inserting a post that inserts another post causes infinite loop

We have a page that includes a post. This post includes two other posts in it. When viewing the page it never finishes loading. It will continue infinitely repeating the page content. Viewing the post works fine. Removing both of the sub posts resolves the problem. Having either of the sub posts causes the issue.

post template file that we are using:

<?php
/**
 * Template for displaying a post in the [ic_add_posts] shortcode.
 *
 * @package   Posts_in_Page
 * @author    Eric Amundson <[email protected]>
 * @copyright Copyright (c) 2019, IvyCat, Inc.
 * @link      https://ivycat.com
 * @since     1.0.0
 * @license   GPL-2.0-or-later
 */

?>

<!-- NOTE: If you need to make changes to this file, copy it to your current theme's main
	directory so your changes won't be overwritten when the plugin is upgraded. -->

<!-- Post Wrap Start-->
<div class="post hentry ivycat-post">

	<!-- 	This outputs the post TITLE -->
	<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

	<!-- 	This outputs the post EXCERPT.  To display full content including images and html,
		replace the_excerpt(); with the_content();  below. -->
	<div class="entry-summary">
		<?php the_content(); ?>
	</div>

	<!--	This outputs the post META information -->
	<div class="entry-utility">
		<?php
		/* translators: used between list items, there is a space after the comma. */
		$categories_list = get_the_category_list( __( ', ', 'posts-in-page' ) );
		if ( $categories_list ) :
			?>
			<span class="cat-links">
				<?php
				printf(
					/* translators: 1: posted in label. 2: list of categories. */
					'<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">%1$s</span> %2$s',
					esc_html__( 'Posted in', 'posts-in-page' ),
					$categories_list // phpcs:ignore WordPress.Security.EscapeOutput.OutputNotEscaped
				);
				?>
			</span>
			<span class="meta-sep">|</span>
		<?php endif; ?>
		<?php
		/* translators: used between list items, there is a space after the comma. */
		$tags_list = get_the_tag_list( '', __( ', ', 'posts-in-page' ) );
		if ( $tags_list ) :
			?>
			<span class="tag-links">
				<?php
				printf(
					/* translators: 1: tagged label. 2: list of tags. */
					'<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-tag-links">%1$s</span> %2$s',
					esc_html__( 'Tagged', 'posts-in-page' ),
					$tags_list // phpcs:ignore WordPress.Security.EscapeOutput.OutputNotEscaped
				);
				?>
			</span>
			<span class="meta-sep">|</span>
		<?php endif; ?>
		<span class="comments-link">
			<?php
			comments_popup_link(
				esc_html__( 'Leave a comment', 'posts-in-page' ),
				esc_html__( '1 Comment', 'posts-in-page' ),
				esc_html__( '% Comments', 'posts-in-page' )
			);
			?>
		</span>
		<?php edit_post_link( esc_html__( 'Edit', 'posts-in-page' ), '<span class="meta-sep">|</span> <span class="edit-link">', '</span>' ); ?>
	</div>
</div>
<!-- // Post Wrap End -->