{"id":32837,"date":"2026-09-04T15:57:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=32837"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:57:20","slug":"jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance Says He’s Sensed ‘Spiritual Darkness’ Around World Leaders, Wouldn’t Be Shocked if Antichrist is ‘Among Us’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vice President JD Vance says he has sensed “spiritual darkness” during meetings with world leaders and “wouldn’t be shocked” if the Antichrist were already walking among us.<\/p>\n

Vance opened up about spiritual warfare, biblical prophecy and the supernatural during a wide-ranging interview<\/a> with Christian podcaster Bryce Crawford. He also addressed President Donald Trump’s controversial AI-generated image that appeared to portray him as Jesus.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he has ever sensed evil while interacting with powerful people, Vance said he has experienced moments that immediately put him on guard.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been in meetings with world leaders where various issues are being discussed, and somebody will say something, or somebody will make an observation, and I will feel a certain darkness about it,” Vance said. “It sort of sets off every spiritual alarm bell in my body.”<\/p>\n

Vance did not identify the leaders involved. He said such experiences tend to be connected to people rather than places, although he recalled experiencing a similar feeling while visiting the Gettysburg battlefield.<\/p>\n

The conversation eventually turned to the end times and whether biblical prophecy could be unfolding today.<\/p>\n

“I think that there are, like, things about the world that make me feel like I’d be not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us,” Vance said. “Do I think that we’re in the End Times? I don’t know.”<\/p>\n

Vance also expressed concerns about artificial intelligence, saying some developments in the technology industry have struck him as spiritually troubling. He described encountering “really, really weird spiritual dark energy” around some AI companies and characterized some of what he has seen as “kinda satanic.”<\/p>\n

Crawford also confronted Vance about an AI-generated image<\/a> Trump posted to Truth Social in April. The image showed Trump in a white robe and red sash, which many interpreted as resembling Jesus. Trump later deleted the post and said he had thought the image depicted him as a doctor and Red Cross worker.<\/p>\n

Crawford told Vance that the image upset him as a Christian and that he questioned Trump’s explanation.<\/p>\n

Vance defended the president’s intentions, saying he witnessed the situation unfold and did not believe Trump deliberately intended to portray himself as God.<\/p>\n

“He did not mean to mock or mimic God,” Vance said. “That’s just not who he is.”<\/p>\n

Vance explained that people frequently show Trump memes and that the president sometimes asks for ones he finds amusing to be posted. He said Trump’s decision to remove the image after the negative reaction showed that he understood it “didn’t come across the right way.”<\/p>\n

Despite his willingness to discuss the possibility of the Antichrist and the end times, Vance said he does not know whether the world has reached that point \u2014 and indicated that trying to determine the timing is not where he wants to place his attention.<\/p>\n

“What I’m trying to focus on is doing as much of God’s work as possible right now,” Vance said.<\/p>\n

For Christians, that distinction echoes Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day or hour. Rather than claiming the end is imminent, Vance said his focus is on what he believes Christians are called to do in the present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice President JD Vance says he has sensed “spiritual darkness” during meetings with world leaders and “wouldn’t be shocked” if the Antichrist were already walking among us. Vance opened up about spiritual warfare, biblical prophecy and the supernatural during a wide-ranging interview with Christian podcaster Bryce Crawford. He also addressed President Donald Trump’s controversial AI-generated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":32840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nJD Vance Says He's Sensed 'Spiritual Darkness' Around World Leaders, Wouldn't Be Shocked if Antichrist is 'Among Us'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"JD Vance says he's sensed "spiritual darkness" around world leaders and wouldn't be shocked if the Antichrist is among us.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JD Vance Says He's Sensed 'Spiritual Darkness' Around World Leaders, Wouldn't Be Shocked if Antichrist is 'Among Us'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JD Vance says he's sensed "spiritual darkness" around world leaders and wouldn't be shocked if the Antichrist is among us.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T19:57:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/Trump-and-Vance_credit-The-White-House.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"JD Vance Says He's Sensed 'Spiritual Darkness' Around World Leaders, Wouldn't Be Shocked if Antichrist is 'Among Us'","description":"JD Vance says he's sensed \"spiritual darkness\" around world leaders and wouldn't be shocked if the Antichrist is among us.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"JD Vance Says He's Sensed 'Spiritual Darkness' Around World Leaders, Wouldn't Be Shocked if Antichrist is 'Among Us'","og_description":"JD Vance says he's sensed \"spiritual darkness\" around world leaders and wouldn't be shocked if the Antichrist is among us.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2026-09-04T19:57:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/Trump-and-Vance_credit-The-White-House.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us","name":"JD Vance Says He's Sensed 'Spiritual Darkness' Around World Leaders, Wouldn't Be Shocked if Antichrist is 'Among Us'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/Trump-and-Vance_credit-The-White-House.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-04T19:57:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-04T19:57:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"JD Vance says he's sensed \"spiritual darkness\" around world leaders and wouldn't be shocked if the Antichrist is among us.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/Trump-and-Vance_credit-The-White-House.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/Trump-and-Vance_credit-The-White-House.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"The White House"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/jd-vance-says-hes-sensed-spiritual-darkness-around-world-leaders-wouldnt-be-shocked-if-antichrist-is-among-us#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"JD Vance Says He’s Sensed ‘Spiritual Darkness’ Around World Leaders, Wouldn’t Be Shocked if Antichrist is ‘Among Us’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32843,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32837\/revisions\/32843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}