Video Link: Facebook
By Brad Isbell - Posted at The Heidelblog:
Published September 23, 2025
"...We do not know if this was a worship service of and for believing soldiers or some other kind of event, and in the end, this does not matter. What matters is the confusion and irreverence of such a presentation."On Sunday, my church’s morning worship service opened with a call to worship by an elder and sung congregational praise. Then the pastor offered a prayer of invocation, making it clear who was being worshiped and why the congregation had assembled. At the end of this, the congregation recited what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer, though in fact ought to be called the Believer’s Prayer or, even better, the Congregation’s Prayer since it is addressed to “our” Father. It is not a prayer that Jesus could have prayed, since he never sinned and needed no forgiveness.
Any Christian or Christian church can and should pray this prayer; the gathered church is the ideal setting for it, since the church is “the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God.” So, should any Christian offer, speak, or post this prayer for any cause or in any way that seems good? We must say, in agreement with the Westminster Larger Catechism, no. It is required, says the catechism, that God’s Word “be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing,” and warns that “misapplying” the Word is a sin. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s recent social media post using this prayer arguably fails the basic tests of appropriate context, holy and reverent use, and application.1
An official Department of War video featured Hegseth reciting the prayer over footage of soldiers, weapons, ships, aircraft, missiles, and explosions. Naturally, the video closed with an image of the President, Vice President, and Hegseth—the martial became the political, a Christian prayer serving both ends.
Context matters in communication. Now, for a few seconds at the beginning of the video, we see Hegseth praying with soldiers gathered outdoors. We do not know if this was a worship service of and for believing soldiers or some other kind of event, and in the end, this does not matter. What matters is the confusion and irreverence of such a presentation.