President Donald Trump is using Christian rhetoric to rally core supporters behind the increasingly unpopular war with Iran, religious and political experts say - a message amplified from pulpits by evangelical leaders who cast it as a struggle between good and evil.

Trump, who announced a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, has struggled to persuade Americans ‌to back the war, which has triggered a surge in energy prices, killed American servicemen and Iranians, and further eroded his standing among voters.

In recent days, he has repeatedly turned to Christian language, calling the rescue of a downed U.S. airman in Iran an "Easter miracle" and suggesting the U.S.-Israeli strikes have God's blessing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gone further, citing scripture to justify the use of "overwhelming violence" against enemies he said "deserve no mercy."

That message has been ‌echoed by conservative Christian leaders - from those close to Trump like Robert Jeffress, an influential Texas pastor, to small-town preachers. They have emphasized the ⁠biblical significance of the modern state of Israel, which many evangelicals associate with a prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

EVANGELICALS SEE IRAN WAR ⁠AS GOOD VS EVIL

Jackson Lahmeyer, an evangelical pastor ⁠and Trump supporter who is running for the U.S. Congress, said in an interview he has told his Tulsa, Oklahoma, congregation in some Sunday sermons that wars are typically battles between good ‌and evil and that Iran was no exception.

"Evil people exist, and if you don't deal with them, they'll deal with you," he said. "Good and evil, that's........

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