WHY CHRISTIANS REBEL AGAINST GOD AND BACKSLIDE

Why do human beings who have known God, who have experienced the power of God sometimes rebel against God? Can we fully understand and predict ourselves? Is there a fail-safe method or way of ensuring that we will never rebel against God or bring his name to disrepute when we have become great, rich or powerful? Faced with torture or certain death, can anyone say with full confidence that they will not denounce our Lord Jesus or renounce their faith? These are questions I found disturbing and really need answers to. It is easy to criticise and judge those who are fallen but the irony of life is that the very people who have condemned others for being unfaithful to God have themselves time and time again fallen into the same errors and sins for which they themselves have condemned others. So, what exactly is happening? What is in human nature that blinds him to his own defects or limitations? What causes humans to exalt himself and fail to recognise or give glory to God when it is due? I can understand the case of those who are ignorantly in rebellion against God. I can understand the case of avowed enemies of God who have openly vowed their allegiance to Satan. How do we explain the sad end to the ministry of many men of God with a genuine anointing of God on their lives who hence have been mightily used by God and given wealth, fame and honour? Could there be a power secretly at work in humans which invariably causes man to capitulate, abandon all or some of the things he believes to be truth and do his own biddings against his real wishes and intentions?

Even Paul the Apostle lamented: “the good I will do, I do not do, and the evil I will not do, that I practice” (Rom 7:19-25). The Bible is replete with the stories of many a great people of God who started well but finished badly. Solomon is a classic example of a great king, God loving, richest man of his time and endowed with heavenly wisdom but lured away from God by his many foreign wives who served idols.

I am perplexed that we humans have the tendency to turn against God after he has taken us from nothingness to greatness. The prayer in Proverb 30:8 in which the author petitioned God not to give him poverty nor riches is so relevant to us Christians today. Many of us are constantly petitioning God for material prosperity. Many Christians so much desire the mammon and fame of this world rather than the love of God and His Kingdom. Yet, Jesus taught us to pray: “…. give us this day, our daily bread” (Matt 6:9 – 13). How can we be so ungrateful to God who is so loving and kind in seeking after material things of this world without first the kingdom of God?

Let us continue to probe our hearts and keep the main question in focus: Why do Christians who profess to love God or appears to love him eventually rebel against God and fall away? Included in the list of those who have backslidden or turn away from the Lord are churchgoers, pastors, evangelist and genuine Christians.  Paul the Apostle informed believers in 2 Timothy 4:10 that Demas, one of his fellow workers who had once laboured faithfully with him in the spreading of the gospel has deserted him because he loved the good things of this world. Again, why did Demas turned away from what he once believed and professed? As, I meditate on this perplexing matter, the Holy Spirit who is our Teacher and Counsellor gave me some enlightenment. Although born again believers or true Christians have a new nature because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, yet man in his fallen adamic nature remains vulnerable to temptation and sin. The sinful world, his adamic flesh and the adversary, Satan continues to seek to influence, dominate and shape the conduct of man inform of enticements and temptations. Hence, Jesus once admonished His disciples to watch and pray, lest they fall into temptation (Matt. 26:41). So, I eventually realise that turning away from the faith or backslidden doesn’t just happen suddenly or in a day. It is a gradual backward process or downward spiral, which may even take months and years. At the root of this is the neglect of personal quality time with God. Failure to yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerning certain habits and sins. Failure to act on the truth or practice the word of God that is already known. The turning away from Jesus can even be catalysed by lack of regular fellowship with genuine believers with whom we trust, pray together and holds ourselves accountable to.

If you are passive in seeking after God and spending quality time with him, the devil will not leave you just as you are. He will come after you, seeking to lure you to his side. He will try to completely divert your attention to all things worldly and materialistic; things that are non-essential for spiritual development. Satan will cause you to begin craving for the things you never once have any desire for and to start looking at things you will normally not give a second look. In deploying this strategy against you, Satan will be very tactical. His influence will be very subtle and gradual. He will seek to gain a foothold in your life before seeking to establish a stronghold. Satan will not seek to take over all your life at once. While God’s influence in your life is decreasing, Satan’s influence in your life will increase. Your heart will gradually become hardened, your conscience seared, and you are no longer sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Before you realise what is happening, you have completely backslidden and gone astray.

It is only in close contact and communication with God that we develop godly character, integrity and good fruits that will enable us to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. The secret of remaining faithful to the Lord even in storming times is to abide in him as He said (John 15:4 -16). Without remaining attached to Jesus, who is the Vine, we His branches cannot do anything. We will not withstand the sustained assault of Satan, the enticement of our fallen adamic nature and the lure of the sinful world we live in. We can never produce any fruit of our own and without close communion with Jesus, we will soon wither, die or fall away.

By remaining close to Jesus through, daily devotion, prayer, study and meditating on the Word of God, we will get to a point in our Christian spiritual journey, where God is always first in our life; no matter what is at stake and no matter what is on offer. The influence of our flesh becomes weakens or diminishes in our lives as the Holy Spirit gains ascendancy and gradually re-shape our nature from within to become like that of our Lord Jesus who we were redeemed to resemble. We may possess material things, but those things will not own us. We may have wealth, but the wealth of this world, will not have us. We will come to see ourselves as mere stewards of things freely entrusted to us by God the creator and the real owner.

Fellowship with God is the antidote for passivity and the resultant rebellion against God. Passive Christians can easily turn against God when offered with something by Satan which is very tempting. It could be fame, power or great wealth. Because passive Christians do not have a deep root of the love of God in them and neither do, they have the desire to follow him wholeheartedly, they invariably easily succumb to the bidding of Satan. Satan is the first rebel against God. The scriptures says that Satan was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15-17). Since Satan rebelled against God and got thrown out of heaven, he has not stopped recruiting humans who are unwary to join his rebellious kingdom of darkness. Once he can impart or breath part of his sinful nature into a passive Christian, it is a matter of time before he causes that Christian to backslide. In Satan’s battalion are those who are outright enemies of God. Those who detest or loathe the suggestion that there is an Almighty God who created the Heavens and the Earth. Also, in his battalion are those who doubt the existence of God and those who openly profess Satan as their god and worship him. There are also those who know in their hearts that there is a God all humans must one day account to, but they chose to serve Satan because of their love for material wealth and the things of this world. There are also religious Christians who profess to love God and believe in him but will not practice what Jesus commands. There are those who appears to be genuine disciples of Jesus but are known to turn their backs on God whenever trials, storms, tribulations and persecutions arises because of the Word of God. Such professing believers are unable to take their stand for God. It is at that time they chose not to identify with Christ anymore. Jesus mentioned this category of believers in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:2-9; Luke 8:4-8).

There is no true child of God who has been following God closely who will fall away during turbulent periods or storming times in his life because he will find the strength and the grace of God to see him through. This is because God our gracious and merciful father will never allow his children to be tempted beyond their ability to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). A devoted believer in stormy times, will realise that God is faithful, and it is true that He will never leave him nor forsake him in time of need or trial (Heb. 13:5). When Satan comes with his temptation, God will see him through (Psalm 34:19).

Prayer this very important prayer and watch God begin to transform your life:

Oh God, save me from pride and rebellion against you. Never let me who is nothing now become anything great if you know in your omnipotence that I will one day rebel against you. Let me be one of your faithful servants who daily wait upon you, even if I am the least of your servants. It is better to be the least of your servants than to be a great and powerful person living in rebellion towards you. Never let me forget who I was before you saved me from the hands of Satan. I was a captive with no hope at all and on my way heading to hell, until you set me free. I was born into sin, and I am a sinner saved by your grace and mercy. Keep me from forgetting such wonderful love and amazing grace that saved my life. Hold me tight oh Lord. Never let me fall into the hands and temptations of the evil one who is out there looking for whom to devour.