I have to be honest that like "anthony" posted above I do not have a sense in my heart that "the Church" is going to "fizzle out like some damp firework" and again as "anthony" posted, "Look up beloved, our Lord will have the last word!"
Although we see the "mechanisms" of the "end times" developing we are not yet in the "end times". The Lord is holding back these "mechnanisms" until He has completed His plans for His Church.
I have a peace in my heart about this and when I read posts of people saying that we are already in the "end times", my spirit is in opposition because I do not sense that this is what the Lord is saying. I have to ask myself whether what these people are sharing is of "another spirit", as the Holy Spirit within me does not give me a witness that what they are sharing is true, or from Him.
Yes, there is great darkness but as Pastor Warren Lyons once told me, the Lord waits until the strongmen are at full strength before dealing to them. That is a powerful word. When I heard it I had a witness in my spirit that this is true. So like the Lord to give them every opportunity to "do their darnest" and then for Him to come along and destroy them.
On Mount Carmel Elijah gave the prophets of Baal every opportunity to prove that their god was the only true and living God. He mocked them, he told them to try harder and when they had "done their darnest" he called down fire from heaven, according to the Lord's word, and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord was God, the Lord was the God of Israel.
This principle is seen in Isaiah 60:2, "For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you".
Preceded by "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee" (Isaiah 60:1).
Yes, the "institutionalised church" or the "organised church" has been and is being weighed in the balance and found wanting and many believe this to be a "falling away" but I do not see it so. I believe that this is a separation (a necessary separation) of "the Church" (the true Church) from all the "man-made" rules which She has been afflicted with and a breaking free into the freedom of God and an understanding that the Church of Jesus Christ (the Bride of Christ) consists of all those who "believe on the name of the Lord" from a pure heart and are saved by "the righteousness which is by faith".
This "falling away" has been prophesied, I heard it prophesied first at an intercessory weekend back home in NZ around 9 years ago, where the Lord was going to sweep through the "institutionalised" churches like a hurricane and bring a "division" between the "true" and the "false". I believe I've seen a lot of this occur over the last 9 years or so to date with some of the "heracies" of the "institutionalised" churches in NZ being exposed in the media, etc and I believe alot of true believers have now left the "institutionalised" church.
The true Church is where all of us "believers" have fellowship with one another and build ourselves up in our "holy faith". It is where we "become one" and so "prove to be His disciples".
Let's not get depressed, what I have described above is occuring and that means that the Lord is at work . As this process continues the Lord will begin to group together these "saints" as He sees fit under the direct leadership of the Holy Spirit (we will know that it is of God because man will not be looked to as the leader but each one involved will get their instructions from the Holy Spirit and in unity He will bring them together to work together under Him).
In this manner living demonstrations of the power of God will be seen by those "believers" still in process towards this state and will cause them to be "revived" into this state which will in turn cause those chosen for salvation to be brought into a genuine salvation experience and caught up into what God is doing through His Holy Spirit.
As I have said previously in this forum I am not doing anything to try and make this happen but the Spirit witnesses with my spirit that it will happen and that it will happen in my lifetime.
Again, as "anthony" said, "Look up beloved, our Lord will have the last word!"