The Theonomic Thirst for Killing

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/15/nx-s1-6001794/fort-hood-execution-hegseth-christian-nationalist

As we would expect, religious reporting coming from Mainstream outlets is not always going to get everything right. That said, in the broad-strokes, this article is accurate.

I remember thinking the same thing - how Hegseth being part of the Wilson-Theonomic sect wants to see public executions. I also remember thinking that just getting this out there is a kind of victory, even if the live-stream never actually happens. It has everyone talking and from what I see on TwitterX and social media, there are a lot of mistaken Christians who are coming to Hegseth's defense. They want to see this kind of thing.

Now as to the notion of wanting to execute Hasan because he's a Muslim, and then connecting this to their theocratic notions - I'm not sure I would fully grant that point. It might be the case but I think it could also just be a stretch.

For my part - I think a lot of the Americans who are upset with the notion of a public execution as being barbaric or out of accord with American values are simply delusional. I think the US has insulated itself from its own history and its actions over the past century, and certainly since 9/11. The US is a brutal, violent, and lawless empire that has little regard for human life. Though its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended, the US continues to drop bombs on a regular basis and has been engaged in a multitude of operations that have been kept hidden from the public by a complicit media. And this doesn't even touch on the proxy wars in places like Yemen and Gaza where the US has been a direct participant, providing weapons, logistical support, targeting, and diplomatic cover for its proxies as they slaughter tens and hundreds of thousands of people.

It is entirely appropriate that the US publicly execute its prisoner. It is fully in keeping with its values and its barbarism - and the soccer moms won't be able to rely on their suburban and bourgeois-friendly narratives about what the US is and stands for. They'll be forced to contemplate what a bullet does when it comes racing out of a state-sponsored rifle.

Of course it's all just sick, but we are talking about Pete Hegseth, a person that represents a perversion and malformation of Christian character - an embodiment of living and walking apostasy. He professes to know Christ but in works denies him - in fact he hates him. If Christ came preaching today, Hegseth would be the first one to begin plotting his death.

The article points out (but doesn't quite explain) that in Theonomic circles, there is a push for the death penalty and at one time (decades ago) it was far more vocal. It received a lot of negative press in the 1980's and 1990's and the movement put such talk on the back-burner for a season, or at least it seemed that way. In the age of Trump, they're bringing it back to the fore. I remember at one time someone saying to me - 'it just seems like they're really eager to start killing people'.

It's part of the ethos of the Theonomic sect and it reveals a great deal about them and what is going on in their hearts - a poison that Hegseth wears like a badge on his ever-scowling face. Many of these folks are more cold-hearted ghouls than anything else. I've certainly known my share of them.

And it's also true that the activist Charlie Kirk was not considered to be part of this radical wing and yet even he was advocating for such public executions - tied in with some kind of warped corporate funding structure no less.

The article fails to point out that some anti-death penalty activists have long argued for public executions - not out of support for the practice, but on the basis that if the public actually witnessed an execution, it would quickly turn people against capital punishment.

I'm not entirely sure that would be the case given that public executions were common practice for centuries.

Again, as a Christian I understand the state is violence as expressed by the sword imagery in Romans 13. The state serves a purpose in terms of Providence and common grace. Christians cannot be part of its vengeance mission (Romans 12). It's 'minister' role is the same 'servant' role found in Old Testament examples such as Assyria and Babylon. And they were not off the hook for their evil deeds and motivations. And did Jews in the exile cheer on Assyrian executions or demand that Babylon implement Mosaic Law? The very notion is absurd and such an argument would in truth reveal a real paucity in understanding of redemptive-history and the covenant nature of God's relations with His people.

We submit to Providence but we don't join hands with the state and help it wield the sword. Our calling is to preach grace and mercy and so we're never 'for' the death penalty. We certainly cannot help administer it either as agents within the penal system or in connection to the judiciary (or on a jury). We're not for it but we're not actively opposed to it on Christian grounds either. The state will do what the state will do. Beast-powers place themselves above God and their motivations are always suspect if not outright blasphemous. I don't oppose the state executing people but I'm not going to distort New Testament teaching into supporting or even cheerleading the state as it does so. And of course Pete Hegseth is wrong no matter from which angle you stand.