Dear Allegheny East Family,
On January 20, President Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States, inheriting the worse national financial crisis in this nation’s history. Many of the nation’s top financiers saw signs that there was an irregularity in the way the stock market was fluctuating, but the great majority ignored the signs of financial calamity; that is, until it happened; until the bottom dropped out of the money barrel. Now millions upon millions are losing jobs, houses, cars, businesses and savings. The worse is yet to come.
I am compelled to pen you these words because I know many of you are worried. Many don’t know what to do; whether they can or will survive. They don’t know if they will be able to pay their mortgages, pay for health care, should the need arise; buy food or keep their children in Christian education.
I would like to be able to tell you that you will not have any problems with any of the above calamities, however, I can’t. There is nothing in Holy writ that will support my saying that. God does not make that promise. However, He does make certain irrefutable promises. In Exodus 15:26, He says to Israel, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments and keep all His statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Again, He makes the promise in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
The crisis we are in, as a nation, does not have to affect the people of God in the same sense as it affects others. When we lose a loved one we oft remember that Paul said, “ …ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” I Thess. 4:13. Do we lose loved ones? Yes! However, there is a bright promise that relates to our loss; the Second Coming and the resurrection. It is not automatic. You know that! Everyone who dies does not go to heaven. Only those who meet God’s criteria by living the accepted lifestyle will have that privilege. Turning our backs on God during the loss of a loved one does not help the situation. Only full trust in the divine promise of God will meet the criteria God has established for eternal life.
The present national crisis has to be handled that same way by the children of God. Does it mean you won’t lose your job or your home; your income; your health? Go back and review the history of Israel’s sojourn for 40 years in the wilderness and review God’s promise made to Israel, “If you will do that…I will do this. If you will pray and seek and turn, I will hear. If you will bring the entire tithe into the storehouse, I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing… for I am the Lord.”
This crisis calls for us as a people; as a conference; as a church to not panic, but to be faithful. We must agitate, agitate, and agitate God with our faithfulness. He is able.
In His Service
Charles L. Cheatham,
President