Rick Hughes addresses the pressing question, “Have the lights gone out in America?” through a thought-provoking analysis of cosmic thinking versus biblical wisdom. The episode examines historical and scriptural parallels to today’s societal challenges, emphasizing the critical nature of spiritual enlightenment and the pitfalls of arrogance and ignorance. Listeners are encouraged to stand as guiding lights in their communities, demonstrating a life enriched by truth, compassion, and divine purpose.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. It’ll be a short time of motivation, inspiration, education, and of course we do it without any manipulation. You might notice we don’t try to sell anything. We’re not trying to raise support. We’re not asking you to give money. We’re just asking you to listen. Listen as I try to disseminate God’s plan for your life so that you can understand it. I’ve told you before, God gave you two ends, one of those ends you sit with and one of those ends you think with. And success in your life is going to depend on which one of those ends you use. So as they say in the world, it’s heads you win and tails you lose. You have a brain. You’re able to think. You’re able to comprehend. And my prayer is that you’ll listen to what I’m saying today, that it will make an impact in your life, and you’ll be able to respond and orient and adjust to the plan of God in your life. Many years ago, there was a song that came out called The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. I don’t know if you remember that or not. It was a Southern Gothic song about the murder of a fella and it depended on a guy named Brother. Actually, his sister was the one that did the killing, but he went to jail for it. Reba McEntire re-recorded the song, made it number one on the charts, but the famous words were, don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer. And one of the questions I want to ask you today, as you think about this, have the lights gone out in America? Have the lights gone out in America? Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, said in Matthew 5, 14 and 16, You are the light of the world. Speaking to his disciples, not just the 12, but to the ones that were following with him, the ones that were there assembled as he just got through with the Beatitudes and now he’s into the similitudes. And he tells them they’re the light of the world. He goes on to use an analogy saying that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. In other words, the lights are there. People will see it. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket. but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. So let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Well, is the light out in America? This passage in the similitudes is similar to the Beatitudes given to the followers to demonstrate the impact they would have on the world. The light shines, illuminates, gives perspective and direction. But unfortunately, not all Christians have their lights turned on. It’s like people driving at night with no lights. That light might be hidden under a bushel, the Lord Jesus Christ says, and if you’re out of fellowship, if you have unconfessed sin in your life, if you’re living into reversionism, your light does not attract anyone. Your light is not shining. And here’s the unfortunate thing, chaos loves darkness. Chaos does not like to be exposed to the light because light illuminates the deception. And what we have today is cosmic chaos in good old U.S. of A. What’s the cosmic system? You hear me use that word, cosmic chaos. What is the cosmic system? Well, it’s a system that Satan thrives in. It’s an environment of confusion known as darkness. and it promotes his agenda both individually and nationally. So let me give you a few points on what the cosmic system actually is before we go too much further. The cosmic system is Satan’s strategy as ruler of this world to control believers and unbelievers alike. It says policy for the rulership of this world. It’s called in the Bible evil. The cosmic system of Satan is actually a college and educational system, a classroom. for the indoctrination and the inculcation of Satan’s philosophy. And I see it like the tentacles of an octopus that extend out and grab all areas such as politics, religion, education, military, family. This cosmic indoctrination is called human, viewpoint, thinking, and is quite attractive to the uninformed and the disadvantaged ones because humanism, socialism, communism are all schools in this evil college designed to educate and promote antagonism towards anything related to God, especially to the grace of God. So in order for Satan to rule this planet, he must educate and he must establish his authority by promoting two factors. Both the cosmic system and the Christian way of living must be learned to function. You know that. You’ve heard me talk about that. The Bible says study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Well, the cosmic system has to be learned also. And many people learn it in the classroom of Satan. It’s an indoctrination. They have to learn it. Sometimes they learn it through politics. Sometimes they learn it in religion. Sometimes in education. But it’s there. So self-centered thinking related to arrogance and therefore divorce from reality of God’s plan. This is what Satan must do. He must promote self-centered thinking relating to arrogance, which is self-justification. and being divorced from the reality of God’s plan. And that’s exactly what Satan seeks to do. He also seeks to promote antagonism towards the word of God. You know, in the book of Nehemiah, they had a national day of repentance after the temple and the walls were rebuilt. And this is what Nehemiah said. They had come out of the Babylonian captivity and they had come back and rebuilt their walls and rebuilt their city. And Nehemiah said, they, our fathers, acted arrogantly because they became stubborn and they would not listen to your mandates. They refused to listen and they did not remember your wondrous deeds which you performed among them. Nehemiah 9, 11 through 15 talks about the wondrous deeds, all the things that God did while they wandered in the wilderness. They divided the Red Sea, let them cross so Pharaoh couldn’t kill them. He led them by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day over the tabernacle. He gave them bread and water to eat and sustain them. And he gave the law at Mount Sinai. And here’s something interesting. In verse 21 of Nehemiah 9, it says their clothes never wore out and their feet did not swell. Isn’t that interesting? One reason America is operating under the cosmic chaos that I’m speaking about is because the wisdom of God’s word has been silenced in the public arena. This deafening silence, crickets, crickets, you know, like, listen carefully, listen carefully about God being taught in a school. Crickets, don’t hear anything, do you? These crickets guarantee confusion and destruction of a client nation such as good old U.S. of A. Because we’ve forgotten God’s grace through two world wars and many national tragedies. But all we do is we kind of look at the gifts and forget who the giver was. Could this be why this nation seemed to be completely upside down with what I call bottom dwellers calling the shots in our current state of affairs? Chaos in the streets, chaos in the home. We cannot survive this much longer without a complete internal meltdown in this client nation. In the Bible, in the book of Proverbs, wisdom is like a lady. Wisdom speaks as a person to tell what will happen if we neglect God’s warning. Listen to Proverbs 1, 24 through 33. And this is the lady called Wisdom speaking. Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid any attention. And you neglected all of my counseling. You did not want any of my reproof. So I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock you when your dread comes, when your dread comes in like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then you will call on me, but I won’t answer you. Then they will seek me if they won’t find me because they hated knowledge. In other words, they enjoyed the cosmic system knowledge. That’s what they wanted. They wanted Satan’s cosmic system. They didn’t want the knowledge of the word of God. You did not choose to respect the Lord and you would not accept my counsel. You spurned all of my reproof. So for that reason, You will eat of the fruit of your own way and be satiated with your own devices. And then listen to this warning in verse 32. For the waywardness of the stupid will kill them, and the complacency of a fool will destroy him. But the one who listens to me shall live securely and be at ease from the dread of evil. What an appropriate warning for Client Nation USA Today. When God’s word is rejected and neglected, chaos rules and the day and darkness cover the land. Chaos rules the day and darkness covers the land. So those of us like yourself and myself, anyone who’s acquired any biblical wisdom and says anything, we’ve been demonized and marginalized by the cosmic thinkers who choose to reject establishment principles, who choose to reject divine viewpoint thinking. Here’s one, for example, the Freedom From Religious Foundation is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for atheists, agnostics, non-theists. It was formed in 1976 and promoted the separation of church and state and challenges the legitimacy of many federal and state programs that are faith-based it supports groups such as non-religious students and clergy who want to leave their faith and it’s real and they enter lawsuits every day against god public evangelism is all but shut down in the public arena and more crickets you can hear thus generations of young people never hear bible instruction never hear anything that’s alternative to the lifestyle promoted on social media. Thus, they only have one thing to turn to. They only have the cosmic rationale to determine what’s right and what’s wrong. How can they know if they haven’t heard? And how can they hear unless someone goes to tell? And how can someone tell unless they’re allowed to speak? Suppose that I lead a student to Christ in a private school or even in a public school. his conversion, what does that going to hurt? He accepts Christ. He has eternal life. He has a change of lifestyle. Now he’s no longer a bully. Now he’s no longer arrogant. Now he’s a honor road student. Now he begins to quit his line, begins to quit his drug use, begins to quit his, his immorality. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with leading people to Christ and seeing such a wonderful lifestyle change. I was in a school many years ago where there was a student who was just the most obnoxious student in the world. I mean, they wanted to get rid of him. They hated him. Puked up at a senior prom, took a swing at a police officer, cussed out the headmaster. I was able to lead that young man to Christ in a personal encounter. And I didn’t see him for several months after I left, but I got a letter from him. About six months later, I got a letter from him, and he said, do you remember me? I’m McKay, and I’m at Parris Island in the Marine Corps boot camp. Six months later, which is up to a year now, I came back to that school to speak again. It was the same time that that young man got out, graduated from boot camp, and came back home and visited the school in his uniform, and he was entirely different. His friends didn’t recognize him. He had accepted Christ. He had grown in God’s word. He had become establishment-oriented. What’s wrong with that? Why do we not want anyone to have an opportunity like that? I fear satanic opposition is cloaked in political decisions made for less than 10% of our population. Chaos in America comes from lack of biblical instruction, the biblical instruction that offers forgiveness and a new life in Christ. And satanic recruitment still goes on while any mention of God’s grace in Christ is shut down. Crickets, nothing heard. Chaos is here, my friend. It’s here in America, and I’ve got news for you. Much worse is coming. This lack of biblical wisdom in positions of leadership, such as parents or politician, leaves only one source of guidance, cosmic thinking. Think about it this way. Where do you form what’s true and not true? either from the Bible or from God’s Word or from the cosmic system, which is Satan’s college of indoctrination. What choice do they have? They only get one way to hear it. They can hear it from social media all day long, what’s right and what’s wrong, but not from the Bible. We don’t want them hearing from the Bible. Oh, no, don’t let them hear that. Why? Because Satan’s in control. We are governed by many fools, many fools in leadership positions that have no idea of what the divine institutions are. And these fools seek to lead and lead us discernment based on their own flawed views of humanism and socialism. It’s called cosmic thinking, human viewpoint. Imagine a tornado swirling around in your mind. It’s called a cosmic vortex. And imagine it pulling people into it and spinning them off and throwing them across the country or throwing them across the field. This is what happens when people get into the cosmic system. They get swallowed up in the cosmic vortex and their lives get displaced. this is why if we continue on the track we’re on we will not survive as a free nation much longer not much longer i promise you so why can i say that proverbs 12 15 tells you the way of the fool is right in his own eyes that’s arrogance that’s cosmic blindness from arrogant self-image The arrogant person has an unrealistic self-image. He has unrealistic expectations. He justifies why he’s right and the rest of the world is wrong. Can you imagine someone saying God is wrong, I’m right, I’m smarter than God, I know what’s best? Can you imagine politicians that won’t even seek to pray and look for answers in God’s word about what we should do in our nation today? There are at least several different ways in which the cosmic system influences people, especially unbelievers. Here’s one that’s kind of frightening. It’s called demon possession. Not for believers, oh no, no, but for unbelievers, yes. It’s defined as a demon invasion of the body of an unbeliever by one or even more demons. You see it in the Bible, it’s there. Because of the indwelling of the members of the Godhead, no demon can indwell you or me or any believer at all. But this demon possession cannot occur without the unbeliever’s consent. Even the unbeliever, the person who’s rejected Christ, the disadvantaged one, he has at least his volition to protect him. But under certain conditions, demons do enter the body of unbelievers. Then we have demon influence, and this is where Christians can get influenced and come under demon invasion of thinking by falling under cosmic influence. The number one two is organized religion, cosmic influence. And then the influence of the cosmic system itself. In John 2, 15 and 16, the word of God strictly says, stop loving the world. Stop loving the cosmos or anything related to the cosmos. This is a very radical mindset. It’s a very narrow approach to life because happiness is not found in the details of life. It’s not found in circumstances. It’s not found in people. Getting involved in the cosmic system leads to living in the darkness and being out of fellowship, which we call temporal death if you’re a Christian. No humility, no reception, no retention of the word of God. That’s what happens when you’re in the cosmic system. The cosmic lie is seen in Jeremiah 7, 8. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Social media is full of this today. You can achieve your dreams. That’s a cosmic misleading. That’s all you hear people talk about. Dream your dream, kid. Dream your dream, and you can live your dream. You can achieve your dreams. Listen, God’s plan for you is so much greater than what you could dream or even come up with in your mind. You cannot even believe what God would do for you if you would learn his word and apply it into your life. Greater than any dream you ever believed in. Because happiness is not found in people. Happiness is not found in circumstances. Jesus Christ said, happiness belongs to those people who hear my Father’s word and keep it. But negative volition, saying no to Bible instruction, being distractions from the details of life, that winds up luring believers, even Christians, into cosmic thinking. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you’re chasing the details of life, You’re thinking that your happiness is based on how much money you make or who you marry or where you live or you have no desire to learn, study, and apply God’s word into your life. Oh, yes, you have a Bible. I didn’t say you didn’t. And occasionally you go to church. Okay, that’s great, but you don’t hear anything because you’re thinking about where you’re going for lunch. You certainly don’t apply it if you did hear it. And so you live under the cosmic lie. Any inventory of the word of God has been forgotten, and you have now allowed yourself to be a tool of Satan to influence other people. And I can assure you, Satan gets a big laugh out of you in your Christian life. Our Lord warned his disciples about the influence of this cosmic thinking in John 16, one through four. Here’s what he said, these things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. What’s he talking about when he said these things? Well, in John 15, 18, he said, if the world hates you, keep in mind that they hated me first. And if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own, the cosmic system. As it is, the Lord said, you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world. that is why the world hates you remember what i told you a servant is not greater than his master and if they persecuted me they will persecute you as well that if they obeyed my teaching they will obey yours as well but they will treat you this way because of my name for they do not know the one that sent me our lord knew the intense pressure these disciples were going to face once he departed And these words of warning were to prepare them for the attack of the cosmic system and what was coming. The cosmic system is not your friend. Make no mistake about it. You face the same opposition from the cosmic designer. Thus, you have been warned in the Bible in Ephesians 6, 11 through 17 to suit up. Put on the armor of God so you can stand against the strategy of Satan. The devil knows you and he has a strategy to defeat you. He’s able to discredit you. He’s able to discern what is your weaknesses. If you don’t suit up, if you don’t learn that armor of God, we’ve taught on that on this radio show. If you haven’t heard it, let me know, and we’ll send you the series on the armor of God. but you must suit up because it’s through distractions and discouragement from the cosmic system that you could be neutralized as a representative of the Lord. Unfortunately, maybe you already have. Cosmic chaos you face in the coming years is designed to intimidate you, designed to humiliate you, until you fall victim to the arena of contention, until you’re set aside as a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the Lord said the cosmic system’s going to hate you, and that’s intimidation to quieten you and your impact for Christ. Have you been intimidated because you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been quietened because of your faith? You’re not here to go out and preach to people and tell them, straighten up, fly right, or you’re going to hell because you smoke, because you drink, because you did this, because you did that. You’re here as a light to be attractive to the unbeliever, to let the unbeliever see what your life is like, a life of contentment, a life of love, a life of prosperity, a life of hope, a life of forgiveness, and to be attracted to that. Bugs are attracted to light. Whenever I’m on my back porch with the light on, bugs come from everywhere. And if you are the light the Lord is speaking of, you will be attractive to individuals that are lost. But the Bible said they were going to be outcast. The Bible said those disciples would be persecuted. In John 16, 2, he told them they were going to be cast out. In John 16, 2, he told them the world would seek to eliminate them by death, and that’s the religious crowd he’s speaking about. Notice he predicted it would happen and they were to remember that he forewarned them. He did not tell them these things earlier because he was still with them in John 16, 4. So he didn’t tell them that yet. But nothing’s changed today except the deceiver, aka the devil, has more tools to use against you. Social media, mass entertainment, 24-7 communication, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Even that cell phone you have in your back pocket, in your purse, is a tool to educate you in the way of thinking of the cosmic system. Satan has a target rich environment today. Millions of individuals in this country are completely oblivious to God’s grace of forgiveness because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. They’re oblivious to the whole thing. Not only are they being withheld information on forgiveness of sin, but they’re completely unaware of the unique spiritual life available to them through the filling of the Holy Spirit. and by means of the dynamics of the word of God available to them. So it’s sad to see. It’s sad to see desperate people seeking happiness, doing despicable things that only bring death and destruction in the most unpleasant way. And all the while the enemy laughs. He laughs at it and abuses those who have no resources for a life of contentment and a life of capacity for love. It’s a shame. It really is. It’s a shame. What’s the solution for these misguided souls in these times of confusion and chaos? This is where you and I come in. See, we are God’s ambassadors with his message of love and forgiveness, and there will be a price to be paid for that. If you carry that message forth, it’s going to cost you. Matthew 9, and Jesus went about in all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep, having no shepherd. And then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into this harvest. Some plant seeds, some harvest the seeds. But in this chaotic climate of our current days of chaos and conflict, you are the individual tasked with this job. Therefore, Matthew 10 says, freely you’ve received, freely you must give. Notice the Lord Jesus Christ went to them before they ever came to him because he was moved with compassion. It was empathy towards those that were deceived, deserted by organized religion, and he was moved in his soul due to their lost condition. They were deceived by organized religion and distraught over circumstances in life and they were faint, the Bible said. They were weary, the Bible says, scattered abroad like sheep without a shepherd. No direction in their life and in danger of being captured or even destroyed. Our Lord considered these as worth saving. They were his people who had no hope and some that no doubt had been cast out of the local synagogues due to sinful acts. But there is nothing worse than a soul in torment when no one to help them, no one to guide them, no one to give them direction or answers. And that’s where you come in the picture. I hope you’re listening. You must be the light. You must be the person who stands up and represents Christ to your community. You must understand this is a cosmic system, chaos going on, there’s a war going on, and Satan is seeking to win it by educating his followers. And anyone who doesn’t understand the will of God, the word of God, they get sucked into the cosmic vortex on a daily basis. There’s so much I can offer you, so much information I can give you. If you want to learn it, write to us. We have a new book out on Christian problem solving. It’s free. We have other books that are available, but you have to learn. You have to come to understand how God’s plan works, what the process is. Please, get in touch with us. Let us give you that information and encourage you in your walk for Christ. We’ll come back next week, same time, same place, same station. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we step out on faith to bring these shows to you. I appreciate you listening, and I thank you for your time. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
