Is Donald Trump the Beast of Revelation 13?

Posted on April 14, 2026 by Father Dave

Trump as Jesus!Whenever any earthly power starts to look like a saviour, the church must remember that there is only one who is worthy of worship.

I’ve never felt comfortable with those who read the political landscape through the lens of the books of Daniel and Revelation, constantly finding new figures to identify as ‘the beast’ and new formulas for generating the number 666. Having said that, Mr. Trump’s most recent self-portrait as Jesus, generating divine healing power while he simultaneously murders countless people in Iran and Lebanon and appears to be intent on engineering a global economic collapse, has prompted me to reconsider the prophecies regarding the Antichrist.

It’s tempting to look to The Revelation of Saint John and other apocalyptic works for straightforward answers to the complex problems confronting us. Even so, such an approach requires a superficial reading of the Scriptures and takes us down dangerous paths. Let’s think instead in terms of theological (and political) anchor points that these books provide for us:

  1. Revelation’s critique of empire: when power seeks worship

The Revelation of Saint John is not primarily a timetable for future events but an unveiling—an apocalypse— that exposes the spiritual seduction of empire. At the heart of Revelation’s warning is the moment when political power begins to demand the kind of devotion that belongs only to God. ‘The Beast’ is a ruler who receives worship:

“They worshipped the dragon… and they worshipped the beast” (Revelation 13:4).

This is not just political allegiance but adoration. John goes further:

The Beast “opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God” (Revelation 13:6).

In biblical language, blasphemy is not just insulting God; it is also claiming divine prerogatives and accepting honours that belong to God alone.

Revelation’s imagery is deliberately exaggerated and symbolic because it is meant to help the church recognise a recurring pattern. Empires become beastly when they demand loyalty, devotion, or awe that belongs only to the Lamb. And Revelation’s answer is always the same:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 5:12).

The Lamb—not any earthly ruler—is the world’s true and only saviour!

  1. The “man of lawlessness”: when a human takes God’s place

Saint Paul gives the church another lens for discernment. In 2 Thessalonians, he describes a figure who does not merely receive worship but actively claims divine status:

He “exalts himself over everything that is called God” and “proclaims himself to be God” (2 Thess 2:4).

This is the clearest biblical example of a human leader pretending to be God. Paul’s concern is pastoral rather than prophetic. Even so, he warns the church that spiritual deception can come through:

  • charismatic leaders,
  • political movements,
  • systems that elevate human authority to divine heights.

The danger Paul sees is not that Christians will misidentify the Antichrist but rather that they will misplace their hope. His antidote is simple: hold fast to Christ, and do not let any earthly power take Christ’s place.

  1. The counterfeit trinity: when propaganda becomes worship

Revelation deepens the warning by showing not just a leader, but a system that imitates the things of God. John describes a second beast — later called the “false prophet” — who performs signs and directs people’s devotion toward the first beast:

It “deceives those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 13:14).

This is a parody of the Holy Spirit, who glorifies Christ. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet form a counterfeit trinity — a political‑religious machine that mimics divine authority.

The point here is not to identify particular players. The key is recognising the pattern. When political power is supported by a religious aura, a myth of destiny or a cult of personality, the church must stand up!

  1. We must be cautious about political-messianic imagery

Throughout history, empires have used religious imagery to sanctify their political authority:

  • Roman emperors were called “divi filius”—”son of god.”
  • Mediaeval kings were anointed with chrism.
  • Modern regimes have used sacred symbols to inspire devotion.

Revelation unmasks this as a spiritual danger. It is not that every empire is evil but that every empire is tempted to claim more than it should. Whenever a leader is portrayed as a healer, saviour, redeemer, or chosen deliverer, the church must remember the following:

“Salvation belongs to our God… and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).

Who is worthy of worship?

  • Not presidents.
  • Not emperors.
  • Not nations.
  • Not movements.

Only the Lamb is worthy!

So … I’ve deliberately laid out the biblical principles above without aligning them directly with any current political figures. You can do that for yourself. Are there any leaders out there who are blaspheming, claiming divine prerogatives or leading the faithful astray? Do the maths. Come to your own conclusions.

In truth, I don’t think we really need you to identify ‘the Beast’. What is far more essential is to recognise when our imaginations are being shaped by something other than the gospel. Whenever any earthly power starts to look like a saviour, God’s people must remember that only the Lamb is worthy of worship.

  • Revelation calls us to discernment.
  • Paul calls us to steadfastness.
  • Jesus calls us to worship God alone.

Amen!

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Six Non‑Negotiable Terms to End the U.S. War on Iran

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Father Dave

You’ll find below a press release, followed by a universal appeal to thinkers,  scholars, institutions of conscience, and the advocates for justice across the world to bring an end oto the violent insanity being meted out by the current US administration on Iran and on Lebanon. 

it was my privilege to be asked to add my signature to this “Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity” (no. 79). I look down the list of signatories and see so many estemed friends and global thought leaders. Surely, the the hubris of Mr Trump and his cronies must eventually collapse under the weight of the public outrcy against them? 

“Six Non‑Negotiable Terms from international Scholars and Former Officials from 30 countries to End the U.S. War on Iran Amid Trump’s Threat of War Crimes”

The conscience of humanity resists “everything for us, nothing for others,” the creed of the predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations. The shameless rapacity and insolence have reached their zenith, and Trump’s threats illustrate the depraved spirit of a decaying civilisation. We must not be passive witnesses, but active architects of a new world where arrogance crumbles and righteousness prevails.

A large transnational group of prominent voices—including former UN officials, Retired career diplomats, former ministers, scholars and intellectuals, political figures and former parliamentarians, military and security professionals, artists, lawyers as well as journalists, activists, and antiwar leaders, from 30 countries—has released an open letter sharply criticising the global role of the United States and calling for a new international order centered on sovereignty and resistance to what they describe as Western domination.

Most of the signatories are from Western countries, alongside participants from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The declaration, titled “A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity,” was signed by over 170 signatories from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Serbia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Russia, China, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran.

In this fact-based public letter, the authors deliver a sweeping critique of American foreign policy and historical conduct. The letter states that for “249 years—spanning the entirety of its existence since 1776—the United States built a record of atrocity that belonged to a darker, pre-civilised age,” describing the country as “a predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations.”

The signatories, including current and former professors affiliated with 52 universities and academic institutions worldwide, accuse Washington of maintaining global military dominance through an extensive overseas presence. They state that the United States operates “over 800 military garrisons poisoning more than 90 foreign countries and territories” and has cultivated what the signatories call “a doctrine of absolute predation.”

The declaration also condemns U.S. involvement in major wars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, referring to what it calls “the genocidal horror of Vietnam,” “the annihilation of Cambodia,” and the “systematic slaughter of Koreans,” as well as the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan.

A central focus of the document is the ongoing confrontation involving Iran. These public figures argue that the current situation reflects what they describe as an expansionist U.S. strategy aimed at dominating global resources. According to the statement, the United States government is driven by “the demonic creed of ‘everything for us, nothing for others’,” which they say seeks control of global resources ranging from “the oil of Venezuela” to “the mineral wealth of Greenland” or “the energy reserves of Canada”.

The undersigned further assert that U.S. policy now “fixates on Iran” because the country possesses “over seven percent of the world’s mineral and energy wealth,” which they describe as “the final frontier of plunder.”

The document also criticizes contemporary American leadership, arguing that the “moral collapse of the West finds its embodiment in the pathetic figure of Mr. Trump,” and calling for what they describe as an end to “the era of pillage.”

Beyond its criticism of U.S. policy, the announcement proposes several demands that the signatories say are necessary to end the current war on Iran. These include guarantees against future aggression, the dismantling of U.S. military installations in the region, formal international condemnation of acts of aggression, reparations for damages caused by war, the establishment of a new legal framework for the Strait of Hormuz, recognising Iran’s sovereignty, and the prosecution and extradition of operatives in anti-Iranian media who have incited this bloodshed.

The authors also call on intellectuals, scholars, institutions, and civil society organizations worldwide to condemn what is described as the normalization of violations of international law and to challenge the global

structures that sustain domination and military intervention.

In conclusion, the signatories argue that the present moment represents a decisive historical turning point. “We stand with justice—not as passive witnesses, but as active architects of a new world,” the letter states, emphasizing that the international community must confront what it calls the return of predatory power in global politics.

Among the signatories are prominent scientists and figures representing a wide array of expertise and leadership, including philosophers, economists, historians, sociologists, jurists, theologians, Islamologists, reverends, biologists, physicians, musicians, filmmakers, songwriters, singers, entrepreneurs, engineers, novelists, theorists, as well as a physicist, a psychologist, an anthropologist, and a comedian. This diverse coalition reflects the global conscience of humanity, uniting professionals, scholars, and advocates from multiple disciplines in a shared call against U.S. exceptionalism.

The full text of the declaration, along with the complete list of signatories, has been released publicly in more than ten languages:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity

 To the peoples of the world, to thinkers, to scholars, and to those who believe in justice:

A specter now haunts the conscience of humanity—the return of predatory power— and it shall no longer go unchallenged.

For 249 years—spanning the entirety of its existence since 1776—the United States built a record of atrocity that belonged to a darker, pre-civilised age; the predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations; from the genocide of nearly 5 million Indigenous peoples, to the brutal enslavement of over 4 million Africans, to the lynching of more than 4,000 Black citizens under Jim Crow. With over 800 military garrisons poisoning more than 90 foreign countries and territories, it cultivated a doctrine of absolute predation. From the genocidal horror of Vietnam, with over 3 million dead; to the annihilation of Cambodia, where 2 million perished under US-backed terror; to the systematic slaughter of Koreans, with more than 4 million Korean lives extinguished; to the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan, where one million Iraqis and tens of thousands of Libyans were consumed by US fire.

Yet the rational order that governs the world once helped humanity move beyond such practices. Humanity had consigned this barbarism to history. But now we are witnessing its return. The ongoing, systematic immolation of Gaza through the sustained support for the genocidal Israeli regime, where over 77,000 civilians in Palestine have been butchered—the scale of this atrocity reveals an inescapable truth: the pre-civilised practice has returned, and Washington has once again become its willing executor.

This is the demonic creed of “everything for us, nothing for others.” With shameless rapacity, it claims the resources of the world—whether the oil of Venezuela, the mineral wealth of Greenland, or the energy reserves of Canada—as objects of strategic entitlement. And now, that gluttonous eye fixates on Iran. Because Iran—possessing over 7% of the world’s mineral and energy wealth—is seen as the final frontier of plunder.

Yet this is no longer a matter of economics. It is a matter of honour. The world witnesses that the United States is actively engaged in a criminal enterprise termed the “Ramadan War” against the Iranian nation. This ongoing butchery has already claimed the lives of 208 innocent children. Let the world mark the date—168 of them were little girls, elementary students at the Shadjareh Tayyebeh School in Minab city in Iran, extinguished in their classrooms by US ordained terror.

Their futile and desperate contrivances aim at so-called “regime change” and the fragmentation of Iran—stripping the nation of its sovereignty and, thereby, facilitating the systematic plunder of its resources. In pursuit of this ultimate depravity, the U.S. brutally assassinated Iran’s spiritual and intellectual leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei—recognised globally as a voice against arrogance and terrorism—along with his family.

They have waged a war of targeted terror against the very pillars of the Iranian state. To date, US aggression has criminally murdered 39 Iranian statesmen, including the scientific genius Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Now, the insolence has reached its zenith. The US President openly threatens the Iranian people on social media with the destruction of their energy infrastructure. This is the depraved spirit of a decaying civilisation. The moral collapse of the West finds its embodiment in the pathetic figure of Mr. Trump—a man whose catastrophic conduct over the last two years has exhausted not only the world, but his own people. The time has come to declare, with one voice: Enough! The era of pillage is over.

But the United States has made a fatal miscalculation. What stands before it is not merely a nation, but a civilisation that has weaponised its own DNA—ancient organisational genius fused with 21st-century scientific sovereignty. This is the reality of active deterrence by Iran; a global pole of power that dictates the terms of engagement, forcing strategic retreat by rewriting the very rules of active defence. Now, its adaptive reorganisation, civilisational continuity, and social unity have fused into a singular, unbreakable force.

Iran’s all-encompassing defence and active deterrence represents a golden opportunity to end global hegemony. The historical and civilisational doctrine of Iran is absolute: power does not confer right, and domination cannot serve as a foundation for justice. This is recognised as the bedrock of Iran’s invincibility. The world may avail itself of this historic turning point, drawing upon this very doctrine of liberation, to bring an end to domination and oppression wherever they may exist.

US and Israeli exceptionalism have dragged the world into an epoch defining choice between might and right, sovereignty and subjugation, dignity and dishonour. This moment must serve as the wake-up call for humanity to recognize that there is another way. It must impel people everywhere to do everything in their power to challenge the structures undergirding a global system that desecrates every moral value including the right to life itself.

Iran is the final frontier. If it falls, the hope of a better, enlightened future for the world dies with it. We cannot let that happen. The aggression against Iran is part of a system of global power that oppresses all of us. We cannot afford to stand by and watch arrogant authoritarianism running amok. Our very future depends on the success of Iran.

Therefore we cannot countenance any outcome of this war that involves a return to the status quo ante. Those who inflict such suffering must be made to pay a hefty price for their crimes. They must be made to realise that military might does not absolve them of the responsibility to uphold the laws on which the peace and security of our world depend. To that end, we support the terms set out by Iran for ending this war.

From the perspective of global justice, the terms for ending this war are absolute and non-negotiable:

  1. Guarantees against repetition and a binding international commitment ensuring no future aggression.
  2. The immediate dismantling of all US military installations in the region.
  3. Formal admission of aggression, international condemnation of the aggressors, and full reparations for life and property.
  4. An immediate end to war on all regional fronts.
  5. A new legal regime for the Strait of Hormuz, recognising Iran’s sovereignty.
  6. The prosecution and extradition of operatives in anti-Iranian media who have incited this bloodshed.

We, the undersigned in spirit, call upon our peers, the thinkers, the scholars, the institutions of conscience, and the advocates of justice across the world:

  • Condemn the United States unequivocally for its systematic normalisation of contempt for international covenants and its reversion to the spirit of historical savagery and barbarism.
  • Isolate the rogue regime of the United States diplomatically and economically for its ongoing crimes against humanity.
  • Recognise Iran’s inherent right to active deterrence against unprovoked aggression.
  • Demand the immediate cessation of American and U.S.-sponsored terrorism and the prosecution of those who order it.

As it has always done, history will record the courage of those who refuse to remain silent. We stand with justice—not as passive witnesses, but as active architects of a new world that has reached its threshold where arrogance crumbles and righteousness prevails. The arrogant must be dismantled. The world demands it. Justice will enforce it.

Signed in solidarity;

  1. Richard Falk (USA)

Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (2008 – 2014) author or editor of more than 50 books on international law and global politics

  1. Denis Halliday (Ireland)

Former UN Secretary-General deputy and Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Gandhi International Peace Award (2003)

  1. Norman Finkelstein (USA)

Highly internationally known political scientist, son of Holocaust-survivor parents, widely cited & recognized in Middle East political debate. former Professor at universities of DePaul, Princeton, Rutgers and New York

  1. Avi Shlaim (UK)

Professor Emeritus of International Relations and Historian at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, British Academy Medal (2017) for lifetime achievement, PEN Hessell‑Tiltman Prize (2024) for historical writing

  1. Hans von Sponeck (Germany)

Former UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq

  1. Alain de Benoist (France)

Internationally recognized philosopher and essayist whose work spans political theory, philosophy, history of religions, and cultural criticism, focused on critiques of liberalism, universalism, and modern egalitarian ideolog

  1. Chris Williamson (UK)

Former Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government (2010 to 2013), Former member of Parliament for 7 years, former leader of Derby City Counci

  1. Boaventura de Sousa Santos (Portugal)

One of the world’s most internationally highly cited sociologists, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra, Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, Founder of the World Social Forum & the concept of “Epistemologies of the South”, Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), Kalven Prize, Jabuti Award, Gulbenkian Science Prize

  1. Jean Bricmont (Belgium)

Internationally cited theoretical physicist and philosopher of science, Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, author/co-author of several books including Fashionable Nonsense and Humanitarian Imperialism

  1. Dieudonné (France)

Internationally recognized Artist and Stand-up Comedian, author of more than 25 one-man shows, recipient of the Grand Prix de l’Humour Noir (2000) for his contribution to satirical comedy

  1. Hamid Algar (USA)

Professor Emeritus of Persian studies at the University of California, Berkeley, King Faisal Prize laureate

  1. Oya Baydar (Turkey)

Iconic Novelist and Sociologist who spent years in political exile after the 1980 Turkish coup d’état, later she returned and continued her literary career. She holds 5 Awards on novels, literature, short story and culture

  1. Philip Giraldi (USA)

Counterterrorism Expert and Columnist, Executive Director of the non-profit, non-partisan anti-war advocacy group The Council for the National Interest (CNI), Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

  1. Imam Suhaib Webb (UK)

Former imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, Former Resident Scholar of the Islamic Center of New York University, founder of Ella Collins Institute, one of the World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims list by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (2010), recipient as Best Muslim Blog of the Year and Best Muslim Tweeter of the Year by Brass Crescent Awards

  1. Cynthia McKinney (USA)

Former Congresswomen for 6 terms (Georgia), Assistant Professor and Director of the Office of External Affairs at North South University; recipient of various peace and human-rights awards (e.g., peace advocacy awards)

  1. Ann Wright (USA)

Army Colonel and Former US diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq, Jurist

  1. Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid (Malaysia)

President of Malaysia Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations

  1. Roshan Baig (India)

Former seven-time member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Former Minister of Home Affairs, Former Minister for Urban Development, Former Minister for Infrastructure

  1. Saied Reza Ameli (Islamic Republic of Iran)

Full Professor of Communication and Global Studies at the University of Tehran, Head of the UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture, Founder and Dean of the Faculty of World Studies, Editor-in-chief of Journal of Cyberspace Studies, Member of Iranian Academy of Sciences as well as two High State Cultural Councils

  1. Haim Bresheeth (UK)

Retired Professorial Research Associate Professor of Film, Media and Cultural Studies, and Visual Culture at the School of SOAS, the University of East London, Campaign Against Misrepresentation in Public Affairs

  1. Mohammad Marandi (Islamic Republic of Iran)

Full Professor of English Literature, Orientalism and American Studies at University of Tehran

  1. Ajamu Baraka (USA)

2016 Green Party nominee for Vice President, Anti-Colonial fighter and Veteran of U.S. Black Liberation Movement, Founder of Black Alliance for Peace

  1. Bijan Abdolkarimi(Islamic Republic of Iran)

Philosopher, prominent intellectual in post October 7th era, focused on ontology and political philosophy, specializing in the thought of Martin Heidegger, Associate Professor of philosophy in Islamic Azad University

  1. Daud Abdullah (UK)

Director of Middle East Monitor and former Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain

  1. Vijay Prashad (India)

Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, and senior fellow at Renmin University of China, advisory board member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, co-founder of the Forum of Indian Leftists, Muzaffar Ahmad Book Prize, Paul A. Baran–Paul M. Sweezy Memorial Award

  1. Ramón Grosfoguel (USA)

Sociologist and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley

  1. Lawrence Davidson (USA)

Professor Emeritus of Middle East History at West Chester University (WCU)

  1. David Miller (UK)

Sociologist and former professor at the University of Strathclyde, the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, Co-Director of Spinwatch

  1. Abbas Edalat (UK)

Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Imperial College London and founder of the Science and Arts Foundation (SAF) and Campaign against Sanctions, Military and Imperial Interventions (CASMII)

  1. Dinah Shelton (USA)

Professor Emeritus of International Law at George Washington University Law School; former Commissioner and President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2010–2014), Elizabeth Haub Prize for Environmental Law (2006), International Environmental Law Award (2016

  1. Jodi Dean (USA)

Political Theorist and Professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, former Erasmus Professor of the Humanities in the Faculty of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam

  1. Peter Limb (USA)

Internationally recognized Historian and Professor at Michigan State University

  1. Michael Maloof (USA)

Former Senior Security Policy Analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense

  1. Michael Springmann (USA)

Former Diplomat in Germany and Saudi Arabia, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Doctor of Law

  1. Augusto Sinagra (Italy)
    Professor Emeritus of International Law at Sapienza University of Rome
  1. Syed Sadatullah Husaini (India)

President of India’s biggest Muslim origination (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind)

  1. Angelo d’Orsi (Italy)

Historian of Philosophy and Professor Emeritus of History of Political Doctrines at the University of Turin

  1. Sibel Edmonds (USA)

Exposer of corruption and intelligence failures within U.S. government agencies, PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award (2006), Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence (2012)

  1. Kevin B. MacDonald (USA)

Professor Emeritus of Evolutionary Psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)

  1. Alberto Bradanini (Italy)

Former director of UN Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute & UN Research Institute on Crime & Drugs, former ambassador in Tehran and Beijing, president of the Centre for Contemporary China Studies in Italy

  1. James H. Fetzer (USA)

McKnight Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota Duluth

  1. Piero Bevilacqua (Italy)

Historian, Professor of Contemporary History at the Sapienza University of Rome, author of 34 books

  1. Claudio Mutti (Italy)

Former Professor at the University of Bologna, Director of “Eurasia, Rivista di Studi Geopolitici”

  1. Siddiqullah Chowdhury (India)

Representative of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, member of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)

  1. Claudio Moffa (Italy)

Former Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Teramo

  1. Maria Poumier (France)

Professor at University of Havana, Former Professor at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), documentary maker

  1. Bruno Drweski (France)

Professor Emeritus at the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (Université Paris-Cité) and Paris Geopolitics Academy

  1. Paulina Aroch Fugellie (Mexico)

Full Professor at the Department of Humanities, Metropolitan Autonomous University

  1. Munyaradzi Mushonga (South Africa)

Global Academic Director for the Decolonial International Network (DIN), Associate Professor at the University of the Free State

  1. Mufti Mukarram Ahmed (India)

Religious and literary scholar, Imam of India’s second largest mosque (Shahi Masjid Fatehpuri)

  1. Alain Corvez (France)

Colonel of French Army, former advisor minister of defense, former deputy to the General Commanding the UN Force in South Lebanon, advisor in international affairs

  1. Jodie Evans (USA)

Co-founder of the anti-war organization Code Pink, Filmmaker, former board chair of Rainforest Action Network

  1. Jean-Louis Poirier (France)

Philosopher, Historian and Translator

  1. Zlatko Hadžidedić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Political Scientist and Director of the Center for Nationalism Studies in Sarajevo

  1. Elizabeth Murray (USA)

Former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council; member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

  1. Pepe Escobar (Brazil)

Geopolitical Analyst and Journalist who has written for Asia Times, Mondialisation.ca, CounterPunch, Al-Jazeera, RT, Sputnik, Strategic Culture Foundation and Guancha

  1. Rodney Shakespeare (UK)

Economist and Visiting Professor at Trisakti University, Expert on Binary Economic

  1. Salman Hussaini Nadwi (India)

Founding member/chairman of numerous religious, medical, IT and engineering colleges and hospitals, scholar and professor in the Islamic sciences, author of numerous scholarly works, President of Jamiat Shabaab ul Islam, editor and co-editor of thirteen different periodicals in English, Urdu, Persian and Arabic languages

  1. Ralph Bosshard (Switzerland)

Former Military Advisor to the Secretary General of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

  1. Daniel Estulin (Lithuania)

Writer and international speaker, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group”

  1. Peter Koenig (Switzerland)

Economist and Geopolitical Analyst with more than 30 years of experience in the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the Swiss Development Cooperation

  1. İbrahim Betil (Turkey)

Founding President of the Turkish Education Volunteers Foundation, Businessman and Social Entrepreneur, former CEO of Tekfen Holding, Multiple Turkish civil society and philanthropy awards

  1. Tommy Sheridan (Scotland)

Candidate for Glasgow in 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections, Former Member of the Parliament, Former Convenor of Scottish Socialist Party, Former Glasgow City Councillor, former Convenor of Solidarity

  1. Christoph Hörstel (Germany)

Author and Expert on Security, NATO Policies, Geopolitics, and German foreign policy, Publicist

  1. Sara Flounders (USA)

Co-director of the International Action Center and Secretariat Member of the Workers World Party

  1. Kevin J. Barrett (USA)

Arabist-Islamologist Scholar, former Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

  1. Zakia Soman (India)

Former Professor of Business Communication at the University of Gujarat, Founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) on women’s rights, member of South Asian Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)

  1. Stephen Sizer (UK)

Former Vicar of Christ Church of Virginia Water in Surrey and director of the Peacemaker Trust

  1. Michael Jones (USA)

Former Professor of English literature at Saint Mary’s College (Indiana), founder of Culture Wars Magazine

  1. Tim Anderson (Australia)

Political Economist, Director of Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies, Former Senior lecturer at the University of Sydney 

  1. Piers Robinson (UK)

Former Professor of Political Journalism, International Politics and Political Communication at Universities of Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool, Co-Director Organisation for Propaganda Studies & Research Director at
the International Center for 9/11 Justice

  1. Pino Cabras (Italy)

Former Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Parliament

  1. Jean Michel Vernochet (France)

Former Journalist of Le Figaro Magazine, Writer and Geopolitical Analyst

  1. Angelo Persiani (Italy)

Former Ambassador in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Sweden

  1. Guillermo Barreto (Venezuela)

Biologist and Retired Full Professor at the Organisms Biology Department of Simón Bolívar University

  1. Mateusz Piskorski (Poland)

Former Professor at University of Szczecin and Jan Długosz University, Co-founder of the European Center of Geopolitical Analysis, former member of the Polish Parliament in the Assembly of Western European Union

  1. Declan Hayes (Ireland)

Retired Professor at the Sophia University of Tokyo

  1. Anisur Rahman Qasmi (India)

Scholar, community leader, Former vice president of the All India Milli Council, lecturer on Islamic jurisprudence

  1. Dave Smith (Australia)

Anglican priest, Social Educator, Boxer, 2022 Candidate in Federal Election – United Australia Party (Grayndler)

  1. Aran Martin (Australia)

Managing Editor of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies (IPCS), Professor at University of Melbourne, Executive Director of Global Security Foundation, Editor of Postcolonial Studies

  1. David Rovics (USA)

Singer and Songwriter, Musician focused on US wars, globalization, anarchism, social justice and labor history, ASCAP Deems Taylor Award

  1. Vito Petrocelli (Italy)

Former Chairman of Foreign affairs committee of Italian Senate, Editorial Director of AntiDiplomatico,

  1. Dilek Bektas (Turkey)

Retired Professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Art University

  1. Veysel Dinler (Turkey)

Professor of law at Hitit University

  1. Christian Bouchet (France)

Anthropologist, Former Politician and Antiwar Activist

  1. Hacer Ansal (Turkey)

Professor of Sociology at Işık University, Expert on Social Theory and Gender

  1. Denijal Jegić (Lebanon)

Professor of communication in the Department of Communication at Lebanese American University

  1. Pawel Moscicki (Poland)

Professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Philosopher, Essayist, host of the Inny Swiat podcast

  1. Vanessa Beeley (France)

Photographer and Independent Journalist on Middle Eastern issues based in Syria

  1. Massoud Shadjareh (UK)

Chair of Islamic Human Rights Commission-London, holding consultative status at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

  1. Zeki Kılıçaslan (Turkey)

Professor of chest diseases at Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, Social Justice Advocate

  1. Sandew Hira (Netherlands)

Founder of Decolonial International Network known for his Decolonial Theory, Director of International Institute for Scientific Research

  1. Paul Larudee (USA)

Founder of the Free Gaza Movement and the Free Palestine Movement, Member of the International Solidarity Movement, co-speaker of the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla

  1. Yvonne Ridley (UK)

Secretary General of European Muslim League, Candidate for Glasgow in 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections, Former President of the International Muslim Women’s Union

  1. Konrad Rekas (Poland–Scotland)

Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Member of Polish YES for Scotland

  1. James Perloff (USA)

Author, Researcher, and former Editor-In-Chief of The New American magazine

  1. Lucien Cerise (France)

Author of Governing by Chaos, Antiwar activist and Geopolitical Analyst

  1. Jürgen Cain Külbel (Germany)

Criminologist, Investigative Journalist, Author of a book on Israel’s role in assassination of Hariri

  1. Carol Brouillet (USA)

Peace activist, co-founder of the Northern California 9-11 Truth Alliance, and Green Party candidate for the U.S. Congress in California (2006, 2008, 2012)

  1. Dogan Bermek (Turkey)

President of Alevi Philosophy Center Association, Former President of the Alavi Federation of Turkiye

  1. Gilles Munier (France)

Investigative Journalist and Secretary General of the Franco-Iraqi Friendships Association

  1. Rebecca Shoot (USA)

International lawyer, Co-Convener of Washington Working Group for the International Criminal Court and Co-Convener ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions

  1. Leonid Savin (Russia)

Chief editor of Geopolitika.ru (from 2008), founder and chief editor of Journal of Eurasian Affairs

  1. Rich Siegel (USA)

Pianist, songwriter, writer and peace activist, and 2015 Green Party political candidate in New Jersey

  1. Gordon Duff (USA)

Former UN Diplomat in Iraq, Vietnam War Marine

  1. Marion Sigaut (France)

Historian, Essayist, and Researcher on French history and political thought

  1. Caleb Maupin (USA)

Founder of Center for Political Innovation, Journalist

  1. Jacob Cohen (France)

Academic, Novelist and Antiwar Activist

  1. Ken O’keefe (USA–Ireland)

Former Marine and Gulf War veteran, antiwar activist

  1. Rainer Rupp (Germany)

Economist and Journalist

  1. Thomas Werlet (France)

Leader of Mouvement FRANCE RÉSISTANCE 

  1. Dragana Trifković (Serbia)

Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies & President of the Eurasian Media Forum

  1. Feroze Mithiborwala (India)

Columnist and Founder of India Iran Friendship Forum

  1. Imam Muhammad al-Asi (USA)

Former Imam of the Islamic Center of Washington, Research Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought

  1. Benedetto Ligorio (Italy)

Assistant Professor at the Department of philosophy of Sapienza University of Rome

  1. Rania Masri (USA)
    Co-Director of North Carolina Environmental Justice Network
  1. Peter Sainsbury (Australia)

Adjunct Professor, University of Notre Dame Australia, School of Medicine, Sydney, Australia,

  1. Haydeé García Bravo (Mexico)

Associate Researcher at Center of Interdisciplinarity Research in Science and Humanities, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

  1. José Gandarilla Salgado (Mexico)

Senior Researcher at Center of Interdisciplinarity Research in Science and Humanities, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

  1. Finian Cunningham (Ireland)

Author and Journalist at Strategic Culture Foundation

  1. Margherita Furlan (Italy)

Journalist and director of Casa Del Sole TV

  1. Eva Bartlett (Canada–USA)

Independent journalist, war correspondent, and activist focusing on Middle East conflicts

  1. Teša Tešanović (Serbia)

Journalist and TV host, founder of Balkan Info

  1. Claude Janvier (France)

Writer, Essayist and Columnist

  1. Eric Walberg (Canada)

Geopolitical Expert and Author

  1. Valérie Bugault (France)

Jurist and geopolitical analyst; Jurist

  1. Adrián Salbuchi (Argentina)

Political Analyst and Writer

  1. Yvan Benedetti (France)

One of the prominent leaders of Yellow Vests Movement

  1. Yannick Sauveur (France)

Writer and Geopolitical analyst

  1. Pierre-Antoine Plaquevent (France)

Writer, political analyst, and international consultant, Head the Strategika think tank and the Polemos newsletter

  1. Arnaud Develay (France)

Political Consultant and International Legal Expert

  1. Michael Spath (USA)

Executive Director of Indiana Center for Middle East Peace

  1. Zhu Haozeng (China)

Editor in Chief of Haikou Xianjielun Cultural Media

  1. António Gomes Marques (Portugal)

Retired Banking Director, Essayist

  1. Haleh Niazmand (USA)

Professor of Art at Modesto Junior College, Conceptual Artist, Curator, and Art Critic

  1. Claude Timmerman (France)
    Biologist, statistician, and researcher in population genetics; Essayist, commentator of Boulevard Voltaire
  1. Hafsa Kara-Mustapha (UK)

Journalist and Author, Head of Global Operations African Legacy Foundation

  1. Ginette Hess Skandrani (France)

Antiwar activist and member of Parti des Verts (French Green party)

  1. Yacob Mahi (Belgium)

Theologian and Islamologist, Professor of Islamic Studies

  1. Adam Shamir (Sweden)

Writer, Journalist, and Political Commentator

  1. Jean-Loup Izambert (France)

Independent Investigative Journalist and Writer

  1. Zafar Bangash (Canada)

Director Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought in Toronto

  1. Imad Hamrouni (France)

Professor at Académie de Géopolitique de Paris, expert on Middle Eastern affairs

  1. Joe Iosbaker (USA)

Coordinator of the March on the Democratic National Convention 2024 to Stand With Palestine

  1. Richard Haley (UK)

Chair of Scotland Against Criminalising Communities

  1. David J. Reilly (USA)

Independent Journalist, Political Commentator, Former Candidate for Governor of Idaho in 2020

  1. Nasreen Methai (India)

Founding member of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA); an NGO working on women’s rights

  1. Kim Petersen (USA)

Co-editor of the Dissident Voice newsletter

  1. Stefano Bonilauri (Italy)

Journalist and Director of Anteo Edizioni

  1. Tobias Pfennig (Germany)

Software Engineer and political activist

  1. Tony Gosling (UK)

Investigative journalist and political activist

  1. Zhang Shouliang (China)
    Deputy editor-in-chief of Haikou Xianjielun Cultural Media
  1. Steven Sahiounie (USA)
    Award Winning Journalist and chief editor of MidEastDiscourse
  1. Ümit Aktaş (Turkey)

Physician, specialist in herbal therapy and acupuncture

  1. Imran Mohd Rasid (Malaysia)

Executive Director of Citizens International

  1. Aly Bakkali (Belgium)

President of Partie Islam, antiwar activist 

  1. Fatma Orgel (Turkey)

Physician at Esenler Clinic, antiwar activist 

  1. Gurhan Ertur (Turkey)

Director of the NGO Citizen Initiative, antiwar activist 

  1. Luca Arrighi (Italy)
    Logician and designer of deterministic governance architectures
  2. Dave Cannon (UK)

Chair of Jewish Network for Palestine

  1. Fatma Akdokur (Turkey)

Theology Instructor, antiwar activist 

  1. Houman Mortazavi (Canada)

Barrister and Solicitor, antiwar activist

  1. Q Massod (India)

Secretary of ASEEM, antiwar activist

  1. Richard Ray (USA)

Editor and Antiwar Activist 

  1. Shabbir Ali Warsi (India)

Scholar and Antiwar Activist

  1. Abbas Ali (UK)

InMinds Human Rights Group

  1. Norma Hashim (Malaysia)

Treasurer of Viva Palestina Malaysia

  1. Saidi Nordine (Belgium)

Co-spokesperson of Bruxelles Pantheres

  1. Iqbal Jassat (South Africa)

Executive Member of Media Review Network

  1. Syed Farid Nizami (India)

Scholar and Antiwar Activist 

  1. Asif Ali Zaidi (India)

Lawyer and Researcher, antiwar activist

  1. Kerem Ali (UK)

Spokesperson of Palestine Pulse

  1. Syed Mounis Abidi (India)

Human Rights Lawyer, antiwar activist

  1. Joe Lorincz (Australia)

Wentworth Falls NSW

  1. Mouhad Reghif (Belgium)

Co-spokesperson of Bruxelles Pantheres

 

 Signatories are signing in their individual capacities and affiliations are for identification purposes only.

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From Fear to Peace – the Jesus Effect!

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Father Dave

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19)

John’s account of Jesus’ first resurrection appearance to His disciples begins with a line that may sound jarring to our ears. They were locked away “for fear of the Jews”.

Some translations soften this to “for fear of the Jewish authorities” to make it sound less antisemitic, and “Jewish authorities” is historically correct, of course, but the softer translation risks obscuring the deeper ache that is here in the text. The disciples were themselves Jews. Their fear was not of some foreign enemy but of their own people, and that is a very particular kind of pain.

We all have a sense of who ‘our people’ are – the tribe that gives us identity, belonging, and safety – a people whom we call home. Whether we define ‘our people’ by race or culture or religion or country of birth or by the football team we support, having a tribe is a fundamental part of what it means to be human.

Tribalism becomes toxic, of course, when we start thinking of our tribe as being better than all the other tribes, but the longing for a people, a home, a community where we are known is essential for all of us, and John tells us that the disciples no longer felt safe at home. They were disoriented, displaced, and unsure where they belonged. They had followed Jesus to the margins of their community, and now Jesus had gone, leaving them suspended between a past that they could not go back to and a future that was completely invisible to them.

That sense of alienation is not foreign to me. I grew up in a Christian household where my father was a prominent church figure until his marriage to my mother collapsed. The church—our tribe—effectively ostracised both my father and my mother. My father eventually found his way back to the church, but my mother never did. She died young, still wounded, still feeling unsafe among the people who were meant to be her spiritual family.

People who know my parents’ story are often amazed that I opted for a career with the same church, and then, of course, ended up having a very similar experience. I guess I’m not the first person to repeat the mistakes of their parents.

It is a terrible thing when your own people turn on you, and I imagine the disciples huddled in that locked room, clinging to one another, unsure as to who they were anymore. They’d staked everything on Jesus. Then Good Friday came—violent, bloody and disillusioning. They’d gambled their lives on red. The wheel spun black. Jesus was gone. They didn’t know how to move forward, and they were too afraid to go back.

This is the emotional landscape into which the risen Jesus steps. And it is the same landscape Thomas walks back into when he returns to the group and hears what he missed, and we know his response:

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

We call him ‘doubting Thomas’, but it’s not as if Thomas is a sceptic weighing evidence. I’m pretty sure he was shouting those words, “… I will not believe.” He was angry, and he was angry because he felt that not only had his own people turned on him, but that God had abandoned him too!

I’m not suggesting that Thomas thought of Jesus as God at that stage. Even so, I have no doubt that after years of being with Jesus, Thomas had come to realise that Jesus was the closest thing to God he had ever known, and then Jesus up and left!

Of course, Jesus didn’t leave Thomas and the disciples deliberately, any more than my mum left me as a boy when she died of cancer in her 30s. Even so, the feeling of being left behind was real, and I’m sure Thomas, similarly, felt abandoned by Jesus and, almost certainly, abandoned by God.

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

I still struggle with fears of abandonment – with doubts. I wonder all too often  whether we’ve been abandoned by God, especially when lying awake at night.

Even this past week, when I heard a late‑night report claiming that Russia had delivered a thousand nuclear warheads to Iran and that Israel had issued a 48‑hour ultimatum, I lay awake for hours. The next day the story vanished—fake news, I guess—but my fear was real. It wouldn’t be accurate to call it “fear of the Jews” but fear of what the state of Israel, Iran and Russia could do if things get out of control.

In retrospect, I didn’t need to lose sleep over that report or any other. Whether the news is true or false, whether conflicts escalate or subside, whether ceasefires hold or collapse—I don’t really need to worry because Jesus has not abandoned us.

Thomas came to understand that. When he and Jesus finally had their moment, it wasn’t a doubter being convinced of the truth. It was a relationship being restored.

“Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!'” (John 20:28), so perhaps he had come to think of Jesus as God. Either way, what we see in the climax of this story is Thomas’ restoration of trust in both Jesus and in his Heavenly Father.

Jesus has not abandoned us. It often feels as if He has. Life becomes violent, bloody, confusing. We feel betrayed, devalued, alone. But then, as with Thomas, Jesus comes to us. He shows us His hands and His side, breathes peace into our locked rooms. And in that moment, we realise that He actually never left.

And that is God’s promise to us – not that life will be safe, nor that our people will always hold on to us, but that Jesus will come to us in our fear, our grief, our sleepless nights, and speak the same words He spoke to His disciples back then:
“Peace be with you.”

first published on Father Dave’s blog – April 11th, 2025

John 20:19

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Do Not Be Afraid – Easter 2026

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Father Dave

“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.” (Matthew 28:1-2)

Matthew sets the scene with a degree of tenderness. The world is still half‑asleep, the sky just beginning to lighten, and two women — Mary Magdalene and ‘the other Mary’ — walk quietly toward the tomb.

We’re not told why they were going there, but I don’t think they were expecting any miracles. They were grieving and, most probably, they couldn’t think of anywhere better to grieve.

Their experience two nights earlier had been dramatic (to say the least). It’s always hard to lose someone you love, but I imagine it is catastrophically hard when the person you love is tortured to death in front of your eyes! God willing, none of us will ever have to live through anything like that.

It had been two days; the women are at least able to move again, though I imagine the scenes of Friday’s horror must still have been reeling around in their minds. And beyond the confusion and disillusionment about what had happened, they no doubt carried a quite realistic level of fear about the future. What would happen to them now? What possible future could they expect now for themselves?

I grew up as a teenager in the 1970s, and one of the things I remember from those days is that I, like most of my peers, carried a degree of dread about the future – never really confident that we’d get to reach adulthood due to the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation. Then, of course, I did grow up, and I looked back on those teenage years and thought how silly I had been for living in fear. Then, only a few years ago, I read Daniel Ellsberg’s book, “The Doomsday Machine”, and realised that I didn’t know the half of what was going on! I should have been more scared!

I don’t know if you’ve read “The Doomsday Machine” and I’m not suggesting that everyone should read it, but Ellsberg, who famously leaked “The Pentagon Papers” in 1971, was an insider – a whistleblower – and in “The Doomsday Machine”, Ellsberg describes the hidden decisions, the near misses, and the terrifying fragility of the systems that governed nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 60s. In short, it is an absolute bloody miracle that we are all still here!

More recently, I’ve felt that old and familiar dread creep back into my gut as I am genuinely fearful about where our world is heading at the moment. Of course I’m now not so worried about myself as I am about my children and my grandchildren and all our children. We are sailing in very treacherous waters at the moment, and when I look to see who is captaining this ship and see figures like Donald Trump with their hands on the steering wheel, my heart sinks.

I know I’m not the only one who carries fear for the future. Indeed, fear of the future seems to be woven into the human condition, and even if you’re not afraid of imminent nuclear destruction, you may nonetheless have valid fears for your own health or fear of losing your job or your home or someone you love.

And so we walk with the two Marys to the tomb – carrying our fears, our unanswered questions, our grief, and our dread – and then suddenly there’s an earthquake, and the stone that had been covering the tomb has been rolled back, and a weird guy who looks like he fell from the sky is sitting on the stone.

This is the gospel writer Matthew’s story of the resurrection, and it’s all rather confusing, which is the norm for the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, none of which actually give us an account of the resurrection! Whatever miracle had taken place that brought Jesus back must have happened while these women were sleeping or sitting at home.

‘He is not here’ – that’s what we do know – and the guy who looks like he’s from another planet has another message for them: ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee.’ (Matthew 28:7-8)

What happened? Where is Jesus? Why Galilee? There are so many things here that don’t make much sense and so many questions that we never get answered, but one thing is abundantly clear from each of the Gospels’ resurrection accounts, and that is that the story of Jesus is to be continued!

“He is not here… He has been raised… and He is going ahead of you.” There is a lot we don’t know, but those three things we do know, and that is enough because the story is going to continue, and we can work out the rest as we go!

I look at that empty tomb, and I am reminded, again, that God has the future in hand. Not in a way that excuses us from responsibility or invites us to sit back and just hope for the best, but in a way that tells us that the forces that threaten us are not all-powerful. The God who raised Jesus from the dead and who has carried humanity through any number of dangers that we never even knew about is the same God who carries us now.

I look again at the prow of this ship we are all sailing on – a ship that, yes, seems to be sailing off the edge of the world – but a closer look shows me that it’s not Donald Trump steering the ship. Jesus is at the helm – the same Jesus who steered us through the Cuban Missile Crisis and through all those near misses detailed in The Doomsday Device and who is, doubtless, able to steer us through this crisis too.

We don’t know how He’s going to do it, but that’s OK. We haven’t worked out how He pulled off the resurrection yet! Even so, we know enough.

“He is not here… He has been raised… and He is already moving ahead of us!”

It’s an old cliché but a good one – that “while we don’t know what the future holds, we do know who holds the future” or, as Corrie ten Boom put it, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Do not be afraid! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Matthew 28:6

First published in Father Dave’s weekly newsletter – April 4th, 2026

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Which Procession Are We Marching In? (Palm Sunday 2026)

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Father Dave

“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:8-9)

Two Saturdays ago, I drove into Sydney city to join the protest against the war on Iran at the town hall. I parked on the far side of the city, which meant I had to walk through Hyde Park to reach the rally, and as I crossed it I saw Iranian flags waving!

I thought, “Perhaps the protest has moved here?” Great! I don’t have to walk so far,” but at the same time I was thinking, “Damn, look how small the turnout is!” Then I noticed that a lot of the banners bore the unmistakable image of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah! This wasn’t the anti‑war rally at all. This was a pro‑war rally!

I put my head down and kept walking until I reached the gathering I was looking for a few blocks away, and, thankfully, it was much better attended.

That moment of confusion, though — two groups, two messages, two visions of the future — stayed with me, and it came back to me as I prepared for Palm Sunday because this year I learnt something I had never known before – that Palm Sunday may well have involved not one but two triumphal entries!

According to scholars like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, every Passover the Roman governor – in Jesus’ time, Pontius Pilate – would ride into Jerusalem from the west with a display of overwhelming military force. Jesus, approaching from the Mount of Olives, entered from the east. Seen this way, Palm Sunday becomes the moment when two great processions — two armies — converge on the holy city.

Pilate’s procession would have been unmistakable: war horses, cavalry, infantry, banners, golden eagles, drums and trumpets, armour glittering in the sun. Such processions were rituals of occupation – sermons in steel, and the message was clear: “Caesar is lord. Rome is your saviour. Rome brings peace (on Rome’s terms).” This was the ‘Pax Romana’ – peace through domination.

Meanwhile, entering from the east, Jesus rides a donkey rather than a war horse. His followers wave palm branches rather than swords. Children and peasants surround him. It looks peaceful — almost quaint — but we need to be careful here. Jesus’ procession may not have been as peaceful as it looked. After all, he was deliberately choreographing his entry to align with the prophecy of Zechariah:

“Behold, thy King cometh unto thee:
He is just and having salvation.
lowly, and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)

This is the arrival of a humble king, but still a king, and in Zechariah’s vision, still a warrior. If you read the rest of Zechariah 9, you’ll find a king who makes war on the enemies of God’s people — including (chillingly) the peoples of Damascus and Gaza — and establishes peace on the far side of victory. It is peace, yes, but peace formed through violence. In that sense, it is not so different from the Pax Romana.

And the crowds knew exactly what they were invoking when they cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9). They were proclaiming Jesus as the heir to their great warrior‑king. So, if Jesus was presenting himself as Zechariah’s conquering Messiah, was He trying to start an uprising?

If we didn’t know the story, we might expect Jesus to march on to Pilate’s palace, rallying every able-bodied man in Jerusalem as He went, so as to drive out the occupier. But that is not what happened. Jesus went to the Temple, and what happened there could be described as a “violent takeover”, but after that, there was no march on the palace, no call to arms and no battle. Instead, there was prayer, teaching, and intimacy with His disciples, and then betrayal, arrest, torture, and death. The two armies did meet, but only one of them fought.

Two armies: one is polished, disciplined, and capable of extreme violence. The other made up of peasants and children — people who barely understood what they were a part of, yet recognised in Jesus someone whom God had sent. When the clash came, Jesus’ followers scattered, and Jesus stood alone. Instead of striking back with divine force, He submitted, suffered, and died, and then — impossibly — won!

Palm Sunday is the collision of two different visions of peace:

The first is the Pax Romana, which looks for a peace that comes on the far side of war – a peace through domination and the subjugation of your enemies. In contrast, we have the Pax Christi (the peace of Christ), which is peace through suffering love.

Jesus takes Zechariah’s script and rewrites it. He rides the donkey and claims the kingship, but He refuses the war. He does not impose peace as He doesn’t conquer His enemies in any obvious way but instead allows Himself to be destroyed by them!

Two armies enter Jerusalem, but only one survives the week. Rome’s army remains intact — but its peace is temporary. Jesus’ army scatters – but His peace is something we still live with!

It’s all very mysterious, but this is because the real battle being played out in the New Testament is not ultimately between Israel and Rome, nor between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, but between Jesus and the powers behind the empire – between humanity and the forces of darkness – and on the cross, Jesus wins a cosmic victory against the principalities and powers that no legion can ever achieve!

So Palm Sunday asks us a question — not just an ancient question, but a painfully contemporary one:

  • Whose peace do we trust?
  • Which king will we follow?
  • Which procession are we in?

For these armies are still marching, their banners still waving, and our world still believes in peace through domination. But our King is still on His donkey, and His way — the way of suffering love — is still the only way that truly leads to life.

Matthew 21:9
First published in Father Dave’s Weekly newsletter – March 28, 2026

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The other side of the Iran story – an interview with Topher Field

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Father Dave

It was my privilege to be interviewed by Topher Field on the situation in Iran. The interview was on January 17th, 2026 – before the US and Israel started their latest war of aggression on Iran. At that stage the ground was being prepared with foreign-backed insurgents infiltrating peaceful protests. That’s how I saw the situation, at any rate.

For more from Topher, visit his website, www.topherfield.com

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Hands Off Iran – an interview with Connecting the Dots

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Father Dave

Thank you to “Connecting the Dots”, who did this interview at the ‘Hands Off Iran’ rally on March 14, 2026, held at Sydney’s Town Hall. Find the interview (and lots of other great stuff) on their Substack: https://connectingthedotsaustralia.su….

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God’s Spirit Breathes LIFE into Dry Bones! (Ezekiel 37)

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Father Dave

“The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.” (Ezekiel 37:1)

I read these words and immediately thought of my last visit to the Anglican Cathedral in Sydney. There are people buried there, but it wasn’t “dem bones” I was thinking of. That song did also come to mind—“dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones…”

I won’t sing it, as it may sound like a racial caricature, but I did do some research into the song and found that it’s actually not a traditional spiritual from pre–Civil War America. It was composed by James Weldon Johnson in 1928.

Johnson was a civil rights activist, a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and a key figure in the ‘Harlem Renaissance.’ He and his brother gave Ezekiel’s vision a melody that children could sing and adults could remember—not to entertain, but to proclaim a gospel truth: that God remembers what history has dismembered. In a world where their people had been broken, scattered, and felt dried out and washed up, the Johnsons dared to sing of the breath of God – still moving and still bringing life out of death.

It was a powerful message. Was it Ezekiel’s message?

I think what we often miss in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones is that we’re looking at the aftermath of a battle. Ezekiel lived through the final days of Israel’s existence as an independent nation. He warned his people. They didn’t listen. He went down with them.

Ezekiel was deported after the Babylonian invasion of 597 BC. Judah revolted again a decade after that, and the nation and its temple were then completely destroyed. Ezekiel lived through all of it and, as far as we know, spent the rest of his life in exile but, from Babylon, he wrote of hope — of rebuilding, both politically and spiritually.

It’s not obvious that Ezekiel’s valley was from a specific battle, but it’s a catastrophic scene. The valley is full of bones — “very dry” bones, we’re told (Ezekiel 37:2). These people had been dead a good while, and there was no one left to bury them.

In Israelite law, burial was sacred. Even a condemned criminal had to be buried the same day. Leaving a corpse exposed not only shamed the dead but defiled the land.

After battle, the worst dishonour imaginable was for there to be no one left to reverently dispose of your body. The prophet sees not just death but abandonment – a people so defeated that no one was left to mourn or bury them. And that’s how Ezekiel’s people saw themselves—cut off, forgotten, beyond dignity and hope.

As I enter Ezekiel’s vision, I cannot help but sense its shadow stretching across our own time. It was a vision born of a world where war had left the dead unburied and the living without hope, and I fear our world is drifting toward that same valley now.

The escalating violence between the modern state of Israel, the United States, and Iran is already generating similar terrible scenes — multiple landscapes where human dignity is being swallowed up by the machinery of war — and while I don’t claim prophetic insight into the situation, I recognise that whenever nations harden themselves for conflict, the bones of the innocent are the first to be scattered.

We’ve seen this already in the murder of the young girls of Minab Elementary, and the reports I’m hearing of American bases being evacuated under fire suggest that the valleys could soon be filled again with bones. Even so, Ezekiel’s vision does not end in the valley – frozen in the horror of human violence. After walking among the bones and facing the despair of the people, God commands the prophet to speak — not to recount past mistakes but to prophesy life into what looks irreversibly dead.

Yes, our world is trembling under the weight of conflict and the threat of escalation, and we seem to be ready to carve out more valleys for bones, yet Ezekiel reminds us that God’s Spirit is not intimidated by the landscapes we create, and the breath that raised Ezekiel’s shattered nation can move through the fault lines of our own age, speaking life, guarding peace, and reminding us that death is not the final word.

The winds of war howl, but they’re not the only force shaping human history. Even in the valley of death another wind is blowing—the ‘ruach’ (meaning breath, wind, and spirit)—and the prophet calls on that other wind to create a different future.

“Prophesy to the breath,” God tells the prophet. Speak to the Spirit that can reach places no army can touch. That is where our hope rests—not in the proclamations of governments or the calculations of generals, but in the God whose breath can cross borders, change hearts, and bring life out of death and devastation.

Ezekiel stood in that valley, and he spoke a word of life because he understood that God’s Spirit was stronger than the forces that had broken his world, and we need to understand that too. We don’t have permission to surrender to despair or let the winds of war be the only forces shaping our imagination. We too are called to be bearers of the breath—people who pray when others panic, reconcile when others divide, and protect the vulnerable when nations rattle their sabres.

In a world that feels increasingly brittle, we remind one another today that God’s Spirit is at work, rebuilding what violence has torn down and gathering together what fear scatters. We do not know exactly what the great nations will do, but we know what our great God can do, and we know who we are called to be — a people who speak words of hope into the valley of despair.

The world trembles, the nations rage, and the future feels horribly uncertain, but the Spirit of God that raised dem dry bones is on the move and is calling out a people who can carry hope into the strongholds of fear.

It is our mission to speak our word of life to the bones lying dormant in our cathedrals and in our churches and on our battlefields and even in our cemeteries. For we put our faith in the breath and not in the battle, the Spirit rather than the sword, and the promises of God rather than our all too earthly fears.

May the breath of God that breathes life into the dry bones breathe on us and make us emissaries of hope. Amen.

First published on Father Dave’s blog – March 21st, 2026

Ezekiel 37:13

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Who is Really Blind? (John 9:1-41)

Posted on March 14, 2026 by Father Dave

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgement, so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

It has to be one of the most confronting things Jesus ever said. We love the idea of Jesus helping the blind to see but simultaneously blinding those who can see …! What are we supposed to do with that?

We’re in John’s Gospel, of course, where Jesus regularly plays with words. In John three, Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus’ call to be “born from above”, hearing instead, “born again”. In John four, the Samaritan woman hears “flowing water” when Jesus offers her “living water”. Now, in John nine, the confusion centres on blindness and sight—sometimes literal, sometimes spiritual.

A man born blind receives physical sight, but the real blindness in the story belongs to those who refuse to see what is right in front of them. The Pharisees in this story are not visually impaired; they are spiritually impaired. They cannot see what God is doing because they are too committed to their ideology—to what we nowadays call their ‘dominant narrative.’

We live in a world of competing narratives, each claiming to interpret what’s really going on, and sometimes these narratives can blind us to the obvious!

We saw that during the pandemic, I believe. There was an official narrative—emergency measures, lockdowns, masks, and a massive vaccine rollout. Then there were the counter‑narratives—claims of government overreach, pharmaceutical manipulation, and long‑term control. What concerned me most was not which narrative was correct, but how little space there was for open, rational debate. Dissenters were mocked, silenced, or criminalised.

I’m sure we all remember Prime Minister of New Zealand declaring to her people that her government was their “single source of truth”—language I’d never heard used before outside of dodgy religious contexts.

John nine plays out in exactly this way. A man born blind is healed. The townsfolk, his parents, and the religious authorities all try to make sense of it, but instead of celebrating the miracle, they panic as this healing threatens their dominant narrative.

Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, and, therefore—according to the Pharisees—He must be a sinner. The man who was healed offers a counter-narrative: “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:33) The Pharisees respond, not with argument but with force! When the dominant narrative is threatened, the dissenting voice must be silenced.

Yes, this feels familiar. America and Israel recently declared war on Iran to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons, or was it to stop an imminent Iranian attack on the USA, or maybe was it to bring democracy to the Iranian people? It’s not clear exactly what their rationale was, as it keeps shifting, but it most definitely was NOT an attempt by the US President to distract from revelations in the Epstein Files that might land him in prison, and, as in our Gospel reading, if you don’t accept that dominant narrative, you risk being criminalised!

Last week, you may remember, I attended a memorial service for the late Ayatollah of Iran in support of my many Shia Muslim friends, and I was genuinely surprised to wake and find that people were petitioning the Australian government to take legal proceedings against me and my friends because we had apparently ‘supported a terrorist organisation’ by attending the memorial service. Praying can be dangerous!

Jesus said, “I came… so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

Of course, He’s not talking about punishing people with literal blindness. He is talking about exposing the blindness that we refuse to acknowledge. As Kierkegaard said, “All obscurity is a dialectical interplay of knowledge and will.” In other words, we don’t see partly because we can’t see and partly because we don’t want to.

It’s like a game of Jenga, with the various different blocks that form a tower of belief. Some beliefs are foundational to the tower. Remove them, and the whole edifice starts to shake!

Years ago, I watched a 9/11 documentary with a young American volunteer at our youth centre. When she saw footage of Building 7 collapsing, she became visibly distressed. “That can’t be true,” she said, “because if it is true, then my government has been lying to me. And if they’ve lied about that, how can I believe anything they say?” She couldn’t let go of her belief in her government, not because there was anything solid supporting that belief but because so much other stuff rested upon it!

We all have towers like that. We believe ‘we are the good guys’. We believe our culture’s values are basically right. We believe that our media tries to tell us the truth, and the older we get, the more blocks we stack, and the more invested we become in making sure that our tower doesn’t fall. Jesus comes both to expose and to liberate. He comes to help the blind see but also to blind the seeing by dismantling our false confidences that keep us from recognising our own blindness.

The Pharisees’ problem was not ignorance. It was overconfidence. They knew how God worked. They knew who was righteous and who was a sinner. They knew what the Sabbath law required, and because they were so sure they could see, they were unable to recognise God standing right in front of them.

The man born blind, on the other hand, begins the story knowing nothing. He doesn’t know who Jesus is. He doesn’t know why he was healed. He doesn’t even know what Jesus looks like. But he is open. He is willing to learn. And because he knows he is blind, he becomes the one who truly sees.

This is the invitation of our Gospel—not necessarily to adopt a new narrative, nor to replace one ideology with another, but to recognise our blindness—to admit that our towers are fragile, our assumptions limited, and our certainties often misplaced.

Jesus does not expect us to see everything clearly, but He asks us to look at Him, and when we do that, everything else starts to come into focus.

Shine your light on us, O Lord!
Give us eyes to see the truth and the courage to choose it! Amen.

John 9:39First published in Father Dave’s weekly missive—March 13, 2026

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