Written by Jerry Robinson
Originally Posted on 10/9/2007
Lately I have begun to realize that through the course of my adulthood I have accidentally gotten out of shape. I say accidentally because I never aimed to become unhealthy. On the contrary, I love living a vibrant and active lifestyle. So what happened?
Like so many Americans, I have been raised in a generation that promotes bad food in a feel good culture where carnality is king. It has taken a serious wake up call for me to realize what a bad road this is and I have started to learn about eating naturally. This is a story I share with many.
Take a look at this era of progression and affluence. This culture has blown abundance on imbalance. Busy lifestyles, a preference for cheap, tasty food and lack of education has led to toxic nutrition becoming the staple diet for most in the United States. Recognize that this country is going through a revolution to get back to eating food that is actually natural, or in other words, organic. Doesn’t this all sound very familiar?
Toxicity in the Church
The American church is mirroring the foolishness of our society. Toxic, cheap and regurgitated teaching is making mega church millionaires of a select symposium of polished preachers with silk tongues that would make the marketers of fast food America cook in their fryers with envy. There is false, unhealthy teaching in America whose promulgators use persuasive packaging to hit the mass appeal. But consider, in contrast, Paul’s methodology.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul said, "And my speech and my preaching to you were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (NKJV)
Peter recognized the problem of false teachers stating, "But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption…They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls." -2 Peter 2:12-14 (NKJV)
Did you catch that last part? Peter was talking about false teaching “beguiling unstable souls.” Who are these unstable souls? Anyone who does not know what they truly believe, and why.
A Time for Realization
These days I am doing my best to stay away from fast food and a bad diet because I don’t want to die before my time. I am returning to nourishing my body the way God intended for health and vitality. Though I have been unstable for a time, I am not willing to be beguiled from my health any longer. It is time for the American church to have an “Organic Reformation” of its own.
Currently, only 4% of High School students hold to a biblical worldview. Among adults under 30, only 3% of unbelievers hold a favorable view of Christianity. At what point do we realize that a gospel customized to tickle ears and make Mr. Minister rich is doing nothing to save souls? We are losing an entire generation people and we must face the unhealthy doctrine established in the church by becoming vocal promoters of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Are we now afraid to chew on the meat of the Word because we have decayed our teeth on abundant sugary messages from the pulpit? Popular ministers love to stand in your television and proclaim that walking with God will get you a Mercedes Benz. Toxic. Believers in America have adapted themselves to the spiritual comfort food in churches that de-emphasize education while gearing messages engineered to enforce your self esteem. This taste good but there is no nutritional value in this trend.
While the aging population of the church has gone by the wayside into benign living, the world is offering a literal buffet of ideas for our young thinkers to sink their minds into. We would do well to be reminded of Paul’s admonition to Timothy: "If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." - 1 Timothy 4:6 (KJV)
What Did Jesus Do?
You see, Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost." (Luke 19:10) From conception to redemption His works were filled with purpose, driven by the power of the Holy Spirit and the will of a Holy Father! Zealots, Pharisees, Satan, not even His own disciples were able to tempt Him from His singular intent... "to seek and save what was lost."
So how are you nourishing your soul? Is the vitality in you to be an emulator of Jesus Christ? Is the strength in you to overthrow moneychangers from the house of God? Will you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him?
1 Peter 4:17 states, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God." The day is getting far spent and it is past time for the Body of Christ in America to lay aside its impotent delinquency and return to nourishing ourselves with sound healthy doctrine. An organic reformation is required.
Jerry Robinson is the founder of Jerry Robinson Ministries, a ministry devoted to taking the Gospel of Jesus' First Coming to the unbeliever, and the Good News of Jesus' Second Coming to the Global church. He is an ordained minister, writer, and speaker and holds university degrees in International Economics and Religious Studies. Additionally, Jerry operates jerryrobinson.org, an internationally known website that archives and analyzes global events through the lens of Biblical prophecy.