Eating As Act of Worship

The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 2 - The Jericho Wall

12/13/2015

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When the Israelites began to possess the land of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership, the city of Jericho was one of the first of the cities Israel conquered. They did so by obeying God’s commandment to march around the city of Jericho in total silence once per day for six days. Then on the seventh day, they followed the Lord’s command to march around the walls of the city seven times. At the end of the seventh circuit, the Israelite priests blew the trumpet at Joshua’s command for the people to shout, and the Lord caused the walls of Jericho to miraculously fall down (Joshua 6:1-21).

As a result, the people of Jericho were defenseless to the Israelites’ attacks because nothing stood between them and the Jews any longer. In other words, the city which had tightly shut out the invading Israeli army was now wide open. Consequently, the Jews rushed into the city and slew everyone inside except for Rahab, the harlot, and her family because she helped the Israelite spies escape from the city.

Although Satan will never be able to reproduce the Jericho Wall Miracle, he is, among other things, a copy cat, and he has introduced a system to constantly bombard the gates and walls of our mind and senses with lies about food that are contrary to God’s word while simultaneously masking, if not causing most of the Christian world to completely forget, God’s word as it relates to food. Consequently, most people have open minds when it comes to how they should eat, and they can be negatively or positively influenced in that regard.

However, the incontrovertible evidence indicates that the majority of people are most susceptible to the negative influences.[1] The obesity epidemic is proof that when your mind is not prepared for the enemy’s attacks by shielding it with God’s word about gluttony and making an idol of your belly, you leave your mind open to suggestions from the enemy through one of your gates or senses. Then once the enemy successfully gets past your defensive gates & walls, he rushes in, as the Israelites did in Jericho, to employ his old stand-by tricks of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life in order to entice you to commit the sin of gluttony. When you’re defenseless, it’s not long before gluttony causes you to make an idol of your own stomach.

The more commercials and billboards you see of double zero models eating off the dollar menu at fast food restaurants with their body builder boyfriends beside them, you begin to believe the lie that you, too, should actually be able to eat like that every day, have the same body type, the same extraordinary-looking companion, and never know a fat day. You will especially believe these images if you are bombarded with them from infancy, like the current generation of children and young adults have been. Those lies have a tendency to drown out a mother’s lectures of how good veggies are for you, if there is a parent in the home attempting to teach such a lesson, since many of them are committing the same sin. Couple that with the fact that there is little to no spiritual training on the subject, and it’s no wonder that an entire generation has given itself over to the sins of gluttony and idolatry.

Counter the lies of the world’s system about food with God’s living word on the subject. In other words, you must utilize one of your gates in order to rebuild and strengthen all of your walls and gates.   This involves two steps.

Step 1: Speak God’s truth regarding food aloud.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21

“So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

"Life" is God’s word about your circumstances. "Death" is the world system’s lies about looking great while eating, drinking, and doing whatever you want. What you hear with your ears goes straight to your mind. You will either believe what you hear, that is, put your faith in it, or you won’t believe it. Hearing something once is not always enough to create a sustaining level of faith in something, but when you hear something repeatedly, a person’s mind, beliefs, or opinions can gradually begin to change.

As previously stated, Satan is the ultimate copycat. He manipulates what people hear in order to get them, and entire societies, to believe his lies about food and any other sinful agenda he advocates in the lives of individuals and a society’s culture. The devil knows that a Christian with strong faith is a formidable foe. Consequently, the enemy works hard to keep Christians on milk instead of solid food as we discussed in an earlier lesson.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Step 2:            Trust God by believing what you hear.

God wants you to hear the truth for your good. Not only does hearing God’s truth strengthen your faith and your spiritual walls and gates, but the more you hear God’s word, the stronger your trust in God becomes. The more you hear it, the more likely you are to quickly recognize Satan’s lies for what they are, to develop faith that what God’s word says about food and every other sin is the truth, and to trust God to perform His word. But you can’t hear it, if it is never spoken to you. In the absence of a sermon, bible study, or song about a spiritual issue, sometimes you have to remind yourself what the word of God says. If you don’t, the devil certainly won’t waste any time reminding you of his lies. He knows that once God’s word is rooted within you, you will come to trust Him, too, because God will prove Himself to be all that He says He is. And freedom follows.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16

Studying and memorizing scripture regarding food, attending church and bible study (if you kind find any about food), listening to Christian music, reading Christian books about food, discussing bible concepts with other believers concerning food - all of these are examples of changes to your way of thinking. The more often you engage in these activities, the more you think about God, His commands, and His will for your life.

Outcome

As a Christian, when you know what God’s will is, you are obligated to do it. Now that God has made known His will for you regarding food, you are expected to submit to it, so obey God and do it! If you are not yet a believer in Christ, remember when you hear Jesus Him knocking at the door, do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:15; Revelation 3:20). You are invited to let Jesus take the burden of these sins and every other sin you have ever committed away from you. All you have to do is give it to Him.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

As you renew your mind to God’s perspective and submit to His will for your life in regard to food, it becomes easier to fulfill the command of Ephesians 4 because the Holy Spirit empowers you to do so as you obey.

”[P]ut off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24

Body parts that were once used as sinful tools (your gates) to drive your lustful desires can now be transformed into instruments of worship. Instead, of eating to satisfy your own lust, you can now eat for God’s glory. Consequently, your stomach is no longer an idol that you worship. Instead, it is a member of your body that has been brought into submission in order to worship the One True Living God.

“Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up. You will remove iniquity far from your tents.” Job 22:22-23

[1] According to the Centers for Disease Control, 68.8% of the population of American adults are obese.

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The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 1 - City Walls & Gates

12/6/2015

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In ancient times, cities were protected from attack by a wall which surrounded the city. There were gates along the wall which provided a means of ingress and egress. Soldiers were usually stationed on the walls and near the entrances for security purposes. For example, the soldiers served as lookouts (Habakkuk 2:1) for enemy attacks in order to provide early warnings of enemy assault and watch for and detect spies attempting to enter the city.

During times of war, the attacking nation would often lay siege to a city by surrounding its walls and preventing the inhabitants from escaping when open, hand-to-hand combat was not possible.[1] This is what took place when Babylon attacked the city of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 32:1-2). Depending on how well prepared the inhabitants were, this could lead to a stalemate that could last for weeks, months, or years.[2] For example, Jewish rebels held off the Roman Legionaries for two years when the Legionaries laid siege to the mountain fortress of Masada in Palestine.[3] The last of the Jewish rebels had committed suicide when the Romans finally breached the Masada fortress.[4]  As in the case of the Jews during the Babylonian siege, the inhabitants of the city could die from famine and disease within the besieged city (Jeremiah 32:24). In Jeremiah 19:9, those behind the walls faced worse deaths such as cannibalism. Specifically, the bible says, "I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them" (Jeremiah 19:9 NIV).

Often the attacking nation would attempt to overtake a city by somehow getting past the wall that protected the city. One method of doing so was to destroy a city gate. Consequently, both the city walls and the city gates had to be made of strong durable materials that could withstand enemy attacks. Once the attacking nation would successfully overtake a city by somehow getting past the wall that protected it, they murdered those who lived there, raped the women, and pillaged the belongings of the inhabitants as part of the spoils of war.[5] In the case of the Roman Legionaries, it was actually Roman policy for the soldiers to do so as part of their reward for a successful campaign and to intimidate other countries from resisting a Roman attack.[6]

1.         City Walls

You may be wondering why it’s necessary to discuss battle techniques and fortifications when the subject is supposed to be about weight loss. Well, you are actually in a spiritual battle which manifests itself in your physical life. To put it plainly, your sin against God has allowed you to be led away by the sins of gluttony and idolatry in the same way God allowed the Israelites to be defeated and enslaved by the Babylonians due to their sin. Although it’s a spiritual battle, there are similarities to what happens in the natural world. Accordingly, the city walls of Jerusalem represent the physical or natural world because they were fixed structures which were made of wood, clay, stone, or a mixture of materials and which surrounded the city in order to protect its inhabitants.

2.         Humanity’s Walls

On the other hand, humanity’s walls are represented by the mind but pertain to the spiritual realm. Your mind is your control center. In addition to regulating your body functions, it’s also where you make decisions which negatively or positively affect your life and your afterlife. For instance, in order to pick something up, first your mind has to send signals to your arm and hands to move, and then send more signals to move the object. If you run away, your mind regulates the complex system that indicates danger and tells your legs to move you to safety. If you eat something, you use your mind to decide what to eat, whether to cook it at home or purchase it at a restaurant, and how much of it to eat. When it comes to your salvation, you choose whether or not to believe or not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Likewise, your body is analogous to a city, and your soul represents those who dwell behind the city walls because your soul is you. It’s that intangible part of you that is encapsulated by your flesh while simultaneously animating your body. It is what makes you who you really are. Since your mind controls and makes decisions which affect your physical body and your soul, if the mind is conquered, the rest of you will be at the mercy of the conqueror.

In other words, once the mind has fallen, the rest of the body and the soul follow, for better or worse. That is what happened to you in regard to food and why the enemy constantly bombards adults and children alike with images and sounds about unhealthy eating and living. It is what happens to everyone else on the planet in regard to their individual sins or unrighteous living. It’s a divide and conquer strategy. If the mind is either deprived of knowing about God’s will or convinced not to conform to the will of God, then the ruler of this world can more easily persuade a person to give in to temptation.

Unlike the physical walls surrounding a city, your mind is not in a fixed location. On the contrary, it travels with you wherever you go. Consequently, the enemy’s attacks could come against your mind because you intentionally or unintentionally, or consciously or unconsciously wandered into enemy territory. In other words, you put yourself in a bad position. And just as the inhabitants of a well-fortified city usually did not pick a fight with the invading enemy, you find yourself at war with an enemy with whom you had no intention to do battle.

Because you have been blessed with the ability to think and make decisions, however, your mind is also a mechanism designed to shield and defend you against the enemy’s attacks just like the physical walls which surrounded Jerusalem and other fortified cities protected them from invaders and gave the citizens inside a defensive fighting position. God’s word in your mind is the equivalent of exchanging a wooden wall of defense for a 12-foot thick steel wall. In other words, it’s much more durable and resistant to the enemy’s attacks. When God’s word is the basis for your decisions, the enemy is harder-pressed to get you to yield to temptation. That’s why he works so hard to keep you from learning God’s word as it relates to gluttony, idolatry and every other sin.

[1] Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man, by R.G. Grant, Dorling Kindersley Limited, Pages 30-33, Copyright 2007, 2010.

[2] Jeremiah 39:1-2, Babylonian siege of Jerusalem lasted for more than a year.

[3] Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man by R.G. Grant, Dorling Kindersley Limited, Page 31, Copyright 2007, 2010.

[4] Id.

[5] Id. at 33 under Siege Tactics & Weapons.

[6] Id.

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Ann Wooten Taylor

Ann is an attorney who has been licensed to practice law in the State of Arkansas since 2004, practicing in the areas of child abuse and neglect, special education, and unemployment insurance law. Mrs. Taylor is also the C.E.O. of Eating as an Act of Worship Ministries and a Christian author. Her first non-fiction, Christian book entitled, "Eating as an Act of Worship Workbook" was published and released by Life to Legacy Publishing in 2015. Her second book, the "Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher's Edition" was published and released in December 2016.

The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 2 - The Jericho Wall

The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 1 - City Walls & Gates

Ann Wooten Taylor

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The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 2 - The Jericho Wall

﻿The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 1 - City Walls & Gates

Ann Wooten Taylor

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The Dangers of Keeping an Open Mind, Part 1 - City Walls & Gates