Hegseth and the Moscow-CREC Dominionists

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/trump-pete-hegseth-extremism

Hegseth first appeared on my radar under the first Trump administration as one of the voices defending American war crimes. The post-9/11 world has been a veritable golden age for US Special Forces and the growing lack of restraint coupled with psychopathic behaviour has led to some serious concern within the Pentagon. It's something I wrote about in 2020:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/01/trump-1079-military-schisms-legality-of.html

When the Pentagon tried to rein in some of these 'rogue' forces, it was Hegseth (using his FOX platform) and some others that came to their defense - defending patent cases of murder and brutality. This media campaign led to insubordination and other 'schisms' within the US military and eventually political action - Trump issuing pardons.

I personally am not bothered by this as the US military has nothing to do with Christians, but I know of some ex-military officers who are outraged and deeply offended by what took place - which included Trumpite soldiers appearing on the news in uniform denouncing their superiors. Of course there would be more of this sort of thing the following year when Covid arrived.

The conversation goes a bit off the rails when people try and suggest that such brutal and debased behaviour is out of character for American soldiers. That's simply not true and testifies to the fact that few Americans understand the nature of war and just what their 'heroes' have done in places like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan - and what they did in places like Korea, and Europe during the World Wars. Even the use of nuclear weapons has been sanitized and given a moral gloss.

None of this is all that surprising or necessarily of great interest to me. I figured Hegseth was just another one of the ultra-nationalist fascist types - which he is. At some point I saw his book on the book-store shelf - about how the troops were betrayed. It's just another reiteration of the 'stab in the back' narrative that fascists replay over and over again. It's close cousin to the 'Lost Cause' argument for Confederate apologists.

It hardly raised my eyebrows to discover that in addition to tours Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth had 'served' at Guantanamo Bay as a prison guard and that his unit was connected to some controversy. He seems like the type that would justify torture and given his sordid personal life - it seems likely he's more than a bit of a sadist. He certainly comes across that way. Those are exactly the kind of people you don't want to be prison guards and in police uniforms and yet so often are. When I say 'you', I mean rational, generally moral people. There are of course plenty of people that want Pete Hegseth to be that prison guard or cop.

Then I heard about all his 'Christian Nationalist' tattoos. Okay - that doesn't mean much these days. These terms don't have a lot of meaning. I saw the 'Deus Vult' tattoo and thought 'hmmm....interesting'. The phrase is well to known to anyone familiar with medieval history. The Crusades have been subject to a great deal of revisionist history. Once considered shameful and misguided, the Christian Right now justifies and even celebrates these brutal and heretical wars - and misrepresents the context as well as the actual facts. I didn't realize the slogan of the First Crusade chanted in 1095 was something that nationalist-militia types have picked up on.

I shouldn't have been at all surprised to learn that Hegseth is also connected to Reformed circles and in particular Doug Wilson's CREC - but I must admit that I was. I thought 'wow' - these people are that far gone that they let this degenerate guy into their circles, this man who doesn't seem to have a repentant bone in his body. He's an absolute wretch, a monster, a predator - and then came the real moment of surprise. I actually saw a CREC pastor re-post the Guardian article on Facebook and openly celebrate Hegseth as someone who shared his beliefs. Obviously he too has no shame.

It would be one thing to say - "Yeah, well, we know this guy and we're working with him. He's kind of new to the faith etc...."

But that wasn't the response. It was a defiant endorsement of Hegseth and suggested that what he is and represents - is what you'll find at their church. Come and worship.

I'm sorry to say I know people at that 'church'. The fool in question is their pastor. In all sincerity I hope they leave. I wouldn't attend it if it were meeting next door to my house. This is monstrous and shameful but then as I perused the Facebook page of this 'pastor' all I saw was more filth, more sordid humour, a twisted and perverted understanding of New Testament Christianity that was all about power and stomping people in the face. It is in fact a Christianity fully akin to Hegseth - who it should be noted has suggested he is more than willing (and perhaps eager) to deploy the US military against citizens that are perceived as enemies. Of course under the modern Right's definitions, anyone who opposes them is a Marxist and Hegseth clearly wants to inflict violence upon them. I guess that would include me.

It is more than a little ironic that he views himself some sort of patriot even as he would abandon and trample the principles upon which the nation was founded. His cognitive dissonance regarding the nation is nothing to me ideologically or emotionally. As a Christian I'm not a patriot and I think the Founders were wrong - but I don't wave the flag, stand for the anthem, say the pledge of allegiance, vote, use the courts or much of anything else except pay my taxes and testify against the evil empire - that Hegseth wants to transform into something darker, more perverse, and pseudo-Christian.

Hegseth is a heretic and functional apostate. That's what I take issue with. He cannot be reckoned a Christian. Neither is the aforementioned CREC pastor. I don't say that lightly but it needs to be said. The enemy has set up shop (as they say) in the midst of the Church. The banners of the enemy fly in our midst. This is not the time to go to sleep or to be weary. We need to be vigilant. It's reached a point in which sin is openly celebrated in our midst. Black is white and white is black. Evil is good and good is evil.

The fixation at present is on a liberal Episcopalian woman who thinks she's an officer of the Church, who thinks the love of Christ means the endorsement of sodomy. She is deceived. But these people are no less so - not one bit. Mariann Budde represents no real threat to the viable Church. No one engaged with Scripture is going to take her seriously for five minutes. It's like living in Judah and hearing some message given by the prophet at the Bethel shrine. It elicits little more than a roll of the eyes. What does one expect to hear at the Episcopalian National Cathedral?

But not so with these folks. They are taken seriously. These people are like the prophets within the heart of Judah. They're teaching people in the name of God - to disobey God. They're celebrating and justifying sin and saying that God's okay with it - peace, peace. They think godliness is gain and they're sitting on the Temple steps (as it were), whispering in the king's ear. These are the sons of Hananiah and Pashur, the false prophets that hate the word of God and terrorize and persecute those who uphold it.

Make no mistake. This is the reality of the present. For those who think the Reformed world and its theology are a bastion, think again. Fascism has set up shop in American Evangelicalism and while some might think the cancer is starting to affect the Reformed world, the reality is it's been there for years. But now it's ulcerating - there's no hiding it any longer.

Be prepared to make your choices. If it hasn't happened already you're going to lose friends. You're going to see churches fall into apostasy and be forced to leave. The situation seems to be getting worse by the day. I'm afraid there's no going back. A major overhaul or reformation is needed and yet it's nowhere on the horizon. The American Church is in a new Dark Age.

The Church has been here before. In actuality it's more the norm in Church history. A remnant perseveres - but you had better know what you believe and why and be prepared to stand alone if need be - though you're not alone. Our numbers may be few but they are more than are readily apparent and there is no need to fear - Christ is with us.

See also:

https://time.com/7176342/pete-hegseth-donald-trump-pardon-war-crimes-military/