FULL FILM: Praying for Armageddon. US foreign policy in Middle East is influenced by evangelicals

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This post, along with yesterday's at Sudan Watch, is the most important one since the site began 21 years ago.

In 2003, I used blogging technology to investigate the root causes of poverty and extreme poverty in Sudan and the reasons for genocide and man’s inhumanity to man. The two posts now answer those questions for me.

The magnitude of those posts cannot be fully appreciated unless the email and the letter of 24 April 2024 featured in yesterday's post are seen together with the documentary film Praying for Armageddon.

As most readers of Sudan Watch are located across the world, I doubt many can access BBC iPlayer where one has to sign in as a BBC Licence fee payer, I am grateful to Al Jazeera English for posting the full film (see below) in two parts (totalling 88 mins) to YouTube for free viewing and comments.

More on this later when I've been able to identify more pieces of the puzzle. Meanwhile, with respect to American evangelical fundamentalists and the US Government their praying for Armageddon started many years ago.

Poster: Courtesy UpNorth Film

"The poster is a literal presentation of what some of the Evangelical fundamentalists believe, that Jesus will return as a warrior with an AR-15. As they interpret the Armageddon prophecy literally they believe Jesus will come down from the heavens on a white horse. This symbolizes the beginning of Armageddon." -Tonje Hessen Schei, the director of the film

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OFFICIAL TRAILER: Praying for Armageddon 
A documentary film by UpNorth Film
Posted to YouTube by UpNorth Film 
Premiered on 15 March 2023 

Description of Official Trailer posted by UpNorth Film at its website:

The Countdown to Armageddon has begun. As biblical prophecy fuels political power, American Evangelicals threaten U.S. democracy and push for the Apocalypse in the Middle East. Praying for Armageddon uncovers how politicians driven by faith embrace Israel as the key to their prophetic vision for the end of days – at any cost – ultimately escalating the spirals of violence in the Middle East.

Director Tonje Hessen Schei; Co-Director and DOP Michael Rowley; Producer Christian Aune Falch; Producer Torstein Parelius; Producer Ingrid Aune Falch; Editor Torkel Gjørv; Composer Lukas Berkemar, Uno Helmersson; Co-Producer Ove Rishøj Jensen; Co-Producer Magnus Gertten; Co-Producer Hans Robert Eisenhauer; Co-Producer Kaarle Aho.

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Credits posted at YouTube by Al Jazeera English:

World premiere at CPH:DOX 2023 in competition for the F:ACT Award.

www.prayingforarmageddon.com

www.facebook.com/prayingforarmageddon

www.upnorthfilm.no

SUPPORTED BY CREATIVE MEDIA EUROPE

Transcript

Follow along using the transcript at YouTube here: https://youtu.be/75ehG6utzBM

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FULL FILM: Praying for Armageddon (Part 1 of 2)

A documentary film by Tonje Hessen Schei UpNorth Film

Posted to YouTube by Al Jazeera English 1 month ago [April 2024] 

Description by Al Jazeera English posted beneath the film:

Why evangelicals influence US foreign policy in the Middle East | EP1 | Witness Documentary

The first episode of Praying for Armageddon goes inside the evangelical Christian movement to explore its influence on US democracy and foreign policy.

Preparing for the "end times", a grassroots pastor gathers an army of veterans in the heartland of the United States, and megachurch ministers provide spiritual advice to politicians in the nation’s capital.

They call for the "final battle" which they believe will trigger the second coming of Christ. Central to their apocalyptic prophecy is Israel. It is with their blessing that the Trump administration controversially recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moves the US embassy there in 2018.

“It feels like everyone has a say about the destiny and the future of Jerusalem except for the Palestinians living in it,” says Palestinian activist Fayrouz Sharqawi.

Transcript

Follow along using the transcript at YouTube here: https://youtu.be/IhT7oyDlBIk

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FULL FILM: Praying for Armageddon (Part 2 of 2)

A documentary film by Tonje Hessen Schei UpNorth Film

Posted to YouTube by Al Jazeera English 21 March 2024

Description by Al Jazeera English posted beneath the film:

How evangelicals influence US foreign policy in the Middle East | EP2 | Witness Documentary

The second episode of Praying for Armageddon examines the dangerous consequences of the fusion between evangelical Christians and US politics.

It shows not only how the very fabric of US democracy is weakened but also highlights the devastating impact religion wields on US foreign policy.

Expressing concerns about the influence of evangelical Christians in the US military, retired US Army Colonel Larry Wilkerson who was a former adviser to General Colin Powell, says: “The most vivid danger in all of this, I think, is the special relationship with Israel… They are looking for the US relationship with Israel, ultimately to bring about Armageddon and the rapture and Christ’s thousand-year reign.”

As evangelicals fuel the volatile situation in the Middle East, Israel launches a devastating 11-day military offensive on Gaza in May 2021.

“The countdown to Armageddon has begun,” says Pastor Robert Jeffress.

Transcript

Follow along using the transcript at YouTube here: https://youtu.be/_iQhbcOgfqw

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A letter from US Republican Senators directly threatening the ICC Prosecutor: “You have been warned” “Target Israel and we will target you”

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Two posts at X copied here below shocked me to my core. I hope they are fake. If they are real, they show the mindset and arrogance of many US politicians and why America is so disliked.

On BBC FOUR iPlayer a documentary film series Storyville is introduced as “amazing, shocking, inspiring and award-winning - the best in international documentaries, shining a light on untold stories from across the globe.” 

One of the films in the series is called Praying for Armageddon. I watched it yesterday, all 88 minutes of it. A description posted beneath the film says:

“Praying for Armageddon is a political thriller that explores the power and influence of American Evangelical Christians as they aim to fulfil the Armageddon prophecy.

The film observes American believers as they prepare for what they call The Holy War and exposes the powerful megachurch pastors who call for the 'final battle' that they believe will trigger the Second Coming of Christ. 

Completed before the current crisis in Israel and Gaza, it also unveils how politicians driven by faith embrace the State of Israel as the key to their prophetic vision for the end of days.” 

I say, it is a must-see and an eye opener into the mentality and attitudes of many Americans including politicians in Washington and ex-POTUS Trump. 

After watching the film, I thought about the two posts mentioned above. Here are the copies. Hopefully, readers can magnify the text to read the content well enough and get a feel of the tone and its sense of entitlement. 

The posts and film are good examples of how the US even after 9/11 can't see itself the way the world sees it. I can't be the only person astonished at the high level of aggressiveness and superiority and the fact that the letter and email are in print for everyone to see. The USA is not even in the Bible.

Same mafia wrote this.#FreeAssange#NewChurchCommitteeOnAssangeCase #EndTheGenocide#SanctionUSA pic.twitter.com/nx7BFthsiY

— jenmarya55 now on Bluesky (@jenmarya55) May 6, 2024 

Source: Dr Lens Veritatis @LensVeritatis post at X 3:13 PM · May 6, 2024

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ICC: There are grounds to believe Sudan’s warring sides are committing crimes in Darfur (Edith Lederer)

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: A 2-week deadline set by IGAD for Messrs Burhan and Hemeti to meet has passed. It is easy to understand why Gen Burhan has refused meetings. Even if Hemeti agrees to make his fighters leave Khartoum, he and his words cannot be trusted. He should be jailed. Meanwhile: ICC prosecutor says there are grounds to believe Sudan’s warring sides are committing crimes in Darfur; Sudan leaves regional bloc IGAD over attempt to end war; The US offers reward for arrest of ex-minister accused of Darfur war crimes. More in three reports here below.

 

From Associated Press (AP)
BY EDITH M. LEDERER
Updated 12:02 AM GMT, January 30, 2024 - here is a copy in full:

ICC prosecutor: There are grounds to believe Sudan’s warring sides are committing crimes in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor told the U.N. Security Council Monday his “clear finding” is that there are grounds to believe both Sudan’s armed forces and paramilitary rivals are committing crimes in the western Darfur region during the country’s current conflict.

Karim Khan, who recently visited neighboring Chad where tens of thousands of people from Darfur have fled, warned that those he met in refugee camps fear Darfur will become “the forgotten atrocity.” He urged Sudan’s government to provide his investigators with multiple-entry visas and respond to 35 requests for assistance.

Sudan plunged into chaos last April when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted into street battles in the capital, Khartoum, and other areas.

Darfur, which was wracked by bloodshed and atrocities in 2003, has been an epicenter of the current conflict, an arena of ethnic violence where paramilitary troops and allied Arab militias have been attacking African ethnic groups.

The fighting has displaced over 7 million people and killed 12,000, according to the United Nations. Local doctors’ groups and activists say the true death toll is far higher.

In 2005, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, and prosecutor Khan has said the court still has a mandate under that resolution to investigate crimes in the vast region.

He told the council: “Based on the work of my office, it’s my clear finding, my clear assessment, that there are grounds to believe that presently Rome Statute crimes are being committed in Darfur by both the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces and affiliated groups.”

The Rome Statute established the ICC in 2002 to investigate the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — and the crime of aggression.

In Darfur, Khan warned, the world is confronted with “an ugly and inescapable truth” relating back to the original conflict.

“The failure of the international community to execute the warrants that have been issued by independent judges of the ICC has invigorated the climate of impunity and the outbreak of violence that commenced in April that continues today,” he said.

“Without justice for past atrocities, the inescapable truth is that we condemn the current generation, and if we do nothing now, we condemn future generations to suffering the same fate,” Khan said.

Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed countered that the government has cooperated with the prosecutor’s office and is waiting for a visit from him. He accused the ICC of not taking into consideration its “strategic engagement and the operational realities on the ground.”

Mohamed called the Rapid Support Forces a “militia” and accused it of committing wide-scale, systematic attacks which aim “to force ethnic cleansing and identity killing” of Darfur’s Masalit ethnic community. He said it’s up to the prosecutor to determine if this amounts to genocide.

The Sudanese ambassador said the armed forces don’t call for war but are compelled to defend the country, stressing that soldiers spare no effort to minimize collateral damage and comply with the laws of war including proportionality.

The 2003 Darfur conflict began when rebels from the territory’s ethnic sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and neglect.

The government, under then President Omar al-Bashir, responded with aerial bombings and unleashed local nomadic Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

Khan told the council Monday it was “quite stunning” in visiting different refugee camps in Chad that people who lived through the Darfur confllict from 2003 told him spontaneously that what is happening today “is the worst ever.”

“And they’re very grateful to the council for casting a lifeboat on the high seas for them to clamber aboard,” the prosecutor said. “They want justice and they see the ICC is a very important vehicle to ensure that they’re not forgotten, or they drown unseen and unheard.”

Last April, the first ICC trial to deal with atrocities by Sudanese government-backed forces in Darfur began in The Hague, Netherlands. The defendant, Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, pleaded innocent to all 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Khan urged the parties to the ongoing conflict to respond “meaningfully” to requests for assistance from Abd-Al-Rahman’s defense team.

The prosecutor said he was pleased to report to the council that there has been “progress” in the ICC cases against former president al-Bashir and two senior government security officials during the 2003 Darfur conflict, Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein and Ahmed Haroun.

“We’ve received evidence that further strengthens those particular cases,” Khan said. The three have never been turned over to the ICC, and their whereabouts during the current conflict in Sudan remain unknown.

View original: https://apnews.com/article/un-icc-sudan-military-paramilitary-darfur-crimes-a782e1376ab91a2f7b9dcbd276d379f9

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Related

Report at BBC News UK

Dated 20 January 2024

Igad: Sudan leaves regional bloc over attempt to end war

Sudan is suspending its membership of north-east African bloc Igad over an attempt to mediate the brutal conflict in the country. Igad has been trying to end the nine month-long war between Sudan's army and rival paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). On Thursday Sudan's government criticised Igad for inviting the RSF's chief to a summit.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-68041134

Report at Sudan Tribune

Dated 29 January 2024

U.S. offers reward for arrest of ex-minister accused of Darfur war crimes

The United States Department of State has announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Sudan’s former Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmad Mohammad Harun, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The State Department’s designation of Harun under the War Crimes Rewards Program is a significant step towards bringing him to justice for his alleged crimes. The program has a proven track record of success, having helped to bring over 20 war criminals to justice. Harun, who has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2007, is accused of mobilizing, funding, and arming the Janjaweed militia, a notorious group responsible for widespread atrocities in Darfur.

Full story: https://sudantribune.com/article281808/

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ICC Darfur: 'I feel ashamed we haven't done a better job in Sudan,' says ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan

    Cartoon: The International Criminal Court hard at work on its Darfur file

Photo credit: ICC. Caption credit: Sudan Watch Editor

Related reports

Sudan Watch - April 19, 2023

WAR CRIMES AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES ALERT: 

ICC must indict Sudanese leaders Burhan and Daglo

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/04/war-crimes-and-humanitarian-crises.html

Sudan Watch - December 04, 2021

URGENT MESSAGE TO ICC: 

Sudan’s Dagalo, Burhan, Bashir must be tried for alleged war crimes 

- Ethiopia’s war triggers fears in Kenya, South Sudan

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/12/urgent-message-to-icc-sudans-dagalo.html

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