Dear Reader,
I couldn't sleep till 3:00 this morning. I stayed up too late. Chronic! Problem! But I get tense at night because of ... everything! And then I get wide awake even if I was exhausted earlier. It's like my body says, "Danger! Danger! Don't go to sleep!!" So annoying. I was so tired that I decided to try to go to sleep without taking any Xanax, even a half. I thought I would surely fall asleep but ... no!
When my alarm went off, I was soooo tired. I stayed awake, but stayed in bed reading up on what is going on in Mississippi over the Thad Cochran vote. I have no dog in this fight, and I don't know a thing about Chris McDaniels ... but I do know corruption when I see it, and it sure looks like it here. I also know "spin" when I see it. What has happened is that many people who,voted in the democrat primary also voted in the republican primary, which is illegal. Cochran is wanting the voter records checked to see how many illegal votes were cast. Cochran only won by 1% of the vote, so it's reasonable to check it. Mississippi law requires that voting records be made available to the public. But some counties, including the one in which I used to live, are refusing to do this. They are refusing to let the records be seen and are, at best, saying they will let COPIES of the records be viewed after they have removed birth dates, and that people will have to pay for,these copies. I may have this wrong, but I think one county alone is going to charge $1400 for a copy. In one county who did make the records public, an individual has been going through them checking for illegal votes. As of a fee days ago, they had found 800. Cochran won by 6000 votes. I don't know what the complete number of illegal votes for that county ultimately came to. Mississippi is considered to be the most corrupt state in the nation, and I think that's showing here.
But here are my thoughts, since you asked? Oh, didn't you? Well, you're going to get them anyway.
I believe there are two kingdoms in this world. Not two political parties. Two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world. By faith, you move from being a citizen of the kingdom of this world, and you become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is ruled by Jesus, the kingdom of this world is ruled by satan. I John 5:19 says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Philippians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven.
So, the whole earth is under the control of the evil one. It is his dominion until Christ's return. Before we are saved, we are members of this kingdom. We don't even notice it because it's everywhere. It's the air that we breathe, the ideas that we speak, the philosophies we hold to be true. It is only after salvation and becoming a citizen of the kingdom of heaven that we start seeing the world differently and noticing how "off" everything is. Then, when we interact with the world, we begin to notice unkindness, lack of love, injustice, greed, cruelty, up forgiveness, hostilities, corrupt hearts and minds and systems. We then have a choice, and I think both choices are probably valid and are made according to the individual gifting of people. We may withdraw from the world and develop insular societies. Or we may oppose the world by confronting the corruption and calling it by its true name - sin. Prophets and evangelists are the people most likely to enter into this arena.
And, in this arena, they function as terrorists. The world is under the control of the evil one, but they choose to interact with the world and confront it, challenging people to open their eyes and see the truth of what is going on, with the goal of seeing them renounce the world and enter the kingdom of heaven.
I believe this should be our ultimate goal. To persuade people to renounce the world and enter the kingdom. I think that Christian political activists are challenging a system of corruption. But systems don't get redeemed. Only individuals experience redemption. When you challenge a system, you are challenging the dominant control of the evil one, and you are going to fail. At best, you may make the kingdom of this earth a little bit more palatable. A little less,obvious, for,a,short period of time. But corruption is always going to be the point to which any system returns. It will always return to it's set point.
So, while the prophet in me is alarmed and angry at the blatant injustice going on in the Mississippi election, I think it is largely fruitless to go after the system and try to reform it. The only response that could be effective, in my estimation, is on a personal level. Who knows Thad Cochran personally and can challenge or rebuke him? Who knows Haley Barbour, who apparently bankrolled a lot of this, and can have a personal "come-to-Jesus" conversation with him? As individuals respond and repent, the system they control may change for the better, for a while. But there is no "repent" message to be given to a system. This it cannot respond, or repent, or be transformed. Only individuals are transformed into the image of Christ ... not political parties.
So, while I may appreciate the efforts of people trying to confront a system, I think they are spinning their wheels. Corruption is a given, and even if a person has a lifelong influence on a system, they will die and their influence will end and the system will become corrupt again, because corruption and evil is the set point for a system under the control of the evil one. I believe an individual's life is better spent advancing the kingdom of heaven rather than trying to beat back the kingdom of this world.
So, that's your "Deep Thoughts, with Lisa McDaniels" episode for the day! Hopefully you're old enough to catch the Saturday Night Live reference. If you don't watch SNL, then you obviously aren't cool, like me! :-)
So, non-eventful day. My daughter and I watched some more "Sherlock" today. She is loving it, I thought she would. Then her father and she traveled into Manhattan to see "Wicked." I didn't go because I don't touch things with any occult ANYTHING with a ten foot pole! You wouldn't either if you had had my childhood. And that's all I'm going to say about that! They had a great time together. But they ate at the Hard Rock Cafe! Of all the restaurants in New York City... why in the world would they eat there!?!
Our son needed me to send him some rent money. He is very discouraged right now. I told him I needed his bank info to send him some money, but he didn't send it to me. I had gone to the grocery store to so this, but wound up just buying a few groceries because I didn't hear back from him. Then I decided that I couldn't take my car being dirty, so I found a car wash in a nearby village. But I called my mother while I was driving there and made a wrong turn and nearly wound up in New Jersey!
My fitbit battery died so I didn't get my steps recorded today. Forgot all about charging it ... of course! I made a nice salad with the leftover chicken breast from last night's dinner and snacked on some potato chips, but not too excessively, I don't think. I had a gluten-free English muffin, dairy free yogurt, and some organic apple juice for a late breakfast. And ... four smallish chocolate-chip cookies. Gluten- and dairy-free, of course! And a banana. Am I the only one frustrated by having to cut open bananas now? What did they do, genetically modify them so you can't get into them??
Oh, and, did you notice that the NOAA changed their declaration that the summer of 2012 was the hottest summer ever and went back to saying that the summer of 1936 was the hottest? Turns out, they have been modifying their data and even making up temperatures from weather stations that were closed down years before to make it appear that America was getting hotter. (Didn't I just say something about corrupt systems??). Someone analyzed the data after coming upon a fluke. He at first thought it was just a math error, but when he went deeper, he found them actually changing and making up data! American has been on a cooling trend since 1936. July of 2012, however, WAS the hottest JULY ever. I believe it. Gardening that summer was a nightmare and I had a garden club coming to see my gardens and had a deadline to have them ready! It was MISERABLE!
I got one and a half large boxes unpacked,this evening and went through some of my table linens. Even gave some away!
I have to get this stuff carted off to Salvation Army to empty my dining room before the interior designer comes on Tuesday!
Well, that's it for me. I think my daughter and I will be going into Manhattan tomorrow to go to a museum. Should be fun!
Cheers!
Lisa
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