The Honorable Michele Bachmann, former congresswoman and current dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University, is leaving for Israel on Friday with a small group to show solidarity with the people of Israel.

The day after Bachmann graduated from high school in 1974, she flew to Israel to live and work at Kibbutz Be’eri for the summer. She learned Sunday night that the kibbutz had kept an archive of news clippings throughout her decades-long political career. Sadly, all of that was burned on October 7.

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At the IFA 50th anniversary celebration in Washington, only a month after the Hamas attack in Israel, Bachmann shared three observations that occurred to her when she heard of the attack and that Kibbutz Be’eri had been targeted:

The first one is, I literally felt in my gut like a punch, and I knew that this attack was different from all the others. This wasn’t the same thing. The second sense that I had is that the Lord showed me a spirit has been unleashed upon the earth. That spirit is none other than Satan himself — he’s unleashed upon the earth in a new phase. And the third thing I sensed the Lord speaking to me is that the hinge of history has turned. That hinge would be, prophetically, that we’re seeing a turn in history.

She was able to visit that kibbutz last year to see the devastation and pray. On that trip she discovered that people she remembered were among those raped and murdered. She told CBN:

The hatred for Jews is so vitriolic. They would even burn a house down so they could watch a Jew jump out of a window so that they could shoot them. And the horror is that about 80% of the people who were killed here were tortured.

There were 90 murders in the kibbutz, and 289 houses there were burned or severely damaged.

Bachmann told IFA:

The nations will all be judged based upon one criterion, and one criterion only, and that criterion is this: How has the nation treated Zion? And the Scripture breaks it down from there, to say: Has the nation scattered the Jewish people from her Genesis 15:18 land? Have the nations tried to divide the land, the Genesis 15:18 land? And have the nations tried to cheapen or denigrate the Jewish way of life that God taught and instructed the Jewish people? Because again, Israel was meant to be a nation that was an example for all the other nations.

On this next trip, she and her group are planning to visit that kibbutz again and then travel north.

She said in an interview Monday: “I just pray that we do what we’re supposed to do when we’re there. I’m sure every one of us will be in prayer the whole time.”

When she was 16, she pondered what Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 by “pray without ceasing.” And now she says:

We’re not aware of making a decision to make ourselves breathe 24/7. Sometimes we do make ourselves breathe in certain ways, but it’s involuntary. And so that’s one thing I’ve asked the Lord, to speak to me through prayer, that He would pray through my spirit without ceasing, according to his Word.

In addition, says Bachmann, “We’re going to stand with Israel.”

This will be during the Muslim festival of Ramadan, and she says: “During Ramadan, that is heightened jihad, which means violence on the part of Muslims in Israel, and their leadership have called for violence … and so I would just ask the brothers and sisters to pray for our physical safety when we’re there.”

She went on:

“But also pray that we would hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, and that we would pray according to His Word for the peace of Jerusalem and for the Jewish people, so that this war would come to an end, and that the Jewish people could return to their homes, and that they could live in peace and safety.”

Here’s Bachmann’s speech at the IFA 50th Anniversary event:

Please post in the comments section your prayers for Bachmann’s trip and for Israel.

Rich Swingle is an actor who has performed in 39 nations across six continents, mostly in his own one-man plays, five of them presented Off-Broadway. He has also appeared in roughly 45 film projects. He and his bride, Joyce Swingle, another contributing writer for IFA, have collaborated with Rev. Timothy J. Mercaldo to create a “singing play” titled Songs of Revival: Hungry After God Himself. The Swingles live in New York City. Visit www.RichDrama.com for more information.