BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian
Beliefs
- Buddhist
- Catholic
- Contemplative
- Evangelical
- General Christian
- Hindu
- Jewish
- Latter-day Saint
- More Voices
- Muslim
- New Visions
- Pagan
- Progressive Christian
Topics
- Religion News
- Food and Religion
- Sports and Religion
- Religious Art
- Religious Music and Entertainment
- Religious Events
- History and Religion
- Style and Religion
- Politics and Religion
- Women in Religion
- Recreation Outdoors and Religion
- Business Finance and Religion
- Careers Workplace and Religion
- Education and Religion
- Family Parenting and Religion
- Health Fitness and Religion
- Home and Religion
- Relationships and Religion
- Technology and Religion
- Travel and Religion
Columnists
- Buddhist Columnists
- Business Finance and Religion Columnists
- Careers Workplace and Religion Columnists
- Catholic Columnists
- Contemplative Columnists
- Education and Religion Columnists
- Evangelists Columnists
- Family Parenting and Religion Columnists
- General Christian Columnists
- Health Fitness and Religion Columnists
- Hindu Columnists
- History and Religion Columnists
- Home and Religion Columnists
- Jewish Columnists
- More Voices Columnists
- Latter Day Columnists
- Muslim Columnists
- New Visions Columnists
- Nonreligious Columnists
- Pagan Columnists
- Politics and Religion Columnists
- Progressive Columnists
- Recreation Outdoors and Religion Columnists
- Relationships and Religion Columnists
- Religion News Columnists
- Religious Art Columnists
- Religious Events Columnists
- Religious Music and Entertainment Columnists
- Sports and Religion Columnists
- Style and Religion Columnists
- Technology and Religion Columnists
- Travel and Religion Columnists
- Women in Religion Columnists
Resource Library
- 2026 Calendar
- Library of World Religions
- The 100 Most Holy Places on Earth
- Patheos Answers
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Faith Leaders Database
- Anglican Episcopalian
- Bahai
- Baptist
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Confucianism
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Hinduism
- Holiness and Pentecostal
- ISKCON
- Islam
- Judaism
- Lutheran
- Methodist
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- New Age
- Paganism
- Presbytarian and Reformed
- Protestantism
- Religion Behind the Scenes
- Roman Catholic
- Scientology
- Shia Islam
- Sikhism
- Sufism
- Sunni Islam
- Taoism
- Zen
- See all religions
Research Tools
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
- Trending:
- Forgiveness
- |
- Marriage
- |
- Consciousness
- |
- Death Penalty
- |
- Election
- |
- Halloween
Empathy Mining
- Home
- Progressive Christian
- Donald Trump and the New Crusades
Donald Trump and the New Crusades
Last updated on: January 6, 2020 at 3:58 pm by Shane Phipps
Donald Trump and the New Crusades 2020-01-06T15:58:03-04:00 Shane Phipps
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s starting to become clear. The seemingly bewildering nature of the continued support of the Evangelical Right for the loony Trump administration is starting to make sense. They are hastening the End Times and spoiling for a fight. It doesn’t make it any less frightening, but at least I can understand it now.
I didn’t jump right on the pile when the news broke about the Trump ordered assassination of General Soleimani. I remained silent for a few days because I wanted the dust to settle so that I could speak to facts and not out of a knee-jerk emotional reaction. I am still waiting for more facts but I do believe the question of why Iranian General Soleimani was in Iraq in the first place has been answered sufficiently. According to reports from the BBC, the general was invited to to Iraq to help in the discussions of de-escalation of hostilities between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The details regarding the logistics of the Trump ordered attack on Soleimani–the questions as to how much validity to give to Trump’s claims that Soleimani had imminent plans for terrorist attacks that could have potentially killed many Americans–remain a hotly debated mystery shrouded by the fog of potential war. I’m not going to dwell on speculation on the particulars of this still breaking story. I will just say this, the timing of the assassination seems very suspect. Perhaps Soleimani was a bad man who is responsible for the deaths of thousands, but why him and why now? Certainly, Trump’s puppet master, Vladimir Putin is responsible for far worse atrocities than Soleimani, but Trump cozies up to Putin like a lap dog.
Though I feel the jury is still out on the Soleimani assassination, I’m not too hesitant to speculate on the bigger picture. I think we are seeing many of the last pieces of the master plan of the leadership of Evangelical Right falling into place. I’ve long suspected and written that their support of Trump is based on their desire to bring on the End Times prophesied in Revelations. This plan has been in place for many decades (watch the Netflix documentary called The Family if you doubt me). Up to this point, it has been highly secretive and clandestine with only the occasional scandal arising here and there to shed some light on it before it slithered back underground. But now we have the Trump family at the helm. They are far too egotistical and bawdy to keep the end game hidden. They let the cat out of the bag whenever they take to social media. Trump has been boldly defying long-standing international treaties by making open threats against 52 specific targets he’ll destroy if Iran retaliates. Many of these targets are of great cultural, historical, and religious importance. Since 1954, the United States has been bound by the agreement in the Hague Convention on Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which specifically forbids the targeting of culturally important sites as a tactic of war. When confronted with this fact, Trump did what he always does, he doubled down and dug his heals in, saying it was within his power. Law be damned–just like countless other examples in his past.
This brash and bodacious tendency to show one’s cards also seems to have spread to Trump’s son, Donald Jr. A recent photo of Don Jr. cradling a semi-automatic rifle with a big smile on his face surfaced on social media this week. In case you missed it, here is that photo.

The rifle in question is adorned with some significant imagery. Most noticeable is the image of Hillary Clinton behind bars which is emblazoned on the ammunition magazine. They just can’t get that woman–who soundly defeated Trump in the general election–out of their heads. That image is just childish and pathetic. It’s the other less obvious image that has a much more sinister message. The icon just above the Hillary image is a large cross with four smaller crosses within it. It is called the Jerusalem Cross or, more commonly, the Crusaders’ Cross. That emblem was used by the Christian Crusaders as they invaded the Holy Land during the Crusades. More recently, it’s been adopted by white supremacy groups. It is clear that Don Jr. is proudly sending a message about the agenda of his father’s administration and the agenda supported by the leadership of the Evangelical Right.
They want a fight and, God help us, it looks like they are likely going to get one.
While I doubt that the majority of the run-of-the-mill Evangelical Right private citizens are totally aware of just how deeply their leadership is involved in this or just how long this has been in the works, that notion does little to comfort me. They just blindly buy in lock, stock, and barrel to the news they are told to watch and the propaganda their leaders feed them.
History is full of sheep that were led to slaughter.
Next Post

January 7, 2020 Two Little Boys: The Insanity of War
Browse Our Archives
Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth
Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015
Follow Us!
TAKE THE
Religious Wisdom Quiz
True or False: The mystery hidden for ages is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Select your answer to see how you score.
FALSE TRUE
Support this
Column

Related posts from Empathy Mining
Gun Rights Advocates are Focusing on the Wrong...
It's Time for Pro-Lifers to Be Pro-Life
Can a Democrat Be a Christian?
Don't let Dissociation Keep You from Standing for...
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian
What Being a Modern-Day Apostle Means to Me
In my last column, I discussed the ins and outs of modern-day...
Did Ancient China Once Worship the God of...
Across human history, a common thread weaves through the origins of the...
Love Your Neighbor – Including Earth-Kin: Lev. 19,...
God’s command to love your neighbor means acting in an ethical and...
Lead a Church Study of “Jesus and Lao...
Guest writer Jack Thomas (The Irreverent Reverend) reflects on leading his church...
Pastoral Wisdom for Responding to Sermon Pushback
Getting sermon pushback on your social justice sermon? Learn practical, Proverbs-based strategies...
Principles for Understanding the Apostolic Ministry Today
Whenever people discover that my formal ministry title is "apostle," as in...
view all Progressive Christian blogs
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support
- About Us
- 2026 Calendar
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Library of World Religions
- Faith In Media Tracker
- Advertise With Us
- Write for Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service
- Do Not Sell My Data
- Contact Us
- Radiant Digital
- Manage Newsletter Subscriptions
- Unsubscribe From Notifications
- Sitemap
Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.
Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In











