{"id":187,"date":"2012-05-18T16:31:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T21:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/how-to-backslide-in-9-easy-steps-by-tim-challis\/"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:31:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T20:31:25","slug":"how-to-backslide-in-9-easy-steps-by-tim-challis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps by Tim Challis"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps<\/a>:
A few days ago I shared John Bunyan\u2019s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide<\/a>. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why<\/em>, I\u2019ve now drawn from Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em> instruction on the how<\/em>. In each case I\u2019ve given my short summary followed by Bunyan\u2019s own words. Here is how to backslide in nine easy\u00a0steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Stop meditating on the gospel. \u201cThey draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to\u00a0come.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Neglect your devotions and stop battling sin. \u201cThen they cast off by degrees private duties, as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching, sorrow for sin, and the\u00a0like.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. Isolate yourself from Christian fellowship. \u201cThen they shun the company of lively and warm\u00a0Christians.\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Stop going to church. \u201cAfter that, they grow cold to public duty, as hearing, reading, godly conference, and the\u00a0like.\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. Determine that Christians are hypocrites because they continue to sin. \u201cThey then begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some of the godly, and that devilishly, that they may have a seeming color to throw religion (for the sake of some infirmities they have espied in them) behind their\u00a0backs.\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. Trade Christian community for distinctly unChristian company. \u201cThen they begin to adhere to, and associate themselves with, carnal, loose, and wanton\u00a0men.\u201d<\/li>\n
  7. Pursue rebellious conversation and fellowship. \u201cThen they give way to carnal and wanton discourses in secret; and glad are they if they can see such things in any that are counted honest, that they may the more boldly do it through their\u00a0example.\u201d<\/li>\n
  8. Allow yourself to enjoy some small, sinful pleasures. \u201cAfter this they begin to play with little sins\u00a0openly.\u201d<\/li>\n
  9. Admit what you are and prepare yourself for everlasting torment. \u201cAnd then, being hardened, they show themselves as they are. Thus, being launched again into the gulf of misery, unless a miracle of grace prevent it, they everlastingly perish in their own\u00a0deceivings.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps: A few days ago I shared John Bunyan\u2019s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34kFn-31","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/2368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}