From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 5 of a series

"Yes, backsliding is possible, and so is restoration. Permit me to say this to your readers. If you know of someone who is going in that direction, let him know from someone who has been there: It's not worth it, you may not make it out alive, and don't take for granted that you are saved."

A Personal Testimony

In response to an earlier article in this series, What Are the Cause and Consequences of Backsliding?, we received the following note of testimony. It comes from a TeachingTheWord friend and supporter who is a pastor in the southern United States. We are reproducing it with his kind permission.

I appreciated your article on backsliding. First, let me say it was refreshing to see a Biblical perspective on the subject. Many Pentecostal folks believe that if you do backslide, you have to get saved again. Many Calvinists believe that if one backslides, it's proof that you were never saved to begin with. Even though it is not possible for one to fall from salvation, it does happen that people fall from their steadfastness.

There was a period in my early Christian life where I fell from steadfastness, and backslid. The cause was what you mentioned: neglecting the Word. Not only did I stop reading it, I stopped doing what it said. Then I began to replace it with worldly philosophies such as self-improvement and existentialism. Before long, the consequences you mentioned were evident: I was no longer able to blush. I could do things that I had not done even before I was saved, and it didn't bother me.

Some may ask, and I indeed did ask myself, if I had ever really even been saved. But I didn't quibble over theories. I repented, and asked God for mercy. If I hadn't been saved, I wanted to be now. If I had been saved, and was a prodigal, I wanted to come home. One evidence that I had been saved and was wayward, was the extreme chastisement I went through. I lost everything: my job, my home, my family, and friends. I was actually homeless and living in an abandoned shack with no food. I had to make friends with the guard dog at a factory across the street to be able to get some of his Gravy Train in order to eat. Another evidence I had for salvation was the continual presence of the Holy Spirit, urging me to come back, and His promise of restoration.

Well, obviously I did come back, and God did restore the years the locust had eaten. Here I am now as the pastor of a church. I've had the privilege of being the superintendant of a Christian rehab mission, and the chaplain of a homeless shelter. God has given me a great wife who supports me in all areas of my life. She has helped me to be able to receive real love. And, God gave me the grace to weather all the "elder brothers" I encountered when I came back to church (Luke 15:25-32). Some of them actually became part of Bible studies and Sunday school classes that I later taught.

So yes, backsliding is possible, and so is restoration. Permit me to say this to your readers. If you know of someone who is going that direction, let him know from someone who has been there: It's not worth it, you may not make it out alive, and don't take for granted that you are saved. You may be, but you may not be, and if you die in that condition, it will be too late to do anything about it if you're not saved. But if someone has gone in that direction and has come back, let him know that God did not bring him back to do him harm, but to do him good.

In Jeremiah's time, God took the people of Judah into captivity in Babylon because of their backsliding. But seventy years later, he brought back a repentant remnant and gloriously restored them to the land and enabled them to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, and He came and dwelled among them once again. We as individual Christians can learn this from the life and times of Jeremiah and the experience of Judah: It is never too late to repent of backsliding and return to the Father's house.

Out of the Pit, Onto the Rock

I know that Psalm 40 is the testimony of this pastor, as it is of every wayward child whom God has brought back:

I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

He has put a new song in my mouth - praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.

Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

Then I said, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart."

I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You yourself know.

I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.

Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

For innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me.

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!

Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil.

Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, "Aha, aha!"

Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, "The Lord be magnified!"

But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.

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