Why anyone would give a rat's ass what Michele Bachmann thinks about anything these days is a foul mystery. Unfortunately, there are many people in the U.S. who are as screwed up as is Ms. Bachmann. Steeped in ignorance and paganism, they tear the Bible to shreds as they attempt to give credence to their political religiosity.Most all of these people despise President Obama. These are the "birthers," the ones who call him a Muslim, a socialist, a Marxist, or worse. But all of that is merely to disguise their racism. They hate Obama because he is only half-Caucasian, or more importantly from their point of view, half-Black.
Bachmann's pronouncements become "news" because she is not alone. The United States, during the years that I've been alive, has become a nation of pious, pompous ignoramuses - people who vote for the totally unqualified, George W. Bush for example; people who think Mr. Trump would be a good president; people who ignore Ben Carson's inane nonsense; people who would vote for Christy, or Santorum, or Jeb Bush, or Mario, or any other of the creepy-crawlies who have lined up to seek the golden ring. There are millions of Bachmanns by other names!
Just recently, Bachmann did an interview on a Christian right-wing radio program. Bachmann has a history of warning that Obama's actions are going to bring about the "end times." If he plays a round of golf, takes a walk on the beach, or reads a book, Bachmann will find a reason (and a Biblical passage) to "prove" these actions are the catalyst for the "end times."
Ironically, scientists have recently concluded that there will, indeed, be an "end times." But it has nothing to do with pagan prophecy or deluded ex-Congresspersons, or Israel, or the U.S., or Russia, or Slovakia. Scientists have determined the universe is dying. It won't happen for eons, but the death throes have begun!
Bachmann and her minions, however, worry not about the universe for their world is encompassed by the small empty areas of their brains. As reported by Right Wing Watch, in this radio interview, Bachmann proclaimed that the Iran nuclear agreement is "proof" that we're living in the "end times." The vote by the United Nations Security Council was "the most important national security event of my lifetime" and a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:3 where the prophet sees the nations of the world uniting against Israel, says this moron.
She went on to say, proving again how dense she is, that God would use "heaven's armies," which includes "groups like AIPAC to defeat the deal in Congress and in doing so 'prove to the world His power and His strength.'"
If God's going to defeat the deal, then the "end times" must certainly be delayed or postponed. So we won't be living in the "end times." Consistency has never been one of Bachmann's strong suits.
It's all nonsense, of course. Bachmann is neither Jew nor Christian. Maybe she's Paulinian. Her religion is light years away from what Jesus taught.
Zechariah, along with Haggai and Malachi, constitute a triad - the last of Israel's prophets. The book of Zechariah derives in part from "the early years of the reign of Darius I (522-486 BCE)." It is concerned with "the restoration of community in the Persian period ... and legitimizes the rebuilding of the Temple." It emphasizes repentance and urges the people to follow God's will so they can "avoid the fate of their ancestors."
It looks forward to an "ideal future in which the remnant of Israel will grow and prosper, Jerusalem will take its proper place, the Temple will become the focal point of worship for the entire world, and the kingship of the Lord [Yahweh, not Jesus] will be recognized by all nations."
Zechariah is not about the "end times" or the "Rapture." It's about "future glory" for Zion. The prophet sees much turmoil, a "cosmic upheaval" even, which will result in a new Jerusalem.
But there's more. Many scholars are quite certain that originally, the book of Zechariah included only chapters 1-8, and that at a later time, the rest - chapters 9-14 - were added to give the book its current arrangement. Each of these two sections are by different authors and the latter chapters derive from the Hellenistic period
While Christians early on interpreted certain messianic passages as applying to their Christ, they did so wrongly and do so wrongly today. The writers of Zechariah knew not of Jesus or any other particular messianic figure. And while many in the rabbinic community felt these texts may have referred to a messianic time of the future -a time when the Lord (Yahweh) would rule and Jerusalem would be the center of the world - this messianic time was not thought to be, in any sense, the "end times" but the beginning of a new time!
Zechariah chapter 12 begins with a poem which is a prophetic "word of the Lord":
"The utterance of the Lord,
Who stretched out the skies
And made firm the earth,
And created man's breath within him:
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling for the peoples all around. Judah shall be caught up in the siege upon Jerusalem... [verse 3] when all the nations of the earth gather against her."
But this again has nothing to do with the "end times" and in fact, will be a joyous time, for the Lord says, "I will make Jerusalem a stone for all the peoples to lift; all who lift it shall injure themselves." There's more along those lines but the end result is that those who fight against Jerusalem will be "devoured" and "Jerusalem shall continue on its site, in Jerusalem."
None of this has anything whatsoever to do with current events, or the United States, or Iran, or Canada, or Turkey, or Iraq, or Syria, or Greece, or Obama, or the United Nations, or nuclear war or my cat, Cleopatra!
The UN Security Council vote does not fulfill "the prophecy of Zechariah."
God and "heaven's armies" (e.g. AIPAC) will not be used by God to defeat the Iran deal in Congress.
Ignorant flakes like Bachmann and all the other non-Christian con artists - Mike Huckabee, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Rick Perry, Jindal, Jeb, Santorum, etc. - are, well, full of crap! They massacre the Bible and especially the prophets for their own misguided and sick political ideologies.
You may safely ignore anything and everything they have to say.
