Getting to the Root of the Problem...

 PAD Challenge day 3: For today’s prompt, write a problem poem. 

Below an excerpt from Peter Marshall's sermon-

Keeper of the Springs

(and this was in the 1940's!!)

One cannot fix a problem until one pinpoints the source

But one ought to note symptoms that should trouble you and I

For epidemic-proportion-populace on a course

Of Ignorance to Truth, where empty churches testify

A somber lack of reverence and interest and care

For the Great Certainty for which we all ought to prepare

...and so tis no small wonder that things go from bad to worse

 In laws of twisted logic of confusion gone berserk

Where right is wrong and wrong is right and God, a name they curse

And well-intended master-plans of Fix-it just don't work

In a world doomed to madness as they seek but cannot find

Hope's everlasting gladness that yields joy and peace of mind 

When truth is seen as lies and lies are heralded as truth

It is because the Word of God is trodden underfoot

Then darkened understanding errs and bears pitiful proof;

Denial of the problem that yields problematic fruit

And gross incomprehension of the sad state we are in;

Because they/we do not recognize the root problem of sin 

The problem is not war or poverty, but hate and greed

A proud and unrepentant heart, thinking, utterly flawed

A negligent apathy to sin's subtle, deadly seed

In seeking first this world rather than the kingdom of God

Where empty churches gape and children/people traipse toward a Goal

Ignorant of Love's problem-solving Saviour of the Soul 

Sad problem this; too many homes where God's Word has no place

And homes where the Bible is but a book upon a shelf

Ignoring that apart from God, there is no saving grace

Apart from the Vine the branch is a Dead Thing by itself

Revealing that the culprit in this problem's quandary

Until we surrender to God, is always you and me 

© Janet Martin

Rom.1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, 

because it is the power of God 

that brings salvation to everyone who believes: 

first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—

a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] 

just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]

So many do not know

or believe or care

about the day of redemption 

and reckoning drawing near...

Malachi 4:1-3

The Day of the LORD

(Zephaniah 1:7–18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13)

1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, 

when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble;

 the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,”

 says the LORD of Hosts.

 “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness 

will rise with healing in its wings,a 

and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.

  3Then you will trample the wicked, f

or they will be ashes under the soles of your feet 

on the day I am preparing,” 

says the LORD of Hosts.