The Root of the World's Troubles.

[Amisk Dolcy]

"The root of all this trouble in the world is moral and spiritual. Economic and political methods are very important, but if the hearts of men were right and their attitude to each other in harmony with the spirit of Christ, they could find ways of solving economic and political problems. If this is true, the only hope of salvation for the world lies with the renewal of spiritual life and moral power in the lives of men. As Christians we believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that alone, if effectively applied, can save society. This surely constitutes an inescapable challenge to the Christian church. Her responsibility in this tragic hour is simply tremendous."
Preached by Rev. John Coburn, DD in the Carlton Street Church, Toronto June 15th, 1947.
I Kept My Power Dry <> Ryerson Publishers.

 

[Emmy]

Dear Amisk Dolcy. We live in an imperfect world and are surrounded by many troubles. How can we possibly minimise them, or get rid of them? We can only try. A Christian`s great weapon is LOVE, with love we can overcome all enmity, and wrong behaviour. God wants our love, freely given and NO conditions tagged on. HOW? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: 35-40:
" The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: " Love thy neighbour as thyself." Then Jesus points out this great truth: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." This is not easy to do, but God wants it from us. God is Love, and God made us all in His image. We are all capable of Loving God with all our beings, and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves; i.e. all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends.
In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " ask and ye shall receive." Then we thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. God will see our sincere efforts, and God will Bless us. People around us will treat us the same as we treat people, and Love is very catching. We also PRAY, and trust God to answer our sincere PRAYERS. God will be on our side, and with God besides us, what can stop us?
The Bible tells us to " Repent," and to be " Born Again." Jesus will help us to
change our selfishness, into Loving God and loving our neighbour. The root of the World`s Troubles is enormous, but our swords of Love are strong enough to cause much damage. Let us start fighting and with the Help of our Saviour Jesus Christ, kill off all roots of the World`s Troubles.
I say this with love, Amisk Dolcy. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Amisk Dolcy]

Thank you for your well worded comments.

Christ is the answer to the World's problems and it is our duty to preach His message both in word and deed.

Looking forward to hear from you again on the forum.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Agreed wholeheartedly!

 

[BryanW92]

and it is our duty to preach His message both in word and deed.

Evangelizing on CF is easy. Preaching from a pulpit is easy. The hardest thing about fulfilling that duty is preaching the message to those who do not know Christ and to those who do not come willingly into "Christian places". Please tell us how you fulfill that duty to the unchurched and unsaved.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Well, I'm talking to a couple of folks who are not churched right now. They seem receptive to The Lord and hopefully will give him a try soon.

 

[Amisk Dolcy]

What you say is good, and your question is the most difficult to answer.
First of all, one needs to make sure that we have a right relationship with the Lord. That is paramount!
Secondly, we need to be sure that we live up to what the we profess to believe, by the language we use, and that the type and places of entertainment we take part in is Christ honouring, that our business dealings are above board. Our life should set an example. For we are being watched by everybody whom we rub shoulders with in a 24 hour period, even if they don&#8217;t know about our relationship with Christ.
As you say it is the most difficult part of our testimony. Often we don't get an opportunity to sit down and talk individually about the things of the Lord but we should never forget that they are watching our walk and listening to our talk. On these things they are judging the gospel we claim to believe.
As some one has correctly put it, "we are judge by our walk and our talk, long before we get the opportunity to discuss the Biblical road to Christ."

"It is easier to follow Christ with words, harder with actions, harder yet with attitude." <> Woman on Death Row <> Velma Barfield<> converted to Christ <> Executed November 2nd 1984 for murders she had committed in the 1970&#8217;s prior to her conversion to Christ.

 

[BryanW92]

Often we don't get an opportunity to sit down and talk individually about the things of the Lord but we should never forget that they are watching our walk and listening to our talk. On these things they are judging the gospel we claim to believe.

We often hear what we "should" do. One overused phrase is "You may be the only bible someone will ever read."

In your OP, you said that the world needs to change. Well, as the old bumper sticker says, "Think Globally. Act Locally". You can't change the world. You can't even count on God to change the world since he gave us the free will to refuse to change.

So, that leaves change up to each of us. We all have our little circle of influence to change a small part of the world. What do you, Amisk Dolcy, do to actively change the world? Not just the passive "be a light to the world" or actively evangelizing to the faithful on CF or preaching to your own congregation, but what is your role in bringing God's Kingdom to those who aren't part of it yet?

 

[GraceSeeker]

I believe that while some might want to look for the root of the world's troubles, I'm more concerned with what's behind the world's troubles. And when we make that small change in wording, we can go from pointing figures at problems to pointing them at solutions to problems. In my opinion the root of the world's problems is as simple as sin and focusing on one's self in all the various forms that can take. Fortunately there is something even bigger than me and my sin that is behind the world's troubles. That something bigger is not just a force, it is a person, and that person has a name -- Jesus (aka, Emmanuel, the God who is with us).


Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary&#8217;s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God&#8217;s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God&#8217;s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.


Perhaps a more modern way of expressing that same concept comes from another musician, Bono....Bono on the difference between Grace and Karma.

 

[GraceSeeker]

And, please, allow me to also add this....

“Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.”
&#8213; Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

 

[BryanW92]

And, please, allow me to also add this....

“Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.”
&#8213; Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

Is he talking about Prevenient Grace in that last sentence?