THE DEEPER DIVE: The President's Prophet and the Pentagon's High Priest Predict ARMAGEDDON!

Their words, their promise, not mine.

This may start off sounding like an Easter religious piece, but it’s not. It’s just that Trump’s presidentially appointed prophet evoked Easter this week to boost the president and his war, so I think even readers who normally have no interest in Easter will be interested in this revelation of the religious cult that originally empowered Donald Trump to the White House (both times) and that now nurtures and drives his zeal on a daily basis for the present war with Iran.

When I say “cult,” I’m not being derogatory, I am using the word according its actual definition:

A religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

No leader is more powerful in the world today or more authoritarian than Donald Trump, who does everything now by decree and who is also certainly charismatic with his huge love for large public rallies and for creating daily drama in the media whenever he can, and big shows that are always centered on himself.

While there is no doubt that Trump alone rules MAGA, he is bizarrely guided by his high priestess of the White House, Paula White‑Cain, who is a self-declared prophetess, regularly claiming she speaks for God. White-Cain merits attention because she holds an actual office in the White House, putting her in influence at the top seat of global government, and Trump seriously listens to her spiritual counsel and basks in her frequent flowing praise at a level of adoration and is empowered by the large audience she has captured.

During the present Holy Week, White-Cain presented a disturbing reason for all of us to take a serious look at her position in the White House and at her prophecies when she stirred up considerable backlash by speaking at an Easter lunch at the White House on Holy Wednesday, comparing the persecutions and “betrayals” endured by Donald Trump to those of Jesus Christ.

While she did not say (nor appear to believe) that Donald Trump is the second coming of Jesus Christ (a common denominator of a number of fringe cults over past decades), she has called the White House “holy ground” and also said that “to say no to President Trump would be saying no to God”—not because she is claiming Trump IS God but because she believes he is divinely directed by God as one appointed by God to carry out what she and other self-proclaimed prophets in this movement claim are God’s divine mandates.

These imperial mandates are apocalyptic in nature, and the Dominion Theology they are based on is the theology that drove the crusades, the inquisitions, and other religious wars—the belief that Christians are to rule a global empire as Christ’s stand-ins until he returns. It has long been the most dangerous belief on earth because people have never handled that power well. Her comparison of Trump to Christ with words Trump clearly basked in as he stood behind her hit such a level of obscenity that her brief speech raised religious rebuffs all over the world.

What I want to call attention to is how her words this week reveal a seriously dangerous cultic core of MAGA. Not only has this group, which is the heart of MAGA, ensconced White-Cain, a televangelist and leader in the charismatic movement, in an office in the White House; but it has infused the Pentagon top brass with an actual outspoken drive to bring on Armageddon in order to facilitate the return of Jesus Christ! I mean “outspoken” in the sense that numerous military leaders have been reported during the Iran War as actually using Armageddon as a call to arms against Iran. We’re going to look at both White-Cain and the Pentagon’s new High Priest Hegseth’s apocalyptic crusade, and note that they are the ones deploying the terminology of apocalypse.

This week’s prophecy by Paula White-Cain

White-Cain’s official title is Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office. (You can read more about her in the following article beyond just the part I present below from her brief talk.)

That is why I say I am not using the word “cult” in the pejorative way it has often been used when we hear people talking about all of MAGA as being the “Trump cult.” This core group really is a cult with an office in the White House. Her words this week reveal how truly twisted around the person of Donald Trump as their charismatic leader—like ivy around a great tree—this religious core MAGA group is: (I use the word “core” because, while she leads a following that has been the heart of MAGA since its inception, empowering Trump with millions of Christian voters, I realize she does not speak for all of MAGA any more than for all Christians. Far from it.)

Here is what she said on Holy Wednesday in anticipation of Easter:

With the president standing behind her, and to whom she turned to address personally, White-Cain said: “Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation, requires great sacrifice.

“And Mr President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life.

“You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us,” she said.

“But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you,” she said.

“God always had a plan: On the third day, he rose, he defeated evil, he conquered death, hell and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up,” she added.

“Because he was victorious, you are victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this: because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hands to,” she said, finishing to applause.

The president responded by smiling and said “thank you”.

This is the kind of crowning glory any narcissistic megalomaniac would crave to feed his tiny walnut of an ego that seeks to expand its withered center into a larger-than-life projection of what he wants to believe he is. Her words don’t quite deify Trump, but they come awfully close by saying that anything he does (most particularly right now in the war against Iran, which was her context) will be made victorious by God because Trump has suffered just like Jesus did. At other times, she has told the president and all those gathered at her meetings that Trump is God’s “anointed.”

The Priest of the Pentagon

That is a big word in Christianity, because “anointed” is what the Greek word cristos (Christ) means. It is the root word of “Christianity.” Jesus is God’s anointed. It is also what the Hebrew word “Messiah” means. It is also used in the Old Testament for major biblical leaders appointed by God, such as King David, who was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel to become Israel’s most famous king.

It has become a particularly big word in Trump’s inner religious circle since the Iran war began, because another story blew up in the news and commentary in a huge way this week, which the Pentagon refuses to either deny or confirm—one that Snopes.com said it also could neither confirm nor prove false. I wouldn’t share it, since it sounds too sensational to be true, except that the original reporter has strong credentials, and the organization he got his information from is a large Christian organization that is speaking out against the way these particular Christians (in name, at least) are infusing the Pentagon.

The organization also has strong bonafides, having won or been nominated for numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, which is to say it is not some wild conspiracy site or tabloid publisher of fake news. It is a Christian non-profit that works with soldiers, which is deeply concerned about what has now been reported to the organization about Christian nationalism and apocalyptic fervor by more than 200 of its members, spanning 50 military installations! Giving serious consideration to the story, several members of congress have also called for an investigation into the story. So, it has become major news.

The story runs generally like this summary:

Military commanders told troops Trump was “anointed by Jesus” to start the apocalypse in Iran, according to over 200 complaints. Since Saturday, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been flooded with complaints from service members in every branch of the armed forces.

By Tuesday, the number exceeded 200 complaints spanning more than 50 military installations. The through line is the same every time: commanding officers are telling troops this war is biblically ordained and the bloodshed is necessary to fulfill Christian prophecy.

I’ve been keeping an eye on this apocalyptic stuff for some time here at The Daily Doom because I have been more than certain it is going to start filling the mainstream news in many ways. With these present stories we see that apocalyptic fervor has become an energizing force in a conflict that is already very close to being World War III in that this war now involves and centers on numerous Middle Eastern nations just as the past two world wars did.

If the 200 reports are true, this isn’t just some harmless apocalyptic cult holed up in the hills of Idaho. It is the guiding philosophy of numerous commanders in today’s Pentagon—a philosophy and level of indoctrination aimed at giving spiritual empowerment (fervor) to the slaughtering of lives and property in the most dangerous world war in nearly a century:

One noncommissioned officer reported that during a combat readiness briefing, their commander told the room everything happening in Iran was part of God’s divine plan, complete with citations from the Book of Revelation.

So, we have a very significantly sized group of core MAGA people with offices in the White House and the Pentagon who believe Trump is anointed by God to take the USA into war with Iran in order to hasten the return of Jesus Christ by deploying the strength of the entire US military to drive their agenda. They are empowered by belief that they speak for God, and Paula White-Cain is one of the main leaders of this movement that has taken over the White House, even though she certainly does not speak for most of Christianity, and I’ll leave you to decide for yourself if she speaks for God, as I do not claim to know God’s thoughts on the matter.

The commander reportedly had a grin on his face while delivering the message. The complaint was filed on behalf of 15 troops. Eleven of them are Christian. This is not about offended atheists. These are believers who know the difference between faith and apocalyptic war propaganda.

It is an ideology that is equal in potency but opposite in military position to the ideology that drives the mullahs of Iran:

MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein said commanders are not just invoking prophecy but are actively excited about how violent the conflict needs to become to align with end-times theology. Military leaders are reportedly thrilled at the prospect of maximum bloodshed because they think it brings Jesus back.

This didn’t come from nowhere. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched monthly Christian worship services at the Pentagon last summer and recently invited Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist pastor who opposes women’s right to vote, to lead one.

At a recent convention, Hegseth declared that advancing the administration’s agenda is “not political” but “biblical.”

Weinstein warned that when Christian nationalism infiltrates the institution that controls nuclear weapons and armed drones, it is an immediate threat to global security.

Two hundred service members risked their careers to sound this alarm. The question is whether anyone with the power to act is listening.

Jonathon Larson, who broke this story on Substack, was an executive producer at MSNBC who helped create Up w/ Chris Hayes and previously was a senior producer on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann. So, this is mainstream now.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation currently posts several stories on this subject that it has sourced to a variety of publications. It is an organization that has been fighting against religious extremism in the United States military for two decades with members across all services.

As confirmation of the story’s credibility, you can see even congress is taking it seriously: “Lawmakers Want DOD, Hegseth Investigated for Biblical ‘Armageddon’ Claims.”

The obscenity of the insanity

While some commentators are calling Paula White-Cain’s words sacrilege or blasphemy, I will restrict myself to calling them obscenity. Others are welcome to take them to the next religious level if they want. To support my assessment of her words, I want to compare her claims that Trump’s “betrayal” or persecution matches up to Jesus’ betrayal and persecution against the basic things we know about Jesus. It is a fitting subject from this time running from Maundy Thursday when Jesus was arrested after celebrating passover with his disciples through Good Friday when he was killed and now moving on to the day when he was resurrected. White-Cain alluded to all of that. The comparison will readily show what a twisted cult this is.

Trump is persecuted or betrayed, if you will go with her position for argument sake, right now because he is forcing the whole world into a globally destructive war. It is global because all the world will pay the economic price of a war that is already joined by many nations. Jesus, on the other hand, refused war throughout his life, even though the Jews of his time expected a Messiah that would kick Rome’s iron-clad butt out of Israel. Jesus cautioned his disciples that “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus rebuked his disciple Peter when Peter drew a sword and cut off the ear of a Roman soldier who was arresting Jesus on the Thursday evening before his crucifixion. Jesus, then, picked up the ear and put it back on the stricken soldier and healed him. Jesus refused to “fight, fight, fight,” as Trump roared after his own ear was stricken. Instead of even fighting in his own defense, Jesus bore his own instrument of death passively up the hill where Rome crucified him upon the insistence of Jewish Temple leadership. Jesus taught that “the meek shall inherit the Earth,” not the strong or the violent. Jesus refused to seek a political kingdom, telling his Roman interrogator that his kingdom was not of this Earth. All of this is diametrically the opposite of Hegseth’s Christian Nationalism and to all of these claims that God has anointed Trump to start a war that will bring the return of Jesus. The two men could not be more opposite in that respect.

Trump is persecuted because he is, from what I have seen, the most arrogant human being who has ever lived. He is certainly more arrogant than any I have ever observed or even read about in history. People naturally hate someone who has to plaster his name all over the world, take credit for everything that seems big or important, deny blame or blame someone else for anything that goes wrong. He is, in the very least, right up there for arrogance with the Caesars of Rome. Jesus, on Maundy Thursday, before the big Passover dinner, washed all of his disciples feet as an object lesson in how they were to be humble. He told them that the greatest among them had to act like the least in service to others. He constantly preached and exhibited humility—never even calling himself the Messiah, but leaving that determination to others. He did say things about being the Son of God, sent from heaven. Clearly that would be supremely arrogant unless, of course, it is simply true. I’ll let others be the judge of that.

Unlike any known narcissist, however, Jesus lived humbly, associating with the poor and the weak—all the people Trump calls losers. Trump makes fun of people with handicaps, even if they lost their legs in a war or were imprisoned for years like John McCain. Jesus, on the other hand, healed them and called them friends. Jesus chose his cabinet and the rest of the people he surrounded himself with from the poor and the average, not from the billionaires or those who could bring him millions of votes, as Paula White-Cain did. He often told people not to even tell others about the miracles he performed. Trump boasts daily about things he never even did, claiming hyuge success every time! Can you imagine Trump EVER doing or saying any of those things that Jesus did and said? Can you imagine him washing the feet of his cabinet members to teach them humility??? The two men are moral opposites.

Trump is persecuted because he is hostile toward anyone who is even slightly against him. He is always revengeful. Jesus taught against revenge, telling his disciples to turn the other cheek if struck, telling them to always do to others as they would like others to do to them, telling them to love their enemies and pray for them, not prey upon them; and if someone stole their overcoat, they were to give the thief their sport coat, too (in modern terms). Again, the polar opposite of Donald Trump.

Trump is the antithesis of Christ. We have a word for that—the Antichrist. I am not saying he is THE Antichrist, but the Bible teaches there will be “many antichrists,” many who are the antithesis of Christ or who are opposed to Christ. Trump may not be opposed to Christ, but he is certainly the antithesis of Christ. Everything Christ taught would disturb Trump to the core of his being if he were required to live like that! It would take a miraculous transformation of his soul before we’d ever see Trump do anything like what Jesus did.

Trump is obsessed with wealth and especially gold. Jesus paid no attention to those things at all. He lived a modest life, maybe even a life of poverty.

In other words, Trump is “betrayed” and “crucified” because he is a horrible person toward others because his instinct is always to serve himself, whereas Christ taught his disciples to devote their lives to the service of others. Trump, I fully believe, would destroy the United States and even the world in order to save himself from death or in order to glorify himself. Jesus died in order to save the world. Does it get any more clear than that?

Everything about Trump sounds a lot more like the nemesis of Jesus mentioned a fair amount in the New Testament—the other guy who is often presented with orangish skin and horns. In the very least, he sounds like a wannabe Caesar, and Jesus never aspired to become Caesar. In fact, the story says that, when the guy pictured with horns offered Jesus the entire earth as a kingdom, Jesus turned it down.

Trump is persecuted because he is Trump, not because he is good.

A true and present danger

Trump’s near deification by these core MAGA followers has become more than a bizarre curiosity. It has become an extreme danger because it is now guiding and fueling the Pentagon’s fervor that is driving a massive war against a highly armed and fierce nation that is also driven by its own apocalyptic, religious fervor—a war that could go nuclear and that is certainly destroying the entire global economy because of its critical location, dependent as the world is upon oil.

On top of that, people who believe God will give them the victory don’t back down even if it looks like they are losing, and Iran has already said it won’t back down, even if President Trump does. Overnight that economic danger doubled as the Houthis joined the war this past week, tasked by Iran to stop all merchant shipping along the other side of Saudi Arabia through the Suez Canal. And we have already seen how effective they are at doing that.

Apocalyptic fervor is guiding these people to start Armageddon, and interestingly (at least to me) that has been the way I saw Armageddon as eventually coming on since I wrote End-Time Prophecies of the Bible for Putnam. Suddenly, that is a fitting subject for this time running from Maundy Thursday when Jesus was arrested after celebrating passover with his disciples through Good Friday when he was killed and now moving on to the day when he rose from the dead because White-Cain alluded to all of that. Here is what I wrote back in 1999:

God is going to allow the perfect enticement … so that all the evil armies of the world will gather in one place for their own destruction….

And the Antichrist walks right into the trap…. It is not just the kings of the East who gather, but all the kings of all the world. God allows evil to gather its forces as his agent for its own destruction…. influences are allowed to turn the entire world against Israel in order to gather all the armies of all the nations to a place called “Armageddon.”

I don’t think the Iran War is likely to match up to the described Battle of Armageddon even though it is shaping up something like the descriptions that go with that prophecy for the Middle East and Israel, but it certainly looks like this war will set the stage in the Middle East in chaos and conflict for such a final holocaust. Here, though, is the important point I want to make about Armageddon and the way these prophecies are, in my opinion, misread to energize an intense level of violent aggression aimed at bringing the end on. I think the totality of these prophecies works more like I describe below than like a mandate to go create this war:

In the great Day of the Lord, God will shake down the nations…. He will sift the people of earth to remove all evil from the earth. He will end earth’s imperial governments. And it will be the sword of brother against brother that accomplishes this. God, however, does not force good upon the world. Jesus did not come as a man of peace, only to return as a man of war—untrue to all that he taught. Evil people will brandish their own swords (and cannons and missiles and germ warfare) against each other in earth’s final holocaust.

There is, in fact, a prophecy that gives a stern warning to those who push to bring on the end times so that they may see them, which I’ve mentioned before:

Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
That day will be darkness, not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? (Amos 5:18-20)

Those who recklessly push headlong for Armageddon to bring on the end times support themselves with verses that talk about Jesus arriving on a great white horse and slaying the nations of the earth with “a sharp sword” that comes out of his mouth. However, a sound reading of scripture shows that the “sword of truth” is always used to mean God’s word, and what proceeds from the mouth, but words. In Jesus’ case, words of truth. The prophecies seem to me to be saying, “Jesus’ words of truth will slay his enemies.” His words are the sharp sword, dividing the world with hard-edged truth. That is how he worked when he was here, according to these same writings, so it is consistent that it would be how he would work at the time when those writings predict he will return. The truth doesn’t bend to the will of mankind. It is what it is.

Those who are inclined to war, however, will be driven by these very same prophecies to slay each other. I’ve long believed they will hear in these words what they want to hear. (Just as I often write the stock market hears what it wants to hear in Trump’s words.) They will see what, in their minds, justifies their own hell-bent natural inclinations toward violent seizure of power for themselves. They will reveal their own evil by their actions, and God in those days will not restrain such human evil but will let it play out fully.

(My purpose is not to convince you of the truth of the prophecies, but to show how there are two completely opposing ways to understand how they work, and that people will understand them based on how their hearts are conditioned to be like Jesus in truth and goodness, love and kindness, humility and service to others, especially the oppressed, or conditioned toward the self-serving opposite of all those things.)

Evil contains the seeds of its own destruction, and I see these prophecies as saying God steers history as one steers a horse with reins, not by making events happen or forcing people in certain directions, but by simply applying restraint on one side or the other to steer the course of history. At some point in time, God will end his restraint against human evil and let evil people “have their head” and run wild, as they say with horses; so that, following their own evil inclinations and their own lies, they will rampage into destroying each other.

Thus, I had also written,

Armageddon, itself, represents judgment of evil in the presence of Christ … as the evil people who remain alive turn on each other and destroy each other….

If earth is ever to enjoy goodness and peace and prosperity for all, it cannot happen as long as evil people remain in the world. Evil destroys peace and prosperity because it lusts after power and is full of greed.

There is a pattern in the Old Testament where God says he will judge nations, and then what actually happens is one evil empire stomps out another and God says that was his judgement, even though it was entirely done by humans against other humans. That is an example of how God works by simply not restraining the evil in people that wants to be expressed or allowing to rise forces that entice that evil to express itself, and so one empire sweeps over another empire with its own destruction; but it is human beings following their own will that bring the evil about. And I think that is what Armageddon really describes—a time of unbridled destruction of the empires of this world in a great holocaust that the empires bring on each other because of their imperial madness.

The Hegseths of this world may be the very type to bring this about, reading the Bible as a justification for their own inclinations toward violence and demonstrations of their own power. And God just finally LETS IT HAPPEN! While Trump likely doesn’t do much Bible reading, people like Paula White-Cain and Pete Hegseth present him with a misguided belief system that is widely believed and is ripe for bringing about the changes he wants to see for his own benefit. Trump once said, if he ever ran for president it would as a Republican because they are easy to influence or manipulate. (His claim. Don’t blame me.)

Armageddon is about destruction and salvation. Over and over, the Jewish prophets foresaw a day when God would strike evil from the earth. Almost always they used images of fire. In John’s Apocalypse, the horseman rides with fire in his eyes. The plagues that have preceded him brought fire to the earth from the sky. In spite of the great conflagration, the hearts of the survivors grow harder and colder toward God. In the final battle, they have gathered of their own accord into Israel to destroy the people of God. Therefore, the salvation of God’s people has to mean destruction of these relentless enemies. The seven bowls of wrath [talked about in Revelation as the very worst natural holocaust on earth] have revealed that the enemies will not simply walk away or reform.

God will not forget the people of his first covenant, and the battle of Armageddon is where any Jews who have not recognized their messiah will meet him.

In New Testament prophecy that event is the return of Jesus Christ, meaning Jesus “the anointed.”

The nations will all see the salvation of the people of Israel because they have all gathered to destroy Israel. They shall not prevail. They have a surprise coming. Israel is not as helpless as they think.

(And, again, my purpose in laying out all of this here is to explain the extremely pertinent belief system that is now working from the top of the Pentagon down, according to those 200+ reports by troops in 50 different military installations … and to show how it is the individual’s own power-driven nature that causes them to interpret all of these prophecies as justifying the making of war and violence because there is an alternative way of looking at all of these prophecies if one approaches them understanding how Jesus was described above when compared to Trump.)

However, the prophecies also describe Armageddon as a time when an unbelieving Israel is made completely desperate without a friend around them, having turned all nations against them because that is what happens when you keep trying to grasp the great promise, the brass ring, the Promised Land by your own military effort while rejecting its promised prince. It is that time when they will have to become reconciled with their own past, and only at that time will the Prince of Peace return to help them.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and will testify against thee. I am God, even thy God…. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will delver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50:7,15)

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12: 10-11)

So, it is ROUGH time for Jews. You see, even in Old Testament Jewish prophecies the battle in the valley of Megiddo (har Megiddo/“Armageddon” in Greek and English) is mentioned. Christian prophecies say that the one they pierced and shall mourn over is their Messiah, and their Messiah is Jesus, the “only begotten son of God” pierced in the side on the cross by Romans at their behest on Good Friday. It is when they face this reality about the event that changed their future for two-thousand years in a hopeless battle their Zionist pursuit of the Promised Land has brought upon themselves in the Valley of Armageddon that Jesus returns.

The Hegseths in this world want to make that happen, and maybe that IS how it happens with misinterpretation of the prophecies bringing about the prophecies’ own fulfillment, but it is the Hegseths’ very ill-informed acting out of their own violence based on how their own nature inclines them to misinterpret these prophecies, which they do to bring the end on quickly in their own times, that brings the great war about … and consumes those who stay to that course.

Finally, I wrote in End-Time Prophecies of the Bible,

Armageddon is world war. World War III (or IV or V) amounts to all the nations of the world—or what remains of them after the Great Tribulation [a period of extreme natural calamities]—attacking Israel. But those who try to remove Jerusalem from the face of the earth will find themselves removed, though they outnumber the Jews a thousand to one.

And that is where we get to the crux of how Armageddon comes about:

The holocaust described could be nuclear or celestial [like an asteroid or comet impact] or germs engineered by evil people to devour human flesh in a minute; or it could be supernatural. One thing is certain: It is complete.

So, is God like the angry Thor, who throws down lightning bolts from heaven? Does peace and truth fail so that even the Messiah must use war to prevail? If Jesus was a man of peace, does he not betray his own truth by resorting in the end to the same tactics used by all the empires he is supposed to overcome? What happened to the Messiah who told his disciples to lay down the sword? Is Christ’s truth in the end not sufficient for victory? Were all the previous empires right?

For those who believe truth and goodness prevail by their own virtue, this is a deeply disturbing scene, but take a second look at the Apocalypse. The white horse and the rider who gallop into Armageddon are most likely just as symbolic as they were at the beginning of the Apocalypse. The sword from the rider’s mouth may still be the sword of truth. There is no sign of actual blades being used. The evil leaders are captured and overthrown but not struck, and then all the people of the earth are killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the rider. The sword of truth alone shall slay the wicked.

We see that in the Old Testament prophecies, too:

… and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. (from Isaiah 11:4)

Some lust for adrenaline of a violent end, but they are the ones who will create the violent end, which is why Amos said “Woe” to those who want the end to come quickly.

The passage certainly seems to say that the judgment that strikes the wicked comes from the mouth of the one John [in a later time] calls “the Word.” It comes from the breath, which is the words that he speaks. The militaristic images of the Apocalypse are merely to emphasize the conquering power of truth. Without those images the truth seems too feeble to overturn the powers of this world. (End Time Prophecies of the Bible)

That, of course, is exactly why warmongers like Pete Hegseth believe they must bring the end about by their own militaristic strength. It is inconceivable to them that it can happen without the mighty militaries placed under their control. To think that such an immense military like the one the US has has been placed entirely under the control of a child—a man with very little military experience and an immature understanding of the Bible that focuses on his own sense of his own powerfulness! Yet, that kind of appointment, whether by Trump or by God releasing the reins, is exactly what can bring about the holocaust that ends the world … or that would if the Prince of Peace did not intervene at the last moment.

Remember also that whenever God spoke [in the Old Testament] about judging a nation for its wrong [even Israel]—whenever he said he would come against them like a flood—the flood was the army of another evil empire.

Empire is always the climax stage of human evil.

God spoke as though Babylon were his agent against Jerusalem and the Medes were his agent against Babylon. Fish swallowed fish. Evil consumed evil.

Zechariah said “that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor….” Evil ambition rushes in to fill the power vacuum when the beast at the top is captured [regime change], and anarchy breaks out in the ranks of the evil. Because everyone wants to be the leader, each man turns against the other, as Zechariah proclaimed. The melting of their faces like hot wax may quite literally be the effect of the kings of earth turning their own nuclear arsenals upon each other as they vie for the top position in the empire…. God calls this a plague from himself because, like all plagues, he has allowed it—even foreseen it. The self-destruction of evil is an immutable pattern of nature, a safety feature God built into the original design. That which goes wrong, self-destructs.

In other words, evil, in its chaos, contains the seeds of its own destruction.

And then the meek shall inherit the Earth … like this:

Hearing this truth [of their eternal death to come], as well as the truth of their own evil in the presence of the Messiah’s undeniable glory and all his saints revealed in their glory, will destroy the foundations of every belief the wicked have ever had. They will be devoured with terror…. Kingdom against kingdom is complete world anarchy…. Already hot for blood [and gathered at Armageddon], they will fight what they are able to fight (each other) in the face of what they cannot fight [the truth about the destinies they have laid for themselves]. They will slaughter each other like sharks in a feeding frenzy. In the end, evil contains the spark that ignites its own cremation!

Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that trust him shall be desolate. (Psalm 34:21,22)

The wicked shall be slain by their own evil, and the meek, who merely trust in the humble, loving and peaceful Christ and stay out of the final imperial battle, shall inherit the earth that remains.

The purpose of letting evil rise to its own destruction is to clear the way for paradise!

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For further reading on the apocalyptic fervor that has entered the Pentagon:

Anointed for Armageddon? Inside the Christian Nationalist Crusade