Former Rep. Michele Bachmann was the guest on Intercessors for America’s monthly First Friday prayer call Oct. 2. Bachmann spent much of her time pushing the right wing’s fear-mongering narrative about more people voting by mail this year due to the pandemic, calling it a “scam” and “cheat by mail.” She said the problem was too big for people to solve, but not for God. Recounting the famous biblical story of David and Goliath, she said, “By faith we take whatever you have given us, Lord, in our town, and we send that sling straight into the giant of the cheat-by-mail voting.”
Here’s an excerpt of Bachmann’s prayer for the election:
We banish doubt, we banish discouragement, we banish defeat in Jesus' name. We bind the spirits in Jesus' name that are coming against this country. We bind the spirits of deception, delusion that is rampant in our in our streets, of disrespect, of mocking. Lord, there are two pillars in this country that have been erected, erected intentionally, and they are chaos and confusion. That's their goal for this election.
They're telling us that we won't know the results election night. How fraudulent. They're telling us it'll be weeks, months—maybe Donald Trump will have to be pushed out of the White House on January 20 because they’ll ball things up in the courts.
Oh, Father, you are the righteous judge. We appeal to our righteous judge, oh God, that that would not be so. We push down the pillar of chaos by faith. We push down the pillar of confusion by faith and we say, "Your will be done.”
…
Lord, we cry out to you for certainty in our elections. We cry out to you for certainty on the night of the election, that our nation won't have to go through the national security at risk of not having a leader.
…
Lord, you say in your word that you cast down the wicked and the plans of the wicked. You say in your word that the wicked dig pits, but they fall in them in them themselves. They set snares, but they fall in them themselves. Oh, God, we pray Psalm 91 today. We ask, oh God, that you the righteous judge would rise up and hear this prayer for our land.
Bachmann also promoted the Christian nationalist argument that the U.S. as a nation is bound to a covenant the Mayflower pilgrims made with God to advance the Christian faith:
Lord, we don't get this. We don't get 2020. We don't get everything that has happened. But I thank you that the body of Christ did the right thing this last weekend and came together in a solemn assembly to confess our sins, repent and return to you. It is on that basis that we have faith, and we continue, Father, in that same vein, all of us on this call today, we continue in that same vein of returning to you and asking that our nation would return to you and renew the covenant that the pilgrim fathers made 400 years ago this fall. We are within that timeframe of that 400th anniversary of the covenant.
There's only two covenant nations in all of history: Israel—the covenant that you made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants—and our pilgrim fathers who when they were blown off course and went into Massachusetts and no longer had the legal patent or right to be there, instead made a covenant with you, and covenanted to give you America. And the first line of their legal document said, "In the name of God, amen."
What a fantastic prayer. That says it all— "In the name of God, Amen." They came here for the glory of God and for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord, that we would be worthy to continue this covenant.
At the time of the call, news had broken about President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, but the president had not yet been transferred to Walter Reed hospital. Bachmann said that while it was reassuring that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump had a mild case, it would “completely change the dynamic of the race” because Trump won’t be able to travel for the next two weeks.
Bachmann said that when she asked God why he allowed this to happen, God told her that he “wants to do something new right now.” She referred to the previous weekend’s large-scale prayer events on the National Mall and said Christians who have repented for the nation’s sins now have the “legal grounds” to ask God to heal the land and “exterminate” the coronavirus. She prayed for healing for the president and first lady.
Intercessors for America is a network of conservative prayer warriors whose leaders are ardently pro-Trump; IFA is closely affiliated with Paula White’s One Voice Prayer Network, which operates as an unofficial political and public relations arm of the White House. IFA’s prayer call was also promoted this month by Trump-promoting network POTUS Shield.
Bachmann is chairman of the board of the Family Research Council and a member of the board of directors of Capitol Ministries, which teaches public officials that the Bible instructs them to support right-wing policies.
