Lookahead:  God used a highly graphic symbol for Israel, in order to express His profound feelings in a way that His 7th century B.C. audience could empathize with.  He spoke about how He had rescued Israel when she was like a newborn who had been abandoned in a field after she was born.  No one bothered to cut the umbilical cord correctly, or clean her, or clothe her, or take care of her.  The Lord had gathered her up and provided care/nourishment for her to grow and mature.

As a rule of thumb, do we typically see Kingdom Straddlers, i.e., people who are in the Kingdom one day and then fall into sin and out of the Kingdom temporarily—in a somewhat cyclical pattern?

My theory is that once people fully experience the Kingdom they have no desire to backslide and they will go to great lengths to remain in the Kingdom.  It’s like the Pearl of Great Price that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:45.  Once they find this Pearl, they will do anything—basically give up everything else—to keep it. I believe that’s the way the Kingdom is.  Nevertheless, I am aware of many ministers who fell from grace and came running back to Jesus. So I do believe that if we fall out of the Kingdom, He will welcome us back with open arms just as the father welcomed back the prodigal son.  I just don’t think that people who backslide were Kingdom Occupiers (KO’s) to begin with.  Having said that, I started looking on Google for any examples of backslidden people who were originally very close to God, and eventually came running back.  When I searched on the key phrase “Christians who made a comeback” it was interesting that the Google hits did not address a spiritual comeback.  They were related to financial turnarounds, or physical recovery, or even bouncing back from natural disasters.

One popular pastor spoke about how his church had sponsored a conference that almost had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.  With all the no-shows, a huge financial shortfall resulted that severely jeopardized the church’s survival as a going entity. This “comeback” testimony was very entertaining because the LORD actually worked two miracles.  When conference proceeds were tallied up, they discovered that they needed a six figure amount and a way out of no way.  After the bad news hit, the pastor and his wife…went to a wedding reception.  God immediately sent someone over to them at the reception and he offered to wire them the needed funds by close of next business day.  But on that day, the pastor ran headlong into another financial crisis—he was informed that the church still didn’t have enough money to meet payroll in two weeks’ time.  However, immediately after the second round of bad news hit, the pastor received a call from Chicago.  The caller confessed that he had been three weeks late in mailing a check to the pastor and that it would go out ASAP.  It was in the exact amount that was needed!¹ 😊

Then there was an e-article about Famous Christians who made a personal comeback.  All accounts turned out to be emotional and physical healing challenges—loss of loved ones, vocal chord injuries, cancer, etc.  Another interesting thing—most of the celebrities were men; the two women who were mentioned were not initially celebrities when tragedy struck—and they were not healed afterwards.  One remained a paraplegic and the other an amputee.  Yet both women had incredible spiritual transformations and, whereas they had zero fame beforehand, the LORD subsequently blessed them with far-reaching global ministries to the extent that they became household names.  But I’m not sure they experienced comebacks—it was more a matter of God giving them beauty for ashes.  

When I next searched on “backsliders who came back to God,” I found a highly impactful website that was owned by a ministry for porn addicts.  The former residents were open and honest with their testimonies, even providing their first names. A gentleman named Dustin represented a case study of the Word falling on stony ground (Matt 13:5).  He said that he was drawn to God initially, but described the love that he felt as lacking passion due to his sin and guilt—so he defaulted to going through the Christian motions.  As a result, his heart grew cold very quickly.  Another gentleman, whose name is Jordan, was tragically molested at a very young age and that created all kinds of gender identity problems. He was a preacher’s kid hence he was very, very active in the church but eventually he walked away completely.  In his recovery, the pivotal turning point came when the counselor asked everybody in Group Therapy what their biggest idol was; the resident realized that his biggest idol was…himself!  So he got out of his own way…and let the LORD work a miracle of such incredible stature that the man is now a staff member of this ministry, and helping many people, unselfishly.  

A man named Joshua expressed his belief that the devil pushed him down a road of darkness.  His life was covered in the darkness until he saw the light. 

One other gentleman was a pastor for 29 years and said that he was always doing something good for God—preaching and teaching—and that he adored it—and the LORD.  The way he described his fall was that the sin eventually became greater than the Spirit of God within.  I’m sure he meant his perception and focus here—as nothing and no one is greater and more powerful than the Holy Spirit. 😊

I sensed that none of these former addicts had a Kingdom-type relationship with God to begin with.  Therefore, their testimonies did not represent a spiritual comeback.  In some cases, the enemy had stolen the Word very early on—with addictions that took hold in grade school. ☹ In others, the people were into religious works, not relationship, when they became addicted.  However, when I checked out the testimonies of the addict’s spouses, I think I found a case study of a spiritual comeback after all.   One woman said that she did not realize that her husband was a porn addict…at all!  All the time that they were dating and early in the marriage, he scrupulously kept his chronic, multi-year addiction a secret.  When she found out, she was more angry at God (for allowing this to happen to her) than she was at the man.  She had started out having a close relationship with God, and spent years and years living for Him and being faithful to Him—and for what?  So that a “stealthy sicko” could break her heart?   But as her husband progressed in his healing process, it was as if her relationship with God was beautifully re-kindled in parallel.

This represents a good example of somebody who walked in the spirit and then encountered a significant emotional event that absolutely shattered their trust and laid them low.  I had mentioned in previous posts that Kingdom entry is all about trust.  If that trust is dealt a major blow, we will either run to God, or away from Him…and out of the Kingdom.   Nevertheless, God wants the Kingdom to come for everyone.  So I believe He will welcome that hurting person back with open arms. 

When I was searching all this to ground, I stumbled across a YouTube video with the title, “How To Come Back To God After Backsliding.”   This young woman seemed to be somewhat of a fatalist in the sense that she represented the backslidden condition as an inevitable—almost cyclical—part of life.  Her words:  “Sometimes you just go through the time when you’re just not as close to God and it could be (your) own fault and it could be circumstances; it could be (that) for whatever reason, you just feel far away from Him.”  Her counsel was, “Just come back!” 😊  I found this somewhat hopeful in the sense that it confirms that our relationship with God is a work in progress, and that He will take the Backslider back, even to the extent of circling back to rescue someone who is stuck in their mess.  But I think someone with this mentality probably is not concerned with being a KO. 

I had mentioned that I am con/currently attending an Ezekiel Bible Study.  We recently covered a chapter which talked about God’s relationship with Israel—at the time that Israel had gotten into some very serious sin.  God used a highly graphic symbol for Israel, in order to express His profound feelings in a way that his 7^th century B.C. audience could empathize with.  He spoke about how He had rescued Israel when she was like a newborn who had been abandoned in a field after she was born.  No one bothered to cut the umbilical cord correctly, or clean her, or clothe her, or take care of her.  The Lord had gathered her up and provided care/nourishment for her to grow and mature.  When she was full grown, He provided her with…His splendor.  He arrayed her in fine clothes, and jewels, and perfumes.  But eventually she began to believe that it was not God’s Splendor, it was her splendor.  And that’s when she began to commit adulterous affairs, which was God’s symbol for the abominable practice of idol worship.  I went from that revelation to another YouTube seek ‘n find in which I suddenly found myself learning more about the “televangelist soap operas” in the 80’s; in many cases, their story was Israel’s. (I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were not charlatans for the most part, but that, in their minds, they began to blur the dividing line between where they left off and where God began.)  In truth though, I don’t think any of these televangelists were KO’s to begin with.  If they had been living in the Kingdom, with the King, they would have been acutely aware that they were nothing but abandoned babies in a field without Him. 

In sum,  I believe that when it comes to the Kingdom existence, you know exactly where you leave off, and where God begins.   Therefore, in the majority of cases, you are either solidly in or solidly out.  If you are solidly out then you may or may not care.  And I believe that if you do care, you will be pressing for the mark—and I further believe that the Lord will not disappoint.  However, I do not believe that there is such a thing as being a fence sitter with one foot in and one foot out of the Kingdom.

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¹Lou Giglio’s website: /wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/12/Comeback-1stChapterLocked.pdf