Christian Dieting

By Doug Cook

Have you ever noticed that every where you go someone is constantly talking about the next new diet that is being circulated through society?  Every few years there seems to be another form of dieting that has all the answers about how to eat healthy and stay thin.  They are instigated by some doctor or group of doctors with all these cumulative degrees of education from “institutes of higher learning” that have purportedly done extensive research and case studies to prove their points.  So, of course, there are multiple books and DVD’s produced that help promote all this new knowledge, naturally creating prosperity for the designers and producers in this development.  Yet in another five to seven years we will inevitably hear of a new version or a different way to diet that is “new and improved” based on yet more research, more case studies, and more degrees to show the new diet much better than any of its predecessors!  Nonetheless the printing presses will roll, the cash registers will ring, and the modus operandi commences again.

I would point out that after decades of watching this mammoth apparatus continue rising and falling on its trek through society, most of the recommendations recently are very similar to the way our grandparents and great grandparents fed themselves a century ago, devoid of processed foods.  I have also observed that limited few men or willowy women concern themselves with the latest diet, however, most of the people continually chatting about and promoting these diets are larger, overweight, unhealthy people, with the preponderance being women.  They seem to be the ones buying and memorizing all the books with all the answers about the latest craze in dieting and how to loose weight!  Women are the ones that typically do a lot of the cooking so the type of meals served in the household would naturally concern them more than men, eliciting more conversations about food.  However, the conversations on diets specifically seem to be concentrated within the overweight crowd.

This brings up a question.  Would anyone inquiring about a diet to eat right and loose weight seek council from a person that talked like they knew the diet inside out yet their outward appearance showed, without any doubt, it WASN’T working for them?  This leaves only two outcomes, the diet doesn’t work or they were not following it, either way it would seem more prudent to seek information from a more reliable source.  Most of the time these scenarios end up being a case of the supposed “diet experts” talking the talk, but they were not walking the walk, as they have done with every diet they have ever tried.

The problem with most of these overweight unhealthy people is they have never overcome their constant desire of their flesh to consume foods.  They over eat most of the time, stuffing themselves till they are full, because of their cravings for something to put in their mouths, not because their body needs more nourishment.  We see this in smokers all the time.  As long as they maintain their cigarette use they stay skinny, but if they decide to give up smoking they quickly gain weight.  I have had people literally tell me they want to quit smoking but they continue so they can stay skinny.  This proves it to be a psychological problem, not necessarily an issue with the type of food they are consuming.

Obese people’s usual response is to try the latest diet to see if it’s something that would make them loose weight fast, yet allow them to maintain their current habits and lifestyles.  They try these diets with the greatest of intentions, but there is never a commitment to adhere to them, so in a short time after loosing a few pounds they begin justifying to themselves its okay to “cheat” just a little once in a while.   After all, they did loose a few pounds and they are still following the diet, so a few donuts on the side shouldn’t hurt much.  Eventually, they end up cheating every day and thus nullifying any chance the diet has of working, yet they blame the diet or the designer of the diet because they can never face the fact the problem is within themselves and their lust to satisfy their flesh.  And their conversation continues proudly proclaiming how well their diet is working as if anyone else would be so ill-mannered as to notice they are just as portly as they were a year ago!

Spiritual Dieting

I illustrated the diet programs and their effect in the natural because those same mindsets and lifestyles are ubiquitously in the body of Christ and the church is suffering because of this.  It seems in these last days every church building we see has their own special man made denominational diet they created and most of their followers have discovered loopholes in their theology and the Word of God that allows them to cheat a little on the commands of God and still somehow get into heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When we become “born again” and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, as the bible says we become a “new creature.”  All of our old things (habits, mindsets and lifestyles) have to “pass away” and we should become a completely different person.  This is what this verse is telling us.  Other people who knew us before our conversion should notice a definite change in our personality and character.  If they don’t then we may not have made a true commitment to Christ and did not become actually “born again” as the Word of God describes.  There have been many more people than any of us would like to admit walk to the front of the church building in an emotional moment that wanted to try out this “Christian” lifestyle and made some form of a verbal commitment to a pastor to change their life, yet their temperament did not change.  They may have overcome a few sins by shear strength of their own wills and fear of another man finding them out but they did not turn out to be a “new creature.”  They attend church and learn the “Christian” vernacular so they begin sounding like they are believers, yet they are not.  The denominational church system is full of these false believers following the unbiblical man-made doctrines of the sect, but not following all the commands of God.  Like overweight dieters in the natural, these flesh pleasing “Christian” dieters talk the talk but they don’t walk out the biblical commandments of God.  “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  Any true believer should continually be changing to be more like Christ every day, yet how dare any true believer in Christ be so ill-mannered as to point out these jargon talking unbelievers are not any more like Christ now than they were a year ago without suffering the wrath of their factious denominational “brethren!”  Brothers and sisters there are NOT sixty million “Christians” in this country as many have stated. “Many are called but few are chosen,” and even fewer are those that are part of the bride of Christ.  No one sincerely comprehends how small the number “few” really is.

1 John 3:2-10 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

“Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.”  Talk about Christian dieters cheating in the lifestyle, this passage has to be one of the most corrupted passages in the bible by most all believers in Christendom.  This passage is so plain you would have to have the evil one help you to twist the meaning out of context.  When we are “born again,” we become a new creature because the Spirit of Christ takes up residence in our spirit or heart as we sometimes say.  Jesus himself takes up residence within us.  And if Christ’s seed is in us, WE CANNOT SIN…Period.  This passage says three times anyone who abides is Christ does NOT sin.  It also backs that up by saying “He that committeth sin is of the devil.”  How much plainer can God state the fact if you don’t sin you’re in Christ and if you do sin you’re of the devil; end of discussion.  Yet how many million times do we hear “Christians” in the body of Christ say “I’m just a sinner” trying to look so humble and holy in front of other believers.  This is NOT being humble or holy; this is false humility and disobedience to the Word of God and shows a complete lack of knowledge about the basic principles of Christianity.  One of the first things we should be taught by any bible believing elder is that the new person we become does not sin.  If the leader you are sitting under doesn’t constantly try to drive this point across, you need to find another leader.

By the way, if I asked any of you believers to tell me the biblical definition of sin could you do it?  You may be surprised to know that well over 90% of believers are unable to answer that question.  It’s another sign that most “Christians” don’t study their bibles or are ignoring what this 1 John passage has to say because these verses contain the answer.  “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”  It’s a fairly simple answer; sin is breaking God’s laws or commandments that have been written on our hearts, NOT man-made denominational laws.  So for those that keep saying “I’m just a sinner,” can you please explain to me and yourself which one or more of God’s commands you are continually breaking???   If you can provide an answer to that question then could you please explain why you are continuing in your sin when a true believer should not be engaged in any sin???  If you cannot answer the first question because you cannot find any of God’s laws you are breaking then could you please explain why you are boldly confessing you’re still a sinner???  “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”  The Word of God is plain.  If you truly believe you are still a sinner (for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh), YOU SHALL HAVE whatever you are saying good, bad, or indifferent.  If we continually confess “I’m just a sinner,” we will continually be in sin contradicting what God’s law says in this 1 John passage.  I don’t know about any of you believers but God calls me a saint, a priest, a king, a son of God and I am no longer a sinner because God said so and I do not break His commandments.  If you believe you are still a sinner then best of luck getting into a sinless heaven with your transgressions.

There are those in the church that continually confess “we’re all sinners saved by grace” because they literally know the sins they are doing and have no desire to stop because they love their sin.  They use this statement so they can justify cheating on their “Christian” diet they think they are following.  These continuing sins include denominating (creating division in the body of Christ), fornication, adultery, lying, cheating, worship of mammon, gossip, slander and many others that “Christians” think it’s okay to participate in.  This passage describes them also, “whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.”  These people know about Christ but don’t intimately know Him which would be true of some of the believers making bad confessions all the time but not really sinning.  If we really do intimately KNOW Him, as a man intimately knows his wife, we would understand that we are not sinners, we are righteous saints that should be following all the commandments of God, if we love Him like we say we do, and it is reprehensible for us to cheat (sin) on our Christian diet.  This wrong confessing is a colossal problem in the church and it has been proliferated by the largest part of pastors, priests, ministers, and bishops who don’t understand who they truly are in Christ either.  

Speaking of pastors, I heard a news reporter a while back who is a believer tell everyone he has a “bona fied reverend” because his pastor has a doctorate degree from a theological cemetery seminary.  He believed he was sitting under a genuine, certified, authorized pastor as he was mistakenly comparing his pastor to any pastor who doesn’t have any kind of degree.  (This reporter is also one of those that proudly claim “I’m just a sinner.”)  Obviously his pastor didn’t learn who he was in Christ with all his seminary education because he is not teaching his congregation they are not sinners.  Doctorate degrees are created by man to reward other men who learn to think just like themselves.  They can earn 32 degrees and still be frozen stiff in their spiritual knowledge of Christ.  It’s one fallen head teaching another fallen head.  Paul was the only one of the original apostles who had any semblance of a doctorate degree from the Hebrew universities and Jesus had to strike him blind and send him to the desert for three years to wake him up from his higher educationally induced trance. Paul said, “for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”  He counted his sheepskin as toilet paper after he previously used it to justify killing Christians.  This reporter needs to reread his bible without the influence of degreed pastors and discover the kind of people Jesus used to begin His church were “…Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men.”  Jesus couldn’t use any of the college educated scribes and Pharisees because they were corrupted by their own egocentric spiritual diet they were following.  I sat under the late John Osteen years ago for a season and he claimed he had to unlearn everything they taught him in seminary.  “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”  Jesus has the same problem with all the seminary educated religious leaders today as He did back then.  Nothing has changed!  It’s time again to seek out the ignorant, unlearned fishermen who have their ego’s crucified enough to accept the real truth of the Word.

Matthew 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

Daniel 1:11-16 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.  Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.  So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.  And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.  Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.

The bible says WHEN we fast, not IF we fast.  Fasting is the discipline of going without any food for hours or days.  You can drink liquid but refrain from any food of any kind.  Isaiah 58 describes fasting for the purpose of afflicting our soul so we can break any yokes to our flesh and wickedness within us.  It is hard to fast because our flesh (body) screams for food as soon as we stop eating.  It’s a spiritual exercise that teaches us to deprive our flesh and feed our spirit instead.  It is one of the toughest things to learn how to do in the Christian diet.  Yet many have figured out how to cheat on this part of the diet as well.  I’ve heard many say they are fasting TV, or fasting coffee or other things they like.  This is NOT fasting; this is doing without things they should have quit partaking of years ago.  The agendas on TV now-a-days are not suitable for public viewing, especially by believers, and caffeine is a poison that can kill you if you ingest too much.  Yet these people proudly tell other believers so they can claim to “fast” like the bible says.  A “fast” someone contrived years ago that sounds real holy is what they refer to as a “Daniel fast.”  In Daniel Chapter 9 when he really fasted, Daniel went without food.  But the cheaters are using Daniel chapter 1 to justify eating vegetables on their “fast.”  Daniel and his fellow Jews didn’t want to eat meat sacrificed to idols so they convinced Melzar to give them pulse (vegetables) to eat all the time.  This became Daniels everyday diet, NOT a fast.  But the “Daniel fasters” try to look super holy by telling the church people they are on a “Daniel fast” yet this supposed “fast” still allows them to cheat and eat food.  The results are they accomplish nothing by these “fasts” because they are still feeding their flesh both physically and spiritually.  After a year these people’s flesh will still be as spiritually obese as they are right now because they are not willing to suffer the pain of putting away of the flesh to gain more of Christ.

1 Corinthians 14:34-37 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.  What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Have you discovered any congregation anywhere that is following this healthy diet of scriptures that Paul says “are the commandments of the Lord?”  Not only are most women in the church cheating on this diet with constant babble of their opinions, but some these days have gone so far contrarian to these commands as to call themselves pastors over congregations of believers.  Because these are commandments of God, which makes them part of the Laws of God, to disobey them is SIN as 1 John defines sin, and those men that support these false female pastors are just as much in sin as God’s Word is clear that men are to be in charge, not women.  I have had a few of these women swear to me that God told them to be pastors.  Surprisingly, after seeking the Lord on this issue, I found that their direction from God to be true and He directed me to these verses to prove it to me:

Ezekiel 14:3-5 Son of man, these men (women) have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Wow!  Do you understand what the Lord is saying here?  These women are being influenced by controlling spirits (probably Jezebel spirits) and their flesh needs to be in control so they have set up idols in their hearts that convince themselves its okay to be in charge and usurp authority over men.  So when they sought the Lord concerning their desire to be a pastor He DID tell them to go ahead and preach, just like they told me, because He was answering them according to their idols as this verse says, NOT according to His own commandments and laws in His Word.  These women are “estranged” from God through their own idols of self they are worshipping. So the Lord “putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity” in their face and told them to go ahead and do what they wanted to do because, knowing the truth, they had already rejected Him, so in the end He will judge them according to their idols.  Of course we could apply this idol worshipping principle to all of the cheaters on the Christian denominational diets they are supposedly following, not just the boisterous women.

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

1 Corinthians 1:10-13 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.  For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

1 Corinthians 3:1-5 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

Here is another prime example of the church acting carnally (just like the world) developing all these different diets to choose from and every few years some leader is developing a new and improved form of dieting with new revelations that supposedly works better than previous diets, and just like the world thousands of dollars are made selling books and DVD’s promoting the new way to get spiritually lean and trim.  The problem is these spiritual diets have been accumulating over centuries and there are now literally thousands of them and the modus operandi continues unabated.  Some of these diets perpetually continue through centuries of man-made doctrines and traditions within family bloodlines deceiving themselves into believing that hundreds of years of customs somehow sanction their own principles as being “holy.” The people that are following these diets proudly claim the one they are following is the only one that really works and everyone else’s diet has “false nourishment.” Yet we still see these same “brethren” following these diets that are as carnally obese as they were the year before and how dare any one else suggest their denominational diet, without any doubt, WASN’T working for them in making them more like Christ.  However, their factions do seem successful in making them more like their man-made religions every day.

Brothers and sisters Satan uses denominations for one purpose and that is to “sow discord among brethren” (one of the seven abominable sins the Lord hates in Pro. 6) because “a house divided against itself shall not stand:” so dividing the body of Christ into thousands of different little parts of Jesus and keeping all the believers from loving one another as God commands.  Any true born again believer that is yoked to ANY denomination and calls themselves by any name other than the body of Christ is, as the apostle Paul says, walking in pure milk-of-the-Word carnality and is not partaking of the solid meat of the Word of God, “for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”  You allow the evil one to deceive you into thinking you are so much more holy that all the rest of believers, yet you are the ones that are lacking the spirituality to devour the nourishment of the meat of the Word that makes us more like Christ.  “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”   God’s people (He is NOT talking about un-believers here) are destroyed for their lack of knowledge because in their carnality they refuse to intimately KNOW Him.  They are destroyed because when the Lord presents them with the knowledge of truth they reject that truth (like some of you are doing this instant with this truth and this messenger) so God rejects them seeing they obey carnal doctrines of man but forget the commands of God!  An example of a major truth that has been rejected by so many factions is the baptism of the Holy Spirit (accepting Gods Spirit of Truth dwelling inside us) evidenced by speaking in tongues.  Without accepting this special gift from the Lord it is like telling God you don’t want His Spirit or to know him any better and you’re just fine staying in your carnality cheating on your diet (and Jesus).  Men… try cheating on your wives, and wives, try cheating on your husbands and see how the marriage relationship goes; best of luck with your relationship with your spouse.  It will progress about as well as your carnality in your relationship with Jesus is going!

And for you that, in your factious carnality, have said other sects have “false doctrines” and entertain any thought of being more holy than they are need to deject your egos and stop comparing yourselves to others and start comparing yourselves to Jesus, and then maybe… just maybe you can resolve to see the depths of how extremely short you and your carnal denominational flesh have fallen from the holiness of God.  In other words the denominational diet you are on is NOT working for you.  You are still far from Christ likeness being puffed up with the same pride and ego you were operating in a year ago.

I had a passionate conversation with someone recently who God directed to my home because they asked Him to direct them to someone who could teach them the bible, so He did.  And, as are most of the believers the Lord sends across my path, this person was trying to justify their carnal denominational thinking and, without going into details, the things they were accusing me of were the very things they were doing themselves.  They were so blind to their own faults they couldn’t accept the fact they were annoyed about themselves, not me.  They wanted to be able to serve their own little Jesus they created the way they had been doing for years, yet the opposing reality I was teaching them was straight out of the bible backing up everything I was saying with scriptures but they were rejecting some of those truths.  When I teach someone a truth I always give the verse(s) that verify the idea I am putting forth confirming the fact that the bible says it so that’s why we should believe it.  They had it backwards and were under the assumption that when they think… feel… or believe… something, in their mind, that makes it truth so they endeavor to find a verse in the bible that backs up their belief.  This is how diets (denominations) get started and the Word of God gets twisted out of context trying to fit it into false beliefs.  I was accused of being to “rigid” and not considering the possibility of other beliefs being right.  It was said in an effort to demean me but I took it as one of the highest complements anyone has ever given me.  My answer was “I will always be rigid with God’s Word and will never flex from its truth.”  Another different denominational I think… I feel… I believe… person once told me “I disagree with you Doug but I don’t know why.”  This person’s denominational “elders” convinced them to believe something different but there was nothing they could find in the bible to support their belief and contradict my statements.  If the bible says it we must believe it; we can’t believe something then try to force the bible to fit that belief, like many so-called “Christians” do.  This is the mentality of dieters that want to talk about our “diet” of the bible yet be able to cheat once in a while so they won’t have to suffer the complete death of the flesh by getting on their cross and dying to everything they hold dear in this life including doctrines and traditions of men.

I could go on and on with more biblical examples as these are not the only things that are being manipulated by “Christians” to make it easier for their flesh to cheat on this diet and to supposedly follow Jesus.  The way we become more like Christ from glory to glory is to kill our flesh so “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”  Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him.  Crucifixion is a very slow, painful death and most of the time killing our flesh takes us through many trials and tribulations that are administered by God Himself.  We think it’s the Devil’s idea to persecute us and we try to pray against the evil one when it is God telling the Devil to do it.  If you don’t believe that God does this then read the book of Job.

Cheaters never win.  This diet that the Lord has given us needs a faithful commitment to see it through to the end.  “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”  The bible says the enduring will be the only ones that will be saved.  Cheaters on all diets carnal and spiritual are unstable people.  They get tossed round by every new diet and every carnal, factious, denominational “wind of doctrine” that tickles their ears and makes is easy for them to be “Christians.”  They won’t be getting any healthier physically or spiritually.  “For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

James 1:22-24 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

When we talk the talk but don’t walk the walk the bible calls us “hearers of the Word” only.  Many babble on about this Christian diet but they are not really following it so it isn’t working for them and they are regrettably deceiving themselves only.  They walk so loud you can’t hear what they are saying.  They don’t essentially KNOW Christ or have forgotten who they are in Christ and what He did for us at the cross.  Lord help us all to be “doers of the Word, and not hearers only.”  Amen!

Your servant in Christ.