The Lord Jesus likened the days preceding His return to the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37), and the Bible says that those days were characterized by great violence. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). The earth today is also filled with violence. Wicked, demon-possessed men are on a rampage, even murdering little children like Caylee Anthony, the three-year-old Florida girl that has been the focus of many news reports. Between 1976 and 1994 roughly 37,000 children were murdered in America alone. What is the cause of this world’s great troubles? The Bible says that the problem lies in man’s heart. It is not his environment or his lack of self-esteem or his poverty. It is his fallen heart. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). This is why the United Nations will never bring peace to the earth. It cannot change man’s heart. UN workers can’t even change their own wicked hearts. Only Jesus Christ can change a man from the inside out. There is peace today for those who trust Him, and there will be peace on earth when He returns to establish His righteous government with its headquarters in Jerusalem.
(Friday Church News Notes, December 19, 2008, www.wayoflife.org)