Brownie, Cookie Dough, Reece's cup treats!

MMMM!

The three step process...

So, the recipe is easy, Cookie Dough of choice smooshed in the bottom of the muffin pan,  a Reese's Cup on top, and Brownie mix to cover.  Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or longer...a lot longer...or well, I think we messed up the first try. I was fun and I love to spend time with my little girl! She is getting too big too quick and I really treasure these times together! I stuck them back in after they had cooled a bit and I suspect that wont be a recipe for success. Oh well. No matter, it was still a lot of fun, and you can see, the milk was extra yummy and bubbly!

Bubbles!

You can never spend too much time with your kids. The demands of work and life never cease, but children grow, and change every moment and if you blink you miss it! Of course the Joys of our own children are eventually augmented by the Joys of Grandchildren. I suspect when they are near I will spoil them horribly!

The finished product

Thoughts on Romans 13, a logical walk through a Christian's responsibility in the USA during a General election for president.

First, voting is not a biblical concept for the most part. We are not voting for a religeous leader nor are we required to by the Scriptures since the Church already has one infallible leader in Jesus Christ as revealed in God's Holy and inerrant word and He will not subjugate His authority to any other regardless of who that may be.  We do not live in a theocracy as did the Israelites in the Old Testament, nor is our style of Government a direct extraction from Scripture. Our Government is heavily influenced by the Scriptures and I believe our constitution does a fantastic job of providing for the Biblical requirements of Roman's 13 for a Government.  We are not clamoring for a King nor installing a substitute for the Authority of God.

Lets get a few more things out of the way, every government ever established anywhere at any time past present and future is established by God.  Romans 13 outlines the Christian's responsibilities to his particular government and governing authorities wherever he may live. That being said, where he lives will determine how these guidelines apply specifically to him in response to the particular government he lives under. It is no sin for any Christian to seek to improve his circumstance under a particular government, nor to use whatever influence he may have to cause his government to become better.

For the United States citizen we are given a greater responsibility under Romans 13 than we are often willing to accept. Follow me carefully here. Our government is established as one that is of the people, by the people, and for the people. That means you and me if we are citizens. By virtue of the fact that we are US citizens, we are both subjects of the government under which we live and must obey its laws, and we are authorities within the structure of our government establishing each of us as instruments of good called by God to the office of citizen. Pause a moment and let's read and consider how God's word instructs you as a "governing authority":

Romans 13:1 "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."

Let your mind wrap around this for a moment. As a Governing authority (IE. citizen), you are called and established by God to be a minister of good, to condemn those who oppose the ordinance of God, to be a cause of fear for those who behave in an evil way, to give praise to those who do what is good, Avenge and bring wrath on practitioners of evil, to devote oneself to serving God, and to receive honor. This applies to any Christian capable of exercising his civic duty to vote, sit on a jury, or hold any office high or low in any government position in so much as it is within his power to do so and he is granted opportunity to act.

So how does this apply to our responsibility in a general election for president of the United States? First you must understand how things work. The Founding Fathers wisely established an electoral college requiring a minimum of 270 electoral votes for a candidate to win the office of President of the United States. It was not, as many assume, to establish a two party system. Any party can put up a candidate and many do. Rather it is to ensure that the candidate who wins is one who can effectively win over a majority of the states and thus govern effectively. In this election there are numerous candidates but only 2 who have a chance to reach 270 electoral votes. This does not mean the other candidates are worthless. Some may be far better, but they either aren't on enough states ballots to win the 270 votes, or their popularity is such that they won't be able to carry even one state.

As a Christian my overwhelming desire is to vote for a Christian candidate who agrees with my views on God, His word, and sound moral teaching.  This candidate does not exist even among 3rd parties as far as I can tell, and if he does he had no chance of reaching 270 votes. Folks, that is God's way of telling me I am not going to get what I want.

Now I believe in God's sovereignty and I am certain that no matter how I vote we will have the leader He establishes. This is a 100% guarantee, but I have been given a civic duty by God to cast my vote for a candidate who will most closely represent my values and beliefs. He is not a replacement for God nor a religious leader for our country, but a governing authority that will be charged and held responsible by God for how he governs.

In this cycle you may not like either leading candidate but we must deal with the facts. God has superintended the selection process through the primaries, determined the lead candidates, and approved the rules we must live by in this election. Here is the critical part, if you hold on to your favorite candidate just because he seems to you to be the better choice, or even more godly than the other two, you may feel better about yourself, but in reality you will simply undermine the candidate that is closest to your beliefs.

God has presented us with two candidates having very distinct points of view and each will lead the country in radically different ways. Each candidate falls into the category of lessor of evils including your favorite third party offering. I would point you to:

Romans 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”

Whether you like it or not, if you are to obey God and do your civic duty, you will have to vote for a sinner. We can trust God with our country and all we can do is seek the best possible outcome for ourselves and our children.  Please look closely at these two candidates and study their own words and records and choose wisely.