THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR - John Angell James

 

THE BACKSLIDING PROFESSOR

There are three stages of departure from God—

1. spiritual declension

2. actual backsliding

3. final apostasy

They are intimately connected, and lead on, unless stopped by divine grace, from one to the other. There have been many people in these states in every age of the church—there are some now. Our most solemn attention is required for such a subject. Professors are continually falling away from Christ, some only in heart, others openly in conduct; some partially and for a season, others totally and forever. The hopes of pastors and churches are continually receiving the bitterest disappointment from the relapses of those who "did run well." Like the blossoms in the spring, for a time they excited the most pleasing anticipations—but a blight came on—the blossom went up as dust, and the root appeared to be rottenness. The present chapter will include a consideration of the two first stages only.

1. DECLENSION IN PIETY, means a diminution of its vigor at the heart; a loss of the power of godliness, or, to use a scriptural phrase, "a leaving of our first love." We have a very expressive description of such a state of soul in our Lord's address to the church of Sardis, "Strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die." Religion was not all gone—but it was nearly so; only a little remained, and that was ready to expire. This is a very common case now. There is no immorality; no open sin; but an utter decay of pious affection. The whole amount of piety that is left—is cold, heartless, dead formality. The fundamental doctrines and precious truths of the Gospel, though not renounced, are not relished and fed upon with that eager appetite, keen relish, and exquisite zest which they once were—and they can be very well spared from sermons, if their loss is supplied by displays of eloquence and the flowers of rhetoric. The means of grace, though not neglected—are mere forms, imparting no quickening power, and yielding no spiritual enjoyment. Pious affections of peace, joy, love, delight in God, and hope of heaven—are almost extinguished. The vigor of watchfulness, spirituality of mind, and the severity of mortification of sin are relaxed—under the idea that so much strictness in religion is not necessary. The company of the righteous is forsaken, and their conversation insipid. The tenderness of the conscience is blunted—and little sins of temper, of trade, of the heart and the tongue, are committed with far less repugnance than formerly. Besetting sins, once nearly subdued—acquire fresh life and power. In short, piety has lost its hold upon the mind, the heart, and conscience, as an elevating, sanctifying, and satisfying reality. Delight in God, the love of Christ, the joyful hope of heaven, have well near ceased!

Still, as I would not distress the humble and timid disciple, I would observe, that we are not to conclude that piety is declining, merely because our feelings are not so lively and flashy as they once were. If there be a growth in humility and meekness, in tenderness of conscience and self-denial, in a sense of the value of Christ, and in dependence upon the Spirit, there is no declension in piety, although there may be less of vivid emotion than there once was. Just as there is no decay of strength in the human frame, where the sprightliness and efflorescence of youth are gone, if the grave robustness of manhood remains. Nor should the aged believer mistake the decay of nature for the decline of grace. He hears, he prays, he reads, he remembers, and enjoys with less ability than he once did; but this is the effect of old age, and not of backsliding. The plant of righteousness seems to droop—but it is because the prop that sustained it has given way. The gracious Redeemer will make the same excuse in this case, as he once did for his slumbering disciples, that "the spirit is willing—but the flesh is weak."

Unhappily, for many, a state of declension exists in their souls without their being aware of it. "Strangers have devoured his strength," said God, when speaking of Israel, "and he knows it not; yes, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knows it not." Hosea 7:9. So it is with professors, they are in a state of decay, and yet are not sufficiently aware of the solemn fact. It may be worthwhile to inquire into the causes of this self-ignorance.

1. The natural consequence of decay—whether of body or mind—is a proportionate insensibility. The old man is not so sensible of his accumulating infirmities as those around him are. He scarcely remembers what he was, and is but imperfectly aware of what he is. So it is with the declining Christian, his heart is hardening, his conscience becoming more dull, and his spiritual perception more dim. A totally unregenerate state is death, a state of absolute insensibility, and in proportion as we lose the vitality of religion, we return or approximate to that state.

2. Declension is gradual. It is so in the human frame as age advances, and it is so in religion also. If we passed at once, from the vigor of youth to the decrepitude of age, how visible would be the transition, and how insupportable too! But aging is so slowly made as to be imperceptible, and even tolerable. It is thus with piety, decay is usually so gradual as to be perceived only by a comparison of distant periods, an exercise, which the backslider is rarely disposed to carry on. He goes back step by step. He first loses the glow of holy affection; then the spontaneousness of spiritual thoughts; then the tenderness of an enlightened conscience; and then the consistency of pious conduct. Private prayer is neglected, then family devotion, and lastly social religion. From neglect of duties, he goes on to the commission of sins. Yet he was at first quite unaware of any deterioration.

3. Self-ignorance is often the result of a neglect of the duty of self-examination. Many seem to think that religion is of so hardy a nature, that when once planted in the soul, like some weed in the desert, or shrub upon the mountain, it must flourish without care or culture. On the contrary, piety is a tender exotic of the hot-house, that requires the constant examination, and most devoted care of the gardener to keep it alive—much more to make it grow. How few set apart seasons for close and diligent inspection of their hearts; and who can wonder, then, that piety should be declining without their knowing it? Would it be a matter of surprise that a tradesman should be on the verge of bankruptcy, without his knowing the situation of his affairs—if he never examined his books, or took his stock? It will not do in temporal affairs, much less in spiritual ones, to take it for granted, we are going on well.

4. What helps the ruinous ignorance is, that professors are apt, when they do cursorily examine their state, to adopt wrong standards of character, and to compare themselves with each other—instead of the word of God. "I am no worse than my neighbor," is the excuse not only of the worldling, for his total neglect of religion—but of the professor, for his low degrees of piety. Instead of examining the Bible to see what he ought to be, and comparing himself with that, he just looks round upon his fellow-Christians, to see what they are, and is quite satisfied if he finds himself not below others. Alas, alas! the average attainments of the church of Christ are not such, as that its members having reached these, need not trouble themselves about anything further.

5. Mistaken symptoms of prosperity often lead to ignorance of our real condition. The hectic flush upon the countenance, and the sparkle of the eye, may be supposed by some ignorant people to be the marks of blooming health—when, in fact, they are the tokens of incipient consumption. The increased appetite may be regarded as the symptom of returning strength, when, in reality, it may be only the harbinger of death. So in religion also, there are delusive signs of spiritual health and vigor. Increased ability and disposition to 'talk of religion' in the way of explaining and defending its doctrines, may be mistaken for an increased interest and influence of it in the heart, whereas it may be nothing but the working of pride, or an effusion of vanity. Zeal for some peculiar religious notions or forms, may be supposed to be pure concern for God's glory, though all the while it may be the most rancorous party spirit. Liberality in giving, may be self-righteousness or ostentation; undeviating formality may be miscounted ardent devotion; enthusiastic attachment to some novel opinion, may be erroneously supposed to be spirituality of mind. These are but a few specimens of the errors into which men fall, in judging of religious prosperity; and they tend to show the vast importance of our having a scriptural knowledge of the correct tests of personal godliness.

In all these ways may professors be kept in ignorance of the state of their souls, and be in a declining condition, without being sufficiently aware of their alarming situation.

I now go on to consider the case of the BACKSLIDER IN CONDUCT. I mean the professor who has yielded to the power of temptation, and fallen into actual sin. The Scriptures furnish us with melancholy instances of this in the history of Noah, Lot, David, Jonah, and Peter; while our knowledge of the church of Christ, in our own days, adds to the number. Some have fallen into intemperance, others into impurity; others into fraud; and others into all the varieties of human misconduct. In some cases there have been gross departures from the rule of Christian morals, without its being suspected, and the backslider has pursued his guilty course, without its being known to anyone but God and his conscience. Generally, however, the solemn fact, sooner or later becomes notorious, and is matter of public scandal.

People of all ages; of both sexes; of the various grades of society; and of the different sections of the church, have been guilty of the sin of backsliding. That such things should occur, however it may be lamented, cannot be matter of surprise, when we consider the prevalence of temptation, the constitution of human nature, and the imperfection, and occasional unwatchfulness of the best of men. To such as are in this melancholy and dreadful condition, I now make my appeal.

Is it necessary to represent to you the sinfulness of your conduct? But who shall describe its enormity? What pencil can delineate in shades dark enough—the aggravated nature of your crime? Against what light, what mercy, what professions, what vows, what privileges—have you sinned? Your transgressions include the blackest treason, united with the vilest ingratitude. But I will suppose that you are already sensible of this. Permit me, then, to ask you—are you happy? Impossible! unless your heart is hardened, and your conscience is seared as with a hot iron. No, the streams of religious comfort are dried up; the fountain of life is at a distance, and nothing but a cup of wormwood is its substitute. Faith is suppressed, love quenched, hope clouded, joy fled, prayer restrained—and every spiritual delight vanished. Guilt, shame, darkness, and defilement, have taken possession of the soul. In what agony of spirit have you sometimes repeated those verses—

Where is the blessedness I knew,

When first I saw the Lord;

Where is the soul refreshing view,

Of Jesus and his word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed,

How sweet their memory still;

But they have left an aching void,

The world can never fill.

Is not your experience a living comment on those words, "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you; know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God."

It is, or it ought to be, no small addition to the misery of a backsliding state, that it stops your usefulness. In your holier and better days you did good; but what good can you do now? Why, even the declining professor, who still keeps up his place in the church, and among his fellows—has ceased to be what he was. His prayers in public have lost their unction, his conversation in private has lost its savor; the sick are not visited; the poor not relieved; the young not counseled; the sinner not warned, as they once were. His energies are paralyzed, his influence gone. He has begun to withhold his wealth, his time, his labor—from the cause of God. His family, his friends, all see, feel, and lament the alteration. O, how changed from that once useful member of the church of Christ, which he then was!

And if this be the case with him, how much more of you, whose misconduct has in effect separated you from all those scenes of usefulness, which he in some measure still frequents. You not only do no good—but much harm. You are not privileged to be even neutral. You diffuse around you the savor of death. If you are a parent—you prejudice the minds of your children against religion, and may live to see your sins acted over again in their conduct, as David did his, in the actions of Amnon and Absalom. You harden sinners; discourage inquirers; give strength to the arguments of the infidel; point to the jests of the scoffer, and impudence to the brow of the profane.

But consider the imminent danger you are in of falling into future temptations, of sinking deeper into the mire of sin, and departing farther and farther from God. You cannot stop where you are—but must come back in the character of a penitent—or go on to that of an apostate. You are in danger of eternal damnation. "The object at which sin aims, whether in believers or unbelievers, is DEATH, eternal death—and to this it has a natural and direct tendency. And if it does not come in all cases to this final outcome, it is not because of its being different as to its nature or tendency in some people, to what it is in others—but because a timely stop is put to its operations. Only let sin go on without repentance until it has finished its work—and eternal death will be the outcome! Whatever we are, so long as sin lies unlamented upon the conscience, we can have no scriptural foundation to conclude that we are true Christians. No real Christian, it is true, will prove an apostate; yet, while we are under the influence of sin, we are moving in the direction which leads to apostasy. If we are contented with a relapsed state of mind, what ground have we to conclude that it is not our element, or that we have ever been the subjects of true religion?" (Andrew Fuller's Works, vol. 4. p. 460.)

I now suggest one or two cautions, and some directions, which are applicable to your case.

Do not attempt while the sinful practice is continued, to gain any comfort of mind by the supposition that you are a true Christian still, and shall one day be restored to God by penitence and faith. Do not attempt to establish in reference to your own case, the distinction between the backsliding of a child of God—and that of a hypocrite. There is a difference, I know, both as to causes and results—but you cannot discern it in yourself, nor can others discern it in you, as long as you are living in sin! There is no view of God's word, nor any recollection of your own experience, that should have the smallest influence to comfort you—while you are living in sin! There is more in that one sin which you refuse to repent of and forsake, to make it probable so far as we can judge, that you will draw back to perdition; than there is in all your supposed conversion, and in all the doctrines of grace to make it probable that you will be brought to heaven. To take any comfort in the idea of future repentance, while sin is for the present committed and enjoyed—is the most unscriptural, irrational, and shocking of all delusions!

Do not allow yourselves to believe that you have repented, except upon good grounds. Do not imagine that you are penitent, because you grieve over the sin and condemn it—if you have not forsaken it! You may shed floods of tears, and decry the sin with the severest condemnation—but if it is not relinquished, you are a backslider still, and such you must remain—until you have given up the evil thing! If, on the other hand, you have given up the sin—but still continue to justify or palliate it, you are far off from penitence. Nor is it enough to have a partial and transient amendment, produced rather by some temporary cause, such as a sermon, or an alarming event—rather than by a renewed exercise of penitence and faith. Equally inadequate is that amendment which is not the result of deep humiliation before God—but of mere selfish and prudential considerations. And be assured, that you have not yet been brought to the necessary compunction and reformation, if you love to talk or think of the sin you have committed. Repentance blushes even to think, much more to speak of our transgressions. Repentance is a silent retiring grace. And it is moreover characterized by the most exquisite sensibility in dreading and avoiding everything that, in the remotest degree, tends to, or tempts to the repetition of the sin! So that if we put ourselves in the way of sinning again—we are still in a backsliding state.

Backsliders, be not deceived! And do not, oh! do not remain as you are! In seeking restoration, take care to use the right means. Mistake not the way back to God. Add not another error to those into which you have already fallen. The following DIRECTIONS may be of service to you.

1. There must be a sincere desire to return. In whatever way we may have departed from God, there must be a sincere desire to come back to him again. Without this, all directions will be in vain, and all means without effect. And do you not desire it? Is your backsliding pleasant? Are you as happy as when living near to God, and enjoying the testimony of your conscience? To quicken your desires and make you long more earnestly for restoration to the enjoyment of the divine favor, it may be well to listen to the admonition given by our Lord to the church of Ephesus. "Remember from whence you are fallen!" This was not said in the way of taunt; then it had been severely just—but in the way of friendly counsel. Think, backsliding Christian, what you once were, and ask, "Is it better with me now, than it was then?"

Think of your holiness and happiness in those days of your first and fervent love! Think how sweet, yes sweeter than the honeycomb, were those precious truths, for which you now have no relish! Think how delightful were those means of grace in which you now take no pleasure! Think how joyfully you resorted to the house of God, welcomed the Sabbath, and joined in the communion of saints at the table of the Lord! Think with what confidence you drew near to God, while your conscience testified in your favor, and took away every dread of the Most High—you had the joy of faith, the comfort of love, the patience of hope, and a humble consciousness of purity. But this is all gone—and O, how changed! how fallen! Look up to those delectable mountains, from the sunny tops, and verdant slopes, and beautiful prospects of which you have descended into the gloomy and sterile wilderness in which your spirit now roams like the dispossessed demoniac in the Gospel, seeking rest and finding none. Return! Return to God! Let a sense of duty draw you—and a sense of misery drive you back to him from whom you have departed!

2. You must at once abandon, and with abhorrence too, the sin by which you have departed from God. You must instantly, and without reluctance, forsake your evil ways. You must say with the poet—

The dearest idol I have known,

Whatever that idol be,

Help me to tear it from your throne,

And worship only thee.

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God—for he will abundantly pardon." This is the direction for the sinner, and the same applies to the backslider. The hand of faith when it opens to lay hold of Christ, drops the sin it had grasped before. You must part with your sin or Christ.

3. It may be well to consider in what way you have fallen, that your repentance may have a special reference to your transgressions, and that your recovery may be in the way, and to the point of your departure. Was it by a sudden temptation plunging you into sin, or by the long accumulation of little sins, that you were prepared for the greater fall? Was it by pride and prosperity, or by rashness and imprudence? Was it by neglect of private prayer, or of the Scriptures? An examination of this point is of considerable importance in various ways.

4. You must closely consider and rightly understand the evil nature of your backslidings, as sins committed after your conversion to God. As our first turning to God begins with conviction of sin, so must every other return. Such sins as yours have been committed in violation of the most solemn vows and engagements; without any provocation on the part of God; and against the greatest and frequently repeated mercies. They are characterized by singular perils in reference to ourselves, and peculiar danger as regards the well-being of others. But all this is nothing, if your hearts are not duly impressed with these things. The clearer your perceptions are of the enormity of your conduct, the more earnestly you will covet the renewed expressions of divine forgiveness, and the returning sense of pardoning mercy.

5. Consider God's infinite willingness to receive and pardon the penitent and returning backslider. When once the erring Christian is brought to a due and deep sense of his sins, how pungent his grief, how oppressive the weight of his guilt. He is in danger of sinking into the depths of despondency, and viewing himself as an outcast from both God and his people. His sins in all their aggravations appear to his distracted mind. Satan accuses! Conscience stings! Every look of every Christian seems to reproach him. And what is worse, God seems to frown upon him—and has, to his perturbed imagination, appeared to cover his throne with a cloud from which thunders roll, and lightnings flash, and dreadful forms of justice come forth.

No, you are mistaken! Trembling penitent, the cloud, and the thunder, and the lightnings, and the dreadful forms of justice exist only in your imagination. God has scattered over the whole page of revelation, invitations, encouragements, and promises to draw you back to himself. From the hour of your departure, he has never ceased to look after you, and even to follow you, with the messages of 'wounded love'—and 'inviting mercy'. Hearken to a few of them. "O, Israel, return unto the Lord, your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord; say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him." Hosea 14. Can you need encouragement after this? Will not this cheer you, and be felt as a sufficient warrant to return to God, and hope for mercy? If not, listen to the following pathetic language—"Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, 'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I slapped my thigh in grief; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.' Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 31:18-20). What unbelief or despondence can stand out against this?

6. But perhaps you need still more particular directions. Your case is difficult, your situation one of danger and urgency. Embrace every opportunity of retirement for reading the Scriptures, especially those parts which are suited to your case. Turn to such portions of Holy Writ as Jeremiah 2, 31. Hosea 14. Micah 7. Psalms 25, 32, 38, 51. the parable of the prodigal son, and other portions, which set forth at once the spirit of penitence, and the mercy of God.

Be also much in prayer. Solemn approaches to God are eminently calculated to impress the mind with a sense of sin, to inspire us with abhorrence on account of it, and at the same time to encourage our faith in God's pardoning mercy, and our dependence on his restoring grace.

There must be minute and unreserved confession of sin, an utter renunciation of all self-justification, excuses, and palliations. There must be a disposition to lay the hand upon the mouth, and a spirit of self-condemnation. We must admit all the aggravations of our sin, and look upon it, just as we may suppose God does.

You shall praise God that he has borne so long with your misconduct, and be especially grateful that he did not cut you off in your sins, nor allow you to go on still sinning, and acting out your transgressions to the full extent of their nature and tendency.

Set apart special seasons of devotion to humble yourselves before God, by fasting and prayer. Extraordinary cases require the use of extraordinary means. "A day," says Mr. Fuller, "devoted to God in humiliation, fasting and prayer, occasionally occupied with reading suitable parts of the Scriptures, may by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, contribute more to the subduing of sin, and the recovery of a spiritual mind, than years spent in a sort of half-hearted exercises."

Be neither surprised, mortified, nor offended, if for a while, your fellow-Christians who are acquainted with your lapses, should look timidly upon you, and seem incredulous as to the sincerity of year repentance. "Why should a man complain, a living man for the punishment of his sins. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." Let the spirit of these passages be in you, and consider whatever you may be called to endure, as a light affliction—compared with what you have deserved.

In all your approaches to the Savior, let it be under the character in which you first applied to him for mercy—that of a SINNER. "If you attempt to approach the throne of grace as a 'good' man, who has backslidden from God, you may find it impossible to substantiate that character. The reality of your conversion may be doubtful, not only in your apprehension—but in itself. Your approach, therefore, must not be as one that is washed, and needs only to wash his feet; but as one who is defiled throughout, whose hands and head, and every part needs to be cleansed! Do not employ yourself in raking over the rubbish of your past life in search of evidence that you are a Christian. You will not be able in your present state of mind, to decide that question; nor would it be of any service to you if you could decide it. One thing is certain; you are a sinner, a poor, miserable, and perishing sinner; the door of mercy is open, and you are welcome to enter in. 'I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!' Let your past character be what it may, and let your conversion be ever so doubtful, if you can, from this time, relinquish all for Christ, eternal life is before you." Fuller.

In your approaches to God as a sinner, feel as much your need of Christ as you ever did. You can go to God in no other way, but as a sinner. And by no other way than Christ. God meets his returning children, just where he meets his repenting enemies, at the cross; and nothing is so eminently adapted to open all the springs of godly sorrow, as a believing contemplation of the death of Christ. There must be a simple dependence upon the Spirit of God for our restoration. We can of our own accord depart from God—but it requires the omnipotence of his grace to bring us back.

You must be satisfied with nothing short of a complete recovery; which includes two things–

1. A sweet and comfortable sense of pardon; such a faith in God's promise of mercy, such a full reliance on the blood of Christ, as takes away all tormenting sense of sin and dread of God, and restores the soul to peace. And together with this recovery, includes such a victory over your corruptions, as that they shall lie wounded to death before you.

2. And with all this must be united a holy and trembling jealousy over yourself, a spirit of deep humility, and abasing consciousness of weakness, a feeling of dependence, and a purpose of 'watchfulness' for the future.

Backsliding—The Backslider restored - There is a perpetual, and there is a temporary backsliding.

 

1. The first is the case of those who, being partially awakened and enlightened by the Word accompanied by the common operations of the Spirit, make a profession of religion, and for a while seem to run well, and to outstrip the humble believer in zeal and activity; but having no root in themselves, in the time of temptation fall totally away, and not only relinquish their profession—but frequently renounce Christianity itself, and become the bitterest enemies of religion. Or, seduced by the pride of their own hearts, they forsake the true doctrines of the Gospel, fall in love with some flattering, flesh-pleasing form of heresy, and spend their time in zealous efforts to overthrow that very truth which they once professed to prize. Or, thirdly, they are overcome by some insidious lust or passion, and fall into the habitual practice of some sin, which at first they secretly indulge—but after a while cast off all disguise, and show to all that they are enslaved by some hurtful and hateful iniquity.

People who thus apostatize from the profession and belief of Christianity, or who fall into a habitual course of sinning, are commonly in the most hopeless condition of all who live in the midst of the means of grace. When they openly reject Christianity, their infidelity is commonly accompanied by contempt and a malign temper, which often prompts them to blasphemy; and they are, according to our apprehension, in great danger of committing the unpardonable sin; and some who in these circumstances are actuated by inveterate hatred to the truth, and who make use of their tongues to express the feelings of enmity which rankle in them, do often fall into this unpardonable sin.

The case of such seems to be described by Paul in Heb 6:6: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 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 to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame." Some suppose that the apostle here describes the character of the true Christian, and that he merely supposes the case, if such should fall away, what would be the fearful consequence; but this seems to us a forced construction. It seems more reasonable to believe that he is describing a case which may, and often does occur, and that the description applies to such professors as had received the miraculous endowments of the Holy Spirit, and yet apostatized: and by crucifying the Son of God afresh he probably alludes to the manner in which those who went back to the Jews were required to execrate the name of Christ in the synagogues, and to profess that He deserved to be crucified as He had been, and thus put Him to an open shame.

But whether such apostates do actually commit the unpardonable sin or not seems in most cases to be of little consequence, for they commonly die in their sins, and all sin unrepented of is unpardonable. In some cases, however, apostates stop short of infidelity and blasphemy, and while they stand aloof from religion, content themselves with decency, and do not treat religion with disrespect; yet it will be found on examination, that the hearts of such are extremely callous, and their consciences are seared as with a hot iron. The Spirit of God evidently has left them, and strives no more with them; and they often die as they have lived—fearfully insensible, having "no bands in their death". (Psalm 73:4) But sometimes conscience is let loose upon them in their last hours, and they are left to die in the horrors of despair. In the days of the apostles they seem to have had some way of knowing when a man had committed "the sin unto death", (1 John 5:16) and for such, Christians were not to pray, as their destiny was irretrievably fixed; but such knowledge cannot be possessed now, and we may therefore pray for all, as long as they are in the place of repentance.

2. But when we speak of backsliding, we commonly mean those sad departures of real Christians from God which are so common, and often so injurious to the cause of religion. These cases are so common, that some have thought that all Christians have their seasons of backsliding, when they leave their first love, and lose the sweet relish of divine things, and are excluded from intimate communion with God. But, however common backsliding may have been among Christians, there is no foundation for the opinion that it is common to all. We find no such declension in the experience of Paul or John, and in the biographies of some modern saints we find no such sad declension. We could refer to many recorded accounts of personal experience—but it will be sufficient to mention Richard Baxter, Gardiner, George Whitefield, and David Brainerd. No doubt all experience short seasons of comparative coldness and insensibility, and they who live near to God have not always equal light and life and comfort in the divine life. Those fluctuations of feeling which are so common are not included in the idea of a state of backsliding.

Backsliding occurs when the Christian is gradually led off from close walking with God, loses the lively sense of divine things, becomes too much attached to the world and too much occupied with secular concerns; until at length the keeping of the heart is neglected, prayer and the seeking of the Lord in private are omitted or slightly performed, zeal for the advancement of religion is quenched, and many things once rejected by a sensitive conscience are now indulged and defended.

All this may take place and continue long before the person is aware of his danger, or acknowledges that there has been any serious departure from God. The forms of religion may still be kept up, and open sin avoided. But more commonly backsliders fall into some evil habits; they are evidently too much conformed to the world, and often go too far in participating in the pleasures and amusements of the world; and too often there is an indulgence in known sin into which they are gradually led, and on account of which they experience frequent compunction, and make solemn resolutions to avoid it in future. But when the hour of temptation comes, they are overcome again and again, and thus they live a miserable life, enslaved by some sin, over which, though they sometimes struggle hard, they cannot get the victory.

There is in nature no more inconsistent thing than a backsliding Christian. Look at one side of his character and he seems to have sincere, penitential feelings, and his heart to be right in its purposes and aims; but look at the other side, and he seems to be "carnal, sold under sin". (Rom 7:14) O wretched man! how he writhes often in anguish, and groans for deliverance—but he is like Samson shorn of his locks—his strength is departed, and he is not able to rise and go forth at liberty as in former times.

All backsliders are not alike. Some are asleep—but the one now described is in a state of almost perpetual conflict which keeps him wide awake.

Sometimes when his pious feelings are lively, he cannot but hope that he loves God and hates sin, and is encouraged; but oh, when sin prevails against him, and he is led away captive, he cannot think that he is a true Christian. Is it possible that one who is thus overcome can have in him any principle of piety? Sometimes he gives up all hope, and concludes that he was deceived in ever thinking himself converted; but then again, when he feels a broken and contrite heart, and an ardent breathing and groaning after deliverance, he cannot but conclude that there is some principle above mere nature operating in him.

The sleeping backslider is one who, being surrounded with earthly comforts and engaged in secular pursuits, and mingling much with the decent and respectable people of the world, by degrees loses the deep impression of divine and eternal things. His spiritual senses become obtuse, and he has no longer the views and feelings of one awake to the reality of spiritual things. His case nearly resembles that of a man gradually sinking into sleep. Still he sees dimly and hears indistinctly—but he is fast losing the impression of the objects of the spiritual world, and is sinking under the impression of the things of time and sense.

There may be no remarkable change in the external conduct of such a person, except that he has no longer any relish for pious conversation, and rather is disposed to waive it. And the difference between such an one and the rest of the world becomes less and less distinguishable. From anything you see or hear, you would not suspect him to be a Christian, until you see him taking his seat at church. Such backsliders are commonly awakened by some severe judgments; the earthly objects on which they had too much fixed their affections are snatched away; and they are made bitterly to feel that it is an evil thing to forget and depart from the living God.

There is still another species of backsliding, in which by a sudden temptation, one who appeared to stand firm is cast down. Such was the fall of Peter. Many others have given full evidence that a man's standing is not in himself; for frequently men are overcome in those very things in which they were least afraid, and had most confidence in their own strength. These cases are usually more disgraceful than other instances of backsliding—but they are less dangerous; for commonly, where there is grace they produce such an overwhelming conviction of sin, and shame for having acted so unworthily, that repentance soon follows the lapse, and the person, when restored, is more watchful than ever against all kinds of sin, and more distrustful of himself. Such falls may be compared to a sudden accident by which a bone is broken or put out of joint; they are very painful, and cause the person to go limping all the remainder of his life—but do not so much affect the vitals as more secret and insidious diseases, which prey inwardly, without being perceived.

There are many people who never make a public profession of religion, who for a while are the subjects of serious impressions, whose consciences are much awake, and whose feelings are tender. They seem to love to hear the truth, and in a considerable degree fall under its influence, so as to be almost persuaded to be Christians; and for a season give to the pious, lively hopes of their speedy conversion. They are such as the person to whom Christ said, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:34) But through the blinding influence of avarice or ambition, or some other carnal motive, they are led away and lose all their serious thoughts and good resolutions. Such people usually lose their day of grace. I have seen an amiable young man weeping under the faithful preaching of the Gospel, and my hopes were expectant that I would soon see him at the table of the Lord; but alas! I believe that on that very day he quenched the Spirit, and has been going further and further from the Lord ever since!

The backsliding believer can only be distinguished from the final apostate, by the fact of his recovery. At least, when Christians have slidden far back, no satisfactory evidence of the genuineness of their piety can be exhibited, nor can they have any which ought to satisfy their own minds. In the course of pastoral visitation I once called upon an habitual drunkard who had been a flaming professor. I asked him what he thought of his former exercises of religion. He said that he was confident that they were genuine, and expressed a strong confidence that the Lord would recover him from his backsliding state. Now here was the very spirit of Antinomianism. Whether he was ever recovered from his besetting sin I cannot tell—but I rather think that he continued his decadent habits to the very last.

I have often noticed how tenaciously the most profane and obstinate sinners will cleave to the hope of having been once converted, if they have ever been the subjects of religious impressions. One of the profanest men I ever heard speak, and one of the most outrageous drunkards, when asked on his deathbed, to which he was brought by alcohol, respecting his prospects beyond the grave, said, that when a very young man he had been among the Methodists, and thought that he was converted; and though he had lived in the most open and daring wickedness for more than twenty years since that time, yet he seemed to depend on those early exercises. Miserable delusion! But a drowning man will catch at a straw. An old sea-captain whom I visited on his deathbed seemed to be trusting to a similar delusion. He related to me certain religious exercises which he had when he first went to sea—but of which he had no return ever since, though half a century had elapsed. I have met with only a few people who had neglected to cherish and improve early impressions, who were ever afterwards hopefully converted. They are generally given up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. But some of these are sometimes brought in, in times of revival; or, at a late period, driven to the Gospel refuge by severe affliction.

The conviction of a Christian backslider is often more severe and overwhelming than when first awakened. When his eyes are opened to see the ingratitude and wicked rebellion of his conduct, he is ready to despair, and to give up all hopes of being pardoned. He sinks into deep waters where the billows of divine displeasure roll over him; or he is like a prisoner in a horrible pit and in the miry clay. All around him is dark and desolate, and he feels himself to be in a deplorably helpless condition. His own strivings seem to sink him deeper in the mire; but as his last and only resource, he cries out of the depths unto God. As his case is urgent he cries with unceasing importunity, and the Lord hears the voice of his supplications. He brings him up out of the horrible pit, and places his feet upon a rock, and establishes his goings, and puts a new song into his mouth, even of praise to the Redeemer. The freeness of pardon to the returning backslider is a thing which is hard to be believed until it is experienced.

No sooner is the proud heart humbled, and the hard heart broken into contrition, than Jehovah is near with His healing balm. To heal the broken in heart, and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones—is the delight of Immanuel. And he receives the returning penitent without reproaches. He pardons him freely, sheds abroad His love in his heart, and fills him with the joy of the Holy Spirit. It is in fact, somewhat of a new conversion; though there is but one regeneration. We never hear of a sinner being born a third time—but we remember that Christ said unto Peter, "When you are converted, strengthen your brethren." (Luke 22:32) Indeed, the exercises of the soul on these occasions may be so much more clear and comfortable than on its first conversion, that the person is disposed to think that this is the real commencement of spiritual life, and to set down all his former experience as spurious, or at least essentially defective.

Christians, when recovered from backsliding, are commonly more watchful, and walk more circumspectly than they ever did before. They cannot but be more humble. The remembrance of their base departure from God fills them with self-loathing. Whenever spiritual pride would lift up its head, one thought of a disgraceful fall will often lay the soul in the dust. And whether the backslider's sins have been open or secret, the recollection of his traitorous behavior fills him with shame and self-abhorrence. When such people have so conducted themselves as to bring upon them the censures of the church, so as to be separated from the communion of the Lord's people, at first, it is probable, resentment will be felt towards the officers of the church who perform the painful duty. But after reflection, these resentments are turned against themselves, and they pass much heavier censures on themselves than the church ever did.

Judicious, seasonable discipline is a powerful means of grace, and often would be the effectual means of recovering the backslider, if exercised as it should be. Indeed, this may be said to be one main design of its appointment. If whenever there is an appearance of declension in a church member, the pastor, or some other officer of the church, should go to the person, and in the spirit and by the authority of Christ should address a serious admonition to him, and then a second and a third; and if these were unheeded, then bring him before the church—backsliding, in most cases, would be arrested before it proceeded far.

But all Christians have a duty to perform towards erring brethren. When they see them going astray, they should not act towards them as if they hated them—but should rebuke them in the spirit of meekness. Christian reproof from one Christian to another seems to be almost banished from our churches. There is a quick eye to discern a brother's faults, and a ready tongue to speak of them to others; but where do we now find the faithful reprover of sin, who goes to the man himself, without saying a word to anyone, and between themselves, faithfully warns, exhorts, and entreats a straying brother to return. The serious discipline of formal accusations, and witnesses, etc., by such a course would be in a great measure rendered unnecessary. But the common practice is to let the evil grow until it has become inveterate, and breaks out into overt acts—and then there is a necessity to pay attention to the matter, and to put in force the discipline of the church. But even this often proves beneficial, and is a powerful means of reclaiming the offender; or, if he persists in his evil courses, it serves to separate an unworthy member from the communion of saints.

But when church officers and private Christians utterly fail in their duty towards backsliding brethren, God Himself often makes use of means of His own, which do not require the intervention of men. He smites the offender with His rod, and causes him to smart in some tender part. He sends such afflictions as bring his sins forcibly before his conscience. He deprives him of the objects for the sake of which he forsook the Lord—it may be of the wife of his youth, or of a beloved child, on which his affections were too fondly fixed so as to become idolatrous. Or if it was the love of the world which was the seductive cause of his backsliding, riches are caused to "make to themselves wings and fly away like the eagle to heaven". (Prov 23:5) Or was the love of ease and indulgence of the sensual appetites the cause of his delinquency, the stroke falls on his own body. He is brought low by sickness, and is tried upon his bed with excruciating pains, until he cries out in his distress and humbly confesses his sins. Or if he was carried away by an undue love of the honor from men, it is not unlikely that his reputation, which he cherished with a fondness which caused him to neglect the honor of his God, will be permitted to be tarnished by the tongue of slander, and things may be so situated that, although innocent, he may not have it in his power to make the truth appear. Children, too much indulged, become by their misconduct, heavy causes of affliction to parents; and thus they are made to suffer in the very point where they had sinned. Look at the case of Eli and of David.

All afflictions are not for chastisement--but sometimes for trial; and those whom God loves best are the most afflicted in this world. They are kept in the furnace, which is heated seven times hotter--until their dross is consumed, and their piety shines forth as pure gold which has been tried in the fire. "I will put this third through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say: They are My people, and they will say: The Lord is our God." Zechariah 13:9. "You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver melted in a crucible." (Psalm 66:10) "I have refined you in the furnace of suffering." (Isaiah 48:10)

But we are now concerned only with those afflictions which are most effective to bring back the backslider, the virtue of which the psalmist acknowledges when he says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes. I know, Lord, that Your judgments are just and that You have afflicted me fairly. (Psalm 119:67, 71, 75) It may be truly said that many who had backslidden never would have returned had it not been for the rod; other means seemed to have lost their power—but this comes home to the feelings of everyone. Whether a believer is ever permitted to die in a backslidden state is a question of no practical importance; but it seems probable that Christians die in all conditions, including spiritual declension. No one has any right to presume that if he backslides, death may not overtake him in that unprepared condition. Backsliding then is a fearful evil; may we all be enabled to avoid it; or if fallen into it, to be recovered speedily from so dangerous a state!

Evangelicalism has been smothered to death by extra-Scriptural rubbish!

 

[Editor's note: "extra-Scriptural" simply means "outside of Scripture"]

(A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963)

Those Christians who belong to the Evangelical wing of the Church have over the last half-century shown an increasing impatience with invisible and eternal things — and have demanded and gotten a host of visible and temporal things to satisfy their fleshly appetites.

The temptation to introduce "new" things into the work of God, has always been too strong for some people to resist. The Church has suffered untold injury at the hands of well-intentioned but misguided persons, who have felt that they know more about running God's work, than Christ and His apostles did! A solid train of boxcars would not suffice to haul away the religious gimmicks which has been brought into the service of the Church with the hope of improving on the original pattern. These things have been, one and all, great hindrances to the progress of the Truth, and have so altered the divinely planned structure that the apostles, were they to return to earth today, would scarcely recognize the misshapen thing which has resulted!

Every generation is sure to have its ambitious amateur to come up with some shiny gadget which he proceeds to urge upon the church. That the Scriptures do not justify its existence — does not seem to bother him at all. It is brought in anyway and presented in the very name of orthodoxy. Soon it is identified in the minds of the Christian public, with all that is good and holy. Then, of course, to attack the gadget is to attack the Truth itself. This is an old familiar technique so often and so long practiced by the devotees of error, that I marvel how the children of God can be taken in by it!

We of the evangelical faith are in the rather awkward position of criticizing Roman Catholicism for its weight of unscriptural impediments — and at the same time tolerating in our own churches a world of religious fribble as bad as holy water or the adored host. Heresy of method may be as deadly as heresy of message! Evangelicalism has been smothered to death by extra-Scriptural rubbish! Unless we in gospel churches wake up soon, we shall most surely die by the same means!

The Menace of the Religious Movie! A.W. Tozer

 

When God gave to Moses the blueprint of the Tabernacle, He was careful to include every detail; then, lest Moses should get the notion that he could improve on the original plan, God warned him solemnly, "Be sure that you make them after their pattern which was showed you in the mount" (Exodus 25:40). God, not Moses, was the architect. To decide the plan was the prerogative of the Deity. No one dare alter it so much as a hairbreadth.

The New Testament Church also is built after a pattern. Not the doctrines only, but the methods are divinely given. The doctrines are expressly stated in so many words. Some of the methods followed by the early New Testament Church had been given by direct command; others were used by God's specific approval, having obviously been commanded the apostles by the Spirit. The point is that when the New Testament canon was closed, the blueprint for the church was complete. God has added nothing since that time.

From God's revealed plan, we depart at our peril. Every departure has two consequences, the immediate and the remote. The immediate consequence touches the individual and those close to him. The remote consequence extends into the future to unknown times and may expand so far as to influence for evil the whole Church of God on earth.

The temptation to introduce "new" things into the work of God, has always been too strong for some people to resist. The Church has suffered untold injury at the hands of well intentioned but misguided persons who have felt that they know more about running God's work, than Christ and His apostles did. A solid train of boxcars would not suffice to haul away the religious truck which has been brought into the service of the Church with the hope of improving on the original pattern. These things have been, one and all, great hindrances to the progress of the Truth, and have so altered the divinely planned structure that the apostles, were they to return to earth today, would scarcely recognize the misshapen thing which has resulted!

Our Lord while on earth cleansed the Temple, and periodic cleansings have been necessary in the Church of God throughout the centuries. Every generation is sure to have its ambitious amateur to come up with some shiny gadget which he proceeds to urge upon the priests before the altar. That the Scriptures do not justify its existence, does not seem to bother him at all. It is brought in anyway and presented in the very name of orthodoxy. Soon it is identified in the minds of the Christian public, with all that is good and holy. Then, of course, to attack the gadget is to attack the Truth itself. This is an old familiar technique so often and so long practiced by the devotees of error, that I marvel how the children of God can be taken in by it!

We of the evangelical faith are in the rather awkward position of criticizing Roman Catholicism for its weight of unscriptural impediments, and at the same time tolerating in our own churches a world of religious fribble as bad as holy water or the elevated host. Heresy of method may be as deadly as heresy of message. Old-line Protestantism has long ago been smothered to death by extra-scriptural rubbish. Unless we of the gospel churches wake up soon we shall most surely die by the same means.

Within the last few years a new method has been invented for imparting spiritual knowledge; or, to be more accurate, it is not new at all, but is an adaptation of a gadget of some years standing, one which by its origin and background belongs not to the Church but to the world. Some within the fold of the Church have thrown their mantle over it, have "blessed it with a text" and are now trying to show that it is the very gift of God for our day. But however eloquent the sales talk, it is an unauthorized addition nevertheless, and was never a part of the pattern shown us on the mount.

I refer, of course, to the religious movie. For the motion picture as such, I have no irrational allergy. It is a mechanical invention merely, and is in its essence amoral; that is, it is neither good nor bad, but neutral. With any physical object or any creature lacking the power of choice, it could not be otherwise. Whether such an object is useful or harmful, depends altogether upon who uses it and what he uses it for. No moral quality attaches where there is no free choice. Sin and righteousness lie in the will. The motion picture is in the same class as the automobile, the typewriter or the radio — a powerful instrument for good or evil, depending upon how it is applied.

For teaching the facts of physical science the motion picture has been useful. The public schools have used it successfully to teach health habits to children. The army employed it to speed up instruction during the war. That it has been of real service within its limited field, is freely acknowledged here.

Over against this is the fact that the motion picture in evil hands, has been a source of moral corruption to millions! No one who values his reputation as a responsible adult will deny that the sex movie and the violent movie have done untold injury to the lives of countless young people in our generation. The harm lies not in the instrument itself — but in the evil will of those who use it for their own selfish ends.

I am convinced that the modern religious movie is an example of the harmful misuse of a neutral instrument. There are sound reasons for my belief. I am prepared to state them.

That I may be as clear as possible, let me explain what I do and do not mean by the religious movie. I do not mean the missionary picture nor the travel picture which aims to focus attention upon one or another section of the world's great harvest field. These do not come under discussion, and will be left entirely out of consideration here.

By the religious movie I mean that type of motion picture which attempts to treat spiritual themes by dramatic representation. These are (as their advocates dare not deny) frank imitations of the authentic Hollywood variety, but the truth requires me to say that they are infinitely below their models, being mostly awkward, amateurish and, from an artistic standpoint, hopelessly and piteously bad.

These pictures are produced by acting a religious story before the camera. Take for example the famous and beautiful story of the Prodigal Son. This would be made into a movie by treating the narrative as a scenario. Stage scenery would be set up, actors would take the roles of father, prodigal son, elder brother, etc. There would be a plot, sequence and dramatic denouement as in the ordinary tear-jerker shown at the movie house on Main Street in any one of a thousand American towns. The story would be acted out, photographed, run onto reels and shipped around the country to be shown wherever desired.

The "service" where such a movie would be shown, might seem much like any other service until the time for the message from the Word of God. Then the lights would be put out and the picture turned on. The "message" would consist of this movie. What followed the picture would, of course, vary with the circumstances, but often an invitation song is sung and a tender appeal is made for erring sinners to return to God.

 Now, what is WRONG with all this? Why should any man object to this, or go out of his way to oppose its use in the house of God? Here is my answer.

1. It violates the scriptural law of hearing.

The power of speech is a noble gift of God. In his ability to open his mouth and by means of words, make his fellows know what is going on inside his mind — a man shares one of the prerogatives of the Creator. In its ability to understand the spoken word, the human mind rises unique above all the lower creation. The gift which enables a man to translate abstract ideas into sounds, is a badge of his honor as made in the image of God.

Written or printed words are sound symbols and are translated by the mind into hearing. Hieroglyphics and ideograms were, in effect, not pictures but letters, and the letters were agreed-upon marks which stood for agreed-upon ideas. Thus words, whether spoken or written, are a medium for the communication of ideas. This is basic in human nature and stems from our divine origin.

It is significant that when God gave to mankind His great redemptive revelation, He couched it in words. "And God spoke all these words" very well sums up the Bible's own account of how it got here. "Thus says the Lord" is the constant refrain of the prophets. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life," said our Lord to His hearers (John 6:63). Again He said, "He who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life" (John 5:24). Paul made words and faith to be inseparable: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). And he also said, "How shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).

Surely it requires no genius to see that the Bible rules out pictures and dramatics as media for bringing faith and life to the human soul.

The plain fact is that no vital spiritual truth can be expressed by a picture. Actually all any picture can do is to recall to mind some truth already learned through the familiar medium of the spoken or written word. Religious instruction and words are bound together by a living cord, and cannot be separated without fatal loss. The Spirit Himself, teaching soundlessly within the heart, makes use of ideas previously received into the mind by means of words.

If I am reminded that modern religious movies are "sound" pictures, making use of the human voice to augment the dramatic action, the answer is easy. Just as far as the movie depends upon spoken words, it makes pictures unnecessary; the picture is the very thing that differentiates between the movie and the sermon. The movie addresses its message primarily to the eye — and to the ear only incidentally. Were the message addressed to the ear as in the Scriptures, the picture would have no meaning and could be omitted without loss to the intended effect. Words can say all that God intends them to say, and this they can do without the aid of pictures.

According to one popular theory, the mind receives through the eye five times as much information as through the ear. As far as the external shell of physical facts is concerned, this may hold good, but when we come to spiritual truth we are in another world entirely. In that world the outer eye is not too important. God addresses His message to the hearing ear. "We look," says Paul, "not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen — for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). This agrees with the whole burden of the Bible, which teaches us that we should withdraw our eyes from beholding visible things — and fasten the eyes of our hearts upon God while we reverently listen to His uttered words.

"The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in they heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach" (Romans 10:8). Here, and not somewhere else, is the New Testament pattern — and no human being, no, and no angel from Heaven has any right to alter that pattern.

2. The religious movie embodies the mischievous notion that religion is, or can be made, a form of entertainment.

This notion has come upon us lately like a tidal wave and is either openly taught or tacitly assumed by increasing numbers of people. Since it is inextricably bound up with the subject under discussion, I had better say more about it.

The idea that religion should be entertaining has made some radical changes in the evangelical picture within this generation. It has given us not only the "gospel" movie, but a new type of religious journalism as well. It has created a new kind of magazine for church people, which can be read from cover to cover without effort, without thought — and without profit. It has also brought a veritable flood of religious fiction with plastic heroines and bloodless heroes like no one who has ever lived upon this well-known terrestrial ball.

That religion and amusement are forever opposed to each other by their very essential natures, is apparently not known to this new school of religious entertainers. Their effort to slip up on the reader and administer a quick shot of saving truth while his mind is on something else is not only futile; it is, in fact, not too far short of being plain dishonest. The hope that they can convert a man while he is occupied with the doings of some imaginary hero reminds one of the story of the Catholic missionary who used to sneak up on sick people and children and splash a little holy water on them to guarantee their passage to the city of gold!

I believe that most responsible religious teachers will agree that any effort to teach spiritual truth through entertainment is at best futile and at worst positively injurious to the soul. But entertainment pays off, and the economic consideration is always a powerful one in deciding what shall and what shall not be offered to the public — even in the churches.

Deep spiritual experiences come only from much study, earnest prayer and long meditation. It is true that men by thinking cannot find God; it is also true that men cannot know God very well without a lot of reverent thinking. Religious movies, by appealing directly to the shallowest stratum of our minds, cannot but create bad mental habits which unfit the soul for the reception of genuine spiritual impressions.

Religious movies are mistakenly thought by some people to be blessed of the Lord, because many come away from them with moist eyes. If this is a proof of God's blessing, then we might as well go the whole way and assert that every show that brings tears is of God. Those who attend the theater know how often the audiences are moved to tears by the joys and sorrows of the highly paid entertainers who kiss and emote and murder and die for the purpose of exciting the spectators to a high pitch of emotional excitement. Men and women who are dedicated to sin and appointed to eternal death may nevertheless weep in sympathy for the painted actors, and be not one bit the better for it. The emotions have had a beautiful time, but the will is left untouched. The religious movie is sure to draw together a goodly number of persons who cannot distinguish the twinges of vicarious sympathy, from the true operations of the Holy Spirit.

3. The religious movie is a menace to true religion because it embodies acting, a violation of sincerity.

Without doubt the most precious thing anybody possesses is his individuated being — that by which he is himself and not someone else — that which cannot be finally voided by the man himself nor shared with another. Each one of us, however humble our place in the social scheme, is unique in creation. Each is a new whole man possessing his own separate "I-ness" which makes him forever something apart, an individual human being. It is this quality of uniqueness which permits a man to enjoy every reward of virtue and makes him responsible for every sin. It is his self-ness which will persist forever, and which distinguishes him from every creature which has been or ever will be created.

Because man is such a being as this, all moral teachers, and especially Christ and His apostles, make sincerity to be foundation in the holy life. The word sincerity, as the New Testament uses it, refers to the practice of holding fine pottery up to the sun to test for purity. In the white light of the sun, all foreign substances were instantly exposed. So the test of sincerity is basic in human character. The sincere man is one in whom is found nothing foreign — he is all of one piece — he has preserved his individuality unviolated.

Sincerity for each man means staying in character with himself. Christ's controversy with the Pharisees centered around their incurable habit or moral play-acting. The Pharisee constantly pretended to be what he was not. He attempted to vacate his own "I-ness" — and appear in that of another and better man. He assumed a false character and played it for effect. Christ said he was a hypocrite.

It is more than an etymological accident, that the word "hypocrite" comes from the stage. It means "actor". With that instinct for fitness which usually marks word origins, it has been used to signify one who has violated his sincerity, and is playing a false part. An actor is one who assumes a character other than his own, and plays it for effect. The more fully he can become possessed by another personality — the better he is as an actor.

Bacon has said something to the effect that there are some professions of such nature that the more skillfully a man can work at them — the worse man he is! That perfectly describes the profession of acting. Stepping out of our own character for any reason, is always dangerous and may be fatal to the soul. However innocent his intentions, a man who assumes a false character has betrayed his own soul and has deeply injured something sacred within him.

No one who has been in the presence of the Most Holy One, who has felt how high is the solemn privilege of bearing His image, will never again consent to play a part, or to trifle with that most sacred thing, his own deep sincere heart. He will thereafter be constrained to be no one but himself, to preserve reverently the sincerity of his own soul.

In order to produce a religious movie someone must, for the time, disguise his individuality and simulate that of another. His actions must be judged fraudulent, and those who watch them with approval share in the fraud. To pretend to pray, to simulate godly sorrow, to play at worship before the camera for effect — how utterly shocking to the reverent heart! How can Christians who approve this gross pretense ever understand the value of sincerity as taught by our Lord? What will be the end of a generation of Christians fed on such a diet of deception, disguised as the faith of our fathers?

The plea that all this must be good because it is done for the glory of God, is a gossamer-thin bit of rationalizing which should not fool anyone above the mental age of six. Such an argument parallels the evil rule of expediency which holds that the end is everything and sanctifies the means — however evil, if only the end will be commendable. The wise student of history will recognize this immoral doctrine. The Spirit-led Church will have no part of it.

It is not uncommon to find around the theater, human flotsam and jetsam washed up by the years — men and women who have played false parts so long, that the ability to be sincere has forever gone from them! They are doomed to everlasting duplicity. Every act of their lives is faked, every smile is false, every tone of their voice artificial! The curse does not come causeless. It is not by chance that the actor's profession has been notoriously dissolute. Hollywood and Broadway are two sources of corruption which may yet turn America into a Sodom, and lay her glory in the dust!

The profession of acting did not originate with the Hebrews. It is not a part of the divine pattern. The Bible mentions it, but never approves it. Drama, as it has come down to us, had its rise in Greece. It was originally a part of the worship of the God Dionysus, and was carried on with drunken revelry.

The Miracle Plays of medieval times have been brought forward to justify the modern religious movie. That is an unfortunate weapon to choose for the defense of the movie, for it will surely harm the man who uses it more than any argument I can think of offhand.

The Miracle Plays had their big run in the Middle Ages. They were dramatic performances with religious themes staged for the entertainment of the populace. At their best they were misguided efforts to teach spiritual truths by dramatic representation. At their worst they were shockingly irreverent and thoroughly reprehensible. In some of them the Eternal God was portrayed as an old man dressed in white with a tinseled wig! To furnish low comedy, the devil himself was introduced on the stage and allowed to cavort for the amusement of the spectators. Bible themes were used, as in the modern movie, but this did not save the whole thing from becoming so corrupt that the Roman Church had finally to prohibit its priests from having any further part in it.

Those who would appeal for precedent to the Miracle Plays have certainly overlooked some important facts. For instance, the vogue of the Miracle Play coincided exactly with the most dismally corrupt period the Church has ever known. When the Church emerged at last from its long moral night, these plays lost popularity and finally passed away. And be it remembered, the instrument which God used to bring the Church out of the darkness was not drama — it was the biblical one of Spirit-baptized preaching. Serious-minded men thundered the truth — and the people turned to God.

Indeed, history will show that no spiritual advance, no revival, no upsurge of spiritual life has ever been associated with acting in any form. The Holy Spirit never honors pretense.

Can it be that the historic pattern is being repeated? That the appearance of the religious movie is symptomatic of the low state of spiritual health we are in today? I fear so. Only the absence of the Holy Spirit from the pulpit and lack of true discernment on the part of professing Christians, can account for the spread of religious drama in so-called evangelical churches. A Spirit-filled church could not tolerate it!

4. They who present the gospel movie owe it to the public to give biblical authority for their act: and this they have not done.

The Church, as long as she is following her Lord, goes along in Bible ways and can give a scriptural reason for her conduct. Her members meet at stated times to pray together — this has biblical authority back of it. They gather to hear the Word of God expounded — this goes back in almost unbroken continuity to Moses. They sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs — so they are commanded by the apostle. They visit the sick and relieve the sufferings of the poor — for this they have both precept and example in Holy Writ. They lay up their gifts and bring them at stated times to the church or chapel to be used in the Lord's work — this also follows the scriptural pattern. They teach and train and instruct; they appoint teachers and pastors and missionaries and send them out to do the work for which the Spirit has gifted them — all this has plain scriptural authority behind it. They baptize, then break bread and witness to the lost. They cling together through thick and thin. They bear each other's burdens and share each other's sorrows. This is as it should be, and for all this there is full Scriptural authority.

Now, where is the Scriptural authority for the religious movie? For such a serious departure from the ancient pattern — where is the Scriptural authority? For introducing into the Church the pagan art of acting — where is the Scriptural authority? Let the movie advocates quote just one verse, from any book of the Bible, in any translation, to justify its use! This they cannot do. The best they can do is to appeal to the world's psychology or mirthfully repeat that "modern times call for modern methods." But the Scriptures — quote from them one verse to authorize movie acting as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. This they cannot do.

Every sincere Christian must find Scriptural authority for the religious movie — or reject it. Every producer of such movies, if he would square himself before the faces of honest and reverent men, must either show Scriptural credentials — or go out of business.

But, says someone, there is nothing unscriptural about the religious movie. It is merely a new medium for the utterance of the old message, as printing is a newer and better method of writing and the radio an amplification of familiar human speech.

To this I reply: The movie is not the modernization or improvement of any scriptural method; rather it is a medium in itself wholly foreign to the Bible and altogether unauthorized therein. It is play acting — just that, and nothing more. It is the introduction into the work of God, of that which is not neutral, but entirely bad. The printing press is neutral; so is the radio; so is the camera. They may be used for good or bad purposes at the will of the user. But play acting is bad in its essence in that it involves the simulation of emotions not actually felt. It embodies a gross moral contradiction in that it calls a lie to the service of truth!

Arguments for the religious movie are sometimes clever and always shallow, but there is never any real attempt to cite Scriptural authority. Anything that can be said for the movie, can be said also for aesthetic dancing, which is a highly touted medium for teaching religious truth by appeal to the eye. Its advocates grow eloquent in its praise — but where is it indicated in the blueprint?

5. God has ordained four methods only by which Truth shall prevail — and the religious movie is not one of them.

Without attempting to arrange these methods in order of importance, they are:

(1) prayer,

(2) song,

(3) proclamation of the message by means of words and

(4) good works.

These are the four main methods which God has blessed. All other biblical methods are subdivisions of these, and stay within their framework.

Notice these in order.

(1) Spirit-burdened prayer. This has been through the centuries, a powerful agent for the spread of saving truth among men. A praying Church carried the message of the cross to the whole known world within two centuries after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Read the book of Acts and see what prayer has done and can do when it is made in true faith.

(2) Spirit-inspired song has been another mighty instrument in the spread of the Word among mankind. When the Church sings empowered by the Spirit, she draws men unto Christ. Where her song has been ecstatic expression of resurrection joy, it has acted wonderfully to prepare hearts for the saving message. This has no reference to professional religious singers, expensive choirs, nor the popular "gospel" chorus. These for the time, we leave out of consideration. But I think no one will deny that the sound of a Christian hymn sung by sincere and humble persons can have a tremendous and permanent effect for good. The Welsh revival is a fair modern example of this.

(3) In the Old Testament, as well as in the New, when God would impart His mind to men He embodied it in a message and sent men out to proclaim it. This was done by means of speaking and writing on the part of the messenger. It was received by hearing and reading on the part of those to whom it was sent. We are all familiar with the verse, "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her" (Isaiah 40:2). John the Baptist was called "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" (Matthew 3:3). Again we have, "And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write" (Revelation 14:13). And the apostle John opens his great work called the Revelation by pronouncing a blessing upon him who reads and those who hear and keep the words of the prophecy and the things which are written therein.

The two words "proclaim" and "publish" sum up God's will as it touches His Word. In the Bible, men for the most part wrote what had been spoken; in our time men are commissioned to speak what has been written. In both cases the agent is a word — never a picture, a dance or a pageant.

(4) By His healing deeds our Lord opened the way for His saving words. He went about doing good, and His Church is commanded to do the same. Faber understood this when he wrote,

And preach too, as love knows how

By kindly deeds and virtuous life.

Church history is replete with instances of missionaries and teachers who prepared the way for their message with deeds of mercy shown to men and women who were at first hostile but who melted under the warm rays of practical kindnesses shown to them in time of need. If anyone should object to calling good works a method, I would not argue the point. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they are an overflow into everyday life of the reality of what is being proclaimed.

These are God's appointed methods, set forth in the Bible and confirmed in centuries of practical application. The intrusion of other methods is unscriptural, unwarranted and in violation of spiritual laws as old as the world.

The whole preach-the-gospel-with-movies idea is founded upon the same basic assumptions as modernism — namely, the Word of God is not final — and that we of this day have a perfect right to add to it or alter it wherever we think we can improve it.

A brazen example of this attitude came to my attention recently. Preliminary printed matter has been sent out announcing that a new organization is in the process of being formed. It is to be called "International Radio and Screen Artists Guild," and one of its two major objectives is to promote the movie as a medium for the spread of the gospel. Its sponsors, apparently, are not modernists, but confessed fundamentalists. Some of its declared purposes are: to produce movies "with or without a Christian slant"; to raise and maintain higher standards in the movie fields (this would be done, it says here, by having "much prayer" with leaders of the movie industry); to "challenge people, especially young people, to those fields as they are challenged to go to foreign fields."

This last point should not be allowed to pass without some of us doing a little challenging on our own account. Does this new organization actually propose in seriousness to add another gift to the gifts of the Spirit listed in the New Testament? To the number of the Spirit's gifts, such as pastor, teacher, evangelist — is there now to be added another, the gift of the movie actor? To the appeal for consecrated Christian young people to serve as missionaries on the foreign field — is there to be added an appeal for young people to serve as movie actors? That is exactly what this new organization does propose in cold type over the signature of its temporary chairman. Instead of the Holy Spirit saying, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2) — these people will make use of what they call a "Christian talent listing," to consist of the names of "Christian" actors who have received the Spirit's gift to be used in making religious movies.

Thus the order set up in the New Testament is openly violated, and by professed lovers of the gospel who say unto Jesus, "Lord, Lord," but openly set aside His Lordship whenever they desire. No amount of smooth talk can explain away this serious act of insubordination.

Saul lost a kingdom when he "forced" himself and took profane liberties with the priesthood. Let these movie preachers look to their crown. They may find themselves on the road to Endor some dark night soon!

6. The religious movie is out of harmony with the whole spirit of the Scriptures and contrary to the mood of true godliness.

To harmonize the spirit of the religious movie with the spirit of the sacred Scriptures, is impossible. Any comparison is grotesque and, if it were not so serious, would be downright laughable. To imagine Elijah appearing before Ahab with a roll of film! Imagine Peter standing up at Pentecost and saying, "Let's have the lights out, please." When Jeremiah hesitated to prophesy on the plea that he was not a fluent speaker, God touched his mouth and said, "I have put my words in your mouth" (1:9). Perhaps Jeremiah could have gotten on well enough without the divine touch if he had had a good 16mm projector and a reel of home-talent film.

Let a man dare to compare his religious movie show, with the spirit of the book of Acts. Let him try to find a place for it in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians. Let him set it beside Savonarola's passionate preaching, or Luther's thundering, or Wesley's heavenly sermons, or Edwards' solemn appeals. If he cannot see the difference in kind — then he is too blind to be trusted with leadership in the Church of the Living God. The only thing that he can do appropriate to the circumstances, is to drop to his knees and cry with poor Bartimaeus, "Lord, that I might receive my sight!" (Mark 10:51; Luke 18:41).

But some say, "We do not propose to displace the regular method of preaching the gospel. We only want to supplement it." To this I answer: If the movie is needed to supplement anointed preaching, it can only be because God's appointed method is inadequate and the movie can do something which God's appointed method cannot do. What is that thing? We freely grant that the movie can produce effects which preaching cannot produce (and which preaching should never try to produce), but dare we strive for such effects in the light of God's revealed will and in the face of the judgment and a long eternity?

7. I am against the religious movie because of the harmful effect upon everyone associated with it.

First, the evil effect upon the "actors" who place the part of the various characters in the show; this is not the less because it is unsuspected. Who can, while in a state of fellowship with God, dare to play at being a prophet? Who has the gall to pretend to be an apostle, even in a show? Where is his reverence? Where is his fear? Where is his humility? Anyone who can bring himself to act a part for any purpose, must first have grieved the Spirit and silenced His voice within the heart. Then the whole business will appear good to him. "He feeds on ashes — a deceived heart has turned him aside" (Isaiah 44:20). But he cannot escape the secret working of the ancient laws of the soul. Something high and fine and grand will die within him — and worst of all, he will never suspect it! That is the curse that follows self-injury always. The Pharisees were examples of this. They were walking dead men, and they never dreamed how dead they were!

Secondly, it identifies religion with the theatrical world. I have seen recently in a fundamental magazine, an advertisement of a religious film which would be altogether at home on the theatrical page on any city newspaper. Illustrated with the usual sex-bait picture of a young man and young woman in a tender embrace, and spangled with such words as "feature-length, drama, pathos, romance" — it reeked of Hollywood and the cheap movie house. By such business we are selling out our Christian separation — and nothing but grief can come of it late or soon.

Thirdly, the taste for drama which these pictures develop in the minds of the young, will not long remain satisfied with the inferior stuff which the religious movie can offer. Our young people will demand the real thing — and what can we reply when they ask why they should not patronize the regular movie house?

Fourthly, the rising generation will naturally come to look upon religion as just another, yet inferior, form of amusement. In fact, the present generation religionist has done this to an alarming extent already, and the gospel movie feeds the notion by fusing religion and fun in the name of orthodoxy. It takes no great insight to see that the religious movie must become increasingly more thrilling, as the tastes of the spectators become more and more stimulated.

Fifthly, the religious movie is the lazy preacher's friend. If the present vogue continues to spread, it will not be long before any man with enough ability to make an audible prayer and mentality enough to focus a projector — will be able to pass for a prophet of the Most High God. The man of God can play around all week long, and come up to Sunday without a care. He has only to set up the screen and lower the lights — and the rest follows painlessly.

Wherever the movie is used, the prophet is displaced by the projector. The least such displaced prophets can do is admit that they are technicians — and not preachers. Let them admit that they are not God-sent men for a sacred work. Let them refuse ordination and put away their pretense.

Allowing that there may be some who have been truly called and gifted by God, but who have allowed themselves to be taken in by this new plaything, the danger to such is still great. As long as they can fall back upon the movie, the pressure that makes preachers will be lacking. The habit and rhythm which belong to great preaching, will be missing from their ministry. However great their natural gifts, however real their enduement of power — still they will never rise. They cannot while this broken reed lies close at hand to aid them in the crisis. The movie will doom them to be ordinary.

CONCLUSION

One thing may bother some earnest souls: Why do so many good people approve the religious movie. The list of those who are enthusiastic about it includes many who cannot be written off as borderline Christians. If it is an evil — then why have not these denounced it?

The answer is, lack of spiritual discernment. Many who are turning to the movie are the same who have, by direct teaching or by neglect, discredited the work of the Holy Spirit. They have apologized for the Spirit and so hedged Him in by their unbelief that it has amounted to an out-and-out repudiation. Now we are paying the price of our folly. The light has gone out, and good men are forced to stumble around in the darkness of the human intellect.

The religious movie is at present undergoing a period of gestation and seems about to swarm up over the churches like a cloud of locusts out of the earth. The emblem is accurate — they are coming from below, not from above. The whole modern psychology has been prepared for this invasion of insects. The fundamentalists have become weary of manna — and are longing for meat. What they are getting is a sorry substitute for the lusty and uninhibited pleasures of the world — but I suppose it is better than nothing, and it saves by pretending to be spiritual.

Let us not for the sake of peace keep still while men without spiritual insight dictate the diet upon which God's children shall feed. I heard the president of a Christian college say some time ago that the Church is suffering from an "epidemic of amateurism." That remark is sadly true, and the religious movie represents amateurism gone wild. Unity among professing Christians is to be desired — but not at the expense of righteousness. It is good to go with the flock, but I for one refuse mutely to follow a misled flock over a precipice!

If God has given wisdom to see the error of religious shows, we owe it to the Church to oppose them openly. We dare not take refuge in "guilty silence." Error is not silent — it is highly vocal and amazingly aggressive. We dare not be less so. But let us take heart — there are still many thousands of Christian people who grieve to see the world take over the church. If we draw the line and call attention to it, we may be surprised how many people will come over on our side and help us drive from the Church this latest invader — the spirit of Hollywood!