1.
On no account stop attending church as this will
give the game away immediately.
2.
Always be seen with a well-thumbed, extensively
underlined and annotated Bible in church but do not read this during the week – or, if you really must continue
to do so, make sure you study it in an academic way only so that you can talk
impressively about theology and quote the original Greek. On no account apply
what you read to yourself (but feel free to apply it to others).
3.
Be known for your dutiful attendance at all the
meetings that your church puts on but do not concern yourself with having any heart
desire to meet with God or to see others affected by the Word of God. With your
extensive theological knowledge you will be ideally placed to critique the
preacher’s sermons or contributions to house-group discussions. You should of
course share your observations with fellow members afterwards. They will be
impressed at your knowledge and erudition, and go away telling others what a
wonderful Christian you are.
4.
Always be among the first to pray at the prayer
meeting. Pray eloquently and biblically, which will make everyone around you think what a solid Christian you are, but desist from praying on your
own at home or doing any real business with the Lord in the secret place.
5.
Keep up to date with what is going on in the
Christian world and make sure you have an opinion on all the latest movements.
Make sure you are always ready to give your viewpoint on such matters and show
how widely read you are. People are all too ready to confuse knowledgeability with true spiritual life.
6.
Make sure you are first in the queue to speak to
visiting ministers; talk with great apparent concern about spiritual
issues. Get yourself known by well-known speakers and church leaders, but don’t
waste your time talking to those tiresome, needy nobodies in your congregation
or engaging with unsaved visitors. All those prominent Christians will be
impressed by what they hear and, as they don’t belong to your church, won’t
have any suspicion of the truth of the situation. They will spread word of what
a super, gifted Christian you are around the churches. Once you have such a
reputation it can be difficult to shake off and will give you a really great
cover for backsliding unobserved.
7.
If you are one of those fortunate people with one
of the more prominent gifts like preaching, leading activities or playing a
musical instrument, or are a bit of an intellectual, you will have a head
start. People who have been a Christian for many years and/or come from a
well-known Christian home also have a big advantage.
8.
Be sure to have an extensive collection of Christian
books, most of which you haven’t bothered to read, and put the weightiest ones
on display in the most prominent place. You will know what the ‘kosher’
publishers and writers are in your particular tradition; be sure to be
particularly well-stocked with those so that people are impressed with your
orthodoxy.
9.
Make sure that almost all your friends are
Christians; this may sound strange but in order to maintain your reputation, a wide Christian acquaintance is necessary.
This also minimises the necessity of sharing your faith with unbelieving
friends. You should keep away from those sorts of friends who are liable to
ask prying questions about your walk with the Lord, or want to be prayer or Bible
study partners, as these might discover the truth of your situation.
10.
You should of course avoid any activities which
might expose you to challenge regarding your current state of spiritual health,
involve any genuine service of others or might involve you having to share your
faith but there are many other activities you could participate in instead such
as ‘advising’ the leaders of the spiritual health of others, encouraging ‘discussion’
of controversial topics in the church or generally airing your opinions in a public way, which all fit well with your objective
and will quite possibly carry others along with you.
Postscript: the author
has learnt the hard way of the ‘effectiveness’ of these strategies. She hopes
this little piece will be a wake-up call to other long-standing and perhaps
well-known Christians who are in danger of sliding unobserved away from the
Lord.
‘You have a reputation
of being alive but are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to
die. Revelation 3:1-2
