When a commander tells American troops that war with Iran is part of “God’s divine plan,” that a sitting president is “anointed by Jesus” to ignite Armageddon, and when over a hundred complaints arise across dozens of units, including from believers themselves, both our theological and constitutional alarm bells need to be going off.

As I have written before, this is the peril of a certain strains of dispensational theology, one that reads modern geopolitics as a countdown clock to Revelation, that sees Middle Eastern conflict not as tragedy to be restrained but as prophecy to be fulfilled. When leaders adopt that framework, diplomacy may look like disobedience, de-escalation may be interpreted as faithlessness, and peace itself can appear as resistance to God’s will. This is such a dangerous precedent to set.

Also, in his book, “American Crusade,” Pete Hegseth, the sitting secretary of defense, uses holy war imagery and language from The Crusades to frame current political struggles as a cosmic battle between good versus evil and the righteous versus the damned. He goes on to describe Muslims, along with leftists and Marxists, as among the enemies we are at “war” with to protect “western civilization.” It should rightly send chills down every American’s spine when we hear a sitting secretary of defense framing his decisions on the theological framework of 11th and 15th century Crusades rather than the Constitution of the United States.

The United States military is sworn to the Constitution, not to a sectarian interpretation of Scripture or a particular partisan ideology. Its authority flows from the consent of a pluralistic people, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and many others who entrust their sons and daughters to defend a republic, not to enact a particular theological view of the “apocalypse.”

This is why the separation of church and state is so crucial. It is protection for faith and freedom from religion shaping policy and international decisions. It ensures that no commander can cloak personal theology in the authority of the state. It guards against the ancient temptation to merge the church with the empire.

When political leaders or military officers frame war as divine inevitability, they remove it from the realm of prudence and accountability. If a conflict is “God’s plan,” who dares question it? If a president is “anointed” for Armageddon, who dares restrain him? That is not patriotism at all, that is the language of sacralized power. In regards to the Christian faith, that is blasphemy and taking God’s name in vain for the pursuit of power.

A republic cannot survive if its wars are justified as prophecy fulfilled. Democracies deliberate. Theocracies declare. The American experiment depends on understanding the difference.

If our Christian faith matters to us, then we must take it deeply seriously when it is conscripted to sanctify violence or foreclose debate. Because when it does, it endangers both the church and the state. The framers understood this hard lesson from history. When governments wage war in God’s name, dissent becomes heresy, and policy becomes dogma.

The men and women in uniform deserve leaders who speak in the sober tones of constitutional responsibility, not in the fevered cadence of apocalypse. The church deserves Christian faith leaders who will speak out against their faith being weaponized by the state. The world is volatile enough without casting it as a stage for Revelation.

The sword of the republic must remain guided by the Constitution, restrained by oversight of the people, and accountable to the people, not unsheathed in pursuit of a timetable prescribed by a particular Christian sect’s interpretation of prophecy.

Read the full article from The Cradle here:

Read my deeper analysis of how dispensational theology is shaping discourse around the war in Iran here: benjaminrcremer.substac…

Read my article called “A Christian Defense For The Separation of Church and State,” here: benjamin-cremer.kit.com…