Drift

God calls us to a committed walk, so that we will not be carried away by the currents of this world, but that we would get into the flow of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 2 states:
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

Verse 1 offers some sobering words: "lest we drift away." 

As it's been taught, we may think we are standing still, but if we are not advancing in our spiritual walk, we are actually moving backwards.  Regressing. 

So, we must continue to commit ourselves to spiritual growth, seeking to draw closer to God each day and holding on tightly to the Word of God. If we allow worldly ideas to dilute our intensity for God's Word, we face that real possibility of losing our edge, our spiritual sharpness, and therefore becoming vulnerable to being trapped by the enemy and rendered less fruitful in our walk with the Lord.

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In Philippians 3, Paul encourages the reader to make sure that he or she is growing spiritually, moving forward in the Lord. He writes:
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There's a word that has been used in relation to a Christian or Christian group stepping away from Biblical truth.  It doesn't necessarily come all at once, but declines over time.  That word is "drift," and we have seen it in the lives of high-profile Christians and in Christian institutions.  

Recently, there was a piece that ran on FoxNews.com pointing out signs of spiritual drift at a once-respected Christian college - Wheaton College in Chicago. Franklin Graham linked to the article in a tweet, and said: "I hope this article is a wake-up call to the Board of Trustees at 
@WheatonCollege. The temptation in Christian academia is to give in to small compromises for the sake of unity, but those can lead to mission drift. It’s my prayer that Wheaton will not succumb to the pressures of the secular world, but stand firm on the Word of God."  Franklin's father, Billy Graham, graduated from Wheaton. 

In 2016, Franklin Graham wrote this on Facebook:

Both my father Billy Graham and my mother attended Wheaton College in Illinois–in fact that's where they met. I'm surprised and disappointed that the faculty council there is now recommending the college drop their plans to terminate a professor who published that she believed Islam and Christianity worship the same God in December. This is no minor issue that should be debated. Islam denies that God has a Son. They deny that Jesus is God. They do not believe in a Triune God–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I can tell you–Islam and Christianity clearly do not worship the same God. How the faculty council can now support this professor being allowed to teach students is deeply concerning.

The Christian Post offered this summary regarding the situation involving Professor Larycia Hawkins 

After being placed on administrative leave, a school administrator moved to recommend her for termination proceedings. Although Provost Stanton Jones later rescinded the recommendation to terminate Hawkins after much backlash from Wheaton professors and a student-led protest, Hawkins and the school would later part ways. Hawkins would go on to get a job at the University of Virginia.

Drift. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis wrote this on the ministry's website:

Wheaton College (like so many other supposed Christian institutions) has compromised God’s Word in Genesis for a long time. This college also became soft on the LGBTQ issue and other social issues and now is being impacted (not surprisingly) by the woke culture.

Nearly 10 years ago, I wrote this in an article about Wheaton College (a college that has produced a science textbook teaching evolution and millions of years as fact):

Over the years, we’ve been warning the church that so many Christian colleges have been compromising God’s Word in Genesis—and we’ve been warning that such compromise will eventually lead to apostasy.

So, let's go to the Fox piece, written by Tim Scheiderer, who states:

But recently, the school in the leafy suburb west of Chicago has begun to mimic Harvard’s wokeness. Banning biblical words, teaching critical race theory, and psychologizing gender identity issues may not seem extreme in modern academia. But for a school which houses the works of Rev. Graham, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, it is adrift from its orthodox, Christian moorings. But this isn’t a recent drift.

Scheiderer writes that...

...its most blatant offense against Christianity is banning certain biblical words that are key to the faith’s foundation. In this year’s curriculum for freshman, students are informed about opportunities to meet the needs of those less fortunate. This is commonly known as the act of service.

Wheaton, however, instructs the students not to use the word, "service." Instead, they are to use "sacrificial co-laboring." The reason given is service "may invoke power dynamics across socio-economic, racial, and cultural lines."

He also points out:

Another word found in numerous Bible translations is also out: mankind. Seeing this word is prohibited, it’s not surprising the very definition of man and woman is on shaky ground.

According to biblical anthropology, a person’s sex is known by what is seen, not by what one feels. An endowed chair in Wheaton’s psychology program believes this is the ideal way for humans to exist: men identifying as men and women as women.

But, he says, in an imperfect world riddled with weakness, this may not always be the case. Hence, going against one’s God-given sex "is not a moral choice." It is a result of weakness. Therefore, he tries to "help [people] manage [their] gender dysphoria (dissatisfaction)."

The historic Christian faith has always upheld the goodness of the created order and any action against it is a violation against God. The purpose of God’s teachings is to sustain and promote the flourishing of all life. And acting against them brings harmful disruption into one’s life. When these actions are permitted or celebrated, everyone suffers.

Furthermore, the writer relates: "It is certain the college is permitting the professor to advance his views about identity that have roots in an anti-God philosophy. And it is also supporting an on-campus gender identity institute led by the professor, which students have access to."

Drift.  It's all around us. We have to recognize that fact and remain tethered to a strong Biblical foundation, lest we be swept away in worldly, unbiblical ideas.  A sure-fire way to guard against drift is to continue to allow the Scriptures to be our "north star," or "moral compass." If we know where north is, then we'll head in the right direction. 

But, human-centered ideas that appeal to emotions, that emphasize virtue-signaling rather than an adherence to the reliable source of true virtue, can lead us astray.  Because progressive, worldly ideas can sound good, but they are not consistent with Biblical truth.  Moral relativism enables us to choose "our" truth; the Bible teaches absolute truth that is found in the teachings of the Scriptures. When we are tempted to compromise, we have to make sure that our decisions are being informed by the principles we find in the Bible.