Iran War?

[crazy canuck]

I'm having trouble separating his lies from his delusions.

I am not sure there is a distinction

[Jacob]

Yeah, I think Trump's in a place where he can't really distinguish. I think it's only natural, given his whole way of being is about repeating a lie with enough force behind it to make everyone treat it as if it's true.

It's just that it's less effective when it comes to a war and negotiating with people outside of his normal spheres.

(as an aside, I saw a headline today I found funny: "Is Trump Negotiating With Iran or With Himself?")

[The Minsky Moment]

Does anyone else have a feeling that Hegseth may have misunderstood the gist of Jesus' teachings?

Of course, he's Evangelical, it's Christianity tailor made for the ignorant and stupid. There's virtually no serious theology in evangelicalism. It is all centered around charismatic imbeciles usually manipulating congregations for money.

I get now why many of that crowd lean Israel and sometimes Judeophile.  They are really wannabe Israelites in Christian costumes. They seem to beeline right to the most genocidy passages in the OT.  They may talk game about WWJD, but what they REALLY want to do is play Ephraimites slaughtering Amalekites.

[Tonitrus]

Does anyone else have a feeling that Hegseth may have misunderstood the gist of Jesus' teachings?

I mean, here is something his favorite conman said recently about the Democrat Senate candidate in Texas:

Haymes went on to say: "I pray that God kills him ... Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ."

In response, Potteiger agreed, saying: "Right, right ... We want him crucified with Christ."

Sounds more like something the Romans would say.

[Valmy]

I get now why many of that crowd lean Israel and sometimes Judeophile.  They are really wannabe Israelites in Christian costumes. They seem to beeline right to the most genocidy passages in the OT.  They may talk game about WWJD, but what they REALLY want to do is play Ephraimites slaughtering Amalekites.

It is kind of weird how often Amalek gets mentioned.

[garbon]

Yeah, I think Trump's in a place where he can't really distinguish. I think it's only natural, given his whole way of being is about repeating a lie with enough force behind it to make everyone treat it as if it's true.

It's just that it's less effective when it comes to a war and negotiating with people outside of his normal spheres.

(as an aside, I saw a headline today I found funny: "Is Trump Negotiating With Iran or With Himself?")

On the headline, I believe that is something Iran as said/questioned.

[Jacob]

On the headline, I believe that is something Iran as said/questioned.

Ah, right.

Yeah, I've seen a bit of Iranian social media talking trash about Trump. They're not doing a bad job, to be honest.

[crazy canuck]

Does anyone else have a feeling that Hegseth may have misunderstood the gist of Jesus' teachings?

Of course, he's Evangelical, it's Christianity tailor made for the ignorant and stupid. There's virtually no serious theology in evangelicalism. It is all centered around charismatic imbeciles usually manipulating congregations for money.

I get now why many of that crowd lean Israel and sometimes Judeophile.  They are really wannabe Israelites in Christian costumes. They seem to beeline right to the most genocidy passages in the OT.  They may talk game about WWJD, but what they REALLY want to do is play Ephraimites slaughtering Amalekites.

While I can see why you would make that conclusion, that is not it.  The reason that crowd leans toward supporting the state of Israel is because they believe that for the end times to occur the Temple needs to be rebuilt, and for that to happen Israel needs to exist. 

[OttoVonBismarck]

That's dramatically overstated FWIW, and I'm very bigoted against Protestant evangelicals, so I am not defending them in general. The belief in dispensationalism / rapture, is not universal even among evangelicals--and it has actually declined significantly since the year 2000. (It was basically invented by a random idiot in the 1800s, like most fake evangelical beliefs.)

Further, even among dispensationalists, the belief in the whole "Israel must exist to trigger end times" is itself a view only held by some dispensationalists--so you're talking a subgroup of a subgroup.

A lot of the Christian nationalist / Hegsethian evangelical types are just generally warmongering and hateful as a guiding principle that they equate to their faith. I don't know if Hegseth's brand of stupidity is dispensationalist or not, but there's tons of non-dispensationalist warmongering evangelicals who espouse a "rejection of pacifism", a rejection of Christ's veneration of the meek, and a general hateful attitude to non-Christians.

[Valmy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/26/us-iran-war-ukraine-missile-defense/

"According to a notice that the Pentagon sent to Congress, reviewed by The Post, the Defense Department has used some of the European PURL money for other capabilities lawmakers that intended to be paid for by American funding through USAI.

It remained unclear, the U.S. official said, whether the Pentagon was using the PURL funding in addition to, or instead of, the money Congress had already passed to deliver such weaponry.

Separately, the Pentagon notified Congress on Monday that it intended to divert about $750 million in funding provided by NATO countries through the PURL program to restock the U.S. military's own inventories, rather than to send additional assistance to Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials.

The first official said it was unclear whether European countries providing their funds for the initiative to bolster Ukraine understood how the money was being spent."

Wait what? Are we just stealing 750 million dollars of the Euro's money that was intended to aid Ukraine?

[HisMajestyBOB]

And it's not getting diverted into Trump's bank account? I'm as shocked as you are.

[crazy canuck]

That's dramatically overstated FWIW, and I'm very bigoted against Protestant evangelicals, so I am not defending them in general. The belief in dispensationalism / rapture, is not universal even among evangelicals--and it has actually declined significantly since the year 2000. (It was basically invented by a random idiot in the 1800s, like most fake evangelical beliefs.)

Further, even among dispensationalists, the belief in the whole "Israel must exist to trigger end times" is itself a view only held by some dispensationalists--so you're talking a subgroup of a subgroup.

A lot of the Christian nationalist / Hegsethian evangelical types are just generally warmongering and hateful as a guiding principle that they equate to their faith. I don't know if Hegseth's brand of stupidity is dispensationalist or not, but there's tons of non-dispensationalist warmongering evangelicals who espouse a "rejection of pacifism", a rejection of Christ's veneration of the meek, and a general hateful attitude to non-Christians.

As already discussed in this thread, there have been numerous complaints by US military personnel that they have been told by commanding officers that the war against Iran is intended to "cause Armageddon." and cause the return of Jesus.

Hegseth's has not said it publicly, but his rhetoric is consistent with the view.

[OttoVonBismarck]

That's a different question as to whether evangelicals support war mongering because they think it will bring about the rapture.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I actually bothered to look--Hegseth is part of a conservative Reformed Denomination, they aren't dispensationalist. Dispensationalism is most strongly affiliated with Baptist (often independent Baptist) and Pentecostal denominations in American Protestantism.

[The Brain]

If there is a God then Flood 2: Cruise Control seems more likely.