Fundamentalists and Evangelicals try to interpret the book of Revelation “literally.” Most scholars think it was code-speak to give hope to contemporaries being oppressed by the Roman Empire, but these people think it’s prophecy that will be fulfilled at the apocalypse.
Revelation, as they read it, describes an anti-Christ figure, who is a Jewish man, who will unite the world under one government and broker peace for a short time before a period of unimaginable suffering and destruction. Conveniently, they read between the lines and have convinced themselves that “real Christians” will be swept away in the clouds and spared from all that suffering.
Jesus eventually ends up flying down on a white horse with all the real Christians and angels and skewers the anti-Christ, his followers, and non-Christians with swords that shoot out of his mouth and casts them into a bottomless pit.
I mean, it’s really wild stuff. And apparently it’s informing US policy. They want all of this to happen, but they just want to be on the “right” side of it. This pastor isn’t saying they shouldn’t try for peace - just that Christians should furrow their brows about it so God won’t leave them behind.
