Congresswoman Michele Bachmann seems to think the guy on the street corner with the sign that reads “the end is near” might be on to something. The Minnesota congresswoman told Christian radio host Jan Markell “we are in God’s End Times” in an interview that aired this past weekend.
“President Obama waived a ban on arming terrorists in order to allow weapons to go to the Syrian opposition,” she said, according to an audio clip posted by Right Wing Watch. Bachmann seemed to be referring to a recent decision by the Obama administration to allow “non-lethal assistance” into Syria, which the White House specifically described as ”part of longstanding and ongoing efforts to provide life-saving chemical weapons-related assistance to people in need in Syria.”
“As of today, the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists,” Bachmann added. “Now what this says to me, as I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God’s End Times history.”
Bachmann, though, said we shouldn’t be too worried about that.
“Rather than seeing this as a negative, Jan, we need to rejoice, ‘Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand,’” she continued. “And so when we see up is down and right is called wrong, when this is happening, we were told this, that these days would be as the days of Noah. We are seeing that in our time.”
The host agreed, saying “We’re privileged to live [in these times].”
Bachmann isn’t the only American who believes recent events in Syria are a sign of the return of Jesus Christ. A poll taken by LifeWay Research in September found about one in three agreed with the statement, “I believe the battles in Syria are all part of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation,” while about half of those polled disagreed with the statement. The survey also found about one in four believed specifically that ”U.S. military intervention in Syria might lead to the Battle of Armageddon that’s spoken about in the Book of Revelation.”
Why does Syria matter? According to one interpretation, its geographical proximity to Israel is pointed to by some. One author who writes often about the End Times explained to the Christian Post that the “prophecies of Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49 are very important.” because they predict “utter destruction and judgment of the city of Damascus at some point in the End Times future.”
Bachmann has been known to make similar claims about Obama on Markell’s show in the past. Late last year she accused Obama of aiding ”Islamic jihad” and embracing “the worldview aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood,” on the program, and as recently as last month she joined Markell’s show to talk about Hillary Clinton’s possible presidential candidacy, saying “we must cry out to God” to stop her.
Markell is in fact a huge fan of Bachmann’s. She has said the congresswoman represents “all things righteous” and firmly supported her candidacy for president in 2011, saying that “If anyone is truly competent to hold the office of president or vice president of the United States–and particularly, I think starting out as vice president would be a little bit more suited at this time–it is Michele Bachmann,” according to Right Wing Watch.