Leaked documents from the New Zealand Defence Force reveal that soldiers spent much of 2025 practicing lethal force against a made-up Christian nationalist group in scenarios set on maps resembling their own country. This training is predictive programming that foreshadows the rising persecution of believers in the last days.

Independent journalist Penny Marie obtained the files through the United We Stand coalition and exposed them in Dec. 2025. Conservative writer Kurt Mahlburg amplified the details in a widely shared X thread on Feb. 17, 2026. “The New Zealand Defence Force spent 2025 training soldiers to take out a fictional Christian terrorist group — on a map of their own country,” Mahlburg wrote.

The New Zealand Defence Force spent 2025 training soldiers to take out a fictional Christian terrorist group — on a map of their own country.

None of NZ's 23 listed terrorist orgs are Christian.

They say no offence was intended.

Here's what the documents actually show 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SOCEpPfWTy

— Kurt Mahlburg (@k_mahlburg) February 17, 2026

The fictional enemy is the Visayan People’s Front portrayed as separatists seeking to establish a Christian state. “Their war game profile included weapons smuggling, attacks on security forces and Islamophobia,” Mahlburg noted. Soldiers were instructed to use lethal force against them.

The scenarios placed the action in real New Zealand locations. “It wasn’t a vague hypothetical set in a distant fictional land” Mahlburg said. “The map looks like their own homeland,” with places like Murchison, Nelson St Arnaud and Rainbow Ski Field featured.

These exercises were conducted at least four times in 2025, including a junior noncommissioned officer course, Exercise Urban Warrior, Exercise Cassino, and Exercise Belesia Stability. “Each time, ‘Christian nationalists’ were the opposing force, soldiers trained to destroy,” according to the thread.

The material originated from the U.S. Army’s Decisive Action Training Environment, which was adopted by New Zealand in 2021. The group was described as wanting to deport Muslims and create a Christian nation, labeled “quasi-socialists,” deliberately evoking a Nazi-like caricature. “The Nazi caricature was deliberately crafted,” Mahlburg wrote.

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Penny Marie observed that the narrative “explicitly mirrors Maori-Christian history and present-day rural/urban political divides.” This script reads like a cut-and-paste of today’s culture war.

This occurs alongside the NZDF’s diversity programs including $45000 spent on Pride Pledge fees over three years Rainbow Excellence Awards and compulsory LGBTQI+ sensitivity training. The same institution promotes rainbow inclusion while training to fight Christians with traditional values.

NZDF Chief of Staff Brigadier Grant Motley confirmed in a Feb. 5 2026 letter that the scenario was used but claimed “no harm or offence was intended.” He provided no explanation for choosing conservative Christians as the enemy. New Zealand lists 23 designated terrorist entities — none are Christian. “The fictional threat in these war games has no basis in New Zealand’s actual security landscape,” Mahlburg emphasized.

This is clear predictive programming for the end times. The Bible foretells increasing hatred toward followers of Christ. “They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matt. 24:9). In the Great Tribulation, saints will declare the name of Jesus and face martyrdom as shown in Revelation 6:9-11 and 20:4. These exercises condition soldiers and society to see biblical Christianity as a threat.

This is actually happening — a clear sign that prophetic warnings are coming to pass. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). Ignorance is not an excuse. Believers must watch the world around them, seek discernment through Scripture, pray without ceasing and proclaim the Gospel boldly while there is still time.

James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

The newly released World Watch List from the Christian nonprofit Open Doors revealed which nations in the world are the least friendly to believers seeking to follow Jesus Christ and advance His gospel.

The most recent version of the analysis concluded that one in every seven Christians are persecuted worldwide.

That includes one in every five Christians in Africa, as well as two in every five Christians in Asia.

Each nation on the list is scored with a point system tracking “violence and pressure,” which encompasses the number of physical threats toward believers and the various social and legal obstacles they may face for following Jesus.

Specific ideologies and religions — such as Islam, communism, and nationalistic Hinduism — are responsible for the greatest and most severe worldwide Christian persecution.

The worst country in the world for Christians is indeed communist North Korea.

“If someone is discovered to be a Christian, the consequences are unimaginably stark: either imprisonment in one of its notorious labor camps, with little hope of release, or immediate execution. The same fate is likely to await other family members,” Open Doors noted.

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The Kim regime ensures that neighbors and family members are incentivized to report Christians, such that “even the slightest hint of worshipping Jesus can have devastating consequences.”

But even still, believers seek to gather “in utmost secrecy and at enormous risk.”

The other nine countries in the highest 10 nations on the World Watch List are all Islamic — from Iran and Sudan to Nigeria and Pakistan.

In Somalia, which ranks second on the list after North Korea, “openly following Jesus is impossible.”

Beyond an outright ban on conversion to Christianity under Sharia law, “conversion to a different religion is seen as betrayal and a dishonoring of country, clan and family.”

The Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab meanwhile “wishes to eradicate Christianity and openly executes anyone suspected of being a Christian.”

Nigeria, which is seventh on the list, rose by one spot as violent Islamic groups terrorize Christian communities in the north and central parts of the country.

But the most severe uptick in persecution for countries in the top 10 came from Syria.

“Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 — after ruling Syria for more than 50 years — the country has been mostly controlled by forces led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” Open Doors said.

“This is an Islamic extremist group with roots in Al Qaeda. The group has made overtures towards moderation and held talks with representatives of Syria’s traditional Christian communities, but it is too soon to know what will come of the new leadership.”

Open Doors encourages believers around the world to pray for their brothers and sisters facing extreme persecution.

“You don’t have to feel helpless watching persecution from a distance,” their website reminds supporters.

“Your faithful prayers are already making an eternal difference.”

To view the full list from Open Doors, click here.

This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.