Soul winners, we have work to do. The U.S. 2000 census has confirmed our fears that sin is taking over our culture. Family life is at the very root of our society. But married couples with children declined from 43 percent of households in 1950 to just 24 percent in 2000.

The number of "unmarried partner" households increased by 72 percent since 1990. Thirty-three percent of all births in 2000 were to unmarried women.

In 1960, 45 percent of men age 20-24 were married. Today only 16 percent are. Some would argue that they are just waiting longer to get married. However, for men 30-34, the "never married" category grew by 136 percent from 1960 to 1995.

Not only is marriage losing ground as a "family value," many more are avoiding parenthood. The birth rate decreased 56 percent from 1960 to 2000 among women aged 20-24. The number of women between 40 and 44 who were childless grew by 90 percent from 1976 to 1998.

Conservative activist Paul Weyrich wrote in 1999 that he believed that the culture war was over and "family values" had lost. Weyrich first suggested the name "Moral Majority" to Jerry Falwell for his organization.

Now, Weyrich says that he no longer believes that a majority of Americans share traditional values. When the Senate acquitted Bill Clinton, Weyrich wrote: "What Americans would have found absolutely intolerable only a few years ago, a majority now not only tolerates but celebrates."

Bible believer, does that sound familiar? In the end of chapter 1 of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans, he details the characteristics of a decadent culture. The parallels to modern America are striking.

Paul shows how man begins by denying that God is the Creator (evolution), proudly exalts his own wisdom (humanism), begins to worship the creatures in nature (ecology), substitutes lust for natural affection (pornography and homosexuality), suffers the consequences (AIDS), and God gives them over to a reprobate mind to be "filled with all unrighteousness" by spending hours watching TV.

No nation in history has ever fully recovered from this slippery slope. Sure, there have been periods of revival, but that is about all we can hope for.

However, this does not cancel the great commission. As individual soul winners, we must redouble our efforts to find those who have "ears to hear." We have work to do before the night closes in.