Getting Back in the Race: The Cure for Backsliding

“In this book, Joel R. Beeke deals with an issue that has plagued the people of God throughout church history until now. He answers questions such as: what is spiritual backsliding, what is the difference between a backsliding Christian and a hypocrite who was never a Christian, what are the causes of spiritual backsliding, what are the symptoms of spiritual decline, why is backsliding so serious, what is the cure for spiritual backsliding, how can we prevent spiritual backsliding, and how can a vital relationship with Christ prevent spiritual backsliding? Included in the book are many practical illustrations and suggestions for personal application. Read this book and apply its teachings. You’ll be grateful you did.”

“Once again Christian believers, young and old, are indebted to Joel Beeke. Dr. Beeke writes on a subject we hear much too little about, backsliding, and does so with biblical clarity, theological insight, yet always with a pastor’s heart. Only too easily can even well-taught Christians find their hearts growing cold and their zeal for Christ’s honor flagging. Dr. Beeke, like the spiritual physician he is, exposes to us the reasons why backsliding happens and how God in His grace maps out for us the way back to spiritual health. This is a book for all Christians, certainly not only for those who are in the sad state of backsliding. Prevention is always better than cure. Relevant biblical passages abound and choice quotes from the history of the church illuminate the text. This is a book every Christian should read and every pastor commend.”

“Don’t settle for being a spiritual shrimp,’ argues Dr. Beeke. The pity is that too many modern Christians are opting for shrimpishly small degrees of grace. Indwelling sin drags the careless believer down into guilty backsliding. This book is a prescription for the believer who feels his guilt. Here is medicine from the Bible ornamented with choice quotations from the great Puritans. These are healing fountains for backslidden saints.”

“The strength and beauty of Getting Back in the Race is that Joel Beeke’s characteristic clarity, biblical fidelity, and unflinching care as to detail and pastoral wisdom is obvious on every page. This book is an honest and sometimes chilling exposition of the seriousness of backsliding; at the same time, it unfailingly breathes the air of grace and hope. Timely and judicious, a book to read, re-read.”

“Solidly written in the vein of older classics on this subject by authors like Richard Sibbes and Andrew Fulller, this new work by Dr. Beeke provides a helpful approach to what is a perennial problem for the church. For inevitably there are wounded in the spiritual war in which we are engaged, and this work outlines the best means of bringing balm and healing to their souls. Highly recommended.”

“This book is a masterpiece, and I do not say that lightly. Since Octavius Winslow wrote his magnificent book Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in The Soul in 1841, not much has seen the light of day on the vital subject of backsliding to which every believer is prone and from which every child of God needs deliverance. This excellent work, so helpfully spiced with quotations from the Puritans, needs to be read over and over again. I heartily commend it.”