Steve Bannon is a highly influential and controversial American political activist, media executive, and former White House Chief Strategist during Donald Trump’s first presidency. He has long been a leading advocate of linking Christian identity with political power.
At Charlie Kirk’s funeral—held on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona—Bannon characterized the event as a striking display of muscular Christian nationalism, where political power and religious fervor came together in full view of the nation. He described the massive, high-profile memorial, which combined the atmosphere of a worship service with the intensity of a political rally, in the following way:
• “The whole service was muscular Christianity. This is what I put out. The New York Times and MSNBC are gonna melt down. Muscular, you know, a form of muscular Christianity, Christian nationalism, was put forward here in the memorial for a slain American martyr. You had the United States Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of State, the President of the United States, Charlie’s team, and the widow. The most powerful people in the U.S. government. Never in the 18th or 19th century have we seen that professed about a man who lived Christianity.” (X video).
For Steve Bannon, this was an example of “muscular Christianity”—a gathering of the highest levels of the U.S. government during a Sunday worship and revival service. By invoking this phrase, he sought to portray the Christian faith as strong, militant, and prepared to confront secularism through strength and force. The vision is one of warfare aimed at reclaiming America’s soul and public witness through the nation’s laws, culture, and institutions.
From a biblical perspective, this development calls to mind the warning of Revelation 13, where civil and religious powers unite to enforce a counterfeit form of worship under the pretense of preserving peace and morality. The imagery of “muscular Christianity”—a faith projected not through meekness and humility but through the power of the state—is precisely the danger foretold in prophecy. What was intended as a tribute to a fallen conservative leader, Kirk, instead became a rallying point where the highest levels of government displayed a nationalistic version of Christianity.
Jesus Himself said that His kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36) and that the kingdom of God does not come with outward show, observation, or political display (Luke 17:20–21). Yet, Christian nationalism insists that the kingdom be made visible through law, public policy, and national identity. Charlie Kirk’s funeral, in this light, offered a glimpse of the coming union of church and state. What unfolded before the eyes of the world was not a mere conspiracy theory but a deliberate and troubling union of apostate Christianity with corrupt political power—cloaked in the language of patriotism and faith.
“Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance” (Great Controversy, p. 592).
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While “muscular” was not how I initially described White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s remarks at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, his aggressive tone was quite striking from that of other current government officials. At about the four-minute mark, I stopped what I was doing when he said in part, “…We will carry Charlie and Erika in our heart every single day and fight that much harder because of what you did to us. You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization.” Pardon any typos, but quite the prophetic choice of word, wasn’t it? May God grant us strength and faithfulness as events unfold before us.
Stephen Miller is proudly Jewish. Not sure how that fits an end time rise of apostate Protestantism and Catholicism.
A brief follow up…my understanding is Charlie was a proponent of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment (Fri sundown to Sat sundown). But, at his memorial, Erika encouraged people to “Go to church next Sunday and the Sunday after that.”
May God continue to bless your work and your readers, Andy.