Bachmann gives personal testimony

Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann spoke for about an hour Saturday morning in Fairfield, but the ground rules for her appearance excluded political issues.

The closest she came to talking politics was in a description about her upbringing as an only daughter with three brothers.

?That was the best preparation for politics,? Bachmann said, drawing laughter from the approximately 90-member audience.

Bachman spoke at Word of Life Lutheran?s gymnasium, at the invitation of the Rev. Jamie Strickler.

?As a church and a 501.3c organization, we don?t support or endorse political candidates,? said Strickler. ?Michele is invited here to give her faith testimony.?

Nonetheless, Bachmann campaign workers greeted everyone at the door and invited people to sign-up to receive campaign information. A few audience members wore Bachmann buttons and a Michele Bachmann banner hung as a backdrop to one side of the audience.

At her entrance, the mostly senior crowd seated in two and three rows of folding chairs forming a square around a small podium, stood, applauding while up-tempo, rally music played over the sound system.

Strickler introduced Bachmann after she had circulated the room, shaking nearly every hand.

?There will be a time for questions, and we ask you keep those questions to matters of faith,? said Strickler. ?We?re standing with Michele Bachmann to return our country to values, to the authority of scripture.?

?Amens,? were said among the audience.

Strickler invoked the views of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and member of the German resistance against the Nazis who was hanged 23 days before the Nazis? surrender in 1945 for his involvement in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

?Lutherans believe in two kingdoms,? said Strickler. ?Government exists to make laws. The church exists to usher in the kingdom of heaven. Bonhoeffer said when the government has overstepped, it?s time for church people to step up.?

Bachmann carried a Bible with her to the podium, but spent the first 30-40 minutes connecting with the audience through stories of her ancestors? migration from Norway, her idealist childhood in Waterloo, and her childlike view of ?thank God I?m Lutheran, I?m going to heaven,? which drew chuckles from the audience.

?Our forbearers were the very best of every nation,? she said. ?They had fortitude and faith in God. Iowa was the promised land! Norway has about 2 percent tillable land ? immigrants wrote home about the endless fields in the Midwest.

?Mom always told us to be grateful we lived in Iowa, it?s the breadbasket of the world, and it still is, isn?t it?? Bachmann said. ?Our family was of modest means and the center of my life in Waterloo was the Lutheran church. I had no desire to ever leave Iowa.?

Yet, her father took a job in Minnesota and the family moved north when Bachmann was a young girl. Within a short time, her father left the family.

?In 1970, my parents divorced,? said Bachmann. ?It was the first divorce ever in all of our family. My mom had been a full-time homemaker. We went from being a middle-class family to below poverty. We moved from a house to a small apartment. My mom said to keep faith with God.

?We lost nearly everything. I remember Mom setting up tables on the driveway and selling her wedding presents and dishes at a garage sale,? she said. ?No one in our family has ever taken public assistance. We all got jobs. I babysat, my brothers delivered newspapers.

?It was a great formative experience. God uses these types of experiences to form character.?

Bachmann?s Christian testimony moment happened in high school and became more focused in college.

She told about a prayer circle that met every day before classes at high school where friends prayed for her and invited her to attend.

?It was around this time of year, 39 years ago, two friends and I were going to attend a Halloween or harvest party at the Lutheran church,? she said. ?We were 16 and ready to party. When we got there, and went inside, no one was there ? no one we could see, at least. We were drawn inexplicably to the altar. And through the work of the Holy Spirit, three high school girls each began talking to God. I was convicted of my sins and repented, which means turning 180 degrees away.

?When I went home, my life hadn?t changed, but I?d changed,? said Bachmann. ?I was a completely different person. I can?t explain, I can only testify what Jesus did for me. I had read the Bible before, without understanding. Now, at 16, I got up early each morning before school to read the Bible on my own.?

Bachmann said she worked up to three jobs at a time to pay her way through college.

She met her husband at college and he took her to a Francis Schaeffer movie, which had a great impact, she said.

?I believe God?s word as authority, he created all things,? she said. ?The Francis Schaeffer movie focused me to see everything through God?s word.?

Bachmann went on to law school and her husband continued his education to become a clinical therapist.

?I found my life verse while in law school,? said Bachman. ?It?s 2 Corinthians 3:16. I firmly believe life begins when we give our life over to Jesus. He?s been so faithful to us as individuals, and to our nation.?

The new international version of 2 Corinthians 3:16 is: ?But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.?

?I agree with Martin Luther?s two kingdoms? theory,? said Bachmann. ?I?m grateful for the opportunity to be here. I?m not here to be political today, but to talk about Jesus. I?m a sinner. The brilliance of Luther is none of us could ever repay the dept of redemption. Only Jesus Christ can pay. The work is done.?

Her first question from the audience asked how she worked through the process of forgiving her father for abandoning the family.

?We are told to honor our father and mother,? said Bachmann. ?Just as I am a sinner, so is he. I was convicted of my need to forgive my dad. I didn?t even recognize my own feelings of un-forgiveness at first.

?We?ve been forgiven much ... but sometimes we?re not able to fully forgive. That?s when we ask for God?s help ? release it to God.

?I encourage everyone here who?s been hurt ? and some of you may be very justified ? we still have to forgive or we make a prison for ourselves.

?It was many years before I saw my father, and when I did, we walked in forgiveness,? said Bachmann. ?I let the Lord handle it.

?Consider that when you go home tonight,? she said. ?If you are holding, clenching your fists or clenching your heart, open up, let go.?

Another audience member said it was interesting to hear her testimony of faith.

?How do you function in Congress and in Washington, D.C.?? he said. ?How do you handle raising funds and continuing to stand for what you believe? If it was me, I?d say, ?to heck with you,? and return home.?

Bachmann replied that one can?t be married for 33 years and not learn about compromise.

?God prepares people to do jobs,? she said. ?I have a core of conviction. As a tax attorney [for the IRS] I worked through conflict. We have a free market economy; if you run a business, you need to make decisions.

?As a foster mom, I saw problems in our education system. We home schooled our five children. We taught them all to read, then sent them to Lutheran schools.

?I was shocked by what I saw coming home in backpacks when our foster kids attended public schools. I quit my job for five years to study education. I became an activist and led a movement to get rid of federal programming for schools.

?And we accomplished that. Minnesota got rid of federal government in public schools. I?m known for having a titanium spine.

?It takes a miracle to get some things don in Congress and Washington. I believe in miracles and I believe in him who sends miracles.

?It?s going to take a miracle to get us back on the rails. Look at the rag-tag army that came together at the formation of our country.?

Her last query asked her thoughts about ?Prairie Home Companion,? a radio show that gently mocks Lutherans and the people of Minnesota.

?Garrison Keillor and I graduated from the same high school, but not the same year,? said Bachmann. ?I once sent him a letter I received from my grandmother while at law school because it talked about jello and church suppers.

?I love humor. The show is very reflective of the truth.?

After a standing ovation, Bachmann once again circled the crowd, shaking hands, speaking briefly with people and posing for pictures with those who wanted a photo with her.

?It?s not what I expected,? said Pat Frieberg, former Jefferson County Republican Party chair. ?I thought there?d be more campaign talk.?

Jane Scott, a member of the Word of Lutheran Church council said Bachmann?s talk was exactly what she expected.

?We?ve had a very good turn out this morning. We had no idea what to expect. We wanted to let those who attend church here to hear her faith story.?

Scott estimated about half the audience were not members of the 200-plus Lutheran congregation.