Author: Rev. Charles Pugh

Have you ever had something not work out like you thought?  Maybe there was even something you did that prevented a project from going forward.  Are there thoughts that you have had or things that you have done which you would rather others not know about?  Think of how they would be disappointed in you.  Think of how you would feel if they only knew!  It would be a shame if others knew; or would it?

It is human nature to want to please others.  Children are born with a desire to please their parents.  What child has at some point not felt the dread of shame after disappointing their mom or dad?  What child has not been caught doing something they knew that they should not have been doing only to feel the pangs of shame?  Then, children grow up.  They go off to college or enter the workforce and are exposed to all sorts of tolerated behavior.  They watch the movies and see the television shows that continually push the envelope of what society will tolerate.  As time goes along, more and more is not only tolerated; it is accepted.  The feelings of guilt and shame grow faint or are lost.  You don’t have to worry about pleasing others anymore; or do you?

When was the last time you recognized those feelings of shame?  An increasingly permissive society protects you from that!  Is this a good thing?  Today, psychologists will often say that it is.  You don’t need to be bothered with feelings of guilt.  That will just depress you.  You just need to be educated so that you can grow beyond that guilt and shame.  Does this sound familiar?  Do you see where our enlightened society has come?  Have you bought into this dangerous way of thinking?  This is one reason why tragedies like 04-16-07 can occur.

Shame is not a bad emotion.  It is a bad feeling, but GOD gave it to us to remind us that HE sees everything.  Some do misuse shame, but this does not mean it should be avoided.  Whether or not all those around you see or even care, GOD does see and He does care.  GOD knows everything that everyone in the world is thinking and doing at any given point of time.  Consider Psalm 94:9:

“He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?”

The LORD GOD sees and knows everything.  He understands what you are thinking before you think it.  He hears what you are saying before you say it.  Lamentations 3:22 reminds us of His Mercy:

“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.”

So, what happens in Vegas does NOT merely stay in Vegas.  It is all known by GOD and even being recorded (Revelation 20:12).  One day, each will give an account of his or her own self to GOD (Romans 14:12).  You need not worry about whether or not you please another, for you will not have to account for your neighbor (though you will have to account for your impact on your neighbor).

Friend, you may feel little to no shame when comparing yourself to others, but you will feel shame one day if you have not come to know GOD’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Those who do claim to know Christ had best be abiding in Him:

“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”  I John 2:28

What a shame to not acknowledge this Truth!

DEATH is the great equalizer.  No matter how intelligent or wealthy or powerful you may be, the time will come when you will have to face death.  We do not like to even talk about death because it is the end of life.  Where there is death, there is no movement; there is no life.  Death is separation from life.  The great reality is that some day we all will die.  The fact is that death is happening all around us every day.  I saw the evidence of it as I drove home yesterday, noting a long funeral procession.  By now, you have also likely heard that the influential and well known politician, Ted Kennedy has died (incidentally, exactly two months from a couple of other famous deaths I noted in my June 25, 2009 Blog).  In addition, the news came yesterday of another two deaths in this Virginia Tech community.  According to police, two Virginia Tech students were brutally murdered in an area of the Jefferson National Forest, not far from the campus.  We all would do well to pause and further consider death.  Just as importantly, we must further consider the life we are now living.  Failing to properly do so is nothing more than a DEATH Wish.

Do you wish to die?  Tragically, some do, though this is not normal.  Inherent within us is the desire to live.  Unfortunately, many fail to seriously think about the life they are living and are thus ill prepared for dying.  What, if anything, comes after death?  Does what we do in our life now have any impact on what we will face after death?  Most certainly, there is life after death.  We intuitively know this in the inner workings of our mind and soul.  The soul and spirit live on after the separation (death) from the body.  The Bible teaches this and even warns us to be certain that we are living our life so that we are prepared for what comes after death.

I do not wish for anyone to die, despite that false accusation leveled and even wrongly used against me in Court earlier this year.  I want people to learn the lessons of life so that they can better live now and most certainly be prepared for the life hereafter.  Everything I am writing on this website and in my upcoming book is about this.  My personal tragedy is also about helping people see how to live life and be prepared for death.  The deaths of 33 (See my Poem, tabbed above: “Learn to Prevail—32 to 33”) helped bring about my own tragedy, though the life of One has helped me prevail, despite all that I have or yet will face.

Friend, you cannot escape death and you cannot escape the realities of life.  As long as sin remains in this world, life will be full of troubles.  Tragically, my younger brother took the ultimate escape (see the “Battle of the Mind” tab above).  When you do not learn all the spiritual truths about life, you will seek various ways to escape from your troubles.  When you come to personally know the Creator of life, you can have a more abundant life than you ever imagined!  The devil is deceiving most today (even many professing Christians) into thinking that “a good time” is found simply in some human relationship, in a bar, over a beer, on “some beach” or in some abandonment to their sexual desires.  Please do not be deluded by his lies; Jesus said the devil is the father of them (John 8:44ff).

There is a death (separation) coming which is far worse than physical death.  It is called the second death (Revelation 20:6ff).  Only The Creator—Jesus Christ, Who became our Savior—has conquered death through His Bodily Resurrection.  He will one day finally conquer death with all its power (see 1 Corinthians 15:26ff).  Jesus Christ can save you from the power of death today.  He wants to give you His eternal life.  Apart from Him, your life is nothing more than a DEATH Wish.

I heard today about a troubling document that the U.S. Government VA (Department of Veteran’s Affairs) has been promoting—“Your Life, Your Choices.” This is a very important subject to think about and one that relates extensively to the current Health Care Debate as well as the freedoms that many of us see quickly eroding away. This news today follows an extended conversation I just had with a friend from work, where we even discussed these very ideas. In addition, the experience I have had on the college campuses over the years, along with my experience of tragedy within the mental health community, following the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, gives me a more unique perspective to address this very important issue.

Our society is struggling to find answers to the difficult questions we face today. Technology and medical advances give more options for controlling and comforting our lives. There are machines available today that can analyze more aspects of the inner workings of the human body and even artificially support or extend the life of the body. We have access to more medications and increasingly more medical procedures that help relieve or control our pain and suffering. Whether or not you have faced the personal questions of artificially supporting life, you have certainly benefited from the technological advances that improve the quality and comfort of our lives. This is true on so many levels with basic appliances or services (even like having electricity and clean water) that we often take for granted. The reason we as a society are struggling with these issues more today goes even deeper—it begins down at the spiritual level I have often addressed in my various blog articles.

All of the “life” issues must be understood in the context of our Creator GOD. There has been such a separation of GOD from the inner workings within government and many companies and businesses today. This is not the way America worked at its founding, nor the way that our government was established to operate. The founders warned how abandoning this would lead to our down fall. The Truth understood at the beginnings and in the founding statements of our most prestigious colleges and universities is far different from the secularized emphases today. Values have declined or lost their substantive power because we have isolated them to a small segment of our lives or made man the measure of them. Publicly, this is seen in the way many view religion as belonging only in the Church or privately as only a small portion of one’s life. Whether abortion, euthanasia or the worth and quality of life is in view, we must relate it all to GOD and what He has revealed.

Friend, GOD has given each of us life and we must value this life as coming from Him. We must also look to support life in general and the life of others in particular with whatever opportunities God gives us. The Bible clearly teaches this. God has given you a freedom of choice, yet your life must not be abandoned to only your own ideas or the ever changing ideas of men. Secularized psychology has so influenced our thinking and often replaced the Bible as an authoritative guide for human life. In fact, based on my own experience, many psychologists often view one as “lacking insight,” “mentally ill,” “psychotic” or even “delusional” if they are simply more vocal about daily living out their faith. I know this experientially. It is at the root of my own tragedy. Jesus said that HE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). He said that He came first to enable us to have spiritual life and such that it makes our entire life more abundant (John 10:10). In fact, the Christian knows that his or her life belongs to The Creator (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Government would do well to consider this further and the VA in particular should look to promote life and not lead people to question the worth of their own life based on being “in a wheelchair,” being a “severe financial burden” to family, or struggling with pain and suffering, as they do within this VA document. The freedoms of each of us are increasingly at risk when we buy into this limited and incomplete understanding to say: it is your life and your choice to live or die however you want.

I often marvel at the blindness and even foolishness of so many highly educated and intellectual people.  In the news today, I heard of a new hope that many scientists have “to help us establish contact in ten years with the unknown.”  The primary spokesman for SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), Dr. Seth Shostak, spoke of his work with the ATA (Allen Telescope Array) located in northern California.  Dr. Shostak is the senior Astronomer for SETI and a popular speaker in our society and on our college and university campuses.  He is a well educated, self professing skeptic who runs a radio show and has even authored a serious, yet humorous book on his search for alien life.  He said that in the end this is all basically “a numbers game.”  He noted that we now know of around a trillion planets in our galaxy and over a hundred billion other galaxies.  He mused, “If this is the only planet where anything interesting is happening, then you’ve got to say, ‘we’re special beyond imagining.’  That would be a real miracle.”  In today’s blog, I will speak to this subject and what so many understand as “BEYOND Belief.”

In a culture that does not like to retain GOD in their knowledge (see Romans 1:28ff), there is a hope and often even a more desperate search to find alien life.  Just ask a man like Carl Sagan about that.  You may also wish to review my 07-23-09 Blog, “SPACED OUT!”  Hollywood is fascinated with this subject of alien life and regularly explores this idea, even as noted through the current popular movie, District 9.  Alien intelligence seems reasonable to most people, yet most are blinded from even seeing the evidence all around them.  People search for something greater than their self and yet miss the fact that their Creator is actually longing for their attention.  They fail to fully consider the historical Person of Jesus Christ.  Many today are also confused or even deluded by the spectrum of religious options.  Often, people become skeptical of all faith or agnostic in their thinking. It is simply, “beyond belief.”  Practically, even those espousing some kind of faith live as Deists (c.f. my 01-13-09 Blog, “THEISM, A-theism and Deism”).  They often put more faith into this belief of finding some alien life in the great beyond.

Dear friend, GOD is not far from any one of us (see Acts 17:27).  HE has revealed Himself in the Creation that can be observed all around you.  We can learn so much from the plant and animal life that surrounds us.  You will be awed if you simply take more time to study the detailed workings within your own body.  GOD also confined Himself to a Body and even allowed the pinnacle of His attention in Creation to mock, bind, beat and crucify Himself.  The “real miracle” that people so often miss is that Jesus Christ became the substitutionary sacrifice for the penalty of your own sin against GOD.  HE did not die and then rise again for any other race of beings because there is no race of people other than the human race.  The angels are individually created beings.  The Scriptures clearly teach this and they are certainly not beyond believing.  It takes much more faith to believe in the many other ideas out there or that some alien life has or is yet evolving in the great observable regions beyond.

Not believing in the Biblical and historical Person of Jesus Christ is the ultimate tragedy, for it has not only temporal, but more importantly, eternal consequences.  You may want to even review my 04-12-09 Blog, “The Tragedy of NOT Believing.” Friend, there is a hell, just as sure as there is a heaven.  Jesus spoke more about the reality of hell than has any other religious leader.   Please contact me further if you want to know more about my own testimony of faith or wait for the documentation in the soon coming book detailing what is “beyond belief” for many.

Pencils, paper, rulers—all part of the staples J needed for starting back to school.  Parents and children know this well and college students do too, though their notebooks are more likely to be computers.  School is beginning again for millions around this Country.  This being an especially significant week of personal evaluation for me (both at work and for that court ordered process I am engaged in) and being a time of preparation for schooling and academic evaluation for so many, I am compelled to ask, “How are you Measuring UP?”  This is a great question for reflection and learning and one you had better think further about to help prevent tragedies in your own life, even ones with eternal consequences.

Everyone wants to measure up to some set standard.  Children look to please and be accepted by their parents (they have an internal obstacle there too, reflected in misbehavior).  As a child grows, he or she will likely participate in some sporting event or some academic contest.  Nearly everyone today has had some experience looking to measure up or even master some video game program.  Schools have ways to measure achievement and so do most jobs.  Unfortunately, many today are abandoning time tested measuring standards or even seeking to lower the standard so that all can appear equal.  Equality and sameness are different and that subject will require its own blog article.

In the third part of my own personal evaluation yesterday, I was asked to explain the similarity of certain things, even things opposite by definition.  I was evaluated on the basis of how I could manipulate blocks, recognize patterns, explain concepts, identify information, and remember and manipulate numbers.  I was even evaluated on how I perceived things in blotches of ink.  In the previous two meetings and battery of testing, I have been evaluated by my own answers to questions in interviews including an extensive inquiry into personal and family history and through several psychological assessment tests.  In my other forced evaluations since the VT Tragedy, I have learned that there is no consistent standard used by each organization and each individual evaluator.  That is both good and bad.

The fact is that each individual is a uniquely created person.  We are made by the same Creator, so there are similarities between us.  There are similarities between us and the animal world, but clearly an enormous distinction.  Animals and other living things operate within genetically programmed instinct.  People are made in the Image of GOD.  People have an ability to think, reason, and grow in their understanding and achievement far more than do animals and people can relate personally to their Creator.  This is possible through the Person of Jesus Christ.

Friend, how are you measuring up?  Are you measuring yourself UP?  Our standard of measurement cannot be the ever changing opinions of man.  Our standard MUST BE the unchanging character of our Holy Creator.  If you seek to only please others, you will always fail to please some.  Your life will be filled with turmoil.  If you seek to please GOD, you have only One standard to meet.  This too proves to be a problem, since None of us are perfect and none of us please GOD in everything.  There is a solution for this and even power available to perfectly please GOD in any given moment (though none of us can always do this all the time).  Applying this solution will help you achieve more in every area of life.  Contact me personally or read more on this website to learn more there.  Consider Galatians 3:22:

“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”