Service Recap: Elections Are Reflections

(From Sunday, 11/07/10, Apostle Ainsworth, The Rock of Greater Burlington)

Politics are the mirror, not the means, of change in society.  They're not where our hope lies.  So what does bring true change?

About a year ago, I (all personal stories are me, Jennifer) swallowed a huge pill, ate some serious humble pie, and learned one of the most valuable lessons I'll ever learn in life.  You can be right and wrong at the same time.  You can be factually correct but wrong in your attitude or approach.  And if you're partially wrong, that makes you just wrong:  a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  If you want to hold on tightly to your (perceived) rightness, as so many of us are wont to do, you'll end up as the man standing in the middle of a field, all alone, shouting, "I'm RIGHT!!"  Good for you, dude.

Back to politics.  In high school, politics was it for me.  I have always been philosophical and have always enjoyed a living, current relationship with God.  I thought that the political arena was the best platform for bringing change to people, for helping them know real freedom, truth, hope, and responsibility.  I was fascinated with how societies govern themselves and how they decide on laws, what's truth, what's moral.  I went to Boston University pursuing a degree in political science and a husband who would one day be president.  Seriously.

But I found a lot of striving and not much progress, a lot of facts but not much truth, a lot of activity but not much life (both in the church and politics).  I was annoyed, still hungry, still thirsty, dissatisfied, jaded.  Then I learned better.  I encountered the Kingdom of God, and it knocked me flat.  I encountered an apostle (which is the ministry gift of spiritual father, not some spooky weirdo in a robe, though there are surely weirdos in robes who call themselves apostles and confuse people, but I digress), and I realized that the Kingdom of God, of Yahweh (and not just heaven some day in the future), is the best government and means of change.  Everything else is the activities of man, a reflection of who we really are.  Suddenly, I knew where all the interests of my eager youth pointed and heard the call.  I would pour my life into the Kingdom of God.  Boy oh boy, does that ever bring perspective!

Politics can be a useful tool, but as Christians, Christ ones, believers, Kingdom people, we must know that our success lies first in the spirit realm and in hearing and obeying the voice of God.  Our hope will never lie in election results, and I cannot be moved by that system.  "The answer to grouchy people doing wrong things is not a bunch of grouchy people trying to do the right things in the wrong way" (Apostle Ainsworth).  Vicious cycle!  We do have some serious work to do and are certainly not just waiting to "fly away, oh glory."  Nor should we hole up and hide away somewhere by ourselves.  But there is a right way to fight.  The political systems of man are what we would call a "kingdom of this world," and we are forging ahead until "the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ" (Rev. 11:15).  So what now, then?

"The answer to grouchy people doing wrong things is not a bunch
of grouchy people trying to do the right things in the wrong way."

We fight our battles, but we do not fight our battles on their battleground.  We fight on ours.  Then we see the results reflected in theirs.  We're fighting to establish the Kingdom of God, to redeem the earth and the people in it, to bring the truth and hope and righteousness and living relationship with Yahweh, through Yahshua (or Jesus), and purpose to the hearts and lives of all.  What was a natural battle in the Old Testament is a spiritual battle in the New Testament and into today.  That will never happen through politics.  Now if you hear Him tell you to go into politics, do it!  And do it well.  Stay in His presence and remember what Kingdom you're of.

You see, political systems will try to get us fired up, forgetting who we are.  Do not be lured and lulled out of your place of safety and productivity into the place where you become embroiled in complaining, confusion, fear, despondence, anger, and dishonoring authority when the tides of fickle society ebb and flow, as reflected in elections.  Your place of safety and refuge and power is in the presence of God, in the spirit, where He will speak to you and lead you through strategic decisions in life that will shake and change the earth if you'll let Him.  Do not be lured out of your place of safety to where you're fighting them ineffectively on their battleground.  You will lose your focus.  You will lose your peace.  You will lose your hope.  You will lose.  Be careful what voices you permit to sway you.  I might agree with some of the basic political ideas of entertainers like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck (some, I said, not all!), but they are just that: entertainers.  They make money off of stirring us up and maximizing on the fears of people who don't know where their hope is, or good people who aren't sure how to make a difference.  They are fighting on the world's battleground and have become so much noise in an already noisy climate.  Shut out the noise if you must.  Hear God.  And move with power.

From Nuremberg Bible, 1483

Abner was lured out of safety, and he lost his life.  Abner killed Asahel out of necessity, only after trying to convince him to stop his pursuit.  So then Abner fled to Hebron, a city of refuge so that Asahel's avengers couldn't kill him (II Samuel 2).  Therein was his place of safety.  But alas, Asahel's brother Joab lured Abner out of Hebron "to talk."  I don't know how Joab convinced him, but as soon as Abner stepped outside the gates, out of safety and onto his enemy's battleground, Joab straight up killed him.  When David heard the news, he didn't say, "Oh, that tricky Joab is in trouble now!"  Nope.  He cried and lamented, "Died Abner like a fool.  Your hands were not bound, nor your feet chained.  As a man falls before wicked men, so you fell" (II Sam. 3:34).

So I say again!...Do not be lured by the world out of your place of safety to where you're fighting that fight on their battleground.  Do not fall, unchained, unbound, but foolish.  Guard your emotions so that they are ruled by Holy Spirit and the word of God.  Our political system is vicious, and it does not change the hearts and character of people.  It only reflects them. 

Your place of safety and refuge and power is
in the presence of God, in the spirit.

Therefore, whatever happens politically, at least in our country, gives a good indication of the state of the people.  Some people might say, "Where was God when this guy I don't like got elected!!"  I'll tell you this much, Yahweh wasn't sitting around wringing his hands, wondering what to do, nor was He sitting back laughing at your woes.  He is in charge of all things, working all together for our good, even when the "all" we give Him to work with is sometimes less than pretty.  He also works with the wills that He gave mankind in His wisdom, and "as He foreknew, He predestined" (Romans 8:29).  He often lets His judgment come by way of letting us have what we want (Adam and Eve anybody?).  You want righteousness?  He freely gives you His presence and the peaceable fruits of righteousness.  You want wickedness?  Have at it, and see what follows.  If the majority of a country wants to legalize wickedness, righteous people do not need to mourn and wail.  We need to focus on the Father and stay the course and be ready for the inevitable fallout.  God moves through His people.  Believe me, He is moving, but He wants a mature body to move with Him and do business on His authority.  Come on, somebody!!

We don't ignore what's going on around us.  We do take seriously our call to establish the Kingdom and not be ignorant of where our power lies.  When the fruits of bad behavior start to ripen, when people become more and more jaded with their government, their lifestyles, their they-don't-know-what, Kingdom people ought to then be established, strong, READY with the truth, and ready to collect by the word of God.  That is God's way:  He always works through the body of Christ, through His sons and daughters who've set themselves, like Yahshua did, to say what the Father is saying and to do what the Father is doing.  Collect the wealth of the wicked, collect the people whose very purpose for existence is a relationship with Yahweh though they may have never understood it, collect positions of authority being abdicated, and collect some more.  Let His word and presence qualify you and establish His character in you so that you are mature and ready!  In times of depression, in hard times, not everyone loses.  People who are prepared absolutely bank on it. 

He wants a mature body to move with Him

and do business on His authority.

Every system of man is Babylon, spiritually speaking, and Babylon always trades with the lives of men and breeds confusion.

"However, we are not part of Babylon!  We're sons of God!  We never relied upon them anyway.  We never put our hope in that system anyway.  We have not been living our lives hoping that they would bail us out anyway.  We're trusting in the confidence of Yahweh.  We're trusting Yahweh to be faithful!  So now we can find out who we really are.  We can find out if we're really sons of God.  If Yahweh, in His wisdom, allowed this state, [this nation], to get what it wants, which brings more confusion, heartache, and trouble, we should be busy positioning ourselves to collect!" (Apostle Ainsworth)

Live by the Holy Spirit inside you, live shrewdly according to His word, live a life that extravagantly worships and glorifies God by seeing circumspectly and moving precisely according to His word to you.  You are not without recourse.  And thereby don't fall prey to the siren song of man's systems that are "full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing" (Shakespeare's MacBeth).  Don't allow the loudness to draw you into the argument.  Don't mess up the truth you hold by being wrong in your approach.  Transcend it all by the spirit and build the only true kingdom to which people can run and be free and strengthened and made aware of their purpose by the very Creator of the universe and His abounding love. 

Rise up, sons of God!  Rise up, church!  Rise up to your purpose!  Rise up, rise up, rise up! 

Aunt Nimi's Apple Cinnamon Puffs, by Request

Her name is Naomi, but we call her Aunt Nimi.  I love her to the core.  She's of German descent and is a master in the kitchen.  I absolutely love German food:  give me sausage and sauerkraut, potato dumplings, and anything made from apples, and I'm a happy girl.  I owe this cultivated culinary crush to none other than my dearly loved Aunt Nimi.  The Apple Cinnamon Puffs are something she threw together one day, as is the case with most of her craftsmanship, and I hope you find it as delightful as I do.  I do think that the more love you put into a recipe absolutely impacts the final presentation, by the way.  In true Aunt Nimi fashion, put "Love" between the lines of this recipe and throw it in extravagantly, then you'll have it about right.

1 1/2 lb. tart apples (I always use Granny Smith) (about 4-5 medium-sized apples), peeled and sliced or cubed, whatever you prefer (She does sliced, but I cubed them the other day and loved the texture.)

Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Biscuits:
1 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour (I use white whole wheat; loved that texture, too.)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
2 tblsp. melted butter
2 tblsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Place apples in a greased, shallow 9x13 baking dish.  Boil the sugar and water about 5-7 minutes until it's more of a syrup.  Pour the syrup over the apples.
2.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a big mixing bowl.  Cut the shortening into the dry mixture with a pastry blender* or a fork until mixture looks like meal.  Stir in the milk to make a soft dough.
*(I cannot recommend highly enough a pastry blender.  You might not need it often, but it's perfect when you do and takes up little space.)
3.  Drop 12 spoonfuls of dough (all of it) on top of apples, making a dent in the top of each.  Mix the melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon, then drop spoonfuls of this mixture into dough indentations.

Ah, the waiting...

4.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 450 degrees F.  Serve warm.  Serve with cream or whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.  Serves 8-10.

There's just something about the texture of this recipe.  If you like biscuits, you'll love this.  Delectable.

Now, since I'm clearly in the cooking/baking mode, and since I have your attention along the food vein, and since I don't want to keep making food posts without saying something else of intelligence in between, I'm going for one more.  This is another dessert that will knock your socks off.  Gooey, chocolatey, caramel-y goodness awaits. 


Caramel Brownies (Don't let the simple name deceive you.  They will blow your mind.)

1 box German chocolate cake mix
1 16-oz. bag caramels, each piece peeled and ready to go
6 oz. of chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, broken into the size of bits that you prefer (I use a nut grinder, courtesy of Mama Joanie [that is, my mom JoAnne], and get them pretty small)
2/3 cup evaporated milk (6 oz. can) or half and half

My fantastic little helper!

1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine, softened

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  Mix cake mix, softened butter, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a bowl.  When mixed, stir in pecans.
3.  Cook 1/2 of the batter in a greased 13x9-inch pan for 6 minutes.
4.  While 1/2 the batter cooks, take another medium-size bowl and melt the caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk in the microwave for 2-4 minutes, stirring every minute. 
5.  When 1/2 batter is done cooking, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly on top, then pour the caramel mixture evenly on top of the chocolate chips.  With spoon or hands, add remaining batter on top--distributing globs evenly.  You can sprinkle chocolate toffee pieces on top, if you want, and it's awesome, FYI.
6.  Bake for about 20 minutes and check with a toothpick till done.

These are great for freezing.  And really, this is just one of those recipes:  another real crowd pleaser great for potlucks.  Give it a go, and be ready with spoon in hand when the oven timer goes off.  There's nothing quite like dipping in for that first warm and gooey bite!

Put Pumpkin in Your Chili (and Make this Cake)!

We're well into fall, and I know I'm not the only one spending more time in the kitchen, baking and making pots of stew.  Complex aromas floating through the house, radiant heat from a hot oven, and the first bite of spicy chili topped with stringy cheese and cool sour cream, or, the first bite of a rich apple cake that is so moist it hardly holds its shape...all fine reasons to relish the traditional pairing of fall and food.  If you're looking for some new foods to try this fall, might I offer a few tasty suggestions.

I went to my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com, and did a search for gingerbread waffles.  I often get an idea in my head of something that would be awesome to eat, then I search for it on allrecipes.com.  I can't remember one time that I didn't find a recipe for exactly the idea I dreamt up.  The gingerbread waffles had that perfect mix of bite and sweetness that comes from sugar, molasses, and ginger.  They were dense to chew and a deep brown color.  Topped with melty butter and warm maple syrup, the stack on the center of the table shrunk and shrunk until our bellies had sufficiently filled to the brim.  The batch was so big, we took some over to our neighbors, one of our favorite things to do with the leftovers of a particularly delectable dish.  Don't keep all that good stuff to yourself!  Here's the link to the recipe I used (I doubled it and used white whole wheat flour):  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gingerbread-Waffles-2/Detail.aspx.  I didn't have allspice, so I just looked it up online and made it from spices I had, and I didn't have cream of tartar, so I just used some baking powder in its place.  There are a few other similar recipes with slight variations, so if you decide to go for it, check all the options for what suits your family's tastes or ingredients you have on hand.

While searching for the waffle recipe, I saw another one highlighted on the home page.  The title caught my attention:  Pumpkin Turkey Chili.  Hmmm... I love pumpkin.  I love chili.  The combo enticed me.  This sounded right down my alley.  I looked over the ingredients, read the reviews, found that others had posted several recipes which I examined, then I gave it a go. 

I decided it was one of those dishes that had enough novelty that it ought to be shared.  It was delicious, it was healthy, it was easy, and it was satisfying.  Using typical chili ingredients and spices, it tasted like chili, but using turkey made it leaner than using beef.  Adding pumpkin thickened and darkened it up, and the taste was so subtle that no one would guess it was there without being told.  The texture was thick, the veggies added color and crunch, and the corn gave each bite a little pop.  I have enough ingredients to make another batch, and this time I'll leave out the corn, only because I'm not used to corn in my chili.  Some reviews said it was sort of bland, so I added one jalapeno, hoping it wouldn't be too hot for Levi, who does like spicy food, and I added some Lawry's seasoned salt.  Next time, I'll definitely use two jalapenoes, but I wouldn't change much else.  Give it a try!  It's fun to use seasonal ingredients in new and healthy ways.

In the spirit of fall food talk, I have to share one more recipe.  We went apple picking in October, a great northeastern tradition and big fun for kids and grown-ups alike.  We brought home a bag full of Macintosh apples, and I was sufficiently equipped to try many favorite dishes.  One was my Aunt Nimi's absolutely delectable Apple Cinnamon Puffs:  apple slices in a sugary syrup topped with homemade biscuit-type breading with butter, cinammon, and more sugar.  I cannot fully express how scrumptious this is.  Actually, that was a digression and was not the recipe I was going to mention.  Sorry!  If you do want this recipe, let me know. 



From Pillsbury's
"Easy Weeknight Meals"

The other apple recipe I made is awesome.  If you are looking for that great dessert to take to a pot luck, try this Glazed Fresh Apple Cake.  It is so easy.  It's almost wrong how easy it is.  It uses cake mix, and it's sure to be a crowd pleaser.  With about 5 apples, pudding, and cinnamon in the cake itself, it stands on its own pretty well.  But then you top it with a glaze of butter, brown sugar, and a touch of apple juice that all run down and into the warm cake, and it just melts in your mouth.  I used some of the Macintosh apples from apple picking, but I prefer it with Granny Smiths.  I get so many requests for this cake, usually from men.  It's from a Pillsbury cookbook, and as I cannot find it online, here's the recipe:

CAKE
3 cups finely chopped peeled apples (about 4-5 medium apples)
1 (1 lb. 2.25-oz.) pkg. moist yellow cake mix
1 (3.4-oz.) pkg. instant vanilla pudding and pie filling mix
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs

GLAZE
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cut up (yes, everyone, that is one whole stick!) 
1/4 cup apple juice

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Generously grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan (if you don't have one of these, just use what you have!).  In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients; beat at low speed until moistened.  Beat 2 minutes at high speed.  (I think the two minutes at high speed really matter.  They cause the pudding to thicken up a bit.)  Pour batter into greased and floured pan.
2.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40 - 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 15 minutes.
3.  In medium saucepan, while cake is cooling, combine all glaze ingredients.  Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil 1 minute.  Reserve 1/4 cup glaze; keep warm.
4. With cake still in pan, pour remaining glaze over warm cake between cake and edges of pan so glaze runs down sides of cake.  Let stand 15 minutes.
5. Invert cake onto serving plate; remove pan.  Slowly pour reserved 1/4 cup glaze over top of cake.  If desired, sprinkle cake with powdered sugar (I've never done this; seems like you can have too much of a good thing!).  Serve warm or cool.

If you eat the whole thing, you will gain 500 pounds and get fat.  If you eat just a slice or two, I believe you'll actually lose weight due to the energy you spend thinking about how amazingly delicious it is. 

Have fun and let me know how they turn out!

Are You the Turtle or the Hare?

Oftentimes, I'm the hare.  I hate to say it, so I just had to come out with it fast.  :)  You know the story.  The turtle and the hare race.  The hare is fast, speeding ahead, then taking a break, speeding ahead, then getting distracted, speeding ahead, then napping.  Meanwhile, the turtle is slow, steady, plodding along at a set pace, always moving forward, gaining ground.  He finally crosses the finish line and wins.  While the hare is napping, the turtle, by way of persistent, constant forward motion, beats him.  The moral of the story?  Slow and steady wins the race.

One of my favorite decorations for
several reasons, one being that he
prophesies this lesson to me!  Isn't
he fancy?  He's from Africa.  His name
is Shaka Danso (reliable king).

The turtle is synonymous with consistency, doing a little at a time, all the time, and staying on top of things.  He's not flashy.  He's not extreme.  He's steady.  Of the two, compared in this light, he's the mascot of the Kingdom.  The hare is synonymous with irresponsibility, petulance, and flights of fancy.  That might not be a perfect description of my own character, but here's the issue.  In certain aspects of life, I find myself putting a responsibility on the back burner, often unwittingly, until it screams loudly enough that I must attend to it in a frenzied all-out sprint, forcing everything else to the wayside. 

I don't ignore the laundry on purpose.  It's not that I hate doing it, either; I actually kind of like it.  But in my busy life, I feel certain that I just did it.  While I'm tending to everything else, the laundry piles grow at an incredibly rapid rate until one day, they're looming over me and nobody has anything to wear.  But I just did it, I promise!  This problem compounds as a family grows, mind you.  Confounding is the growth rate of an infant's pile of laundry.  Multiply this times all the responsibilities in a household, and you can see how the issue compounds.

What you do not govern will govern you.  This principle is true across the board and likes to situate its La-Z-Boy most permanently in your thoughts and emotions.  Don't govern them and see if they won't control you.  But if we do govern those, our actions tend to follow suit.  Did you know you can, and should, control your thoughts and feelings?  So in my effort to become more like the turtle, I had to train my mind.  I had to become proactive like the turtle, purposefully moving forward, rather than reactive like the hare, flippantly tending to what immediately caught my attention.

Yahweh's voice is not always a great thunderclap and a boom that miraculously rearranges things.  More often, in this living relationship, His voice is a normal one or even a whisper, giving appropriately practical direction.  His direction to me?  Make a housework schedule and stick to it.  Slow and steady.  Every day perform a task or two that may or may not be shouting at you and thereby...own it.  Govern it.  Handle it.  Could it be any more obvious?!  I know most of the world operates this way, but in this area, it wasn't obvious to me until it was.  I needed revelation.

"The laundry pile can't be allowed
to speak more loudly than my God."

Now sometimes it's good to be a good sprinter.  The hare has plenty of redeeming qualities, and we don't want the pendulum to swing too far in either direction.  But when you're a good sprinter, train for a marathon, as I've been doing, or reverse that for marathon runners.  Poor hare.  His real problem wasn't that he could sprint well.  His real problem came back to what I already addressed:  his thoughts, feelings, and character.  He didn't have his eye on the finish line, on the goal.  He had no vision, no purpose.  He had nothing worth pursuing other than his own whims, nothing that transcended his own little bubble of feelings.

 Alfred prophesies, too.
Is it a piano or a typewriter?
I say both.

Isn't it relieving to know that if there's an overwhelming area in your life, you can address it, own it, govern it, handle it?  How grateful I am for the Holy Spirit who patiently helps us do just that if we're willing to apply the truth He speaks.  And the point is not some self-help program.  (Yahweh's whole point is not to make you the very best you just so you can say, "Yea, I'm great!")  The point is to make us powerful sons of God who are not moved by anything other than His voice.   

So the laundry pile can't be allowed to speak more loudly than my God.  That's just crazy!  If I must attempt to emulate a turtle for a bit to ensure it, hand me my shell and let's get to it.

Are there any distracting voices in your life that are shouting too loudly for you to hear your own thoughts, let alone God's?  You can shut them up!  (Maybe in your case, he'll tell you to be the hare [minus the attitude]!  Isn't relationship better than arbitrary rules?)  Then all you have to do is get to it, which is when you'll really need His help!