A woman identifies a Middle Eastern man in a turban as the antichrist. Israeli flags fly high as thousands of women cry and pray over the souls of the Jewish people. Christians are called to be watchmen for Israel and identify the coming of the end timesOn Saturday, Oct. 12, “a million women” were supposed to gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the A Million Women movement, a Christian nationalist rally held less than a month before the presidential elections. While the actual number of attendees was in the ten thousands, their voices sent a violent message echoing through the capital.
These women were convening “to fast and pray in unity as a last stand for America.” Unlike the typical displays of masculinity, this form of Christian nationalism was distinctly feminine. The women were called to bring along their husbands and children, embodying a unique vision of revival. This was a feminine — explicitly not feminist, as many participants stressed — crusade for a Christian rebirth of the nation.
Esthers
The women identified themselves as “Esthers,” invoking the biblical queen who saved her people from annihilation. Their prayers, however, were focused on America’s youth. As one participant warned: “They are trying to wipe out an entire generation. And if they wipe out this generation, they will wipe out the nation. And if they wipe out America, all nations will fall.”
Perlei Toor
The rally’s political tone was unambiguously conservative: pro-Trump, “pro-life,” anti-LGBTQ and steeped in Christian purity culture. Only “millions of Esthers,” they claimed, could help bring this Project 2025 agenda to life.
Esther, central to both Jewish tradition and the Christian Old Testament, was a Jewish woman who, through courage and cunning, saved her people from genocide. She was married to the Persian King Ahaseurus and used her strategic position as his wife to stop Haman from killing all the Jews in the nation.
Saturday’s event called for modern-day Esthers to arise. It called for Esthers to submit to the men in their lives to save the nation. It called for the worship of a movement that saved Jewish people. It called for Esthers to fight the evil of “Haman” and save the nation.
Zionist sponsors
This rally’s most prominent sponsor, unsurprisingly, was the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a major player in Christian Zionism, second only to Christians United for Israel.
IFCJ, which has been documented providing substantial donations to the Israel Defense Forces — forces largely responsible for the deaths of more than 42,000 Palestinians — lent its full support to the event. Although the A Million Women webpage made no overt references to Christian Zionism prior to the event, the narrative of Esther, coupled with IFCJ’s involvement, made its presence inevitable.
In promoting the rally, the IFCJ framed it as a moment for “the Jewish people’s Christian friends to come together in prayer and fasting — for Israel in her time of need.”
On Yom Kippur
The timing was striking, as it coincided with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. What could have been a moment of shared reverence between Christians and Jews became instead a vehicle for deeply antisemitic Christian Zionist ideology.
“What could have been a moment of shared reverence between Christians and Jews became instead a vehicle for deeply antisemitic Christian Zionist ideology.”
The day saw a procession of Israeli flags and the appearance of Jason Sobel, a Messianic rabbi who connected the recent violence of October 7 and rising antisemitism to biblical prophecy. Leaders of the event invoked the conflict in Israel as evidence of “Amalek’s rage,” echoing language used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in 2023 likened Palestinians to Amalek, a biblical embodiment of evil destined for complete destruction that has been used to justify the ongoing genocide.
The rally’s rhetoric became a disturbing blend of apocalyptic prophecy and militant nationalism. Pastors drew parallels between Hamas and Haman, suggesting it was up to these modern-day Esthers to confront and vanquish the “spirit of evil” that threatens Israel. In their view, American universities also have become battlegrounds in this spiritual war, while Israel’s Iron Dome — a defense system funded and maintained by the IDF — was lauded as divinely inspired.
Islamophobia
Islamophobia was rampant. A female pastor shared a vision where she was fasting and praying in Israel when a “Middle Eastern man in a turban” interrupted her, screaming at her to “stop praying.” She identified this figure as the antichrist, who sought to block her prayer and fasting as divine protection over Israel.
Lou Engle
Many women at the rally cited a prophetic dream by Lou Engle, the millionaire “apostle” behind A Million Women, that inspired the emergence of the rally. In it, he envisioned a sea of Christian women — Esthers — marching on the Mall. In this vision, Engle saw himself as the sole man, witnessing a divine scene reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, where the Witch King claims not to be able to be killed by any man, and Eowyn, the king’s daughter, declares, “I am no man,” and kills him. Engle linked this to the slaying of the antichrist, a sign of the end times.
Uncritical support for Israel
These women, self-proclaimed “Esthers,” believe they are called to save the soul of America. This salvation is incomplete without complete, violent and uncritical support of Israel. The words “Palestinian” or “Gaza” were not mentioned once at the rally.
Throughout the day, the event’s website updated with calls to action, including a sign-up to become a “Watchman on the Wall for Israel,” sponsored by U.S.-based pro-Israel organization JH Israel and U.S. Israel Education Association. This role, rooted in biblical language, calls for participants to stand as spiritual sentinels, guarding Jerusalem from both physical and spiritual threats. The Watchmen, JH Israel claims, were divinely credited with the creation of Israel’s Iron Dome and participated in the “unseen spiritual war” for Israel.
By invoking figures like Amalek, Haman and the antichrist, the prayers of these “million women” positioned them at the heart of an apocalyptic narrative. The watchmen were charged by Jesus with vigilance not only for the present conflict but for the arrival of the end times. As Christian theology dictates in Revelation, the final judgment and the Battle of Armageddon precede the mass conversion or destruction of the Jewish people. The restoration of the Jewish people to Israel, therefore, is essential in the emergence of all these parts of the larger plan of revelation. When IFCJ brags about sending a record 9,000 Jews to Israel in 2022, their motives are entirely corrupt.
Just as Christian nationalism frequently places America in the larger context of Revelation and the coming of the end times, Christian nationalists are quick to invoke Christian Zionism as an extension of this logic. It should be no surprise that at a Christian nationalist rally like this one, Christian Zionism is loud, apparent and unapologetic.
Christian Zionsim is not a redeeming quality of Christian nationalism that promotes tolerance for other religions. It is deeply antisemitic. It is not rooted in the preservation of Jewish culture. It is not rooted in love for the Jewish people. It is rooted in the desire for the Jewish people to either convert to Christianity or be eliminated altogether.
Do not let the crying women and their children fool you. There is no Christian love to be found within Christian Zionism.
Perlei Toor is a master of theological studies student at Harvard Divinity School, specializing in religion, ethics and politics.
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