By Jack Wyman, Guest Contributor

The Scarecrow was pretty smart.

He might have thought he didn’t have a brain, but he repeatedly made observations and reached conclusions quite to the contrary.

As the setting sun cast lengthening shadows across the Yellow Brick Road, a fearful Dorothy shudders:

“I don’t like this forest. It’s dark and creepy.”

The Scarecrow looks around at the encroaching darkness and replies:

“Of course, I don’t know. But I think it’ll get darker before it gets lighter.” 

It was self-evident. It was also preparation for the inevitable.  

The darkness descends.  

Evidence of moral decline is seen in nearly every major institution and activity of American life, from government to the family; from education to the arts; from economics and race relations to religion and border security; from technology to sexuality. 

No area of human enterprise is untouched by scandal, greed, confusion, violence, cowardice, narcissism, weakness and incompetence.

We shudder at the encroaching darkness.

It’ll get darker before it gets lighter. 

I thought my mother had invented the saying, “Red sky at night is a sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” Having grown up on Deer Isle, Maine, she had heard it often.

Jesus actually quoted it. He told skeptical Pharisees, “you know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ 

O you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:2-3).

Can we?

The cultural and moral knot is tightening daily. Soon the day will come when we will stand to be counted or hide to be safe. Already around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are facing increased persecution, even unto death. 

How prepared are we? 

In our own country, the signs are manifest.

Distinguished historian Will Durant, who once catalogued the undeniable signs of a declining civilization, prophesized this present hour for the United States. Especially prescient was his conclusion that a decline in morals and religion, military over-reach and the confrontation and confusion between freedom and equality were always present in the final gasps of dying empires. 

“A great civilization is not conquered from without,” Durant wrote, “until it has destroyed itself within … Christian writers were keenly appreciative of this decay.”

Rome fell, Durant argued, because of “her people, her morals, her class struggles, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.”

Durant credited Christianity’s positive contribution to Rome’s demise. People “turned from Caesar preaching war to Christ preaching peace, from incredible brutality to unprecedented charity, from a life without hope or dignity to a faith that consoled their poverty and honored their humanity.”

Jesus said that in the end times sin would be so rampant the love of many believers would grow cold.

This not need be true of you or me.

Though the night be dark, we must shine as bright stars in the firmament of our culture (Philippians 2:15).

Christians are eternal optimists. We can be no other.

It is in the nature of our faith to reject a hopeless end and instead embrace our endless hope in Jesus Christ. As our forebears were a significant positive influence on a dying Roman world, so too you and I can have a redemptive impact in this present hour.

Though tempted to curse the darkness, we must resolve to light a candle. 

We must turn from the corruption and cruelty of the world and determine to live with “wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God” (Titus 2:12).

We must be like the brave men of Issachar who “understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (I Chronicles 12:32).

We must live as people of the truth. People who read, understand and live by God’s Word, the Bible. As decidedly unpopular and “out of touch” as that may be.

Virtues, not values, should frame the conduct of our lives.

We must live as people of clarity. We reject the world’s conformity. Instead, we ask Christ to transform us through the renewing of our minds. If we are to live right we must first think right. Christians must never be afraid to think, hard as that sometimes is.  

Let’s ask God for discernment. That he may give us a clear vision of himself, ourselves, others and this world in which we live.

We must live as people of conviction. GK Chesterton called tolerance the last refuge of a man without convictions. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. We must think and pray and encourage one another as we struggle to formulate a fully-orbed Christian Worldview.

We must live as people of courage. Churchill said courage was the greatest virtue, the one making all others possible. We need courage at work, at home, in the public square, and on social media. 

We need it especially in the pulpits of our churches. God, give us men who are uncompromised, uncorrupted, unyielding and unafraid in the proclamation of the whole counsel of your unchanging truth. Today, tomorrow and forever. 

We must live as people of conscience. We cannot segment our lives. What we know is true on Sunday we must resolve to live on Monday. We must be consistent, not hypocrites. Integrity must enfold us as a seamless garment. 

That the watching world, like us or agree with us - or not - will know we are sincere. May our hearts and minds be purged by the consuming desire to honor God. 

We must live as people of compassion, charity and civility. God loves this world. He loves everyone in this world. He loves those who scorn and mock him. Jesus loved his enemies. We must love ours. 

We must care as God cares; we must be gracious as he is gracious. We must practice civility, charity, generosity and kindness toward others, no matter who or what they are.

The truth we speak must always be marked by love.

To obey is better than sacrifice. Winning a heart and earning respect are better than winning an argument.

Let us live as he would have us live. 

In this present hour. 

May God bless you and your family.

To order Jack Wyman's book, Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.