Pentagon Confirms Hegseth Joined Far-Right White House Bible Study
DOD statement doesn't name group leader Ralph Drollinger, but confirms Hegseth is in
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The Pentagon has confirmed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is part of a White House Bible-study group, which I first revealed on Monday.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell neither confirmed or disputed specifics of my reporting, namely that the White House Bible-study group is led by far-right evangelical Ralph Drollinger’s group, Capitol Ministries.
In a statement the Pentagon provided, Parnell said only, “The Secretary has attended Bible study with other cabinet members multiple times while in DC.”
As I reported Monday, Drollinger’s online study guides now list Hegseth and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as sponsors of his study groups. Johnson is listed as a House sponsor while Hegseth is one of several top officials in the administration of Pres. Donald Trump newly named, along with former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, as sponsors of a group that meets weekly in executive-branch offices. The others are:
Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel
David Perdue, U.S. ambassador to China
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
HUD Secretary Scott Turner
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought
Hegseth first appeared in Drollinger’s study guides this week, as a sponsor of what’s now referred to as the White House cabinet, ambassadors, and governors group.
Drollinger has run Bible studies in Congress for years, and distributes the study guides online. One member, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in 2015 that Drollinger and his wife, who assists him, “instruct, admonish, encourage, exhort, and inspire elected officials to lead their lives and conduct themselves in a way that brings glory to God.”
Drollinger’s study guides don’t list any Democratic sponsors, but he claims they attend in both chambers. In January I revealed that Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) helped recruit House members for him.
A supporter of Trump, Drollinger initiated a study group in the White House during the first Trump administration, reportedly kept it going remotely with Trump cabinet alumni, and then revived it in person again in February.
The evangelical missionary has operatives in state capitols and around the world, working to bring political leaders to his interpretations of Jesus and biblical teachings.
I’ve reached out to other sponsors and participants of the new White House Bible study and will report on their responses, if any.
Drollinger’s teachings have potentially profound implications for the Pentagon, although Hegseth’s religious beliefs were already similar to Drollinger’s before the study group returned. Parnell didn’t say when Hegseth began attending, just that he’s been “multiple” times.
Drollinger says he opposes theocratic government. He just wants politicians to choose courses of action a theocratic government would choose.
Capitol Ministries openly opposes women leadership in many fields, along with LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights.
Perhaps most relevant for Hegseth and the Pentagon, Drollinger teaches that Israel is a necessary component for the fulfillment of end-times prophecy.
“I do wonder if Israel drops the second shoe after they chase Hamas out of Gaza," Drollinger told Business Insider last year, "and if they retake all of Gaza for Israel. Because there are passages that say, 'Until Israel returns to the whole of the land, you don't start the eschatological [end times] clock towards the return of the Messiah.'"
Business Insider reported that Drollinger’s study guide teaches that Revelation prophecy of 144,000 Jews converting to Christianity is a reason for the U.S. to support Israel today.
Last month, Drollinger discussed his Bible study groups with the German newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. In reference to sessions with European parliamentary members, he said:
“We believe that the Word of God must be taught in depth at least once a week; this applies to all our courses around the world. You can't just say you do a prayer breakfast or something like that once a year and that's it. That way, you won't achieve our goal: to influence the lives of politicians so that they become true followers of Christ.”
The newspaper promoted its interview with Drollinger teasing that he would explain, “How to convert the head of the Pentagon or the US Attorney General to an evangelical worldview.”
Hegseth has already drawn the repeated ire of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) for a range of violations of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause barring the government from respecting an establishment of religion.
Since taking over at the Pentagon, Hegseth has unapologetically used his position of public trust to advance his own religious beliefs. (His Christian, and allegedly anti-Muslim, tattoos were said to have gotten him barred from working the 2021 presidential inauguration.)
Last week, the On Democracy Substack revealed that Hegseth was kicking off a monthly Christian prayer service, using Pentagon facilities, resources, and insignia to promote his religious views to his audience both in person and on the Pentagon’s closed-circuit channel.
According to the New York Times, the Pentagon wouldn’t say whether the service will be ecumenical and include non-Protestant denominations in the future.
Although Pentagon chaplains are trained to serve ecumenically, the service opened with a military chaplain, Steve Survance, now director of Strategic Religious Affairs for the Joint Chiefs, thanking God for “sending Jesus to be our savior.” Survance also shared his bigotry about unbelievers, saying that life without God “would be for naught.”
Hegseth then addressed the audience in the auditorium and watching remotely. “This is … I think, exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Hegseth reportedly said, “in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
Hegseth’s pastor, Brooks Potteiger, followed, mixing religion and politics and leaving no doubt about God’s politics.
“It seems surreal to think of some of our prayer meetings last year,” he said to Hegseth, “praying the blessing of the Lord upon this nation; and my goodness, do we not pray to a God who hears.” Meaning: They prayed for the Lord’s blessing and Trump won. (Potteiger hails from the sexist and anti-LGBTQ+ Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.)
Addressing God next, Potteiger presumed to know what God had done with Trump, saying, “thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land.”
He prayed, too, that Trump would be served by only people of Potteiger’s religious views.
And, potentially troublingly, Potteiger told military leaders that they’re not responsible for the consequences of their actions.
He said, “There’s a temptation to think that you’re actually in control and responsible for final outcomes, especially for those who issue the commands and do the aiming and the shooting.”
This is thinking on the evangelical right. It endorses both the outcomes they achieve, and their opposition to outcomes they oppose.
Drollinger agrees. One of his workbooks quotes Carson — a Drollinger alumni — saying, “we are not in control … God is in control."
Along those lines, Potteiger put God’s hand on America’s missiles. “He is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles,” he said, drawing a couple of amused reactions. “Jesus has the final say over all of this.”
Potteiger also informed U.S. military commanders that the end of the world is right around the corner. “God,” he said, “will very soon receive you into His arms on the final day.” This, too, is possibly troubling for obvious reasons.
And it could have prophetic implications for military policy related to Israel, potentially involving not just Gaza — as Drollinger noted — but Iran and Yemen.
Potteiger ended his remarks with several exhortations to America’s men and women in uniform:
“Bookend your day with scripture and prayer.”
“Prioritize weekly worship” (in defiance of Satan): “You will bring your children.”
“Make this monthly gathering immoveable.”
Potteiger said, “The fact that this service is happening today is proof that God’s blessing is still on our land.” He then proceeded to sing, encouraging the audience to sing along, which they mostly did not.
I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC — as co-creator of Up w/ Chris Hayes and senior producer for Countdown with Keith Olbermann — CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. My original reporting on Substack is made possible by a handful of paid subscribers. Thank you.
i appreciate this essay while also finding it very troubling
You start off my day with giggles and grins, and then end it with this?! This is not a complaint. It's just the dichotomous nature of a world that I do not want to welcome anyone to.