BACKSLIDERS

Related Index Topics: Chastening, Doubt, Forgiveness & Mercy, Murmuring, Obedience, Repentance, Sin, Success/Failure, Temptation, Trials & Triumphs, Weakness.

         1. None sink so far into Hell as those that come nearest to Heaven, because they fall from the greatest height.

         2. Backsliding must be called what it is--a spiritual adultery.

         3. Never look back unless you want to go that way.

         4. The backslider is a man who, because of his relationship to God, can never really enjoy anything else.

         5. Backsliding is caused by slack abiding.

         6. It is possible to be diligent in our religion, yet distant in our relationship.

         7. No Christian is ever going in the right direction when he has his back to God.

         8. Taking it easy is often the prelude to backsliding. Comfort precedes collapse.

         9. God will preserve you in your ways, not in your wanderings.

         10. Collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak.

         11. To forsake Christ for the World is to leave a treasure for a trifle, eternity for a moment, reality for a shadow, all things for nothing.

         12. The Christian life is like an airplane--when you stop you drop!

         13. When you are growing in grace you are hard on & critical of yourself. On the other hand, when you are backsliding, you are hard on & critical of others.

         14. If you are not as close to God as you used to be, you do not have to guess who moved.

         15. When his mother asked the little boy why he fell out of bed, he said, "I guess I went to sleep too near where I got in!"--And that's what's wrong with some people: They got in & then went to sleep too near where they got in!--And that's why they're having problems of the nature that lead to falling out!

         16. It's better to have the rebels & the backsliders & the disobedient on the outside than on the inside causing trouble!

         17. For some of us, our greatest ability seems to be the ability for getting away from the Shepherd.

         18. Men fall in private long before they fall in public.

         19. The backsliders are going to be in Heaven, saved but failed, & are going to live in everlasting shame & contempt!

         20. "Safe were the ninety-&-nine in the fold, safe though the night was stormy & cold. 'But,' said the Shepherd, when counting them o'er, 'one sheep is missing, there should be one more!' So the Shepherd went out to search for His sheep, & all through the night on that rocky steep. He sought till He found him, with love bands He bound him, & I was that one lost sheep!" You were once upon a time, amen? Somebody sought you out & found you out. PTL? So now you have the chance to go out & search for them & bring them back to the fold!

         21. God breaks us in mercy--& has mercy in our breaking!

         22. You can never trust backsliders again, they have to earn your trust & earn their place & prove themselves. The first time was by grace, but this time they've got to earn it & work for it!

         23. The Prodigal Son went home but the Father didn't restore anything, he was tough on him! He really put him down! He then came under the jurisdiction & the superiority & seniority of his older brother. He had nothing left, no claim on anything! He had spent it all & wasted it all & he could be thankful that he was simply allowed back into the Father's house & to sit at the Father's table. Otherwise, he had nothing, no claim on anything, & everything belonged to the older brother who had been faithful & stuck by the stuff! (Luke.15:11-32)

         24. The Prodigal Son was recognised as a son, he was celebrated in a "welcome home" party, but after that he owned nothing, he had no rights, no position, no nothing except sonship, that's all! From then on he had to work like one of the hired servants & earn his living. He had no inheritance, so how could he expect to sit around & just enjoy the income & dividends & the fruits of the older brother's labours? He was right!: He was no longer worthy to be called a son but should be made like a hired servant, & that's exactly what status backsliders ought to have!--The lowest of the low, servant of servants, just thankful to be in the Father's house at the Father's table at all!

         25. This is an Army, & if the deserters don't come back really crawling & grovelling & just thankful that they're let back in at all & willing to do anything, serve in any capacity, do any job, scrub floors, clean toilets, wash dishes, do the lowliest jobs of all, jobs that they don't even deserve, & realise that they are in shame & contempt & they're going to have to work & earn any kind of respect or appreciation, then we don't want them! They'll only weaken the Army!