Pete Hegseth, 44, is a two-time Bronze Star recipient and war veteran who holds degrees from both Princeton University and Harvard University. His father warned him as a child not to get tattooed, but Hegseth rebelled in his 30s and now dons more than a dozen tattoos on his right arm and chest.
Hegseth's most well-known tattoo is a massive Jerusalem Cross on his chest. The Jerusalem Cross is comprised of one large plus-shaped cross markings surrounded by four smaller plus-shaped cross markings in each of the four quadrants.
Some people are taking issue with Hegseth's Jerusalem Cross because its origin dates back to the Crusades, and more recently to Christian nationalist groups. Hegseth's Jerusalem Cross took America by surprise back in 2021 when he was one of several National Guard members who was ordered to stand down from Joe Biden's inauguration, supposedly because of the tattoo.
"I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo by my National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., and my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration," Hegseth said in a podcast interview.
"My commander called me a day before tepidly and was like, 'Major, you can just stand down. We don't need you' we're good.' I'm like, 'What do you mean, everybody's there?' He said, like, 'no, no, no ... he couldn't tell me."
(Related: Did you know that Hegseth aggressively supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush back in 2003?)
Abusing scripture to push death
On his bicep, Hegseth got the words "Deus Vult" carved into his skin. This is Latin for "God will it," which is also the closing sentence in his book, America Crusade. Next to Deus Vult on Hegseth's arm are various firearms and an American flag with a rifle as one of its stripes.
Much like the Jerusalem Cross, Deus Vult is also linked to the First Crusade in the early 1000s when so-called Christian invaders reportedly bellowed it out as their battle cry.
Perhaps the most controversial of Hegseth's tattoos is a reference to the New Testament verse of Matthew 10:34, which reads:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
These words of Jesus Christ are a reference to the gospel message and the division it brings between the true children of God and the jealous impostors. It has nothing to do with bringing an actual sword weapon because, in this context, the Word of God itself is the sword that cuts to the heart, dividing the sheep from the goats.
The way Hegseth seems to be using this verse is out of context to push a message of apparent violence against the enemies of Hegseth and his team, who seem to believe themselves to be the chosen recipients of the American promised land.
Hegseth told Big Lead that he got the Matthew 10:34 tattoo emblazoned onto his body while on vacation with his family.
Hegseth's body also has various other images on it including a chopped-up timber rattlesnake from the Gadsden flag along with the words "Join or Die;" Hebrew lettering that includes a reference to "Yahweh;" and the Greek letters chi and rho, which are the first two letters of the word "Christ" in Greek.
Hegseth also got a tattoo of the patch from his army regiment, the 187th Infantry. That regiment dates back to World War II when it served as a glider unit.
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