I am by nature an optimist. I have been criticized by some for being too positive. I do indeed think that sin is negative and salvation positive. So call me positive, if you like. But I’m negative, too. Right now, I’m scared. I’m sacred of where we are, where we’re headed, scared of what will be the problems faced by my grandchildren and yours.

There’s a reason why God reported that “Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Gen. 13:12 LBX). It argues that wrong tendencies should be carefully noted and avoided. Lot’s problems were confounded greatly by this simple move in the wrong direction. We are moving in a direction in this country that is not so noticeable, but very dangerous—perhaps even disastrous.

Language is a part of who and what we are. It plays a vital role in our culture. It is astounding what has happened to our language in this age. Just in my lifetime, I’ve seen dramatic changes in what is acceptable spoken language, a calamitous turn in the lyrics in our music, a ruinous change in our everyday vernacular. I operated a radio station in the 1960's. At that time the FCC would padlock your door, without a trial, for just one simple, off- color remark or even an inadvertent curse word such as are routinely heard in today’s broadcasting.

Filthy language is everywhere. Even the children’s TV programs are filled with inappropriate humor and inadvisable innuendos. I occasionally hear it from 5-year olds at the grocery store. All you need do is listen when they drop something—you’ll get an earful. Is there no shame any longer? How long since you saw someone blush? We’ve forgotten to be embarrassed about sin, folks. Read Isa. 59:1-5 LBX. Their tongues mutter wicked things; no one calls for justice nor does he plead his case with integrity; they rely on argument and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Any of that sound familiar?

I’ve been amazed at how subtle the Devil has been in promoting gambling over the past few years. Televised gambling started out as just a “filler” for the time between ball games on Saturday; it has now become a regular feature on TV, watched every day by millions. And it started with just a move in the wrong direction—the Lottery. Such exposure has an adverse effect on society. Its now not only commonplace, but in vogue to gamble—at the Seven-Eleven, on the television, in the privacy afforded by the internet, or just about anywhere else. It excuses poor use of funds, robs families of sometime necessary things, and, is highly addictive. Just a little poker on Saturday and a $2 bet on the Lottery, and wham! it’s rampant, perhaps even uncontrollable.

Pornography is rampant in our society, too. Experts now say it is a multi-billion-dollar-a- year business ($57 billion last year alone). Even the unimaginable child pornography generates over $3 billion dollars annually. Forty million people visit a pornographic website each day. Can you believe that? And the most shocking part of it all? 57% of the people call themselves “Christian” (Stats from Family Safe Media). And just how did all that get started,? Just a few strategic moves in the wrong direction, just a tent pitched toward Sodom.

Pornography is the private sin in this age. It’s adherents range from college professors, to priests and preachers, not to mention millions of teenagers. It has no defense. Even those who engage in it admittedly have no defense for it. Wives have lost husbands because of it. Teens are in jail because of it. Even nine and ten-year-olds have been arrested for rape; and, when asked why, indicated the role of the internet. Hasn’t anyone ever read Matthew 5:27-30 LBX? It’s sad, what’s happening, folks. And it all starts with a few steps in the wrong direction.

Homosexuality has gained a strong foothold in this country. And there aren’t many left who will make a Bible defense against it. Even the religious community has come to accept it. Homosexuality no longer lives with a stigma. And those who practice it do it with a degree of repugnant pride. It has come “out of the closet.” Actually, it never had a place—even there. Homosexuality is a sin (Rom. 1:24-27 LBX). To quote a trite truism, it has many defenders, but no defense. And it’s raging influence came because somebody opened the closet door.

All of these matters, and many others like them, are caused by our acceptance of the Postmodern philosophy of subjectivism. One of its main tenets suggests that there is no such thing as an objective standard of truth, that truth is whatever is acceptable to the culture or to the individual. It is a heinous doctrine, one whose tentacles reach out in many directions and attach to many areas of our lives. The Scriptures are still the answer. Only they “throughly furnish the man of God to every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17 LBX). If it is in the Scriptures, it is a good work; if it is not in the Scriptures, it is not a good work, no matter who does it, nor how many endorse it.

Remember Lot’s wife. But remember Lot, too.