Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made an interesting appeal to conservative activists last week on a telephone town hall hosted by the conservative Susan B. Anthony List, the Minnesota Independent reports: To help stop the Democrats’ health care bill, through the power of fasting and intercessionary prayer.
Bachmann praised Sarah Palin for raising the alarm about “death panels” that would deny any health care to the elderly and mentally disabled. “Thank God that Sarah Palin said that,” said Bachmann. “These are true.” Bachmann also warned against the government forcing doctors to perform abortions, and urged callers to oppose it with all their energies — and their prayers.
“That’s really where this battle will be won — on our knees in prayer and fasting,” said Bachmann. “Remember: faith without works is dead. So we’re asking you to do all of it: pray, fast, believe, trust the Lord, but also act.”
It should be noted that prayer and fasting both have a prominent place in Bachmann’s political career. Back in 2006, she publicly discussed how she and her husband made sure that God really was calling her to run for Congress:
“And then in the midst of that calling, God then called me to run for the United States Congress. And I thought, ‘what in the world would that be for?’ And my husband said, ‘You need to do this,’ and I wasn’t so sure. And we took three days and we fasted and we prayed, and we said, ‘Lord is this what You want? Is this Your will?’ And after the — along about the afternoon of day two, He made that calling sure. And it’s been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress. Who in their right mind would spent two years to run for a job that lasts for two years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ.”
