I Guess We Can Add Quentin Tarantino to Pete Hegseth’s List of Pastors

Despite the Trump administration’s obvious dreams of turning the U.S. into a Christian theocracy, our current government looks a lot like the antichrist. Not just because Trump won’t stop fighting with Pope Leo or because Vice President JD Vance seems to be a millisecond away from being excommunicated—but because War Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now using a version of the Bible translated by Quentin Tarantino.

During one of his Pentagon sermons on Wednesday, Hegseth started reciting a prayer that he said came from the Bible—but sounded a whole lot like the infamous speech from Pulp Fiction. The one Samuel Jackson’s character recites before he murders people. Hegseth claimed the passage was shared with him by the head of a search and rescue operation that rescued two Air Force crewmembers from Iran.

Pete Hegseth quoted a fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction during a Pentagon sermon.pic.twitter.com/1o3CJiJYRF

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 16, 2026

“They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” he said. “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One when I lay my vengeance upon thee, and Amen.”

Now, besides noticing the clearly jingoistic rhetoric, people were quick to point out the fact that Hegseth’s speech was word-for-word the same of the 1994 crime thriller, in which Jackson recites a fictional version of what he also claims is Ezekiel 25:17. The big giveaway was the whole “call sign” thing, which replaces the actual biblical verse that actually ends with “I am the Lord.” 

Hegseth has been making a habit of bundling some violent messaging into his mandated monthly prayer sessions at the Pentagon, a weekly thing he started in May. In another recent one, he fantasized about an “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Yikes! Get this man to the Hague!

So far, Hegseth hasn’t addressed the mix-up or whether it was a mix-up at all. But one thing’s for clear: for a man with two pastors (and counting), it sure seems like Hegseth needs a Bible. Or Jesus. Or both.

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