5. BACKSLIDERS & PRODIGALS
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The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways (Pro.14:14).
1. Backsliders don't have a chance, because they have run out on God!--They're strictly on the Devil's territory & he can attack them all he wants & give them what they deserve, what the mercy of God would have spared them from.
2. Don't take a Jonah on board or you'll sink.
3. When you look back you'll go back! You'll go the direction you're looking!
4. Backsliders are your stray sheep, they're prodigal sons & God still loves them.
5. If you hold one little thing back from the Lord, you're on your way to backsliding.
6. People can do less damage on the outside than on the inside.
7. God hates to see people's backs!
8. Judas never expected nor intended to betray the Lord, he just chickened out & went back & got mixed up with the wrong crowd!
9. As long as you've got any idea there's some place to go back to, you'd better go!
10. The Prodigal Son lost his birthright and inheritance, but he did not completely lose his place as a son.
11. God's law of progress is: If you don't keep on getting more, you'll lose what you've got!--If you're not progressing, you're backsliding!
12. A personal problem within can be a greater threat than enemies without.
13. Backsliders seldom ever backslide alone!--They almost always take others with them!
14. Backsliders become your very worst enemies and the most diabolical traitors to your cause!
15. The bird whose pinion was once broken, by the grace of God will fly even higher than before.
16. The worst things I've ever seen happen to people, were to people who went back on the Lord--backsliders!
17. There is no such thing as standing still! You're either progressing and have the products to prove it, or backsliding to oblivion!
18. There's no worse enemy than a former friend!
19. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees! One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrelful if allowed to remain, and one gangrenous member can kill the whole body if not either healed or cut off!
20. Better an open enemy than a false friend.
21. Once you have the truth & reject it, then you are guilty, not just weak.--No longer an innocent weaker brother, but a guilty weaker brother.
22. It's so easy to make legitimate, logical, reasonable, acceptable excuses why you couldn't make it, & why you shouldn't be expected to make it, & in most cases most people will accept your excuses, because most people don't have faith either, & in excusing you, they're excusing themselves.
23. If you'll even start God's way, if you'll even turn toward Him & start trying to find your way home, the Father will come running toward you & take you in His arms.
24. I'd rather fight a dangerous enemy without than a pacified enemy within.
25. It's easier to fight the outside devils than the one that worms his way in through your own weaknesses & faults & failures. He can do a hell of a lot of damage outside, but he can do a hell of a lot more damage inside!
26. The quickest way to find out God's will is to get out of it, sad to say.
27. There's no stopping place when you backslide!
28. Once you start going the wrong direction there is no place to stop!
29. It doesn't matter how much you give a backslider, they always murmur.
30. It's like Achilles' heel: the weakness is always there, but you never see it until you put the pressure on!
31. I've never heard of a successful backslider yet, have you?
32. The backslider never wants to backslide alone.
33. The double-hearted and double-minded live in a constant state of indecision!
34. When people desert God, He deserts them.
35. One bad apple can spoil a whole barrelful! Better no apple at all than a bad apple spoiling others.
36. Backslider: saved from flame but not from shame.
37. Help us not to even look back, Lord, much less go back!
38. You'd better watch where you're going, or you'll go where you're looking!
39. It's better to have a defector, a spy, an unreliable traitor out of our midst than living with us!
40. Our worst enemies are those who come from our own ranks.
41. Saul's problem was that he was always being sorry, but never changing. He wasn't truly repentant, he wasn't sorry for the right reasons. He was just sorry he had done it because it was a serious, stupid mistake & he had been caught. He did not correct the causes & never had a definite change of mind or heart. True repentance is a complete change of direction!
42. When your bad points begin to outweigh your good points, then it destroys your usefulness and your effectiveness.
43. Don't think you can even get away with thinking about your former System home or loved ones! It's a dangerous business to even keep up close correspondence with a family that's not giving all or forsaking-all for God, except just enough to keep them pacified & from becoming a danger to God's work. Watch out about that!--Give'm the works, tell'm all, & if they don't follow, don't keep wasting your strength & wasting your time & casting your pearls before swine!
44. If you go back, you've lost the birthright, you've lost your inheritance, you've lost the blessing, you've lost the joy, you've lost everything but your Salvation, if you're saved. Still, I don't believe anybody that's genuinely saved can permanently go back. I believe sooner or later they'll come back to the Lord & His Service, unless God has to kill them & remove them to keep them from being a stumbling block.
45. You can't go back alone, Beloved. Everybody that goes back affects somebody, discourages somebody, disheartens somebody, puts another nail in somebody's coffin.
46. The worst enemies we ever had & still have were once one of us. They make the Devil's own best tools. They are ideal for the Devil's witnesses. They were amongst us but they were not of us, & this is why they went out from us.
47. Are you living in the Word & Work & Love of the Lord & Family so deep you could never think of leaving? Are you so busy for Him & others that you've no time to hear or ponder the Devil's doubts, lies & temptations?
48. God bless you & keep you from falling into the same temptation which led Satan himself astray--pride, jealousy, covetousness, possessiveness.
49. It's so sad & so pitiful, these Sauls, the failures, the disappointments to God! They must truly break the heart of God like they break my heart.
50. You can't keep complaining & criticising & murmuring & bellyaching about things & keep God's Holy Spirit on you for your job, you just can't do it. Like Saul, the Spirit left him & he was so damn hard & cold he didn't even know it was gone! He didn't even know he had lost it, think of it!
51. That is the most miserable person in the World, the traitor, the betrayer, backslider! He can't even stand to live with himself any more, much less with either the Family or the System.
52. Nearly every backslider is convinced they're right. They have rejected & resisted the Truth so long & they're so thoroughly deluded & so thoroughly deceived themselves they even believe their own lies!
53. When you're out of fellowship with God & disobedient, you want to run the other direction & get as far away from the Lord & His people as you possibly can. Just the sight of them convicts you!
54. That's what they all say, every backslider, almost every one I ever heard: "I'm not going back on the Lord, I'm not going back on the Family."
55. How God hates people that look back! It seems like He's almost better able to stand gross horrible outright sins than for the Christian or His own Children to compromise & look back & shilley-shalley & get lukewarm & double-minded! He just can't stomach it!
56. Backsliding is not usually a sudden last-minute decision, it's something that you have been contemplating a long, long time.
57. A lot of backsliders have quit just a minute too soon, just before the Lord was about give them the crown, they flunked out. For God's sake, I hope you don't flunk out just when you almost have got the victory & the Lord's about to reward you & give you the anointing & the crown! I hope you don't fail!
58. I wouldn't trust a defector further than you could drag an elephant by the tail.
59. I think one of the saddest verses in the Bible is the one about "Demas hath forsaken Me, having loved this present World!" Now let's face it, that's why they do it. They love something more than the Lord's Work & His Family.--Really something more than the Lord.
60. To me the most shocking thing about Saul & about Judas & about any backslider is their lack of fear of God.
61. Nobody loves a traitor! The System will lure you back, will even exalt you for awhile, pay you 30 pieces of silver to do the dirty work, & when it's done, they will spit in your face & never have anything more to do with you! Who is going to trust a traitor?
62. Every time I got in such a fix & I realised I was in the wrong place I repented of it like that!--Quick!--And I ran back to the will of God as fast as I could go! And I think that is the only thing that saved my neck, literally!--"For he that being often reproved & hardeneth his neck shall be suddenly destroyed & that without remedy!"
63. When you start failing God, backsliding & going against the Lord, everything goes wrong. It reminds me of what Hamlet said, "When troubles come, they come in troops!"
64. I am firmly convinced that you don't have to worry about some people's loyalty. If they love you & are loyal to you they're going to listen to you & not anybody else. Jesus said so! He said, "My sheep hear My voice & they follow Me & a stranger they will not follow!"
65. God punished King David, spanked him for awhile, but then brought him back, & his latter end was greater than the beginning, thank You Lord! Because he learned his lesson, because he repented, because he was sorry, because in his humility he confessed his sin.--And you have the beautiful 51st Psalm as a result.
66. Thank God there are a few cases in the Bible of repentance. Like David & some others. They made some big mistakes but they had big repentances.--So they had big forgivenesses. PTL!
67. Living the life the Enemy has to offer is nothing but agony, death & constant dying for that which is not worth dying for!
68. "The men whose opinions thou lovest shall destroy thee & the Beast whose honour thou favourest shall devour thee. For why dost thou not return unto Me, O thou backsliding daughter? Why dost thou not repent of thy spiritual whoredoms?"
69. If someone forsakes the Lord & His work for something they would rather have, for some other god before Him, God is fed up with them, disgusted with them, & usually won't use them for hardly anything or bless them at all, so they have to go back to the System, back to the World & the Devil to even earn a living to support the god that they worshipped instead of the Lord.
70. In a few outstanding cases of backsliding in the Scriptures & in church history where there was a tremendously great repentance, there was a great forgiveness!--But usually at the same time there was a great punishment.
71. A backslider is nothing but a troublemaker! He's given himself over to the Devil, he's yielded to the Devil, he's going the Devil's way instead of God's way & he's dangerous to have around!
72. When people fail the Lord & they fail us, they apparently have no idea what a big failure that is & how bad it is & how far they are on their way down!
73. Anybody who chooses his family over a job for the Lord is a backslider!
74. Backsliders make God sick at His stomach & He vomits them out!--God's vomit, the backsliders!
75. God have mercy & protect us from backsliders! They're the worst enemies of all & the worst reproach to God's work & the worst possible testimony!
76. If you're out of touch with the Lord, there's only one other one that you can get in touch with & that is the Devil!
77. Everybody can make it, it's up to them. If you don't make it, it's not God's fault.
78. Either you're getting better & better, or you're getting worse! There's no such thing as standing still. You're either going ahead, or you're going backwards, one or the other!
79. When people just insist on having their own way & they're going to go ahead Hell, or high water, & do it themselves anyhow, sometimes you just have to let'm do it.
(See also No. 71, 140, 312, 313C, 383, 395, 641, 756, 759, 763, 772, 778, 830, 880, 952, 954, 967, 1014, 1040, 1045, 1049, 1056, 1058, 1089, 1202, 1651, 1652, 1653.)
80. GEN.19:26 But his (Lot's) wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
81. DEU.28:63 And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
82. JOS.24:20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good.
83. 2CH.30:9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if ye return unto Him.
84. EZR.8:22b The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.
85. JOB.14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
86. JOB.34:26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others.
87. PSA.37:31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
88. PSA.44:20,21 If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
89. PSA.51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
90. PSA.78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
91. PSA.119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant; for I do not forget Thy commandments.
92. PRO.14:14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.
93. PRO.15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
94. PRO.26:11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
95. PRO.28:10 Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
96. ECC.7:10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
97. ISA.30:1,2 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
98. ISA.54:7,8 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
99. JER.5:6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
100. JER.7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
101. JER.15:6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
102. JER.24:7 And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
103. DAN.9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him.
104. HOS.4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
105. HOS.6:1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.
106. HOS.14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.
107. JOE.2:12,13 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.
108. MAT.5:13 Ye are the salt of the Earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
109. MAT.13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the Word; and the care of this World, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful.
110. LUK.8:13 They on the Rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the Word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
111. LUK.9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.
112. LUK.15:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
113. LUK.17:32 Remember Lot's wife.
114. JOH.6:66,67 From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away?
115. JOH.15:6 If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
116. GAL.4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
117. GAL.5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
118. EPH.4:18,19 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
119. 2TI.4:10a For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present World.
120. HEB.3:12,13 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
121. HEB.5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
122. HEB.6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the World to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.
123. HEB.10:26,27 For if we (continue to) sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
124. HEB.11:14,15 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
125. 2PE.2:20-22 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
126. 2PE.3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
127. 1JO.2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
128. JUD.4,5 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
129. REV.2:4,5 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
(See also DEU.8:11-14; DEU.13:4-11; DEU.30:1-10; DEU.32; JOB.22:23-30; ZEC.10:6; MAL.3:7; MAT.4:7-19; LUK.15:11-27; 1CO.10:1-13; HEB.6:4-8; HEB.10:26-29,38.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family