Expanded thoughts about the solution to our country's problems
A day after the school shooting in Florida I shared a few thoughts in another thread about what we need to do to turn our country around. A day or so later I began to expand the piece I had written and then submitted it in the form of a letter to the editor of our local weekly newspaper.
Here is that letter. Please copy, paste and share if you feel led to do so.
Dear Editor,
As we look around at today's America we are greatly disturbed by what we see. Murders in our schools, senseless acts of violence in every community, addictions to drugs, alcohol and pornography, crime and evils of every sort. The fact is, whether or not we realize it, we are engaged in a great war. However, this war that raging all around us, this war that is affecting all of us is, in fact, a spiritual war.
Whether we like it or not, we are all caught up in this conflict. Not because we live in the midst of what is happening, but because the actual battleground is within us. The field of conflict is in our hearts. The violence and all the other evils destroying our country originate in the human heart. The evil thoughts of our hearts spring forth as evil acts. Truly, what is happening around us is the result of what is happening within us. Jesus reveals this to us in Matthew 15:
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies:
Many have tried to solve the problems of our nation by implementing programs of various kinds and by passing laws that are supposed to remedy the ills that have sickened our country. It seems the more programs we have and the more laws that we pass, the worse things become. This is because external forces like programs, man's laws and the enforcement of those laws can never change what is within us. Change must take place from the inside out.
As Jesus points out, the problems around us are caused by what is in our hearts. Therefore, the problems around us can be solved only if our hearts are changed. God is the only one who has the power to change our hearts. He is the only one who can deliver us from our sinful nature.
If we acknowledge this truth, and believe in our hearts that Jesus died and is risen from the dead, God saves us and by his power he makes us new creatures. He changes us within. This is something we all need, and God stands ready to do this for us by his power. This is something we can never do for ourselves.
The only solution to school shootings, the violence, addictions to drugs, alcohol and pornography, broken homes and all the other plagues that have come upon America is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A change in our hearts, wrought by God, is our only hope and the only hope for America. Nothing less than the power of God can save us form the real problem, which is sin. The Gospel is the power of God.
Romans 1:
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
If we want to be delivered from the distress that has come upon us as a nation, we must accept the great truth that we need to be saved from sin. We must, each one, humbly bow before God and cry out as David did, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit right spirit within me." This is the only way we can be delivered from our sinful nature. This is the message that must be received and then shared with others. This is the only way school shootings can be stopped. This is the only way we can be delivered from addictions. This is the only way families and our country can be healed and strengthened.
This is why each school day must begin with prayer. The Bible must be returned to the classroom and read every morning. Violence must be purged from the heart or it will never be vanquished from our schools. We must do this, or we will see much worse happen. Human nature doesn't get better on its own. In fact, when Jesus Christ is rejected, human nature can only get worse.
While not all will believe and be saved, the word of God will restrain much of the evil that would otherwise be done. I know the power the word of God can have even upon a lost person because of my personal experience.
When I was in grade school, the day began with prayer and verses read from the Bible. This is the way classes began in most schools in America for over 175 years. This practice harmed no one, but to the contrary, much good came of it as young hearts were turned toward good and restrained from evil.
Though I was not saved, the reading of word of God revealed to me that there is a God, and that I was accountable to him for my actions. I still did things I should not have done, but I was restrained from doing worse things. Prayer and the reading of God's word every morning instilled in us a reverence for God and respect for others. We also learned the difference between right and wrong.
For instance, I, and many of my friends, carried pocket knives to school. They were tools, not weapons. There were no stabbings and there certainly were no shootings. There were a few fights, but no one ever used a weapon.
It is past time for us to acknowledge that our own efforts and human institutions have failed us. How long will it be before we realize that man does not possess the power to overcome the problems that have come upon us? Government and its programs and laws cannot solve the problems we face. Banks, industries and Wall Street cannot provide what we need. Only through Jesus Christ can we be saved from our sinful nature and only through Jesus can America be saved and become what it ought to be.
As Christians, we know we cannot make anyone believe on Jesus, but we are commissioned by Jesus to preach the Gospel to every creature. Once we tell someone about Jesus, then it is between them and God as to what they do with Jesus.
We must accept and build upon the Truth. We must do this personally and as a nation. A nation that builds upon a lie cannot stand.
Finally, compare the years prior to 1962 with those since. Consider what has happened to our nation since prayer and the Bible have been removed from the classroom. Some might argue that correlation does not imply causation. In this case, the correlation not only implies causation, it proves it.
It is evident that when God is rejected, human nature can only get worse.
Pastor Glenn Guest
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Originally Posted by Oscar Wilde
