Apparently, the 12-day War is ending, all thanks to Trump’s God-gilded realpolitik. What do I mean by this? Allow me to show you by recounting recent geopolitical events that demonstrate how Trump has ushered in a new era of God-gilded realpolitik.
At 5PM on Monday, June 23 President Trump announced the end to what he has dubbed “the 12-Day War.” His announcement on Truth Social states:
CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.” This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!
DONALD J. TRUMP,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
After assessing everything that has happened in the past 12 days, and more specifically since Saturday, there are some concluding takeaways that are consequential for the public witness and display of a Christian ethic to the world. After all, Trump, through his rhetoric, has propped himself up to be a global example of Christian political ethics and leadership. But what kind of a Christian ethic is this, really? Frankly, Trump’s ethic is an ethic of God-gilded realpolitik. In Trump’s mind, using technological and militaristic power to demonstrate superiority and intimidate your enemies is much more expedient than a Jesus ethic from the Sermon on the Mount. So do that and then rub God language on it. This appears to be the mantra of the Trump administration Christian ethic.
On Saturday, June 21, the president took to Truth Social to announce the successful completion of a tactical bombing mission on three known sites of nuclear research and development in Iran (Cf. Heather Cox Richardson, Letters to An American, June 21, 2025). At 10 PM, the president gave an address where he detailed the success of the mission and its consequences. Two excerpts of his address are worth noting:
There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There’s never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago…I want to just thank everybody…in particular, God…And I just want to say…we love you God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel. And God bless America. (Donald Trump, White House Presidential Address, June 21, 2025)
Sanctifying Technology
Men love to marvel about what they accomplish through modern technology. They love to demonstrate their power, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and security to the world. We see this in the First Testament Tower of Babel bible story from Genesis 11.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scatter over the face of the earth. (Gen. 11:4)
If you know this biblical account, you will recall that God did not tear down their Ziggurat. He confused their language. Sometimes knocking down humanity’s towers of ascent are less effective than humbling him by confusion.
I was first troubled by the president’s remarks because his sense of security and power was grounded in militaristic technology and achievement. I was troubled by how arbitrarily he wielded militaristic power on behalf of the People of the United States, and by his pride in what humanity has accomplished by doing so. This feature of his God-gilded realpolitik should trouble us.
But we should also be deeply troubled at the presumption that God is on the side of someone who appears to be the aggressor and agitator in warfare. From all appearances, Netanyahu and Israel seemed to be the aggressor to Iran, and Trump’s unilateral decision to intervene and bring the U. S. into the conflict, without congressional approval, seemed to escalate this aggression. But to justify all of this, he simply rubbed a little God-language to rationalize his actions. Many have called this heretical. Minimally, its using God’s name to justify whatever you autocratically think is right. It’s God-approved subjectivism.
Did the acts of Israel and United States meet the demands of Just War criteria? There is much to ponder here. In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. First, intelligence pointing to the capability of creating weapons-grade uranium does not on the surface meet the criteria of self-defense or defending others from attack. No violence or offense had occurred. Creating heavy water and near weapons-grade uranium may simply be created to produce nuclear energy. Second, Trump and J. D. Vance adamantly argued that war had not been declared on Iran by the United States. The U. S. merely engaged in a tactical mission, something it has a history of doing. Third, these premature acts of aggression seem to point to the fact that Israel and the U. S. failed to exhaust all peaceful options to de-escalate the crisis. Trump’s bravado on Truth Social seemed menacing rather than that of someone aiming to pursue peace. Some of Trump’s demeanor portrayed one who valued making arbitrary decisions at the last minute, on a whim, and as an exercise of autocratic power. What will history say about the ethical practices of Israel and the U. S.? What will the United Nations have to say? It will be interesting to see more on this in coming days.
All of this reminds me of Francis Schaeffer’s influential essay, “Our Society” he discussed what happens when Christians turn away from the absolute authority of God’s Word as a source for their social ethic and moral law. He argued:
As the Christian consensus dies, there are not many sociological alternatives. One possibility is hedonism, in which every man does his own thing…A second possibility is the absoluteness of the 51-percent vote…If there are no absolutes, and if we do not like either the chaos of hedonism or the absoluteness of the 51-percent vote, only one other alternative is left: one man or an elite giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes. (Francis Schaeffer, “Our Society” in Evangelical Ethics, edited by David P. Gushee and Isaac B. Sharp, 32)
When Schaeffer published this article in 1976 he had been convinced that the United States was becoming secularized. The drug culture and the passing of Roe v. Wade signaled the bad fruit of hedonism and the loss of Christian moral influence. He anticipated the danger of dictatorial, authoritarian, and plutocratic power—the kind of power that seems to be the trajectory of the current political climate in the United States.
It seems that the evangelicals, who followed after Schaeffer, have since traded off the ideals of a liberal, pluralistic democracy for a sort of Christian Nationalism that has emerged from wedding MAGA and evangelicals. But I don’t think this is because evangelicals have departed far from Schaeffer’s own trajectory. Frankly, Schaeffer appears to be a sort of Christian Nationalist as well. Really, I think evangelicals today have simply realized the consequence of what it means for evangelicals to pursue power in a market society. It means that militarism trumps humanitarian work. It means that policing the 10/40 window is prioritized over praying for it. It means demonstrating technological and militaristic superiority is more expedient than being meek and peaceful. It has opened the way to the arbitrary rule of an autocratic who employs a God-gilded realpolitik.
A Christian Response to God-Gilded Realpolitik
So what do Christians do in response to the new age of the God-gilded realpolitik? Well, foster a Jesus ethic, built around the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount
Here is a brief proposal of practical ways that Christians can build an ethic that cuts through the countervailing spirit of our age.
It is imperative to champion a Christian theology and ethic of non-violence more than ever.
1) Protest peaceably and nonviolently.
Promote policies that offer humanitarian aid, end violence, and foster peace between peoples. This is very much what the “No Kings” protests were on Saturday, June 14. People gathering in solidarity to refugees and immigrants and in opposition to symbols of militarism and indulgently spending on those symbols rather than on that which would flourish society.
2) Use evidence-based arguments and turn to reliable media sources.
Since the United States intervened in the Israeli-Iranian conflict, it appears that there has been large uptick of PsyOps on social media. Please rely upon news media outlets that are well-reputed. Read the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press. Listen to established and credible authorities that have been vetted by academic institutions and professional news media. Read and watch what the global community is saying. Access BBC News and Al-Jazeera in order to get a non-US perspective. Pay careful attention to U. S. Government social accounts and messaging.
3) Cultivate global communities of shared liberal values.
Just as valuable as it is to act locally and think as an individual and neighbor at this time. Look for ways to connect yourself to a like-minded global community. Listen to the perspective of missionary families sent out from your church. Talk to someone from the international community that attends your church. Meet with someone from your neighborhood where english is not their first language or they or their parents were not born in this nation.
4) Boldly name acts of evil and crimes against humanity.
I am grateful by the bold witness of so many people in my community and on social that have not equivocated on the values of peace and the objective to seek the common good. Elevate those people and point them out to one another. I’m in the process of working on a chapter of Brand Evangelicals that focuses on militarism and the market society, so I will have much more to say about this in coming days.
5) Pray. Pray. Pray.
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