Author: Rev. Charles Pugh

By now, you may have heard the news coming today that there was another shooting—this time at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.  Being a relatively slow news day and given the location of this shooting, much attention is and will be given to this event.  Initial reports indicate there may be some religious motivation, just as was recently true in the shooting of the infamous abortion doctor in Kansas and at the Army Recruitment Center in Arkansas.  I will take this opportunity today to comment further about all of this, tie it to the horrific tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech and the many other modern day shootings, and even speak about the horror of the Holocaust itself that comes to attention in this….

Whether we like it or not, we must acknowledge that every random or even planned shooting has religious implications.  In fact, when you think about it, every war and mass killing that has occurred in our world is related to religious thinking.  This is true for today’s event and most certainly for the horrific history of the Holocaust.  Religion has a part in each because of who we are as human beings, because of the unseen things that do take place on a spiritual level and because of where history is headed.  Practically, it is important to properly consider all of this so that reaction and fear does not lead to limitations on the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and even the freedom of faith or religion itself.

My personal story indicates the dangers of reactionary thinking and lack of proper religious understanding.  My life has been directly and forever changed due to the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech.  Reaction in this community, the fear and improper understanding of religion in the mental health community and problems within my own religious community have led to an isolationist and even anti-religious mentality with some that has separated me from many friends and even to date from my own family.  This article and every thing I am writing on this website is coming from my own religious understanding and what I am learning through my own tragic experience.  My upcoming book will reveal more detail and further explain important lessons we all must learn and be reminded of so that we can truly prevail in life and help prevent further tragedies and even shootings, such as the one occurring today.

Jewish people have the unique heritage of being God’s chosen people.  If you hope to understand religious thinking and even how it all relates to these shootings and the constant wars in the world, you need to understand the history and even the future of the Jews.  The Bible (in particular the Old Testament) gives us this understanding.  When you come to learn about the promised hope for Jewish people yet to be realized and even the historic hatred of Jewish people because of their special relationship to the LORD, you will begin to realize why the horrors of the Holocaust occurred.  You will even come to understand where history is headed and why there will be even greater horrors that occur in a coming Tribulation time to bring the Jewish people to their special place of promised blessing.

You are welcome to contact me further for more information there or even see what I am learning through my own personal tragedy in all I am writing on this Website.  This is yet another opportunity for ALL people to reflect and consider their own relationship to God.  The LORD does not want us to take justice into our own hands, but does want us to understand that He will judge everything and everyone in righteousness and we had best be sure we are on His side and walking according to His Word.  Jesus Christ made our relationship with God possible and He will soon come again to judge the world and bring things into the place of peace and harmony that God has intended.

On this “D-Day” in world history, rather that discuss the important War of D-Day, I want to speak here about the WOR–D.  WORD!  WORD UP!  My WORD!  Keep your WORD.  God’s WORD!  The WORD!  A WORD by any number of expressions means so much!  It is such a basic 4 letter WORD that volumes have been written about it, especially in its Greek, philosophical, and biblical form—Logos.  In English, WORD is so foundational that it refers to any accepted combination of letters with meaning and can even mean various things itself depending on how it is expressed.  Regardless of how you understand WORD, it is indeed tragic when you fail to understand THE WORD and fail to keep your word.

Everyone appreciates someone they can count on, someone that will keep their word.  In a day and age when any number of forms of lying are justified and genuine commitment is difficult to find, being a person known to keep your word is even more important for your own success, your health, and whatever relationships you have with others.  If you have contact with others on any regular basis you are aware of how often people let you down by not even keeping their word to you (your response to this is also important, though I will not address that here).  A whole host of reasons may be given as to why a person fails to keep his or her word, yet very few seem legitimate.  You may, as I do, often hear people say, “Who can you really trust?”  Well, can people trust you to keep your word?  Can your boss?  Can your spouse?  Can your children?  Can your friends?  Can the LORD?

We all have expectations of others (and even ourselves) and are often disappointed when our expectations go unmet.  Sometimes the expectations are realistic and sometimes they are not.  Far worse that unmet expectations is the disappointment and disillusionment that comes when someone says they will do or will not do something and then they do not live up to what they said.  But, people are very busy today and may even have personal difficulties or be in economic hardship.  There is so much going on and the tendency is to jump from one thing to the next; often, people simply forget what they have said.  No mere human being will always live up to everything they say, yet we most often could at any given point.  When you find yourself too busy or complacent to consistently live up to what you say, then you had better look hard at how you live and what you need to do to change.

Keeping every word you say may seem trivial or “little” compared to all of the interaction you have with others, but, OH, how important it is (see my previous blog:  “The BIG, Middle and little”)!  If you are not faithful and dependable with the little things, then how can you be trusted with bigger things?  If you do not live up to everything you say, then you had best learn to only say what you will live up to.  Keeping your word, even in the small things you say, is a reflection of your character.

GOD lives up to what He says as is proven in history and documented in God’s Word—the Bible.  This is not always in the timing or way that we think, but He always keeps His Word!  In fact, your Creator, JESUS CHRIST is called “THE WORD” and is the One as God who became flesh and gave Himself for us (see John 1).  If you hope to be a person known for keeping your word, you need to have the help of the One Who has always kept His Word.  He has objectively given us His Word in written form as well.  We must read, study and use this historical and eternal Word as our guidebook for life!

D (the) Judgment Day is coming!  Jesus’ word in Matthew 12:36 is:

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

An important aspect of living that enables one to survive despite tragedy or during difficult times and that will even allow one to thrive is to properly understand the BIG, Middle and little.  Failure to grasp this will confuse you or even distract you from having a proper balance in life.  If you neglect any one of these three things, you will no doubt have more problems in your life, which will necessarily lead to tragedy.  In fact, the reason we all function as we do today is because of those who have gone before us and explored these three areas.  Read more if you dare to see whether you understand the BIG, Middle and little.

No doubt, you have taken a moment at some point in your life to consider the great expanse of the heavens, even with what your own eyes can observe.  Modern telescopes enable us to view the far reaches of the Universe and photo telescopes, such as the more famous Hubble Telescope, give us some fascinating pictures of the wonders in space.  The vastness of space is enough to keep any explorer endlessly occupied, even after the wonders of this world are somewhat investigated.  The BIG, or things that are much greater that we are, often occupies our thinking.

Then again, what about the little?  Whether you realize it or not, you are benefiting from the advances in technology today from discoveries of the little.  Microscopic research and discovery has enabled us to benefit from computer technology and various means of communication, such as the convenient and incredible features on the cell phones that we can carry in our pockets.  Likely, you even regularly benefit (maybe even today) from small waves (microwaves) of heat that help cook food that you eat   The discoveries of what is little in the areas of medicine and health enable us to understand more about how medicines work and even how our genes effect the way in which we live and function.  The little allows for surgeries that are not so life threatening and can even help correct tiny things that have gone wrong in your body.  Maybe you are interested in micro-biology or even in the fascinating possibilities with nanotechnology?  The little is indeed also quite important!

When you live by sight it is the BIG that most often gets your attention.  When you understand more about what is BIG, you begin to realize the BIG would not be possible where it not for what is little.  What is little is just as important as what is BIG, though it may not be as noticed or appreciated.  When considering the BIG or the little, you might say that you are operating in the middle.  This is where you have immediate control and decide how much to consider the BIG and the little.  I find it quite ironic that the tools enabling us to better understand what is BIG and what is little both had their origins around 400 years ago in the Dutch village of Middelburg.  😀

Do you know what you find regardless of how large you magnify things through a telescope or how small you understand little things through a microscope?  You find design and order.  You see the hand of the Creator.  You understand how transcendent this Creator is, yet how immanent He is to care for even the smallest of things we cannot naturally observe with our eyes.

Dear friend, do you know this GREAT CREATOR?  His name is JESUS CHRIST.  HE came into this world and died on that middle cross to pay for the penalty of your sin against a Holy God and to provide a fix that will eventually correct the effects of sin that freedom allowed to come into His Creation.   Please see the Gospel tab above or contact me with further questions.

GOD cares about the BIG, Middle and little.  So should we.

After observing a “moment of silence” at 3pm today, as requested by our American President (and for me it was a reflection and prayer to the LORD), I am now not remaining silent and am even still praying as I am writing these words that you now are reading.  We must NEVER FORGET!  Our human tendency is to just forget some things, while holding onto others.  As time passes, we may even come to change the things we think about or choose to remember.  We have this Memorial Day Holiday today, not simply as a vacation day from work or even a time to be with family, but to focus our memories on ways that others have sacrificed to enable us to enjoy freedoms that we so often take for granted.  What will you choose to remember?  Will you NEVER FORGET?

Science has revealed that our minds are capable of holding much more information that we could ever obtain in our current lifespan.  Usually, when we forget things, it is not because of some limitation in our mind or memory, but because we are simply choosing to focus or think on certain things and thus are dismissing other things as important for us to remember.  In fact, there are many things that our mind stores, but which we do not consciously remember until at some point later when our mind for whatever reason retrieves it and we come to think about it again.  Science only understands a little bit about how our brains function.  We do know that our memories are tied to our emotions.

Consider the things that are the most vivid memories for you.  Likely, they come from events you have considered important that are surrounding relationships in your life.  If you have ever been physically injured or experienced some tragic event, no doubt you will have a better memory of the particulars of that time.  Many today vividly remember details of where they were and what happened on 09-11-01 when terrorists attacked America.  After 04-16-07 and the VT Massacre, the Hokie Nation was stirred and many will never forget where they were and what they were doing then.  Why is it then, that as time passes, we tend to lose the strength of the memories that so impact each of us?

God has created us with an ability to learn and even adapt to new circumstances around us.  Adaptation is a principle seen in all living things.  Constraints from the environment or circumstances faced leads to an adaptation that allows for life to go on.  For us as humans, it is very important that we not forget what lessons we have learned along the way, or else we will not adapt as well to our changing environment, stunt our growth or even come to threaten our health and life.  Setting up reminders for ourselves allows for more informed and appropriate action and adaptation in the present.

Dear reader, please take this day as you are reading this to remember the sacrifices others have made which enable you to even have the freedom and function that you do today.  Remember the lessons God has taught you in life and even those He has taught others throughout history.  Choose to NEVER FORGET those lessons that you learn and even set up physical or emotional reminders for yourself.  Be sure that you remember the spiritual too, in particular the LORD GOD, and personally accept what Jesus Christ has done for you through His death, burial and Resurrection (see the Gospel tab above).  You may also wish to look at the Apostle Peter’s focus here and admonition to REMEMBER (2 Peter 1:12-15).

Never forget that your Creator, Jesus Christ, will be for you whatever you need.  I personally know this even through my ongoing tragedy, and you can know Him too if you choose!

Would you know if someone was trying to deceive you or even outright lie to you?  Can you tell when an eloquent speaking politician promises something whether or not they are going to live up to or follow through with what they say?  Do you believe something to be true just because it is written or maybe you learned about it at a College or University?  Are you ever deceived by what some authority or maybe even some family member tells you?  How can you know for sure whether something is real and true?  Could it be that you are being DELUDED?…

Each one of us has at some point trusted someone or something that was said, only to later learn that we were misled, if not outright deceived.  A brother or sister may trick you into believing something that really isn’t true.  A family member or professed friend may turn on you and fail to live up to what they have said.  Even a pastor may lead you to believe something that you later learn is not actually true.  When this repeatedly happens to someone, they will likely have difficulty fostering any healthy relationship.  With so much dishonesty out there today and even allegations of dishonesty, it becomes easy to slip into a sense of sarcasm about life or even skepticism.  If you are not very careful, you can even come to the place of deceiving or deluding yourself.

There is a reality and there are things that can be known as facts.  This is the way we all live if we have any function in this world, even if we try to philosophically deny it.  If you eat food, travel in any way or interact with any people, you know there is a reality.  You may wish to also review my 05-23-08 Blog:  “THINKING What?” for further thinking there.  There is a scientific method that enables us to test ideas and verify them through ongoing observation   When it comes to the reality of things that cannot be seen (and we do know that many things are real that cannot be physically seen), we do need some kind of way to verify what is actually true.  When it comes to reality, there is the physical reality and there is also a non-physical or spiritual reality.  From the reality of evil in the world, we know there is also deception and delusion.

Dear friend, the objective Word of God (the Bible) says that there is an enemy that we all have who seeks to delude us.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says that this enemy “blinds the mind.”  Just think of the best and most creative way you would be able to trick or deceive someone and multiply that by a being who has much more power, much more experience and even helpers to accomplish his deceptions.  Do you think that you have it all figured out and are just as much, if not more clever than the devil himself?  He wants to defeat you by blinding your mind to the spiritual reality.  He wants you to excuse your own behavior that your conscience even tells you is wrong and lead you to think that you have no sinful nature.  I John 1:8 says that when we promote our own goodness and even come to say we have no sinful nature we are deceiving ourselves.  The devil wants to confuse you and even has a spectrum of religious, “worldly” and even “good” choices for you to follow.  The Bible does give us an objective record of this spiritual reality and what righteousness really is.  We do not have this of our own, but need to trust in the Person of Jesus Christ and what He did to pay for our sins (see the Gospel tab above).

Please THINK with me here and be certain that you are not deluded!  There is a “strong delusion” coming and most everyone left in the world will fall for it (c.f. 2 Thessalonians 2).