The Scientific world tells us that the human body reproduces itself every seven years.  Every cell eventually wears out and is replaced by the same kind of cell.  Questions in the physical realm involve 1) the health of the cell that is being replaced and 2), the health of the replacement cell.  The truth relative to both the cells to be replaced and the replacement cells can be summed up in a simple truth: “We are what we eat.”  Human body cells are replaced by what we physically consume.  If we  consume good food and drink our cells will be good and will be replaced by good cells.  Unfortunately, the opposite is equally true–consume bad food and the process is reversed.  Where both good and bad food is available, man chooses what food he will consume.

The same principle holds true in the spiritual realm.  What we ingest spiritually is usually of our own choosing.  Anyone who earnestly wants a Bible can get one.  What we consume of the Bible’s offerings determines the condition of our spiritual beings.  And as is the case with physical food, the choice is ours.  I have watched children walking to school with a bag of potato chips in one hand and a soft drink in the other.  These are the kids who, though feeling full, satisfied and content, will fall asleep in their seats because their bodies are weak, not from the lack of food, but from the quality of the food the consume.

On the spiritual level, I have seen people arrive at church with a Bible in their hands but knowing more about the t.v. schedule than about God’s plan for their life.  Though surrounded by religion and religious people–“a Bible in every home and a church on every block”–they believe that they are spiritually “alive” they are spiritually dead.  The Apostle Paul admitted to having the same problem prior to reading God’s Law (Rom. 7:9).  As is the case with the chip and soda consumers, those who are fed a steady diet of churchivity are full, happy and content.  Just as sugar and carbohydrates make people feel good on the physical level, being told that one is saved, born again and rapture-ready makes one feel good on the spiritual level.  There is a age-old hymn that states: “It is well with my soul.” This musical lie has been sung by billions of church goers (myself included) who know nothing about the condition of their souls because they are being fed the wrong spiritual “food.”  As a result, they are spiritually content while spiritually dying.  The designer of their deadly “food” (Satan) tells them that all is well, just keep chowing down on the fare they are being fed.  His message enters their hearts (minds) through the body’s “windows”–their eyes by which they read church printouts, books, magazine articles, watch movies and dvd’s), and their ears by which they hear preaching on Sunday, revival messages, daily t.v. and radio broadcasts).  Unless they experience a life-reversing turn, these contented souls will go to their graves feeling that they are ready to meet their Maker.  My job is to tell them God’s hard-hitting Truth by wielding the sword of His Spirit–His Word (Eph. 6:17)–through speaking and writing.  To the died-in-the-wool churchite, God’s Truth/Word/Gospel/”strong meat” is a bitter “pill” to swallow.  The bitterness, combined with pride and fear, is why so few choose to swallow it.  Spiritual milk is much more appealing than the Lord’s “strong meat” (Heb. 5:12,14).  In the previous series I revealed several types of religious poison with which Satan’s victims are committing spiritual suicide.  The present series will provide some strong meat which Christendom’s billions desperately need to consume.  However, just as a baby resists solid food when being weaned from the breast, I have found that church people resist the Lord’s strong meat after years of consuming the church’s milk.

It is a provable fact that “Nature loathes a vacuum.”  A vacuum is an empty space that demands to be filled.  In its original state, the human mind is a vacuum that craves to be filled with information.  A child’s questioning nature and inquisitiveness shows that his little brain cries out for knowledge.  The key is to fill that young brain with good spiritual food–God’s holy, pure, undiluted, unaltered, uninterpreted, unspun Word which Jesus called Truth (Jn. 17:17).  Though there are numerous types of religious food (church doctrines–see the previous series), there is only one righteousness-producing source of information–the Holy Scriptures written and preserved by the Father of lights.

There is a saying within the computer industry–“Garbage in, garbage out”–meaning that bad input always results in bad output.  The opposite is also true.  Though the human mind is many times more sophisticated and more powerful than a computer, the same principle applies–what goes into the mind comes out of the mind in the form of thoughts, words and actions.  Both Old and New Testaments proclaim this principle relative to things of the spirit.  In Proverbs 23:7 we are told: “For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”  This is one of the most profound statements found in the Holy Scriptures–what we think about in our hearts, so we are.  What we consume through our eyes and ears determines our character, our personality, how we act and react–our thoughts, words and deeds.

Jesus spoke to this Truth in Matthew 15:17-19: “Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?  But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and defiles the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness and blasphemy.”  Contrary to universal religious opinion, we cannot fill our hearts with sin and be right with God.  We cannot watch sin-exalting television, read sin-filled books, listen to sin-praising music, etc., then walk with the Lord.  “Can two walk together unless they are in agreement?” (Amos 3:3).  God never agrees with sin.  To the contrary, sin separates us from Him (Isa. 59:2) by removing His Spirit from within us.

King David, upon coming under conviction for his sins, pleaded with God: “Please do not take Your Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11).  He knew that without God’s Holy Spirit he was a walking dead man.  He knew that “They who are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).  The Holy Spirit never leads one to sin.  The Spirit leads where God tells it to lead–to the way of holiness, righteousness and purity.  Jesus said that (only) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled with righteousness, and therefore WILL BE RIGHTEOUS.  And if they continue to dine on righteous “food” they will remain righteous.  Those who continue to dine on God’s Holy Word until the end of their lives will be saved (Rom. 5:21; 6:22; Mat. 10:22).  As the Apostle Peter wrote to and about the church while under the leadership of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21), “Judgment is on-going in the church, and only the righteous will be saved, and they just barely” (1 Pet. 4:17,18).  Just as a house is built out of the material that is provided by its builder, our character is built out of the spiritual food our source provides.  We decide which food from which source we will consume.  We must not eat what Satan provides just because it tastes good, is pleasant to the eyes and will make us (religiously) wise” (er than God) as did Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:6).  We must, like Abel, “eat” the Words of God, obey them and, as a result, be called “righteous” by Him (Mat. 23:35).  There is no goal higher than to be called “righteous” by the Lord.  He promised that upon His return He would welcome His “good and faithful servants” into their inheritance–eternal life in the Kingdom of God (Mat. 25:21-23).  We EARN our inheritance through good WORKS which are accomplished by OBEYING HIS WORD.  L.J.