Spiritual Amnesia - The Christian Online Magazine

The Christian Online Magazine -

Most of us are familiar with a condition called “Amnesia”. It is a mental condition and is usually caused by an accident or blow to the head. One forgets who they are, where they are at and even their own name for a period of time. Sometimes they don’t even know where they live.

Is it possible this could happen to a Christian? Could a person have had an authentic experience with the Lord, born again by His blood, maybe even had the gifts of the Spirit working in their life.

According to II Peter 1:5-11 this can most certainly happen. Peter says that some had “forgotten that he had be(they) had been purged from their old sins”.

Lets consider the Spiritual condition of the soul.

Peter was writing here to encourage others to be more devoted to Jesus. He has already told them that God had given them:

1. All things that pertain to godliness.

2. He had endowed them with many precious promises.

3. He had clothed them in the Divine nature, yet some seemed to be lacking in true Christian character.

4. They seemed to have forgotten their conversion experience and lost their spiritual conception.

Peter encouraged them to do certain things to add to their faith, qualities that would prevent them from lapsing in their Christian commitment and keep them from giving the impression they had never really been saved.

He spoke to them of the need for virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, love for each other, and most of all the God type love (Charity).

If they were to add all of these qualities to their lives, they would not be deficient in any way in their Christian usefulness. Peter spoke of “near-sighted Christians”, who could not see far off, whose spiritual perception had been dimmed. They had forgotten who they were and were no longer growing. Our experience with Jesus should be continual, always ongoing. We should be striving each day to be more and more like Him and filled more each day with His Spirit and Power.

Is Spiritual Amnesia a reality? Yes! I think it is. When we lose our Spiritual Perception, we become short sighted and forget that we have been cleansed from sin. We forget our commitment to God. We can easily fall back into our old habits and old ways, those very things we forsook when we were washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Do you know someone who once seemed to be in love with God and His Church, but now they are nowhere in sight, living in the flesh without spiritual concern.? I know several people who are like that. In our Church we call it back sliding and we need to pray for these folks to find their way back to a loving God. They need to be shaken back into the reality of who they are and what has happened to them since they met Jesus.

What would you think could cause this “Spiritual Amnesia”? Could it come from laziness in the Christian walk., not staying close to God, failing to fellowship with other believers. Perhaps it could be that wordiness and the desire for the things of the world has crept in. This would drain them of their spiritual strength and cloud their understanding as Peter talks about, so they would refuse to hear the voice of God.

Perhaps it could also be a lack of Prayer and Bible Study that has hindered them so they are ill equipped to do battle with the Devil and when Satan does come, he has a field day with them, seeking to destroy their Christian witness. They may have gotten side tracked and caught up in some cult of splinter group that has drawn their hearts away from God.

Is there a cure for this malady? Yes, it is like a disease and it will destroy a person unless they are cured. It can only be cured by a return to God wholeheartedly. Then it will take a renewal of Prayer, Bible Study, Worship and Righteousness. It can only be accomplished when the individual re-discovers the love that God had for them when He saved them by the blood of Jesus.

When the true doctrine of salvation by Grace unmerited and undeserved returns to their hearts, they will find rest for their weary souls. It will then develop into a hunger for the things of God. Do you know someone who is suffering from “Spiritual Amnesia”? If so, I am trying to point them to the way back to Jesus.