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BACKWARDS?   

It is often we hear people say, I used to be very involved in church or Bible studies; I was once very committed in my faith.  I usually ask, Are you regularly attending a Bible teaching church where the Pastor and people are serious about hearing from God and obeying Him?  Invariably their response is not any more or not very often.  I then ask, Do you daily read God’s word and talk with Him in prayer?  Again, without fail the answer is NO.

How do we get to this place in our lives?  There is a word that used to be used more often than now.  You hardly hear this word any more: backslider.  Are you a backslider?  Are you currently moving forward or backward in your Christian life?  A preacher of another era explained what this means and how it happens.

The first part of his name is “backslider.” He is not a back runner, nor a back leaper, but a backslider, that is to say he slides back with an easy, effortless motion, softly, quietly, perhaps unsuspected by himself or anybody else. The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up, no, you have to cut every step with an ice axe; only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress; you need a guide to help you, and you are not safe unless you are fastened to the guide, for you may slip into a crevice. Nobody ever slides up, but if great care is not taken they will slide down, slide back, or in other words backslide. This is very easily done. If you want to know how to backslide, the answer is leave off going forward and you will slide backward, cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity, for stand still you never can. To lead us to backslide, Satan acts with us as engineers do with a road down the mountains side. If they desire to carry the road from yonder peak right down into the valley far below, they never think of making the road plunge over a precipice, or straight down the face of the rock, for nobody would ever use such a road; but the road makers wind and twist. See, the track descends very gently to the right, you can hardly see that it does run downwards; quickly it turns to the left with a small incline, and so by turning this way and then that, the traveler finds himself in the valley below. Thus the crafty enemy of souls brings saints down from their high places; whenever he gets a good man down it is usually by slow degrees. Now and then, by sudden opportunity and strong temptation, the Christian man has been plunged right from the pinnacle of the temple into the dungeon of despair in a moment, but it is not often the case; the gentle decline is the devil’s favorite piece of engineering, and he manages it with amazing skill. The soul scarcely knows it is going down.  (Taken from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon)

What is the remedy for the backslider?  Confession of sin.  Agreeing with God that you are not where you ought to be, where you used to be and it is your fault.  It is then taking new steps in the right direction.  It is getting back to God’s word daily and making time to talk with Him in prayer.  It is doing what you know He would want you to do.  It is getting back into a Bible teaching church on a weekly basis. 

Here at BBN we are all about helping you move towards God.  When you do this, He moves toward you: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” (James 4:8).  Our radio stations, available in many cities on a local channel, and available everywhere on the Internet (bbnradio.org) will encourage you with great Bible teaching and inspiring, Christ-honoring music and can be a big help in helping you walk in the right direction with the Savior.  Also, our Bible Institute (bbnbi.org) offers over 100 courses of Bible lessons to help you learn the Father’s words and ways.  You don’t have to go on backsliding.  Take a step up and forward!