Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
by
Patricia Backora
I read material about a big dieting cult which calls itself a church. I’ll
call the leader “Sister X”. She insists that your salvation hinges on
being thin when you die. Sort of reminds me of the ancient Egyptian
belief that only well-preserved mummies made it into paradise. The
bare bones nitty-gritty: the more grub you leave on your plate, the
holier you are! You can’t eat till your stomach starts growling, and you
must quit when your acute sense of hunger dulls (after a few tiny
bites). Church members should try to stop after three bites, then wait
till their stomach growls again. If they eat past minimum satiety,
they’ve sinned and need to repent.
I Tim.4:1: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times
(that’s where WE are!) some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
VERSE 2: Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron;
VERSE 3: Forbidding to marry, AND COMMANDING TO ABSTAIN FROM
MEATS, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth.
I Tim.6:17: Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not
highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, Who
giveth us richly ALL THINGS to enjoy (not barely touch with fear and
trembling).
Funny, I just can’t picture Peter and Paul sipping diet soda and nibbling
a toothpick at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
What kind of blessing did the patriarch Isaac bless his son Jacob with?
Gen.27: 28: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the
fatness of the earth, and PLENTY of corn and wine.* * *Jacob was
promised plenty, not just enough to barely stave off starvation.
Joel 2:26: And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the
name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and
my people shall never be ashamed.* * * Sister X makes those who
“eat in plenty” feel ashamed for failing to eat a few bites and quit!
What about Abraham, and the dinner he served three angels who
came to visit in Genesis chapter 18? Sarah made a big pile of flatbread
for them. And Abraham fixed a whole calf for them, along with butter
and milk! How many bites did the angels take of that fattened calf
before they called it a day? If anyone should set the example for
righteousness, it ought to be God’s ambassadors from heaven!
Lev.26:5: …and ye shall eat bread TO THE FULL, and dwell in your land
safely.* * *Here God puts having a full stomach on the same level as
living in safety!
At this woman’s church, even the children are taught to eat only till
they’re barely satisfied. And if they go past that point, they are
rebuked for sin. Jesus says in Mark 7:27: Let the children first be
FILLED. What damage is being done psychologically and physically to
innocent children of people attending this dieting church? Any
“Christianity” which makes central doctrines of personal concerns not
addressed by early apostles is venturing into deep water. Sister X’s
strict legalism downplays the grace of God. A Frankenstein monster
mutation gospel spun out of carefully selected and reworked Old
Testament passages is a noxious weed which bears terrible fruit. The
grace of God is being stifled in that cult if not snuffed out entirely.
This phrase is found several times in the Gospels: And they did all eat
and were filled (not barely satisfied):Matt.14:20;15:37; Mark 6:42;
Luke 9:17* * *Jesus didn’t pass out the loaves and fishes and tell the
crowds: Eat only when your stomach growls and then take only three
bites! After feeding the multitude, Jesus told His disciples to be sure to
collect the leftovers so nothing would go to waste (John 6:12). Sister X
believes in wasting food. If you leave a bunch on your plate and it rots,
so what? Saving food betrays lack of trust in God to provide future
meals. Would Sister X tell a hungry African it’s an abomination in the
sight of God to save scarce food for future meals?
Even James, the most legalistic of the apostles, has this to say:
The Dieting Gospel would say instead: Count it all joy that you’re thin
from lack of food. Or, to a fat individual: What’s the use of giving you
money for clothes? Clothing stores don’t even stock your size! You’ve
got plenty of lard on your bones. You don’t need to eat! Now’s your
chance to get skinny for Jesus! THIN-doctrination is where it’s at!
Did God care whether poor Israelites got enough food, or was He more
concerned that they stay skinny? Here are His instructions to Israelite
farmers and herdsmen:
Deut.14:28: At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the
tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy
gates:
VERSE 29: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance
with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which
are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and BE SATISFIED (not
leave half hungry); that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the
work of thine hand which thou doest.
When Jesus met the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-42), He didn’t
comment on her love handles, just her lovers.
The only Scripture where God forbade an individual to eat till they
were full was in the case of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel Chapter 4:9-12. Ezekiel
was used as a living word picture by God to predict famine for Israel.
He was permitted only a few ounces of bread and about 2-1/2 cups of
water per day. Limited access to food (eating bread by weight) was a
sign of divine judgment, not God’s blessing.
Sister X’s cult frowns on ALL weight gain, even in the case of
expectant mothers, who need to nourish their own babies!
Experiments done on lab rats illustrates the power of fear: Every time
the rats got hungry and approached food, they received an electrical
shock. Eventually the rats died because they began to associate food
with pain instead of pleasure. Fear prevented them from eating. Sister
X is using fear of hell fire to control the diets of her congregation
members. They need HER, not God’s permission, to put something in
their mouth to stay alive. This lady’s diet doctrine is fattening her bank
account. So who’s the greater glutton here? The world (and carnal
Christians) act like money gluttony isn’t as big a deal as eating too
much! All that matters is outward beauty, not inward ugliness. Even
the covetous, sensual, materialistic beauty queen is still beautiful.
The Gospel of Thin. This doctrine of devils was imported from the
world into the church. Mandating beauty standards and forbidding
God’s people to eat gives rise to condemnation, judgmentalism, envy,
pride, and self-obsession. This new gospel is earthly, sensual, devilish
(James 3:15). A controlling Jezebel spirit is behind this cult, not the
Holy Spirit. Whenever anyone dares to question the Biblical authority
of Sister X’s teachings, she and the other leadership rake that
individual over the coals for being rebellious and trying to stir up
discord. Psychological and spiritual pressures are brought to bear upon
those who present scriptural evidence that her doctrine clashes with
the grace of God in Christ.
Sister X plainly states that if her followers are fat when they die, they
are failures in the sight of God and will go to hell! The clear implication
is that thinness, not justification through the Cross of Calvary, is the
righteousness God demands of believers, and the most important way
of salvation for them. How dopey, not to mention dangerous! If this
doctrine weren’t being gobbled up by big crowds of professing
Christians, and being exported from a major city of the USA, I
wouldn’t be so shocked! The clear implication is this: Sister X teaches
that thinness is her people’s passport to paradise after death, and
heaviness is a ticket to hell. Sister X is teaching a new gospel, one not
taught by Paul or any of the apostles!
Does God weigh the thoughts and intents of a person’s heart with a
bathroom scale? Is food intake (or lack thereof) a sure indicator of a
person’s spirituality?
I Cor.8:8: But meat (food) commendeth us not to God: for neither if
we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse.
I can’t put this more delicately: Despite the flowers and the flowery
eulogies spoken at funerals, one fate awaits both fat and skinny bodies
after death: dead flesh rots. All bodies, beautiful or ugly, decay and go
back to the dust (Gen.3:19).
Phil.3:21: Who (God) shall change our vile (Gk: tapeinosis, lowly,
humiliated) body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto
Himself.* * *Notice, God does not ask His people to change their OWN
body to glorious perfection. He’ll do that in the future. Paul identifies
himself as being among those with a “vile” body needing to be
changed. Tradition says Paul was short, bald, bow-legged and hook-
nosed, hardly a Brad Pitt in the pulpit. Paul was probably thin, too,
because of his frequent lack of provisions. So skinny Paul also
committed some cosmetic sins, according to today’s world view. Before
Paul would be allowed to minister in a modern church, he’d have to get
a nose job, have physiotherapy to get his leg bones straightened and
get a hair transplant.
It is a well-documented fact that many (not all) fat people eat no more
(and often less) than thin people. So why should unfashionable body
size disqualify people for heaven if other conditions which humiliate
the human body don’t?
The world says it’s impossible to get too rich or too thin, and that
propaganda has contaminated modern church doctrine, along with
other self-glorifying worldly values. The church used to be a mighty
bulwark against the vanities of this world. Now it’s a sponge soaking
them up! The church used to be focused on getting people ready for
the world to come. Now the church teaches people how to be rich,
glamorous, and successful in this world so they’ll be “good witnesses”
(to whom?) “for Jesus”. Big beautiful buildings, bountiful offerings and
bony bodies in expensive attire are the carnal church’s top priorities,
outstripping the fanaticism of satan’s crowd for material affluence. The
church used to be the main provider of charity for the poor. Today’s
carnal church is teaching its people how to deny themselves food for
vanity’s sake, while sanctioning other forms of gluttony (personal
glory, lust for money, etc.). While the church acts like the world, the
world is acting like the church and running relief agencies so the poor
won’t starve.
For way too long promoters of worldly vanity have set the trends and
reaped earthly rewards while the poor, the unpopular, the plain and the
fat have been ground underfoot. But God has drawn a line: The devil
has his kingdom and God has his, and never the twain shall meet.
During his lifetime the Rich Man of Luke 16 “had his good things” and
was well-liked and respected by everybody who was somebody.
Lazarus, the poor, sick beggar, was forgotten and despised. But in the
next life, the tables were turned. Lazarus became rich while the Rich
Man lost everything.
Like the Titanic, this present world along with its vain values, is
destined for destruction. As this world sinks into the ocean of God’s
impending judgment, many Christians are busy salvaging as much of
the world’s shiny fixtures as they can, loading them onto God’s
lifeboats and causing them to sink!
Sister X has done her worst to impose worldly standards of beauty and
acceptance on God’s Kingdom, the one sphere where human pride has
no place. She has imposed a regimen of fear upon vulnerable souls
who were already insecure when they came to her. She has dared to
set herself as lord and judge over God’s people, as an intermediary
between God and His people, whereas the Bible clearly states there is
only ONE Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (I
Tim.2:5).
On earth, the rich, the beautiful and the influential have always ruled
the roost while humbler, plainer folks have taken a backseat. But God
has promised the day would come when the proud would be humbled
and the hungry would be filled with good things (Isaiah 2:11; Luke
1:52-53). Sister X has made her money through teaching weight
control, but she wants to control even the spiritual relationship of her
people with God. That is an attitude of antichrist.
Is being fat a sin? In most cases, no. The sad fact remains that fat,
like genetic disorders, is one of the legacies of the Fall of Adam. In the
Garden of Eden, there was no danger of famine, for it was a perfect
environment. Once Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from
Eden, a dangerous element of uncertainty threatened human
existence. Crops would be abundant one year and scarce the next,
from scanty rainfall. Bad rainfall even affected the diet of non-
agricultural hunter-gatherer societies. When it failed to rain, the river
dried up. Fish died. Plants shriveled up. Animals died, and what few
were left to hunt had no fat on them and little flesh.
In times of scarcity, people with extra meat on their bones are more
likely to survive than lean individuals. Far from being afraid of fat,
people living under primitive conditions often eat animal fat to ensure
an adequate calorie intake. Inuit people (Eskimos) who follow their
traditional diet eat mostly raw fish and meat, along with the blubber
(fat) of the animal. Sister X states that primitive people in their native
habitat are naturally lean. But it takes many extra calories to survive
the arctic cold. I read of Arctic explorers who had to eat between 7-
8,000 calories per day to resist the cold! The Inuit tend to be broad-
chested and round-faced individuals, rather than lean and long-faced
like some African tribes, who live in much hotter conditions. Is Sister X
going to consign the Inuit to hell for eating thousands of blubber
calories to stave off the cold of the Arctic, and for failure to stay skinny
for Jesus?
My own brother suffered from anorexia. His fixation with the evils of
food and the virtues of weight loss was so strong no one could talk him
into a more balanced viewpoint. I lived across the country, so I wasn’t
there to watch his flesh slowly drop away. When he got sick with
cancer, he was already so emaciated he had zero chance of recovery.
It is well known that in time of severe illness appetite is affected and
people lose a lot of weight. Those with none left to lose die!
Sister X even reduces the men of her congregation to skin and bones,
on pain of eternal hellfire. Any weight gain committed by either men or
women must be confessed to the leadership as sin. If one of the
members crosses the leadership, they’re liable to have all their
formerly “forgiven” sins rehashed repeatedly to humiliate the member
back under subjection.
Ah, some of the bizarre baloney that passes itself off as Christianity!
The heretical teaching that “leadership” has divine authority to rule
“pew saints” through censure and fear, even to the extent of
controlling “none of your business” personal areas of believers’ lives is
contrary to what Christ Himself taught.
Matt.23:8: But be not ye called Rabbi (master): for One is your Master,
even Christ; AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN (not privileged “leadership”)
VERSE 9: And call NO MAN (or woman) your father upon the earth: for
ONE is your Father, Which is in heaven.
VERSE 10: Neither be ye called masters: for ONE is your Master, even
Christ.
VERSE 11: For he (or she) that is greatest among you shall be your
servant.
VERSE 12: And whosoever shall exalt himself (or herself) shall be
abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
What about those intimidated, silent “pew saints”? Is any truly born
again individual dead weight in God’s church?
In this passage Peter does NOT limit God’s Royal Priesthood only to
people who are fashionably thin!
So what about leadership? Does God set elders and shepherds into His
church? He definitely does, but not to be lords over God’s heritage (I
Pet.5:1-4).
Many cite Hebrews 13:17 as proof that church (or cult) leaders have
the right to unconditional obedience. What does it really say?
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for
they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they
may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
The Greek word translated “obey” in this verse is peitho, which means
to “be persuaded by”. Whenever a church elder appointed by God
breaks the bread of God’s true Word to you or shares a Scriptural word
of wisdom with you, it is best to yield to the authority of the Holy Spirit
(the Voice of the Good Shepherd) which you discern behind the godly
exhortation. But no Christian, whatever his position, has authority
from God to teach heresy which contradicts God’s Word. And no
religious teacher has authority from God to add to God’s commands
(Deut.4:2; 12:32). Any personal area of a believer’s life which does
not involve sin, as described under the New Covenant, is a NO GO area
for pastoral authority. I qualified that statement because certain Old
Testament prohibitions are not sinful for Christians today: making
dinner on the Sabbath, eating ham, men shaving their beards, etc.
Whose word carries more weight? Sister X’s, or the solid meat of
Scripture?