"Post-Modern," "Post-Christian," call it what you will, our culture is defined by where it has been because it knows not where it is going. The cultural restraints upon evil have been mocked, ridiculed and virtually eliminated.

The Pilgrims bound law-breakers in stocks in the public square – "How primitive!" (we think). Not much more than a century ago, grievous and brutal murders were rewarded with public execution – "How backward!" (we say).

Just over forty years ago, divorce carried such a stigma that people persevered in difficult marriages – Oh, what horrors to our post-modern sensibilities! In a very few decades, pornography has migrated from the most decadent locales (where no respectable man dared tread),…to the local drug store,…to the "convenience" store,…to the telephone,…to the desktop!

The moral decline in America, having entered upon the slippery slope of relativism, has accelerated at a geometric rate. They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:4)

We, as a people, have so rejected the absolute standard of the Spirit of Truth that we no longer know what the meaning of "is" is. The social stigma of each evil (as laid down in ages past) has been diluted like a drop of vegetable oil in an Olympic swimming pool.

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. (Jeremiah 6:16)

The more we observe the cultural manifestation of the corruption of the human heart (restrained only by the grace of the Maker of heaven and earth), the more the Wisdom of God’s inerrant Word is evident.

We should marvel at the absolute truth contained in the ten commandments. Observe what rebellion against these truths has wrought.

Some working people spend an enormous percentage of their take-home pay on Lotto fever. Reports nationwide of lottery winners filing for bankruptcy are not uncommon. Take heed, and beware of covetousness. (Luke 12:15)

The world’s richest monarch, the Sultan of Brunei, boasts a collection of luxury and exotic automobiles approaching 5,000. (It sounds almost American!) Such is his family’s excess that some Rolls-Royces are stripped for parts, cut up and dumped into the South China Sea. Perhaps fishermen will speak of "Rolls Reef."

The family in our nation is so fragmented and disjointed that one can hardly determine the parentage of school children, nor their siblings, nor their household. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:6)

The preservative value of the seventh commandment for marriage and the family is sorely missed. The law of God has been amputated from the law of the land.

Beware! We are creatures of our culture. "Righteous Lot" (by God’s grace) fled from Sodom before the fire and brimstone, but Sodom did not flee from him.

If we think ourselves insulated from the rapid moral decline in the sunset of the millennium, then we are fools. But there is no Scriptural warrant for withdrawal from the world.

No vibrant, living faith in Christ Jesus is disengaged from the culture in which it dwells. The Righteous One wept over the lost in Jerusalem. The Son of David spoke softly - with compassion – to the adulterous woman, "Go, and sin no more." The Son of God taught fearful Nicodemus in the cover of night, "Ye must be born again."

Yet, the Just One overturned the tables of the moneychangers in righteous anger. The Holy One rebuked the self-righteous saying, you put grievous burdens upon others, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. (Luke 11:46)

John, the forerunner of the Messiah, spoke with boldness against the unlawful morality of a powerful leader, at the cost of his head on a platter.

What then? Should we long for an empty traditionalism of ages past, the "glory days." The Lord God does not call us backward, but forward. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

Let us resolve, in humble reliance on the Grace of Christ (as the fruit of repentance and faith) to be as salt. That great preservative against moral decay. That great seasoning which brings a flavor far richer than the bland savor of materialism. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)

May you resolve, to let your light so shine before men that the Light of the World may be made known in this New Dark Age.

Let the Word of God be your soul’s food. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. (Ezekiel 3:3) Then the junk food of this Age of Vanity will be shown repulsive. Be as Daniel in pagan Babylon – He would eat only from God’s table, and the king saw that his countenance was far better than all those who ate from the table of the world.

The stigma of evil will only be restored through the living testimony of the Righteousness of Christ (absent a hint of self-righteousness), engaged and interactive in the midst of cultural corruption. May we be given ears to hear that still small voice of the Righteous One.