Author: Rev. Charles Pugh

Now that this semester is coming to a close and the end of the year (and some say end of the world—12-21) is at hand, it is time to get serious and consider where you are and be ready for what is next. The very day I am writing this—12-12-12 is enough to give us pause for reflection. Given that we all are also facing a major tax hike and a potentially devastating crisis that will impact every American with this looming fiscal cliff, we should also be praying and seriously thinking about how our lives can easily change. What should you be taking note of? Whether you are facing that need for cramming for exams and possibly literally needing those Cliff Notes (or rather Cliff’s Notes, after Cliff Hillegass, who started writing those summary study notes back in 1958), or thinking of that cliff of time we are headed toward, or even thinking of this perilous fiscal cliff that so many are talking about, you need to stop and take some notes—some cliff notes!

Have you ever been hiking? Have you ever been to the edge of a precipice or on a ledge by a cliff? It is a fascinating and even frightening place to be! With a great vertical drop, you can usually look down for hundreds of feet and imagine what would happen if you fell. You’d better not be afraid of heights when you are looking over a ledge like that! On the positive side, being up high like that on a solid rock gives you a great and even broader perspective. Looking over a cliff or even over the peak of a mountain lets you observe all of what is below and even beyond. The edge of a cliff should help give you a better perspective and understanding of what to take note of in how you are living.

Given that we in America are on this fiscal cliff, what should we take note of? We should remember that we got here because our leaders failed to make the tough decisions at the time and govern in a way to avoid this. We should remember that it often takes these decisive moments to spur people into action. The fact is that the government has spent way too much money (more than it has taken in) for some time. The National debt (on what is government figured for such to be limited) is now well over $16 trillion dollars (actual public debt being over $58 trillion and unfunded liabilities nearly $122 trillion!). You should take note that it was in a Congressional negotiation over raising the debt ceiling that a deal was struck to make 01-01-13 a deadline that we are now looking to as this fiscal cliff. The tough decisions that have not been made in the past will then be forcibly made by law so that certain ones will legally take effect automatically.

Dear friend, in these perilous times in which we are living (see 2 Timothy 3:1-7), we must keep a greater perspective! We must live as children of the light and of the day (see 1 Thessalonians 5:2-10). We must take special note of this cliff of time in which we live and learn to live and act the way our Creator has instructed us to live and act. Are you right with your Creator—The LORD JESUS CHRIST? Are you ready for whatever happens and ready to meet HIM?

So, in this time of the year when many students are cramming and using those “cliff notes” and as we note what may or may not happen in the world on this time cliff of 12-21-12 and as we in America face this looming fiscal cliff, take note of where you stand and stand up high with HIM!

Now that Halloween is behind us and we have endured an historic storm named Sandy, a serious question looms to be answered. Perhaps economic hardship and fears of impending collapse or even bankruptcy (see my last article, “Bankrupt!?”), setting the stage for a very important Presidential election, are enough to get your attention? Are any of these things frightening to you? Do you just go on with your own life basically ignoring all that happens or do these important events give you pause to reflect and think? If you were in the direct path of Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy, I imagine you would have to at least pay some attention, if you desired to protect your life and possessions! The question all these things should make us ponder is, “Are you becoming complacent or are you Scared Straight!?”

Isn’t it interesting how an impending danger can help you get things in order? Our tendency in life is to drift off course. We have an old nature that leads us away from what is right. We are fallen human beings. We tend to drift to the left or the right of the path we should be on. It often takes something happening to threaten you personally for you to pay more attention. It takes either personal effort or else real-life uncontrolled events to keep us or force us back on track, and help us stay scared straight!

Aren’t the events on the earth today enough to make you pause and think? Wars continue to rage all over the world. Terrorist acts impact innocent lives every day and even claim the lives of United States ambassadors and citizens, as recent news stories indicate. Record drought and heat with fires and then winds and floods certainly get your attention. Storms over the past couple of years have been historic in number and power and repeatedly leveled entire areas. This latest hurricane Sandy was enormous in size, stretching some 1,000 miles across! Sandy merged with two other systems with atmospheric conditions coming together to become an historic storm, devastating much of the Northeast with flooding rains and wind and even bringing over three feet of snow to some portions of West Virginia. Damage estimates range from an amazing 30-50 billion dollars! Far worse are the nearly 100 lives claimed in the United States so far, with another 69 reported lost in the Caribbean and Canada. Perhaps this storm is enough for many to be scared straight!

Friend, I do not know where you are in your life just now. I trust you are finding life exciting and even challenging and that you are seeking to learn and grow in all of life’s experiences and even life’s trials. I trust that you have a healthy fear of the Power that our Creator has to cause the wind to blow or a storm to build up in an unusual way with several atmospheric systems coming together (forces that men cannot control, but only observe and somewhat accurately predict). I trust that you are living and learning and that you are scared straight! HE is The ONE to be feared! HE is The ONE to help you keep your life in order. HE will have HIS way in the end and the sooner you are scared straight, the better off you will be! Consider Nahum 1:3:

“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

Do you know HIM? Jesus Christ is the way we can know GOD for HE is our Creator and is GOD The Son. HE loves you and died, was buried and rose again to pay the eternal penalty for your sin. Not knowing HIM and knowing the Justice your sin would bring in hell, should make you scared straight!

With the economy taking the focus among many as we draw closer to a very important Presidential election, a looming question comes to mind: Can America still recover? The National debt has soared to historic record levels. Congress has repeatedly raised the debt ceiling, while failing to curtail the spending, so the National debt subject to limit has grown to what is now well over 16 trillion dollars (the total debt is well over 58 trillion)! In order to stay in positions of power, politicians promise perks and privileges that just perpetuate the problems and keep many Americans spoiled and ignorant of the peril that we all face. Many experts have said that we have either gone too far or are at the precipace of falling off a debt cliff, from which we would never recover. Were it not for the fact that most of Europe and the rest of the world is in economic trouble, our status as a Country would already be lowered (beyond the decline in credit rating that has occurred). Dividing the National debt, each U.S. Citizen is currently responsible for at least $186,046.00. Are we on the verge of National bankruptcy? Are more on the verge of personal bankruptcy? Are we bankrupt in any other areas of our lives?

While unemployment figures have remained lower than the highs of recent years, the actual number of persons not working today is much greater. Bankruptcy filings did decline in 2011 and once again consumer confidence is slowly increasing, yet this uncontrolled government spending and lack of living within our means (many individuals living this way as well) will be the death or diminshment of our entire Country, which is bordering on bankruptcy! As I personally am understanding, there are situations where people and businesses must file for some kind of bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcy is not a good thing for anyone, though. It typically reveals poor budgeting and planning and a lack of personal discipline. Most often, economic banruptcy is an end to a long line of personal problems and even spiritual bankruptcy.

Far more important than your economic status is where you are personally and spiritually. In fact, when you get the core spiritual aspect of your life in order, the rest of your life will typically fall into place and keep you far from bankruptcy. When you get your life in tune with GOD through faith in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, you will certainly avoid the more consequential and eternal spiritual bankruptcy. You will learn to be content in your relationship with HIM and in whatever situation you find yourself in. You will learn to trust HIM to teach you and get you through all the trials of life. You will make better decisions with your money, too, and help avoid that economic bankruptcy that so many have been facing.

Friend, we do not know exactly where our Country is headed. We do not know if politicians will have the will and discipline to pull us back from this out of control government spending and imminent bankruptcy. The way the world is economically tied together so much today, it is not difficult to see how that our falling into bankruptcy would throw the world into an economic depression, much like that which the Bible discusses will be during the Great Tribulation. Things will get worse in that day, but they need not be worse for us today. Our Country does not need to go bankrupt and things do not need to be bankrupt for you personally. Even if you are forced into an economic bankruptcy, please do not let yourself become disqualified (see 1 Corinthians 9:27) and do not be spiritually bankrupt!

After a very eventful summer and now that school is in session for most again, I am writing today about a subject that we all should regularly, seriously think about. My own experiences over the past few months and what has become a commonly shared experience with so many of late is that of being Without POWER!

Were you impacted by the record breaking “Derecho” that raged through the Midwest and mid-Atlantic region just two months ago today? That was a series of very intense thunderstorms, fueled by record breaking heat, that raced over a swath of 700 miles in only 12 hours, all the way from northern Indiana to the mid- Atlantic coast. These storms contained straight line winds equal to hurricane strength and leveled many established trees and structures along their path. At least 13 people were killed (amazing that it wasn’t many more) and hundreds of millions of people in several states were without power for days and even weeks, including many businesses. Much was lost as tree limbs and whole trees blew over and around, damaging properties everywhere. The lack of power also led to the loss of much stored food. Many, including myself, had to throw away things that without power went bad, after being stored for years! Millions were directly impacted, but the ripples of impact of this were felt around this country and the world!! This event helped remind us to understand how dependent we all have become upon electrical power. Many lessons can be learned when you are without power!

Living in those powerless, dark nights with only the heavenly lights should have helped many gain perspective! Some 21 days after this event, there was a man out west who lost his perspective on life. On July 20th, a terrible massacre occurred at a midnight screening of the new film, The Dark Knight Rises. An incredible 70 people were injured, 12 being found without power that very night, in that Aurora, Colorado theater. This became the greatest mass shooting massacre in American history and was even referred to as “a Virginia Tech for movie theaters.” The shooter in custody, James Holmes, had previously met with at least three psychiatric professionals at the University of Colorado, which proved to still not give him the power needed to overcome his problems and social maladjustment. Certainly, time will reveal more about the problems in the system there, as I have often written about.

The main point I want to make here, drawing especially from events as mentioned over the past couple of months, is how dependent we are today upon power and what that means on various levels. When you are weak or sick in body, you are without the power or strength needed to function. When you die, there is no power left in your body. Power is also important on a mental and emotional level. Room here does not now allow further discussion there. More important than any power is the spiritual power at the core of our being and necessary for having power in every other area of our lives. It is not something gained by desire alone, nor by adherance to some religious expression. Power with GOD comes from faith in His Word and yieldedness to HIM. 2 Timothy 3:5 warns that in the last days there will be people “having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” Are you living in a way that is really without true POWER? I see much of this outward, shallow power being lived out today. 😟

Friend, you do not want to be without POWER! Your CREATOR has ALL POWER and you had best accept His Plan of Salvation through JESUS CHRIST!! JESUS Died, was Buried and Rose Again to save you from the penalty of your sins, that had left you without power (see Romans 5:6). Have you accepted JESUS CHRIST as your personal Savior? Are you living Without POWER!?!

It is a good thing that some things in life do not change! Some things are more certain. Despite the volatility of life and the lack of trust that you can really count on many others to fully keep their word, we do have a word that is more certain. We do have One we can depend on through any circumstance or storm in life. 😉 Recent record breaking heat followed by fierce storms with tornado force winds blew through several states this past Friday, impacting millions. Many are still without power, including myself, as I write this blog article away from my home. Now, as I am finally getting back to writing, after some interesting and even miraculous events in my own life and the lives of some of my friends, I wish to address in this article this subject that is even related to the 8th in my Top Ten Lessons To Learn (see my website for the list). As we seek to Unify Diversity (my 8th Lesson), we learn that there are some things that are always the same, but different!

There is so much that we all take for granted in life! As a society, there is so much that we are able to do because of a reality we can depend on. There is a predictability that enables science and technology to move forward. Elements and chemicals work in consistent ways. The stars and planets move in predictable patterns. The sun rises (so to speak) and sets consistently every day. We breathe air to live and get nutrients from the foods we eat to sustain our physical life. Our hearts beat to pump the life giving blood throughout our bodies. Though some do have physical difficulties and these naturally come through aging and some slight differences, there are some things that are still consistent and always the same!

In my book (see my website for how you can acquire a copy), I discuss the importance of having a unified field of knowledge through which we can learn and study to grow in knowledge and understanding. I speak of the importance of having this unity, yet still appreciating the diversity and differences that do exist in life. I speak of the true success of the University when this unified field of knowledge is understood. Wouldn’t life be pretty boring, if everything was always the same? How would we then ever learn or grow and change? Because there is a reality that does not change and a CREATOR GOD Who does not change and Who has revealed HIMSELF in a Book that does not change, we can have stable and productive lives. Because this GOD is a Tri-Unity there is diversity, and this diversity is manifest in the variety found throughout Creation.

Friend, evolution (as is often defined simply as change over time) has no unified field of knowledge through which we can really learn. Think about it…if we and all the creation is evolving and changing, then how can we really count on anything to further science and technology? The Universities in America were once more successful when they publicly acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Creator and source of all knowledge and wisdom. Check out the history and founding statements of our most prestigious Ivy League schools to see what they originally emphasized! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Though HE did something different in taking on human flesh, HE did not change in HIS Nature. HE is the ONE you can always trust and depend upon! Because of HIM, things will always be the same, but different! 😉