The following article doesn't begin to capture the speech that Michele Bachman gave at Liberty University yesterday. She was electric. This is the best way to describe her talk. She knows her audience, and, clearly, she is an Evangelical's Evangelical. For sure, I do not share some of her theological positions, nor some of her political views. However, let me leave aside all such differences, almost as if they hardly matter. Bachmann's speech was an experience to behold. To put it succinctly, if she wanted a career as an evangelist she surely would be great at exactly that. For anyone who has deep appreciation for quality Evangelical sermons her speech at LU was outstanding. No-one can fault her sincerity. For myself, too much was too simplistic, and we all know about her sometimes bungled historical references, but at Liberty U she came across as a genuine Christian believer who lacks nothing by way of honesty and boldness in what she says. There was no waffling of any kind. For her, Jesus is Lord and Savior, her personal guide to the life of the Spirit and the voice she listens to for guidance in day to day life. Christ, she said, is Lord of all things. And there simply cannot be any doubt that she means exactly this. Jesus is not her favorite political philosopher. Jesus is who she lives for. Jesus is who she strives to follow with every fiber of her being. Did she set out to adopt 20 kids, years ago, when still recently married ? Not at all. But that was a responsibility she felt Jesus had asked of her. Did she, then in her 30s, seek to take the part of school reformer ? Not at all, but when her adopted kids started to come home from school with homework assignments that struck her as antithetical to the very basics of Christian faith, she knew what else she was called upon to do. Similarly when she experienced, first hand, the recklessness and irresponsibility of members of Congress, she also realized that it was time to add one more set of responsibilities to her life and take her message to the widest possible public. None of what she said was anything but heartfelt. All of it was genuine. She exuded self-confidence. I cringe at the various mistakes she has made on the campaign trail. I disagree with X number of political opinions she expresses. Some of her religious beliefs simply are not my own. But, damn, she is good. Hell, while her speech may have been a special event, at least for that hour, thanks to C-Span, she was inspirational. Maybe she simply cannot win the GOP nomination. About which I have serious misgivings anyway. But she is a woman who deserves the best possible future that can be found for her. I was very impressed. Billy --------------------------------------------------------------------- _The Christian Post_ (http://www.christianpost.com/) > _Politics_ (http://www.christianpost.com/politics/) |Wed, Sep. 28 2011 08:55 PM EDT Bachmann at Liberty University: God Has Plans for You, 'Don't Settle' By _Alex Murashko_ (http://www.christianpost.com/author/alex-murashko/) | Christian Post Reporter
Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann bypassed any political rhetoric and went straight to the Gospel and her personal Christian testimony in her convocation address Wednesday at Liberty University, the largest private, nonprofit Christian university in the world. Rep. Bachmann made her half-hour speech to some 10,000 students in attendance. “Don't settle for anything less than what this great and almighty God has planned for you,” she said. Bachmann told the crowd she was raised in a Christian home, but did not come into a relationship with Jesus Christ until she was 16. After accepting Jesus, she almost immediately had a hunger for the Word and would wake up at 5 a.m. to read her Bible, she said. Trailing front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney in most national polls, analysts say Bachmann was seeking a breakout moment with her base of support – Christian conservatives. Bachmann finished first among GOP presidential hopefuls in a recent student straw poll, largely because of her evangelical roots, said Liberty's chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr. Liberty University senior _politics_ (http://www.christianpost.com/topics/politics/) major Sean Boden, who attended Bachmann’s speech, told The Christian Post he was impressed with her personal testimony and humble style. “She gave a speech on how we should never settle; how we should always be striving for greatness,” said Boden, 23. “What impressed me most is that she was talking to us not as a politician, but as a person who was trying to impress upon us the spiritual truth that we should never settle.” Bachmann said that her life verse, beginning in college, is 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The verse is also one of Liberty University's hallmarks. During her message on the value of striving to be the best, Bachmann also asked students and faculty members to consider rejecting President _Barack Obama_ (http://www.christianpost.com/topics/barack-obama/) 's agenda, including his _health care_ (http://www.christianpost.com/topics/health-care/) reforms. She did not mention her GOP primary rivals during the speech. “She didn’t come across as just pointing out her different political speaking points,” Boden said, “but she came across as just another believer trying to help each other grow.” Referring to another convocation speaker earlier in the year, he said, “I love the fact that, unlike Rick Perry, she stuck around a little while to meet the students at Liberty. She comes across as a very humble, do wn-to-earth person. She doesn’t come across as a high-up politician. She comes across as an everyday person." -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
