some Russians consider Russia to be, a ‘God-carrying people’ or nation. All men may be equal, but all nations, cultures and civilizations are not.

During the controversy over Syria policy during Trump’s first term, I noted: “The ideological imperative for the West is two-fold: primarily democracy-promotion and, among a small though increasingly vocal segment of the population, evangelical messianic apocalypticism. Regarding, democracy expansion, while Trump may not be enamored with pushing others to live as the West does, many in the US and European establishments do. To accomplish democratization, the preservation of America’s premier status as global leader must be maintained, and the loss to Putin in Syria undermined that status. The other ideological or, better put, theo-ideological driver is the the idea all too popular many fundamentalist Christians and Jews (one akin to similar apocalypto-messianic beliefs held by Shia ‘Twelvers’ and radical Sunnis of the ISIS type) which holds that the apocalypse will be set off by a war that begins with Russia (allegedly Magog in the Bible) and an allied coalition invading Israel.* This, for example, is the view of the very popular talk show host Glenn Beck, who also argues that God made a “covenant” blessing America starting with George Washington. For such people, much of this messianism is rooted in a special American relationship with, and role in defending Israel. While I strongly support Israel’s right to exist, its sovereignty and national security, I reject the ‘Russia-Magog’ theory’ of international relations and the apocalypse. The rise of people like Secretary of State Pompeo, who is known to be an avid evangelical Christian, raises fears that he might be letting his religious beliefs trump his policy advice” (https://gordonhahn.com/2019/03/29/trumps-golan-trump-card-syria-moscow-state-sovereignty-and-international-security/). As an example of such thinking in Amereican evangelical cricles, I cited as an example: “GOD warns Iran (Persia), with Russia (Magog), and a coalition of allies (including Turkey, Libya, Sudan) will go to war and will invade Israel. In Ezekiel 38-39 the Bible warns this coming war between Iran (Persia) and Israel will take place sometime afterIsrael has been re-gathered into Her land as a nation (which was fulfilled on May 14, 1948) … this prophetic war has never yet taken place” (www.alphanewsdaily.com/Warning%206%20Russia%20Iran%20Invasion.html).

The numerous, gross excesses of the Obama and Biden administrations provoked a radical reaction in American conservative circles. This brought what many call Christian nationalism, what I will call Christian ultranationalism, to a more dominant position of the messianic aspect in American’s ideology and strategic culture. This has become quite evident recently, with new revelations coming during the Iran War.

It is a poorly kept secret that many in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration are evangelical Christians of various strains. Such Chrtistians tend to believe in the imminence of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse that will preceed it. Part of this belief is that the Bible references a northern country that will attack Israel in the ‘end times’ leading to the apocalypse. That country to the north of Israel is almost unanimously interpreted to be Russia, though there is no particular reason why Iran, Syria, Turkey, or ven Lebanon could not suffice. A broader interpretation could include Russian or antoher country’s assistance to the state that attacks Israel that would fulfill the prophecy.

A video has circulated of Trump’s spiritual advisor and White House advisor Paula White-Cain engaged in ostensible spiritual ecstasy calling for, among other things, the U.S. to “strike and strike and stike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike until You have victory” over Iran. Her call for relentless military attack on Iran is replete with speaking in tongues, giving it a special, providential provenance, if you will (see the video:www.facebook.com/reel/1263857939268056). Ms. White-Cain is the Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office and, I would suggest, influences the ‘spiritual’ atmosphere there. During Trump’s first term she held the position of Special Advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The issue here is not Ms. White-Cain’s religious faith or even the unusual religious practice per se, but rather the evangelical eschatology of the U.S.-Israeli alliance and her use of religion to propagandize war violence the U.S. and its ally Israel that is killing civilians in the aftermath of Israel’s near-genocidal war in Gaza in which civilians were obviously targeted. The hysterical appearance of White-Cain’s appearance does little to assuage an observer’s concern that it may provoke less than a meek and analytical approach to the issue of a war that threatens to bring down an economic if not political or full human holocaust—an apocalypse of the kind she eagerly awaits. I feel safe in assuming that this sort of religious fervor is driving much of the enthusiasm for the Iran War inside the Trump administration and among a portion of Trump’s MAGA support base. This does mean that Trump or those around him did not have geopolitical and national security goals in mind as well when deciding to join Israel in what has been a massive military attack on Iran. But at a minimum the Christian ultranationalist lobby that White-Cain and other administration offices represent is a driving force that in tandem with the Israeli lobby and secular neocon types pressured Trump into purusing this war. At a maximum, it is shaping Trump’s geopolitical and security thinking and placing Israel far higher on the agenda for policy than it should be. I do not exclude that Trump will back off, as he did with the Houthis, when he found them too hard a nut to crack.

Another problem here is the infiltration of Christian ultranationalism into the U.S. military. It was recently reported that hundreds of American soldiers have complained to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that their commanders were framing the conflict with Iran in religious terms as a mission from God required to fulfill biblical prophecies about the apocalypse. For an example, one non-commissioned officer reported that his commander said that “Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth” (www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2026/03/mrff-inundated-with-complaints-of-gleeful-commanders-telling-troops-iran-war-is-part-of-gods-divine-plan-to-usher-in-the-return-of-jesus-christ/ and https://myemail.constantcontact.com/MRFF-Inundated-with-Complaints-of-Gleeful-Commanders-Telling-Troops-Iran-War-is--Part-of-God-s-Divine-Plan--to-Usher-in-Return-o.html?soid=1101766362531&aid=3OTPFAZxIrI). This may be coming from the top, from the War Department. Journalist Jonathan Larsen, who reported on this development, writes that “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has enshrined evangelical Christianity at the uppermost levels of the U.S. military, airing monthly prayer meetings throughout the Pentagon.” “Last year, the Pentagon confirmed to (Larsen) that Hegseth attends a weekly White House Bible study. It’s led by a preacher who says God commands America to support Israel”

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus

To replace LGBT propaganda and grooming in the military with single-confessional religious propaganda of a radical Christian kind seems a wash, particularly as the long-forgotten U.S. Constitition is concerned.

Israeli Imperial Zionist Messianism

America’s ally in the Iranian War, Israel, has no consitution. In its place stands a legal tradtion of basic laws and a political system being shaken by growing political and religious schisms. In such circumstances, Israeli culture and its numerous sub-cultures shaped by religious views will be more pivotal in determining events. Israel’s army, like its society is imbued with religious thinking, and the radical Zionist wing has gained far greater influence than ever over the last decade. Israel’s political spectrum has shifted to the right with radical Jewish Zionists playing a central role in policymaking, given their foundational position in holding together the Cabinet of Prime Miniuster Benjamin Netanyahu. Rather than the Christian view of Gog’s and Magog’s assault on Israel ushering in the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, Jewish eschatology, particularly among the radical Zionist wing in Israel, sees Gog and Magog as the enemies to be defeated by the Messiah and his Jewish-led army, establishing a new, Messianic Age.

The radical Zionist wing’s Israeli messianists present the recent wars in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, and now Iran as Biblical developments foreseen in Jewish prophecy. Even Benjamin Netanyahu has joined the caravan. In response to the horrendous 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on his country, the prime minister invoked “Amalrek” in supporting his military actions in Gaza, implying that all Palestionians were this Biblical enemy of Israel (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMVs7akyMh0 and www.gov.il/en/pages/statement-by-pm-netanyahu-28-oct-2023). Amalrek refers to a specific passage in the first Book of Samuel, where God commands King Saul through the prophet Samuel to kill every person in the rival nation of Amalek. “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. … Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.’” (1 Samuel 15, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2015&version=NIV).

In the radical Zionists’ view, Israel’s mission is to re-establish the larger Jewish state across the Middle East – one which is over-expansive in its claims compared with an historical Israel – and, more importantly, to rebuild the Great Jewish Temple – the prophecied Third Temple that will usher in the Messianic Age – on the Great ‘Dome of the Rock’ which now hosts an Islamic mosque. This is evidenced by the patches depicting the Third Temple depicted on shoulder patches worn by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers (https://tuckercarlson.com/live-show-march-4-2026?utm_campaign=20260305_march5dailybriefsubs&utm_medium=email&utm_source=iterable&utm_content=brandonweichert).

The Appearance of Prophecy Being Fulfilled

Recent developments may begin to ‘confirm’ in fertile minds that prophecy is becoming reality. This in turn might increase the ranks of believers in apocalyptic scenarios and the need for tough responses in the face of the Anti-Christ’s aggressions. Growing tensions with Russia would seem to lend creedence to the Zionists’ views. After all, Russia is reportedly providing intelligence for Iranian missile strikes, perhaps those targeting Israel as well as U.S. military bases and Gulf states’ energy infrastructure. Another press report said Russian tehnology was found in Iranian drones that hit a British military base on Cyprus in early March (www.the-sun.com/news/16053966/russia-iran-drone-raf-base-cyprus-putin/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email). Also in early March, the IDF destroyed (without Russian casualties) the Russian Cultural Centre in South Lebanon. The Russian Foreign Ministry decried the attack as “an act of unprovoked aggression,” but the Israeli media scorned the Kremlin for “crying” (https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/kremlin-cries-over-israel-bombed-russian-culture-house-in-hezbollah-lebanon/). The same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ayotollah Khamenei recently killed by the IDF, and reaffirmed Russia’s “unwavering support for Tehran and solidarity with our Iranian friends” (https://tass.com/politics/2098763). Russia’s ambassador to London has stated that Moscow is not neutral in the war but is “supportive of Iran,” having “sympathies with Iran” (www.palestinechronicle.com/russia-not-neutral-in-iran-war-envoy-says-as-moscow-backs-tehran/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email).

Self-Fulfilling the Prophecy

American republicanism is far from the only secular teleology of utopian and eschatological dreams. Vladimir Lenin spoke of ‘telescoping’ the bourgeois and socialist revolutions in Russia into a single or nearly single process with a short timeframe. Rather than waiting for the long, slow socioeconomic and sociopolitical process of capitalist development, the rise of a working class, and the surge of communist revolution, Russia’s backwardness in the form of weak, late and rapid capitalist development might see the rise of socialism on the back of the bourgeois democratic revolution if the working class were led by a party of dedicated professional revolutionaries, who could show the working class its separate proletarian interests and destiny, according the communist prophecy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

We may be seeing something similar in the reasoning behind this war deployed by some Americans and Israelis. Elements within the radical Christian and Zionist wings in the U.S. and Israel may seek to intensify the current Iranian conflict ion the belief they can faciliatet the coming of their repective saviors. Various decisionmakers and advisors could succumb to this temptation unconsciously. Isreal’s recent and possibly intentional attack on Russia’s cultural centre in southern Lebanon and other developments suggest that extremist Zionists in and around Israel’s military and intelligence services are attempting to fulfil prophecy of their own on their own—‘telescoping’, if you will, the coming of the Messiah.

Given the Iranian Shiite Twelvers’ own Islamist messianism, we have a poisonous apocalyptical-eschatological soup that is being brewed and served up in the now expanding Iranian or Third Persian Gulf War. If there is a God, he cannot be on everyone’s side. Is any side pure enough to receive God’s support? Or does God settle for ‘the lesser of two evils”?