These Christian Nationalists Are Loving War with Iran
“God is using President Trump to execute judgment on wicked civilizations.”
Christian nationalists are enthralled by Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran — seeing this unlawful war as “a last-days moment” that could hasten the second coming of Jesus.
In a normal political environment, the extreme beliefs of end-times Christians might make for a quirky footnote to the geopolitics of the U.S. launching yet another war in the Middle East. But this is not a normal political moment.
The often-coarse MAGA movement is bolted to a side-car of Christian nationalism, whose adherents perceive events in any territory name-checked in the Bible through the lens of the Book of Revelation. The views of these zealots hold sway over political leaders in the White House and in Congress — and may even be influencing American military operations.
Cognitive dissonance abounds here. President Trump is famously irreligious and doubts that he’s bound for heaven. He can’t quote from the Bible (though he’s happy to hawk a MAGA version of it). Yet Trump has long courted leaders of an influential Christian nationalist movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, whose believers have frequently visited the White House to lay hands on the president.
Trump’s “spiritual adviser,” the televangelist Paula White-Cain, has long been linked to the NAR movement. White-Cain now runs the White House Office of Faith, created to give religious groups a path to influence Trump’s “policy agenda.” Over in Congress, House Speaker Mike Johnson — though a Baptist, and not a NAR adherent himself — is also tight with this crowd, calling one NAR “apostle” his “special brother.”
These NAR leaders are emerging as some of the biggest cheerleaders of the war with Iran, casting it as a biblical event. “Certain evangelical Christians see Iran as holding a key for the end times,” Brad Onishi, a scholar of Christian nationalism, explained on his podcast this week. “And that by taking this action in conjunction with Israel…the United States is playing a key role in the enactment of God’s plan for the end of the world.”
Spiritual (and Literal) Warfare
For the uninitiated, some context is key. The New Apostolic Reformation is not structured like a formal Christian denomination; rather it is composed of an influential network of independent ministries. NAR is an outgrowth of charismatic Christianity (think: Pentecostalism) in which miracles, speaking in tongues, and receiving divine prophecy are not bygones of a biblical age, but staples of modern religious life.
Quite different from mainline Christians, NAR adherents believe in “spiritual warfare.” They hold that angelic and demonic forces are waging a hidden battle for influence over earthly territory — including Washington D.C. They see real-world U.S. politics, global events, and even actual wars as shaped by that metaphysical struggle. Naturally, these Christian nationalists see themselves as allied with the angels — and frequently denounce secular Americans as “demonic.”
The NAR movement is obsessed with earthly power. Its adherents are pursuing a roadmap for Christian “dominion” that envisions them seizing the “seven mountains” of culture, including politics, education, and entertainment. They believe that this Christian conquest — not only in America, but across the globe — is the necessary precondition to trigger the end times and the return of Christ.
Trump as a Biblical Cyrus
When it comes to Donald Trump, these Christian nationalists have long rationalized their alliance with the thrice-married serial felon by casting him as a modern-day Cyrus — a pagan king from the Old Testament who nonetheless advanced the cause of God’s chosen people by liberating Jews from the ancient Babylonians.
And because the biblical Cyrus was a Persian, the current war on Iran has especially sparked their spiritual interest.
The NAR network often flies under the radar — with one significant exception. Movement leaders stream their own nightly news-and-prophecy program called FlashPoint. The production has the look and feel of a Fox News show, and here, movement leaders broadcast their unfiltered views to like-minded believers. (In a militant twist, the program’s superfans are referred to as the “FlashPoint Army.”)
In recent episodes, Trump’s war on Iran has left the show’s host and panelists nearly giddy with end-times anticipation.
FlashPoint is hosted by Gene Bailey, a polished pastor who emerged from the ministry of the Texas mega-pastor Kenneth Copeland. Bailey is politically connected. During the 2024 campaign he landed a FlashPoint interview with then-candidate Trump, in which Trump made a promise, since kept, to empower churches to engage openly in politics.
One of FlashPoint’s top panelists is Lance Wallnau, a NAR “apostle” who has been a linchpin for Trump’s Christian nationalist support since 2015. Wallnau literally wrote the book that positioned Trump as a modern Cyrus, branding him God’s Chaos Candidate. Wallnau remains politically connected; he partnered with the late Charlie Kirk in 2024 to mobilize evangelical churches on behalf of Trump’s candidacy.
FlashPoint shows this past week also featured Lorenzo Sewell, a pastor from Detroit who delivered a public prayer at Trump’s second inaugural, as well as an Australian pastor (and a former Kirk associate) named Andrew Sedra.
“We Are Trying to Make Your Kingdom Come”
During a weekend FlashPoint episode that aired hours after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, Sedra was enthusiastic about the violence. “It’s happening. It’s happening!” he said, calling on “anybody who believes the gospel to really back President Trump in this moment.” That’s because, Sedra insisted, “God is using President Trump in a prophetic moment of time to execute judgment on evil and wicked civilizations.”
Sedra spoke hatefully about the Muslim faith. “Trump is going after the head of the snake, which is Islam,” he argued, before framing the U.S. president in a biblical role: “He’s literally becoming Cyrus the Great. He’s taking decisive action to make sure that Christendom [and] freedom will last.” Making explicit the expectation that American warfare could spark the return of Jesus, Sedra added prayerfully: “We’re not here, Lord, trying to play politics. We are trying to get your kingdom to come.”
Bailey, for his part, extended the metaphor of Trump as a Cyrus figure, who now is liberating the Iranians. Of the original Cyrus, Bailey said: “The Persians still call him ‘Cyrus the Great’ because he… broke the back of the oppressive regime.” Bailey added: “Now, many Persians see something similar in Donald Trump.”
Wallnau — who presents like an infomercial pitchman rather than a holy figure — insisted that President Trump is “highly prophetic” and “hard for the devil to control.” Thanks to Trump waging war on Iran, he added, “Israel and the return of Jesus is back on the menu.”
On Monday’s FlashPoint episode, Wallnau continued to build out this narrative. “It’s about Cyrus Trump leading the greatest gentile nation in history, in a Last Days-moment,” he said, “pushing back on the powers of darkness so that the gospel can be preached in all the earth.”
“Under the Anointing of God”
This same Monday show also featured Sewell, the Detroit pastor, who argued that Trump (“our modern day Cyrus” who is “led by the Lord”) had transformed spiritual warfare into something literal when he assassinated Iran’s ayatollah: “That which people have been doing in the spirit, we saw it manifest in the natural,” he said.
Appearing from Washington D.C., Sewell bragged of his proximity to MAGA political power. He told the FlashPoint audience that he’d spent the day in the West Wing of the White House, mingling among Trump’s top advisers. He asserted that God was not only using Trump, but also Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “When… I looked in his eyes, I saw a man that was walking with the Lord, up under the anointing of God,” Sewell said, advising viewers to: “Be grateful that God has raised up men like Secretary Rubio,” proclaiming, “it was almost as if you could see the angels surrounding him.”
Is Christian nationalist ideology inflecting the Trump administration’s policy on Iran? It may be that NAR movement leaders are overstating their ability to influence figures like Trump and Rubio. But they have a far firmer ally in the helm of the Pentagon in Pete Hegseth, who is directing the attack on Iran.
“Arsenal of Faith”
The former Fox & Friends News host is now America’s self-styled “Secretary of War.” He has a crusader’s battlecry inked on his bicep, and sports a Jerusalem Cross tattoo, another symbol of the Crusades, on his chest. Hegseth pals around with NAR figures, like the far-right praise singer Sean Feucht. And at the National Prayer Breakfast in February he (falsely) declared that “America was founded as a Christian nation” and “remains a Christian nation in our DNA.” In the same speech Hegseth insisted that U.S. service members must ground themselves on a “spiritual battlefield,” armed with an “arsenal of faith.”
Hegseth has also been pushing his beliefs inside the Defense Department. In February he invited his extremist faith leader, Doug Wilson, to the Pentagon to deliver a sermon. Wilson is an unabashed Christian nationalist — though his particular flavor is rooted in Calvinism rather than charismatic practice like NAR leaders. (Wilson is a troubling figure for other reasons, including having branded himself a “paleo-Confederate” and declaring that women should not be allowed to vote.)
During his sermon, Wilson preached to the nation’s defense leadership that devoting themselves to God is more powerful militarily than any weapon in the Pentagon’s armories: “If you bear the name of Jesus Christ,” Wilson said, “there is no armor greater than that.”
Tim Dickinson is the senior political writer for The Contrarian
These NAR people are the reason why I have such a profound dislike of organized religion. It is folks like this that have caused untold suffering throughout the world and throughout history. They are the Inquisition, the witch hunters, the jihadists, the crusaders who kill with impunity while wrapping themselves in a cloak of righteousness. They have none of the morality associated with the benevolent teachings of their various faiths. They are murderers and frauds and liars, and they are to be feared because they will burn down the world to "save" us. If there is a nuclear attack in our future, you can bet your bottom dollar "the Hand of God" is behind it.
If all this gives these pastors such a spiritual boner, why aren’t they bravely leading their cowardly congregations over there to hasten the arrival of the end? Oh, right. Only the unanoited have to die.