Society
The Gospel of Empire: How Myth, Zionism, and the Market Conspired to Dismantle Peace
The modern global order is driven less by diplomacy and more by ancient myths, militarized theology, and a gospel of endless war masquerading as divine and democratic duty.
As Israeli bombs fall once more on Gaza and missiles murder Iranian scientists and poets — backed by ironclad American rhetoric and weapons — the world is witnessing more than a regional war. We are witnessing a revelation: the modern geopolitical order draws not just from resources and realpolitik but from myths older than any state and more potent than any weapon. In Ukraine, for instance, merciless fascism has taken hold of many and beneath the spires of some of the world’s most ancient tabernacles. But the Ukraine-Russia affair threatens to obliterate Orthodox Christianity. And who would want to do that?
The Temple Was Never Destroyed — It Was Privatized
Zionism, particularly in its current ethnonationalist form, does not stand alone. It is the theological twin of American exceptionalism (See Obama), born from the same mother: the belief that one people — whether chosen by Yahweh or baptized in the Constitution — are destined to rule, redeem, or “police” the Earth.
Today’s Israel no longer wears the rags of the refugee. It is a militarized state supported by billions in U.S. aid, armed with nuclear weapons, and entrenched in an ideology that fuses divine inheritance with demographic engineering. The occupation is not a tragedy — it is doctrine.
And that doctrine has become global. Whether by necessity or out of some warped divine business proposition, The Israelis have been the nexus for the carnage in Eastern Europe, and particularly the Middle East. Either wittingly by the London bankster, or unwittingly by the young Israeli settler in Palestine, a tiny nation is managing to hold sway over 99.999 percent of the rest of the world. Israel is the antithesis of a multipolar world and, in the end, the enemy of equality, in my opinion.
When the Pentagon Became the New Mount Sinai
One need not look far to see how ancient paradigms of chosen-ness now inform 21st-century imperialism. When George W. Bush called the War on Terror a “crusade,” it was not a gaffe. It was prophecy fulfilled. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya to Syria, American interventions have often carried the subtle language of salvation — liberating the oppressed, spreading freedom, and bringing light to dark places.
But the bombs always fall on the brown and the poor. And the oil always flows uphill. We all know this. It’s right before our eyes. But will still cling to what’s comfortable. We do not want to tear down our belief systems to be better people or citizens of the world. That would be hard.
Behind the scenes, the real God is the market. BlackRock, Lockheed, Raytheon, and Boeing do not preach, but they tithe handsomely. What began as theology has become economy. War is no longer the failure of diplomacy — it is a quarterly strategy. And the strategists who’ve killed hundreds of millions are now afraid. It seems like WW3 and a new Dark Age are all that can save their strategies.
Gatekeepers of a Manufactured Apocalypse
There was a time when prophets warned against such a thing, when Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple. When Muhammad condemned tribal greed. When the Gnostics whispered that the God of this world — the Demiurge — was a false creator, a jealous pretender, and there are hundreds of other examples in almost every religion on Earth.
Today, those voices are censored or criminalized. Julian Assange is in prison. Peace activists are called traitors. Palestinians are labelled terrorists for burying their children. The world’s conscience is throttled by algorithms and threatened by surveillance. And all the while, the war machine marches on — sanctified by scripture, funded by taxes, protected by silence, and fuelled by fear and ignorance.
A Line in the Sand, Written in Blood and Belief
It is not antisemitic to question Zionism, any more than it is anti-Christian to question televangelists who build mansions on the backs of the poor. Israel, like America, has become a mirror — reflecting what we worship. If we look into that mirror and see only righteousness, we are blind. If we see blood, checkpoints, censorship, and genocide — we must speak.
Not because we hate, but because we remember what justice means.
Not because we are prophets, but because silence now is complicity. We must be part of the solution if our world is to be preserved. And for President Trump, blowing up more innocent people or creating Chernobyl in Iran is not a solution. When will the New York Times talk about what happens when a nuclear power plant or enrichment facility is blown to pieces? Shall we irradiate Iranians without B-2 Bombers launching 20 megatons of nuclear warheads? Think, people, for God’s sake, think.
Closing Thought:
The ancient myths are not dead. They have been hijacked. The burning bush speaks no longer from Sinai — it flickers on screens, interrupted by drone footage and talking heads from New York to London and Brussels to Berlin.
And somewhere, buried beneath rubble and rhetoric, lies the real covenant: that we are all human, and none of us are chosen for the right to kill. The God we all know within us does not sanctify the murder of unarmed women and children. The innocents are the true “chosen” people, no matter what Temple overshadows their daily lives.
It’s time we all sacrificed some deep thought over this. Otherwise, we are doomed.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books
