Romans 1:21 “…When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” We are living in a time of ever-increasing darkness; not an environmental darkness, but an intellectual one. The Holy Spirit spells out the reason for this darkness that overcomes the mind and heart of man. It begins with a man that knows God. He can clearly see Him in the majesty and intricacy of creation. The clockwork precision of our seasons, and the testimony of the boundless heavens that stretch out into infinity where billions of stars and millions of galaxies bear witness to the omnipotent, omniscient God of creation. The world around us furnishes ample evidence to convict every skeptic and infidel of the obvious fact: there is a God. It is this incontrovertible evidence that pushes the atheist to adopt a religion of denial, cloaking it in the garb of Darwinism, to allow his conscience to accept his heart’s desire: no God to whom he must one day give an account. 

Once he has successfully overcome the witness of his conscience that is supported by God’s creation, he is free to descend unhindered into the vanity of his own imaginations. In effect, he becomes his own god, moving through life as he sees fit, loosed from the restraints of his Creator. This ultimately plunges him into spiritual darkness. His foolishness becomes genius in his own sight. Paul states the outcome of those who know God but refuse to give Him glory: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom 1:22) Which brings us to the present day. As our nation continues its slide into spiritual darkness, we who know the Lord are amazed and often appalled by the depth and degree of sheer lunacy we are surrounded by. What was once common sense has become nonsense. What was once right is now wrong and what used to be sound reasoning is silly rhetoric. So, what should we do in these days of darkness? Paul has the answer, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Phil 2:14-15)