Image: Ben McLeod

On Sunday, more than 500 conservative Christian pastors around the country vowed to break the law by endorsing political candidates from the pulpit. Though the practice has been illegal since 1954, endorsing churches have faced almost no consequences for their actions because the IRS has been hamstrung by “complex” rules.

Minnesota churches have played a high-profile role in the new movement to flout the law, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, though this Sunday, the movement was underrepresented in the state.

Several Minnesota pastors have been the target of complaints to the IRS over their politicking from the pulpit, yet all have emerged without penalty, some getting a letter from the IRS reminding them of the prohibition on endorsing candidates and others receiving nothing at all.

As Minnesota Pastor Brad Brandon noted on his radio program last Friday, since his October 2010 endorsements of a slate of Republican candidates including U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, he hasn’t received a thing.

“You’d have to be living under rock if you didn’t know back in October of 2010, I chose to endorse candidates form behind my pulpit,” Brandon said. “Everywhere I go people ask me, ‘What happened?’”

“Are you ready for what happened? I’m going to explain to you what happened.” Brandon played a few seconds dead radio air. “That’s exactly what happened. Nothing happened.”

“So far the IRS has done absolutely nothing. What does that prove? That this is nothing more than an intimidation factor by the goverment to try to control the pulpit, to control the church.”

He added, “They know that if this were ever to go to the Supreme Court it would be shot down.”

The Minnesota Independent first reported on Brandon’s endorsements in 2010 and that reporting generated a complaint to the IRS by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

As Brandon notes, the complaint appears to have gone nowhere.

Rob Boston of Americans United told the Minnesota Independent that the reason why the IRS hasn’t been effectively enforcing the law is “complex.”

“A few years ago, the IRS moved to audit a church in Minnesota that had endorsed Michele Bachmann,” he said. “The church sued, claiming that the IRS had not followed its own procedures for auditing churches. The church won the case when a federal court ruled that the IRS official who approved the audit was not of sufficient rank.”

The Minnesota Independent’s reporting on Pastor Mac Hammond’s endorsement of Bachmann, as well as a financial set-up within the church that came under heavy scrutiny, generated that IRS investigation back in 2007. The IRS lost its case because the law limits how the agency can investigate churches and it had not followed its own rules.

“Subsequently, the IRS announced that it would revise its policies for church audits,” Boston said. “As far as we know, this process is ongoing. So, if there has been a pause in enforcement, it’s just that – a temporary pause.”

Even if the IRS isn’t currently going after churches that break tax laws, it still advises churches not to break the law.

“The IRS website continues to contain material warning churches (and other non-profits) against partisan politicking, and no change in policy has been announced,” Boston said.

Other Minnesota churches continue to break the law every year and skate by with little to no consequences. Warroad Christian Church in northern Minnesota has been endorsing Republicans over the last few years.

The IRS dropped its investigation of that church after the Hammond court decision.

The church decided to endorse again this year as part of a broader movement called Pulpit Freedom Sunday. The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group, encourages churches to endorse from the pulpit each October. This year the movement picked up 539 churches around the country.

In Minnesota, five churches participated in Pulpit Sunday. Aside from Warroad, Faith Baptist Church in Brainerd, Hill City Baptist in Hill City, Landmark Baptist Church in Red Wing and South Troy Wesleyan Church in Zumbro Falls also announced they were endorsing candidates.

Mac and Lynne Hammond; Source: LWCC.org

Pastor Mac Hammond announced Sunday that he has been asked to join Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign as the chairman of her national Faith and Family Council. Hammond made headlines after endorsing Bachmann’s congressional bid from the pulpit in 2006, spurring a complaint to the IRS.

“Michele Bachmann has considered me her pastor for a while,” Hammond said of Bachmann during his Sunday sermon. “Her concern has to do with what her political opposition might do with us as a ministry because the political opposition she faces is very poisonous, no doubt about it.”

Bachmann spoke at Hammond’s church in 2006, calling herself a “fool for Christ.”

“Everybody needs a pastor and she has asked me to be the chairman of her National Faith and Family Council…actually that’s not a settled fact yet because of the possible legal ramifications of my becoming a part of her political campaign staff,” he said. “But whatever the case may be, Lynne and I are going to travel with her to different states that she will be campaigning in.”

He said he traveled with Bachmann to Tennessee to introduce her at a campaign event.

“I got an opportunity to talk about the vital importance of the church rising up and taking this nation back,” he said. ”She is a sister in the Lord that is as committed to his word as any of you in here are.”

Hammond said he wouldn’t be using church resources or endorse her from the pulpit.

In 2006, the Minnesota Independent first reported about Hammond endorsing Bachmann from the pulpit. That reporting generated a complaint to the IRS and an informant inside the church sent MnIndy documents outlining potentially illegal financial arrangements.

The IRS investigated and Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center sued arguing that due to IRS restructuring, the agency could not appropriately investigate the church. A judge ruled in LWCC’s favor and the IRS began a process to restructure itself in order to comply with the law.

On Sunday, Hammond said that churches should be able to endorse candidates and praised efforts by conservative Christian groups to have rules barring politicking overturned.

“For centuries, politicking was done in the local church,” he said. “And pastors and ministers had the responsibility of illuminating which candidates were most closely aligned with God’s word.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann made Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s 2010 Most Embarrassing Re-elects list, along with 10 other members of Congress. The rankings, released Monday, include an even split between Democrats and Republicans who, according to CREW, have violated the public trust.

“Most Americans would be fired if they were caught patronizing a prostitute or abusing their positions for personal gain, but members of Congress aren’t most Americans,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. “Instead, these lawmakers are headed back to Washington where they are expected to police themselves, which is about as likely as the Grinch actually stealing Christmas.”

Bachmann makes the cut along with: Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA), Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-IN), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Bachmann was selected by CREW because she “used her official congressional website to organize a rally against health care reform, and called for an investigation into the ‘anti-American’ views of fellow members of Congress.”

The group filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics in Nov. 2009 after Bachmann used her official website to organize her “House Call” rally against health care reform efforts. CREW also notes that Bachmann did not get the proper permit for the rally.

House rules restrict members from using their websites to engage in “grassroots lobbying” or to solicit support for a member’s position,” wrote CREW. “Rep. Bachmann’s website urged people to come to the Capitol rally ‘and tell their Representatives to vote no’ on the health care reform bill.”

Bachmann also made CREW’s list in 2008. Along with Rangel and Young, she is one of three repeat offenders for CREW.

Prior to her election to Congress, CREW was keeping an eye on Bachmann. In 2006, the group went after the Living Word Christian Center after its pastor, Mac Hammond, endorsed her from the pulpit.

Two Minnesota pastors say they will endorse political candidates from the pulpit this Sunday, in direct defiance of federal law that prohibits such politicking at tax-exempt churches: Brad Brandon of Berean Bible Baptist Church in Hastings announced his intentions on his KKMS radio show earlier this week, while Greg Stone of Jesus Assembly of God in St. Peter outlined his plans on Facebook. Stone writes that, unlike most of his sermons, this Sunday’s won’t be available as a podcast. Brandon taunts the “liberal media” to file an IRS complaint against his church. “Do it out of hatred for me,” he urged.

“I am not going to stop my pursuit of taking on the IRS,” Brandon told listeners on Tuesday. “Somebody has to stand up and fight, so I guess it might as well be me. So on October 17, ladies and gentlemen, I am continuing making this the day. I will endorse the candidates here in the state of Minnesota.”

He added, “I’m the only guy, so I’m not scared to do it. I’m the righteous that is bold as the lion.”

But Brandon’s not alone — this year or historically.

In 2006, Pastor Mac Hammond of Living Word Christian Church endorsed Rep. Michele Bachmann during church services. That endorsement eventually led to an IRS investigation of the church’s finances. However, a judge ruled the agency could not continue its investigation because it didn’t have the proper procedures in place.

In 2008, Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church endorsed Republican John McCain for president, prompting an IRS investigation. The agency had to drop the case for the same reason it stopped investigating Hammond.

It’s unclear whether the IRS has fixed its system, says Rob Boston, Senior Policy Analyst for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a group that has challenged pulpit endorsements in the past.

“The IRS has formulated new policies for investigating houses of worship in the wake of the Living Word ruling and the regulations were submitted for public comment late in 2009,” he said. “I have not been able to find out what has happened since then, but my hope is that the IRS has the regulations in place and is prepared to enforce the law.”

He said that there is a sense of urgency for the IRS to get involved.

“The need for enforcement is great,” he said. “Prodded by the ADF, misguided clergy like Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad are openly violating federal law.”

He added, “If the IRS allows this to go on, it sends a message to other scofflaw pastors that they do not have to abide by the laws of this country.”

Of course, churches have the freedom to endorse candidates — if they pay taxes.

Boston said, “They could forgo tax exemption and be as partisan as they want to be. But of course they won’t do that. They want all of the benefits of tax exemption and none of its responsibilities.”

Pastor Brandon said his decision to endorse conservative candidates for office has to do with homosexuality.

“At what point does our responsibility to God trump our responsibility to the government? That’s my question. At what point does that take place? And I have decided that the point is now,” said Brandon. “Because we have hate crimes out there involving speaking out against homosexuality.”

He continued, “If you think we are far, far from that why don’t you ask a pastor right now who’s ministering in Canada? There are churches in Canada that are losing their tax-exempt status because they are coming out and preaching against homosexuality.”

“I am going to stand up, and I’m not going to allow that to happen in my country,” he said.

A hundred miles to the southwest, in St. Peter, Pastor Stone says he’ll be endorsing candidates during services as part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday, an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) campaign to encourage pastors to endorse candidates in direct violation of the law. ADF is the brainchild of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson.

ADF hopes that the IRS will revoke the tax-exempt status of those churches that endorse so that it can address the ban on endorsements with its team of lawyers. The rationale is that churches across the country will be able to endorse socially conservative candidates for office, giving Republicans a massive boost in election years — all while keeping their tax-exempt status.

On the church’s Facebook page on Oct. 7, Stone wrote, “This Sunday we’ll talk about keys to overcoming. We’ll also explain Pulpit Freedom Sunday and explain its relevance to Jesus Assembly – key to something that is about to happen at Jesus Assembly.”

A few days later he wrote that the sermon, which is normally posted as a podcast on the church’s website, will be unavailable:

Tomorrow’s sermon is of such a nature that we will not be posting it on the internet. The same is true about the sermon for Oct 17th. (It is not likely that we will make CD’s available for either sermon.) Sometimes, ‘You just gotta be there.’ :)

While Stone wants to keep his endorsements within the congregation, Brandon is more bold about his intentions.

“I am encouraging all of the liberals listening because — oh, I know you are listening, those in the liberal press, those in the liberal media, just waiting, hanging on my every word. I know because I read the websites.”

(No blog has written about Brandon since July 31, when he spoke at a National Organization for Marriage event, according to Google. The only state news outlet to reference Brandon was the Minnesota Independent, which noted a May Minnesota Family Council event at which he spoke).

“Here’s what I need you to do liberal media: File a complaint with the IRS; tell them that Oct. 17 is the day that Pastor Brad Brandon is going to come out and endorse candidate from behind the pulpit,” he challenged. “I know you just cant [sic] wait to tattle on poor little Pastor Brandon. Well, here’s your opportunity to get me in trouble and tell on me.”

He continued, “Little immature human beings that are so wrapped up in your emotions that you couldn’t make a rational decision if it killed you, so please make this one decision for me do it based on emotion. Do it out of hatred for me. File a complaint against mean old Pastor Brandon who is going to come out and endorse candidates.”

On Wednesday’s radio program, Brandon said he “probably” will be endorsing Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and Republican Secretary of State candidate Dan Severson.

“You’ll have to come to church to find out.”

Update: Hastings pastor endorses Emmer from pulpit

Update: The group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the IRS against Berean Bible Baptist Church on Oct. 18 over the weekend’s endorsements.

“Unfortunately you didn’t have information before you went to press with your story which is important,” said Amy Rotenberg on Tuesday. “Living Word Christian Center actually sold that property to another entity and has had no continuing interest in it since 2006.”

She said that TCF Bank had released LWCC from the mortgage at that time.

The Minnesota Independent checked with Hennepin County officials on Monday for information about the sheriff’s office foreclosure notice, which lists LWCC as the holder of the defaulted mortgage.

Lisa Kiava, public information office for the sheriff’s office, said, “The document listed online is the extent of the information that the sheriff’s office has. We don’t have any addition information than what you see online.”

Rotenberg passed along a document dated June 15, 2010 (PDF), that describes a transaction in 2005 with HMW-Brooklyn LLC.

She told CityPages this morning that the Hennepin County listing was “misleading.”

Mac and Lynne Hammond. Photo: LWCC.org

Updated: Property owned by Living Word Christian Center has gone into foreclosure, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office. On July 28, four parcels of land owned by the Brooklyn Park mega-church was bought at a sheriff’s sale for $5.1 million. Pastor Mac Hammond, who preaches a “prosperity gospel,” has been plagued by financial problems over the last few years. The church took millions from a man who was later convicted of fraud, and the IRS opened an investigation into the church’s finances stemming from favorable financial dealings between the church and Hammond.

County records show that TCF National Bank, which is also the mortgage lender to LWCC, bought the property. Per Minnesota law, Living Word has until July 28, 2011, to redeem the property by securing new financing. The church bought property in 1995 for $3.5 million. It’s unclear from county records whether the foreclosed property is the land on which the church itself sits; Living Word has not responded to the Minnesota Independent’s request for comment on the foreclosure or the church’s financial future.

Update: LWCC told the Minnesota Independent on Tuesday that they sold the property in 2006 and that Hennepin County records are misleading. Said Amy Rotenberg, “Living Word Christian Center actually sold that property to another entity and has had no continuing interest in it since 2006.” We’ll update this story should those records be modified.

Also, according to Rotenberg, “The church is not currently facing any financial issues.” She said, “We won our battle with the IRS” and that the church’s defense of the $2.2 million donated before Gerard Cellette was convicted of fraud should not be seen as a “financial problem.”

In early 2008, the church began to fall behind on its budget by $40,000 to $70,000, prompting Hammond to sell off his jet and forcing the church to cut its hour-long television broadcast to a half hour.

In May, the church was served with papers demanding the return of $2.2 million in money it received from Gerard Cellette, who had been convicted of fraud. Cellette ran a Ponzi scheme and lawyers for the victims were attempting to collect the money from Living Word for remuneration.

The church said in a statement in May that it felt it shouldn’t have to give the money back to the victims because of its status as a church. “This lawsuit, on behalf of Mr. Cellette’s investors, to take back the funds from LWCC and repay the investors is unfair. Our church is essentially being asked to be the guarantor to principally out-of-state, sophisticated investors that made bad investments with Mr. Cellette.”

It’s not the first time the church has invoked religious privilege following questions about its finances.

In 2007, the Minnesota Independent reported that Living Word had arranged favorable loans for Hammond and that Hammond had bought a stunt plane from the church and then leased it back to the church. That reporting led to an IRS investigation, and in 2008 the church sued to block the IRS from investigating.

The IRS wanted a look at Hammond’s and Living Word’s financial books, but Hammond invoked religious privilege.

“This case is about the First Amendment, the free exercise of religion and separation of church and state,” Walter Pickhardt, attorney for the church, said at the time. “Living Word did cooperate but the IRS didn’t follow correct procedures. It was an overbroad request.”

A judge ruled that the IRS did not follow the proper procedures in its investigation and the agency dropped its investigation.

In 2006, the church gained notoriety when Hammond took to the pulpit to endorse Rep. Michele Bachmann for her first election to Congress. Hammond’s backing prompted complaints to the IRS and raised eyebrows, since Hammond didn’t live in Bachmann’s district.

Hammond’s financial troubles come after years of financial growth for the church and for Hammond personally. The “prosperity gospel” Hammond preaches asserts that financial gain is a sign of God’s love. The church has several prayers about becoming debt-free.

“We, the body of Believers of Living Word Christian Center, declare we have been carved out for an end-time expression of El Shaddai, the God of abundance and no lack,” reads one such prayer on the church’s website. “We are taught how to live independent of this world system and how to have dominion over it, therefore, in Jesus’ name, we declare we are debt-free! The spirit of debt is destroyed over our lives and over this local church because of the anointing. We are the lender and not the borrower, the head and not the tail.”

Hammond isn’t the only prosperity preacher to have faced money troubles. As Christianity Today reporter Bobby Ross, Jr., notes, more than a few such figures are now struggling financially.

Pastor Mac Hammond of LWCC

Living Word Christian Center (LWCC), a Brooklyn Park megachurch, released a statement following the controversy over  statements made by Bradlee Dean, front man of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, Intl., Inc. In recent weeks, Dean has spoken in support of countries that imprison and execute gays and lesbians. LWCC acknowledged hosting the group at its church, but said it does not believe in “condemnation or judgment.”

LWCC sent the statement to ex-gay ministry Exodus International, of which LWCC is an affiliate.

Living Word Christian Center (LWCC) did host You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries on March 25, 2009 in our Senior High School Youth department. The speaker was Jacob MacAulay the chief operations manager of their ministry, his topic was on the influences of pop culture in our society. LWCC does not support financially or in any other manner, nor is an affiliate ministry of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries. Our faith community at LWCC believes it is the love of God who draws all men (people) to Him, not condemnation or judgment.

On his May 15 radio show, Dean said, “Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.” On his May 22 radio show he downplayed the rhetoric slightly, stating that sending gays and lesbians to prison is the right and moral thing to do.

These opinions — and GOP-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer’s close ties with the group — sparked a response from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Lori Saroya, head of the group’s Minnesota chapter, told the Minnesota Independent that CAIR-MN “strongly opposes any kind of violence or discrimination against any group,” and called on Minnesota Republicans to speak out against Dean’s statement.

“The YCR representative makes at least three outrageous and incorrect claims in the radio interview,” she stated in an email. “That ‘Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,’ that executing homosexuals is ‘moral,’ and that Muslims are a ‘foreign enemy.’ Statements like this show the level of ignorance and bigotry that exists in our country.”

“We urge the GOP to repudiate and distance themselves from such rhetoric and hate speech,” she added.

Living Word Christian Center is not without it’s share of political controversy. In 2006, Pastor Mac Hammond endorsed Rep. Michele Bachmann from the pulpit, which triggered a series of investigations including the church’s purchase of a stunt plane for the pastor.

Paul Schmelzer contributed to this report.

Image: Ben McLeod

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is urging the Internal Revenue Service to fix problems with its enforcement of laws against churches endorsing political candidates. In January, a Minnesota District Court judge ruled that the IRS did not have the proper procedures in place to investigate Living Word Christian Center, an investigation involving controversial church finances first reported by the Minnesota Independent in 2007.

“Given the pervasiveness of church politicking violations, as well as efforts by some organizations in recent years to encourage houses of worship to blatantly violate federal law,” the AU wrote to the IRS, “having a clear and valid enforcement regime is absolutely essential for the ongoing protection of religious liberty.”

Besides LWCC — whose pastor, Mac Hammond, endorsed Rep. Michele Bachmann from the pulpit in 2006 — another Minnesota church has been under investigation, but that probe was dropped this year due to enforcement problems.

Warroad Community Church pastor Gus Booth twice endorsed Sen. John McCain in 2008. Because the IRS did not have proper standing, the agency was forced to cease its investigation.

Americans United’s letter told the IRS that the ability to investigate churches for unlawful politicking is vital to the health of religion in the United States:

Americans United has long recognized that religion flourishes best when the wall between church and state is vigilantly maintained. Church politicking embroils houses of worship in divisive battles, pitting congregants against each other and their clergy.

The IRS limitation on partisan politicking is an important legal requirement that ensures that houses of worship, like all other non-profit organizations, do not embroil themselves in partisan disputes.

Image: Ben McLeod

The Internal Revenue Service’s investigations into alleged tax violations by two Minnesota-based churches, Living Word Christian Center (LWCC) and Warroad Community Church, have been thwarted by internal procedural problems.

These cases highlight the special tax-exempt status churches receive by law, but they also underscore problems at the IRS. In effect, the IRS has been unsuccessful in investigating allegations of tax violations by churches because years of conflicting congressional action have made it impossible for the IRS to follow its own rules.

And while the IRS has undertaken the potentially months-long process to reform its broken system, the religious right is seeking to exploit it by encouraging churches to flout the law and endorse candidates from the pulpit next month.

During the 2008 election, Warroad Community Church pastor Gus Booth, a Republican activist, apparently broke tax laws that prohibit electioneering by tax-exempt churches when he endorsed John McCain for president and trashed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit. Last month the IRS suspended its investigation into the church, citing “a pending issue regarding the procedure used to initiate the case.”

In a similar case, the Minnesota Independent (then the Minnesota Monitor) identified questionable accounting practices by the Brooklyn Park–based Living Word Christian Center in 2007, which eventually led to an IRS investigation. But in January of this year, a U.S. District Court judge in Minneapolis also rejected an IRS summons to Living Word Christian Center because of procedural errors.

In both cases conflicting congressional actions prevented the agency from following its own rules.

In 1984, Congress passed the Church Audit Procedures Act to make it harder for the IRS to investigate church abuse of tax law. Among its provisions: An IRS official making a case against a church must hold a rank “no lower than that of a principal Internal Revenue officer for an internal revenue region.”

But thanks to a 1998 act of Congress, the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act, internal revenue regions (and their principal officers) were abolished, and the IRS was divided into sections servicing different categories of taxpayers, including individuals, businesses, and tax-exempt organizations like churches.

This change directly benefited Living Word Christian Center: It won its case in January because the IRS official charged with investigating the allegations wasn’t legally authorized to do so. Similarly, with no one on staff to legally investigate Warroad Community Church, the IRS suspended its investigation.

Reforms proposed by the IRS, entered into the Federal Register in early August, would clear up the contradiction, making the agency’s Director of Exempt Organizations the primary authority for investigating possible violations of tax law by churches. But the process of adopting those changes will be lengthy, involving a public comment period and hearings.

In the meantime, a group of churches plans to violate the law while there’s no one at the IRS to investigate.

On Sunday Sept. 27, the Alliance Defense Fund, a Focus on the Family–affiliated legal group, is encouraging pastors to endorse candidates from the pulpit. This year will be the second year of ADF’s “Pulpit Initiative.” Last year 33 churches participated, including Warroad Community Church.

The ADF’s Eric Stanley said that the campaign “is really part of a long, sustained campaign” to get a court challenge to IRS laws governing electioneering.

“We feel very confident that when we do, it will not take long for a federal judge to strike down this unconstitutional restriction on churches’ rights.”

Rob Boston, communications director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, writes that the new IRS rules should give churches participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday a reason to pause.

“The fact that the IRS has issued these new rules is a sign that it wants to have a mechanism in place that will enable it to investigate churches that openly flout the law by endorsing or opposing candidates,” he wrote on the group’s blog. “Far from rolling over, it looks to me like the IRS is girding for battle. Churches that choose to follow the ADF down this misguided path can’t say they weren’t warned.”

Here, presented for the first time, is Bachmann’s complete six-minute speech from that night. Captured by Ken Avidor of Dump Bachmann — the king of the Bachmann documentarians in the blogosphere — it offers a remarkable portrait of the Minnesota congressional representative who has been thrust into the spotlight in the past week by her assertion that Barack Obama and numerous unnamed members of Congress were “anti-American.”

In a church setting, Bachmann is extremely candid about the right-religious basis of her politics and her political career.  A full transcript of her remarks is reproduced below; here are some highlights:

It’s the job of Christians to wage war on ‘radical Islam’ in God’s name: “We are sitting right now at a time in our history when we’re going to be dealing with some of the most important issues of our time. Number one being, which your pastor is going to be talking about in the next few weeks, radical Islam. How will our nation deal with this threat of radical Islam? There’s so much at stake, but we listen to the Lord and we decide we’re going to suit up, we’re going to sign up, we’re going to be hot for God, and we’re going to do what He is calling us to do! And we’re going to watch out and see what He is going to perform in our midst.”

God told Bachmann to get into politics, and later to run for Congress: “Twenty-two months ago, He called me to run for United States Congress. And my husband thought, you need to do this. This is a big deal to do something like this. So we set aside three days where we fasted and we prayed, and long about the afternoon of day two, we knew. We knew that we knew that we knew. This was it. And so we jumped in, and little did we know that out of 435 seats for Congress, this race would turn in to being one of the top three in the country.”

God wants you to be hot: “I’m 50 years old. I came to know Him when I was 16. For 34 years, I’ve been hot! And you want to be hot! Because when you are hot for Jesus Christ, there is nothing that is like that life! It is the most exciting life! When you are praying in the spirit, when you are meditating on his word, when you are fellowshipping with white-hot believers, He turns your life around. And it isn’t just for you. It’s for the world! He changes the world through hot people!”

Transcript
… So many of you share that love with me. You know, you see of all these video games that are out there now, and DVDs, and it’s all about virtual reality. You know, one thing that’s so great about being in Living Word is we know what real reality is. Real reality is the life in the spirit, and Christ Jesus. That’s what we experience every day. Who needs virtual reality when you’ve got real reality, when you’re in the spirit of God?

And that’s what I’m here to tell you about. It’s His sure calling. Pastor Mac has an awesome sermon, and I want to give testimony to the sermon you’ll be hearing today. Because he’ll start out talking to you about how God doesn’t want us to be lukewarm. Amen? He says be hot or cold. Can you imagine, he would tell the world to be cold before being lukewarm? Imagine that.

When He gave me His calling, when I received Jesus when I was 16, the one thing that I knew that I knew that I knew is the difference between not knowing Him, being cold and being hot. And you know, today if you watch TV, you’ll see young people on TV, and they’ll say “she’s hot.” Or they’ll say “he’s hot.” And what are they talking about? They’re talking about the outward, about how someone looks on the outside. What does God say when He looks at you, or when He looks at me? He wants to say: “She’s hot!” “He’s hot!” Because we are hot for Him! On the inside! Amen!?

I’ll tell you one thing, just from experience. I’m 50 years old. I came to know Him when I was 16. For 34 years, I’ve been hot! And you want to be hot! Because when you are hot for Jesus Christ, there is nothing that is like that life! It is the most exciting life! When you are praying in the spirit, when you are meditating on his word, when you are fellowshipping with white-hot believers, He turns your life around. And it isn’t just for you. It’s for the world! He changes the world through hot people! And He will continue to use you to change the world.

He’s done that for me. He will do it for you. I tell you what — the Lord has changed me just by allowing me to surrender to His will. I didn’t want to go to law school. I had no desire to go to law school. And He said to me one night in college, He said, Michele, if you will be steadfast and diligent, I will take you to law school. Oh, okay, Lord. All right.

And so I went to law school. The first Christian law school in the United States, Oral Roberts University down in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now Regent Law School. I went there. And the Lord brought me to my husband. My girlfriend and I were praying one night in college, and all of a sudden the Lord gave each one of us, as we were praying, the same vision — which is odd — at the same time. And the vision was of me getting married in a farm valley to a guy sitting here in the front row.

And I thought to myself, Oooh. I don’t even like this guy. What’s this about? And so, put that vision on the shelf. At the same time, the Lord gave him a vision. He was a farmboy. He was out fixing a fence on the farm, and the Lord gave him a vision of marrying me out in that same valley on the farm. And he thought, Oooh, I’m 22. I don’t want to get married. I don’t think I even like her. And so he put that vision on the shelf.

And so we decided we’d just obey God. And so we obeyed God and we honored Him in our relationship. And pretty soon some romantic things started happening. And then we got married. And now it’s been 28 years, and I think it might work out. What do you think?

He put a calling on our heart. He put a calling on Marcus’s heart to meet people’s needs. He has a Christian counseling clinic here in the Twin Cities. Bachmann and Associates Christian Counseling. That’s his calling, to meet people’s needs on an emotional level.

He’s put a call on my heart to be involved in the law. But a few years ago, he put a call on our heart to have me go into politics. Politics? Why would I — five kids, 23 foster kids, counseling clinic, I’ve got a law career. What is that all about? Well, we were faithful and we said okay and we jumped in. He’s used me in a few different ways.

Twenty-two months ago, He called me to run for United States Congress. And my husband thought, you need to do this. This is a big deal to do something like this. So we set aside three days where we fasted and we prayed, and long about the afternoon of day two, we knew. We knew that we knew that we knew. This was it. And so we jumped in, and little did we know that out of 435 seats for Congress, this race would turn in to being one of the top three in the country. And that how this race turns will probably determine what majority is in Congress this fall. [sic]

We are sitting right now at a time in our history when we’re going to be dealing with some of the most important issues of our time. Number one being, which your pastor is going to be talking about in the next few weeks, radical Islam. How will our nation deal with this threat of radical Islam? There’s so much at stake, but we listen to the Lord and we decide we’re going to suit up, we’re going to sign up, we’re going to be hot for God, and we’re going to do what He is calling us to do! And we’re going to watch out and see what He is going to perform in our midst.

And that’s what it’s all about when He makes our calling sure. It isn’t about us. It’s about Him. And it’s about freeing each one of us up to do His will for His glory so that He will be magnified! And that’s His calling. It’s sure. I commend to you to listen carefully to the truth of His word that He will bless you with as your pastor comes and speaks to you this morning.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to fellowship with each one of you today. Thank you.