Ex-Christian Fundamentalist BLOWS LID off Trump HOLY WAR
April 2, 2026·1 hr 9 min·5 clips
Tia Levings exposes how Christian nationalists see the Iran war as a step toward global dominion and Armageddon.
Host Anthony Davis interviews Tia Levings, bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and an upcoming book on recovery from religious trauma, about the intersection of Christian nationalism and the war in Iran. The conversation opens with a report from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation documenting over 200 complaints from 50 military installations about commanders invoking Christian rhetoric, including one who told officers that Trump was anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran and cause Armageddon.
Levings explains the distinctions between different types of Christian nationalists. Dispensationalist evangelicals believe the book of Revelation is yet to be fulfilled and view Israel as a sibling nation whose interests align with Christian ones in building toward the second coming of Christ. Dominionists like Pete Hegseth, influenced by theologian Doug Wilson, believe Revelation has already occurred and that the Christian elect has replaced Israel as God's chosen people. Their theology holds that conflict is inevitable until enemies of God are eliminated.
The discussion addresses why these theological differences matter for policy. Dispensationalists want to protect Israel as part of prophecy fulfillment, while dominionists view Israel's assets as ultimately belonging to the Christian elect. Both groups support military action but for different reasons. Levings notes that figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Christian nationalist who opposes the war, represent the dispensationalist wing that favors nationalism over global conflict.
Levings argues that Armageddon rhetoric serves as a manipulation tool to pull wavering MAGA supporters back into loyalty. She connects it to the Left Behind book and film series, which instilled core abandonment fears in evangelical children by depicting sudden rapture events. As Trump's approval ratings dropped and exposure of scandals increased, the war provided a way to reactivate those fears and recall the faithful.
The conversation covers the U.S. military's Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed at least 175 people, reportedly due to outdated maps. Levings describes the administration's lack of empathy as consistent with its character, noting that Pete Hegseth's dominionist worldview does not make room for empathy, which these groups view as weakness.
Davis and Levings discuss the personal nature of Hegseth's approach, noting that he has publicly described the war as revenge for members of his platoon killed by Iranian forces. They examine the role of Jared Kushner's lifelong relationship with Netanyahu and question whether the negotiations conducted by Kushner and Steve Witkoff were a genuine diplomatic effort or a decoy.
The episode addresses the erasure of separation of church and state under the current administration, with Levings noting that Christian nationalists do not believe in constitutional separation and want to replace democracy with theocracy. She points to Hegseth's book American Crusade as evidence of his stated agenda. The conversation touches on the potential for nuclear escalation, with Levings expressing concern rooted in her childhood fear of rapture that nuclear warfare represents the mechanism by which biblical end-times scenarios could be achieved.
