A US military commander has chillingly revealed that troops were told that Donald Trump had been “anointed by Jesus,” according to complaints filed by service members.
The comments were reportedly used to frame the ongoing conflict with Iran as part of a religious prophecy, with soldiers being told the war was linked to biblical “End Times”.
The claims have prompted more than 200 complaints from service members across multiple branches of the US armed forces and have raised concerns about the use of extremist Christian rhetoric to justify military operations.
Complaints from troops across multiple branches
According to The Guardian, the complaints were submitted to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRRF), a watchdog group that advocates for the separation of church and state within the military.
One complaint came from a noncommissioned officer in a unit that could be deployed “at any moment to join” operations against Iran.
Per MRRF, the commander encouraged NCOs to motivate soldiers using religious messaging tied to biblical prophecy.
The officer said their superior had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ”.
The same commander allegedly went further by claiming Trump had a divine role in the conflict: “He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’”.
The complaint was filed on behalf of 15 troops from the unit, including 11 Christians, one Muslim person, and one Jewish person.
“Anytime Israel or the US is involved in the Middle East, we get this stuff about Christian nationalists who’ve taken over our government, and certainly our US military,” MRRF president Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force veteran, told The Guardian.
“Military members are not really able to stand up for themselves, because your military superior is not your shift manager at Starbucks,” he said.
Weinstein added that the complaints describe commanders expressing what he called the “unrestricted euphoria” of a “‘biblically-sanctioned’ war that is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian ‘End Times’.”
MRRF states that such statements could violate the constitutional separation of church and state within the military.
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Concerns over religious rhetoric in warfare
The allegations have intensified the criticism around the influence of religious ideology within the Trump administration.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has previously voiced his support for Christian nationalist ideas and endorsed the doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a belief rooted in Christian reconstructionism.
The philosophy calls for capital punishment for homosexuality and promotes strictly patriarchal family and church structures.
In August 2025, Hegseth reposted a CNN segment on X featuring pastor Doug Wilson, who co-founded the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches in Idaho.
During the segment, Wilson said he does not believe women should hold leadership positions in the military or serve in high-profile combat roles.
“I would like to see this nation being a Christian nation, and I would like this world to be a Christian world,” Wilson said.
When asked for comment about the complaints, the Pentagon did not respond directly.
