Your Turn: "Mistakes Backsliders Make"

Originally Posted by Rhoni

I believe in part what you said is true. I believe all backsliders need to know they are sons and daughters of God - still. They are not disinherited by God though...they choose to leave the Father's house...there is a difference.

They must choose to come back to the Father's house and their position as a son or daughter with all the rights and privilges are completely restored. God the Father does not make them do pentance nor take a position of less authority...it is man who puts those conditions on other men...making it nearly impossible for the prodigal's son or daughter to ever truly feel restored. That is where the selfish and jealous son who as never left gets bent out of shape and throws a temper tantrum.

That jealous son or daughter, if they can, will do their best to thwart the purpose of God in the other's life by sabotoguing all the other does in the hopes it makes them look better in their self-righteous pride.

Blessings, Rhoni

Rhoni,

We really do agree in total... i just should have used Biblical terminology and said they have simply squandered their inheritance. Certainly the only requirement is that they return to the father and pick up where they left off. There are some who believe that in restoration one is restored to the place they would have attained had they not walked in a wasteful lifestyle. I have not done any research to see if that is supported but it does sound good! That would be the restoration of "the years" eaten by the locust and the cankerworm.

Originally Posted by nahkoe

LOL! You're not going to let me forget that are you? You know, a nice person would let that go into the past before the next service so I don't have to like...be accountable for that. (yes, this is a private thing and she'd best leave it that way! lolol)

Nahkoe,

Do you realize that I and every other part of the body is incomplete without you? We may be getting the job done but usually in a prosthetic manner... using a program in place of a person. We NEED you... You ARE a Body part even if at present you are not a part of the body. Just come on home... the Father has resized your robe several times, the ring is continually polished and prepared for your use in authority, all seven of the cows just outside the mansion door started out as your fatted calf, the table is set, the party is ready... all that is missing is you!

come on home!

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by philjones

Rhoni,

We really do agree in total... i just should have used Biblical terminology and said they have simply squandered their inheritance. Certainly the only requirement is that they return to the father and pick up where they left off. There are some who believe that in restoration one is restored to the place they would have attained had they not walked in a wasteful lifestyle. I have not done any research to see if that is supported but it does sound good! That would be the restoration of "the years" eaten by the locust and the cankerworm.

I thought we probably agreed!

Blessings, Rhoni

[nahkoe]

I know you probably don't know me from anyone but I've seen your posts, I've read them over and over. I wish I knew you better to more accurately judge this post. My impression is, you're not very happy where you are. Other posts I've read in the past have made me think you were pretty happy. It's ok either way, just something I noticed.

You're right the Apostolic church can't contain God's Spirit. It just can't.

I want to say so much more, but I feel I'd be overstepping my bounds maybe? Again, I know you don't know me but feel free to PM me. I hold no judgement, I don't preach well. But I hated the Church, the whole Church, hard enough and for long enough to at least nod well while I listen. That offer stands indefinitely. Oh and I for sure know what not to say. lol I heard it all often enough.

Originally Posted by Michlow

Wow, a whole thread just for me

Whereas I could give you several reasons why people would leave, I can't imagine why anyone would go back.

[nahkoe]

You just made what's quite possibly the most profound statement in this thread, maybe the entire forum. lol

Who He is is so much more...everthing than what I'd ever been taught. I don't want to teach people who God is, I want to introduce them to Him. He can take care of the teaching.

And if you really want to know, you'll know. It may take longer than you think it should, it may take twists and turns you can't think could possibly be God, but you'll know who He really is at the end of the road.

Originally Posted by Michlow

Well then I am back to not being safe

I don't think I will be able to learn to trust in god, until I can learn to separate who God really is, from what I was taught that he is.

[nahkoe]

Originally Posted by Michlow

Well then I am back to not being safe

I don't think I will be able to learn to trust in god, until I can learn to separate who God really is, from what I was taught that he is.

Seriously, may I use this as my sig line?

[simplyme]

Originally Posted by Titus2Mom

I did backslide once several years ago. I was dealing with a lot of personal problems and I was struggling desperately. I knew what I believed and why I believed it, but I had been hurt so much by events in my life, and then by people in the church that I had simply decided that "caring" hurt too much. So I decided to quit caring. About anything. About church, about standards, I chopped off all my hair. "It can't hurt if I don't care." No one ever stopped to ask me WHY I cut my hair off, only railed on me before church service because I had. They had no idea why I was doing the things I was, why I was falling apart. No one ever asked, no one ever called, even when I stopped coming to church. Not one phone call. They just cut me off as an "evil backslider."

The only "family" I had, had disowned me when I needed them the most.
So sad sorry to hear that., I would not have done that.

I eventually pulled myself up by my bootstraps and came back stronger than ever. My views, my standards, everything. I did learn something in the midst of it all. Never count on people to be there. God is the ONLY one that doesn't let you down. He is the ONLY one that will be there for you. Something I had been taught as a baby Christian...I just had to learn it the hard way.

Funny thing I have noticed. A man backslides, and all he has to do is get a haircut and a shave and he is "BACK!"
A woman takes a couple years before she is accepted again....until her hair grows long enough to "look" the part.

Just my thoughts.

NOOO, dontcha know all she's gotta do is pin it up all the time, and no one will ever know, for sure?

Surely this is one that is vitally important:

"It's A Mistake To Be So Deceived You Don't Know You Are Backslidden."

After being in full time ministry for 27 years I can attest to two heartbreaking facts:

1) The carnal nature in people can justify any sin they want to commit if they want it bad enough.

2) Once they start trying to justify it even the Word of God isn't enough to convince them they are wrong.

The end result is a backslidden person who refuses to believe they are anything less than 'saved'.

[Rhoni]

Bro. Steadfast,

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe those who judge who is and isn't backslidden might be wrong? Only God knows the thoughts and intents of each individual's heart. He is the one who judges from the inside while man only judges from their perception of what they see on the outside...and how many of us know that you can only believe very small portions of what we see?

Blessings, Rhoni

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Bro. Steadfast,

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe those who judge who is and isn't backslidden might be wrong? Only God knows the thoughts and intents of each individual's heart. He is the one who judges from the inside while man only judges from their perception of what they see on the outside...and how many of us know that you can only believe very small portions of what we see?

Blessings, Rhoni

We judge by what we see and HEAR. What we hear is what flows out of the abundance of the heart. Sometimes people want to do something not condoned by the church and perhaps by the Bible and all it takes is a small offence from the pastor or someone in the church to cause that person to leave. I heard a message by Bro Abbey (California) called the Prodigal God in which he related a story of a man who had come to his church was baptized in Jesus name and left. Years later this man was dying of AIDS and asked for Bro Abbey to visit him. When Bro Abbey came the man rehearsed how he had come to the his church and was excited in the ways of the Lord. How he was baptized in water but had become offended at something that was preached and decided right then and there that he would never go back to that church. Not only did this man not go back to Bro Abbey's church but he went out into sin, specifically homosexuality and contracted AIDS. On his death bed he remembered God and called for Bro Abbey to pray for him. To make a long story short, Bro Abbey came and told the man (who had repented) that he could be forgiven (the man wasn't sure God would forgive him) and prayed for him. The man began to speak in other tongues as he was filled with the Spirit. It was a touching story of God's love and mercy.

This is just an example of a person who left church and God over a small offence. An offence in his mind that would justify not living for God, according to his own testimony. People need to be more honest with themselves. I agree with Steadfast that people can deceive themselves.