"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou are my sister; and call understanding my kinswoman: that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words."  Proverbs 7:1-5

In 2 Thessolonians I read that there will be a great falling away from the faith.  The word used is "apostasia".  But there are some connotative shades of meaning  in that passage that suggest a "staying away" instead of just a departure.  If that is the case, that portrays  the Church in the last days not just of Christians making a choice to backslide, but of an absence of people coming to Salvation at all. 

I also read in 1^st Timothy that "some shall depart from the faith..."  "Depart" here meaning a type of rebellion, or pulling away, or a withdrawal of oneself. But again there are some linguistic turns that suggest more of a separation rather than a departure. 

Either way it amounts to 6 of one; half dozen of the other.

Is this true?  Has the modern church slowly drifted away from it's Biblical moorings?  The old-timers who remember what church was like 50 years ago will tell you yes.  Our modern pastors, TV evangelists, and prophets of peace will say no, we're just drifting in a brand new exciting direction.  Old time Revivalists will tell you there's more Hollywood in our services than Holiness.  The modernists say that they're just cranky old-fashioned critics.  "Get with it Pops! Don't be an old winebottle!"

What do the sinners say? Go ask them, and you will hear that church is dead, the messages powerless, the services merely a form of "churchy" entertainment ... and that it is all about money, success, and prosperity.  Know why they don't come to church?  Because they're afraid that they'll become just like us.

Something has changed.  When the sinners feel more righteous than the Christians, then we have a serious problem that will not be placated with worn-out platitudes of "Jesus Loves You".

If it is a matter of the death of a vibrant Church, we have to ask ourselves what killed it?  If the Spirit of God gives life, what caused It to leave?  The slow, gradual descent into apostasy is an almost invisible fading of light into twilight, into shadow, and then into darkness.  Perhaps the raw edge of a church that is on fire makes the comfort of a muted Gospel with smoother edges much more appealing.  It's not that we don't notice the falling away; we just don't want o see it.

The above passage in Proverbs 7 gives us a clue to what happened.  When we lose our fear of God to leave the strict adherence to the commandments of God, we fall prey to an apostate woman who offers us a much more flattering message, smooth with oil, that leads to death and Hell.  

I have read that in the 70's, our major denominations debated whether the Bible is the Word of God, or merely contains it. That departure from the admonition in Proverbs 7 has brought us to where we are today.

Need a sign to wake you up?  The above debate over the validity of the Bible has created the breeding grounds for the worst abominations in all of Church history - not just the acceptance, but the ordination of Bishops who are openly homosexual!  You may say that your congregation does not agree with that abomination, but nevertheless, our churches have allowed it to fester and breed.  Or, as an old saying goes, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Leviticus 14 gives us a solution.  When leprosy is found in a house, even the house of God, you are to remove everything in that house. Get out, and don't go back in! If that house cannot be cured, anything left in it must be taken outside the camp and burned to rubble.  This is echoed in an end-time warning in Revelations to "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Am I saying to throw the baby out with the bath water?  No, but at least take the baby out of the filth! If the Church today does not heed the warnings that are rife throughout the Word of God, but instead treats them lightly as casual irritations, we will find that the Light will become dimmer as our candlesticks are withdrawn.  Without oil in our lamps to light the way, we will find ourselves like the 5 foolish virgins whose lights were going out but woke up too late to replenish their oil. 

Their fate will be as those who listen to the strange woman in Proverbs  -- wandering in darkness on the paths of the dead.