Searching for the Truth in the King James Bible;
Finding it, and passing it on to you.

EDITOR:
Steve Van Nattan

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FAT PREACHERS AND SAINTS

This preacher was nick named Jabba The Hut by some in the community. How would you like a nick name like that? People in the community do NOT have nice things to say about fat preachers. Most preachers have soft hands and are not very physically tough anyway, so the big belly simply calls for derision at the local cafe by the unsaved good old boys and farmers. I once saw Jack Hyles perform. Afterwards, I got up close and watched him. Every movement and comment was choreographed to make Hyles look special. I looked at his hands. They were soft, pale, and lady like. His pot belly finished off the image.

Many fat preachers make jokes about their blubber. "All the fat belongeth to the Lord," they say. Blasphemy. What a crass way to use the Word of God to make a joke out of their incontinence with food. There is another fat boy preacher who is known as a great comedian. He gets up to preach, and he has the congregation roaring with laughter at his routine and one liners, and then this slow belly tries to get serious and preach the Word of God. Bah!

Friend, you can hide some sin from your fellow Christian for a while. You can hide adultery for a while. You can hide lying and stealing sometimes. You can hide cruelty to your wife and kids until your friends one day see the black and blue marks. But, you cannot hide that big belly of yours. It goes through the door first, and it screams, "I am living in defeat."

What will your big belly get you?
This list is directly mainly at pastors, but it applies to all saints.

Nine in the Bible is the number of fruit or fruitfulness.
Here are the nine fruits of fat:

1. Your belly will get you a church full of losers. People who are addicted to tobacco or alcohol or drugs will love you because you clearly cannot talk about self-control. Misery loves company, and you are real good company to a chewbacca boy. He knows you will NEVER say a word about his lack of self-control.

2. Your belly will get you a heart attack early so that you cannot finish your work for the Lord. Like Samson, you are sinning in the present continuous tense (for you Greek scholars), and one day you will have a stroke or massive heart attack, and your destiny, at best, will be to be called "pastor emeritus" as you sit and listen to the man who follows you in the pulpit.

3. Your belly will get you a lousy sex life. If your wife is also fat, which frequently is the case, you know very well what I mean. If one of you is fat and the other slim, the slim one will always be fighting the temptation to look in lust at someone other than the fatty. When you are fat, you are tempting your spouse to sin, either to join you in becoming a blimp like you, or in looking for strange flesh.

4. Your big belly will get you kids with big bellies, and your daughter will not be able to find a mature and self-controlled man. The young man who marries a fat girl is desperate for some reason. You fat son will make his future wife miserable, unless he marries a fat girl on the basis that misery loves company.

5. Your belly will get you left behind. You cannot go with the youth on a hike. You cannot go fishing with a deacon because you might capsize the boat and drown. You cannot join a jogger and talk. You cannot even sit in any chair nearby and talk to sinners about their soul. Nothing is more disgusting than to see a preacher sit down, start talking about Jesus, and collapse in a pile of shattered wood on the floor. If you are older, people will understand if you have physical limitations, but if you are 45 years old and dragging around 100 extra pounds, people will NOT understand. They will judge you. You can teach them not to judge, but they will not be able to control their minds with your fat. In fact, I notice that fat preachers design church activities that allow for them to be fat and not look too foolish. How pathetic!

6. This is very serious, and I added it after this article was first posted. Dr. Peter Ruckman has said that if a man is over 40 pounds overweight, he has other serious problems also. One is in the area of sexual lust. Your sex life is limited by your belly, and you will be tempted to find other releases for your sexual energy. If your wife is also heavy, she will buy romance novels and watch soaps. She will also bury herself in works outside the home. You, sir, will chase whores or porn. You will have a deep concern for troubled women because troubled women will accept sympathy from where ever they can get it.

7. The worst issue is this-- You cannot go to war. I once went with a deacon to deal with a fellow who was possessed of devils. He was about 23 years old and husky. We went out on the porch with him and started talking about the Lord Jesus and how he could deliver this fellow. The guy gradually became distracted and began to breath deeper and deeper. Finally, he was breathing like a gorilla and glaring at us in rage. The deacon told me he was having some heart palpitations, and we suggested we needed to leave and get more prayer going in the battle. We had to leave in a hurry, quoting verses on the Blood of Jesus as we retreated. I hate to think what would have happened if we had been waddling away slowly dragging a big belly. The guy's friend came along just as we got into the car, and he pounded on the window and wanted to thrash us. Later, we did get the battle in array better, and the fellow was delivered and born again. You are supposed to be a warrior. You preach it, and you talk about setting aside every weight which and sin which doth so easily beset us, but you refuse to set aside YOUR weight. You rebel. You are not a warrior. You cannot get the armor on because it won't fit. Your belly shows. You are a target. No army will let a rolly polly fat boy near the battle. He will get other soldiers, and himself, killed. Hebrews 12:1

8. One more matter is rather obvious to me from observation. Fat preachers have a problem with rage. They are out of control, and when a saint does not agree with them on an issue, their shame for being a big fatty causes them to be defensive and angry with such people. This happens even though the person may have no problem with the preacher's weight issues. You, sir, are very likely a man of wrath. Oh, you hide it in public, to be sure, but in private ways you take revenge on all who disagree with you, and especially on those who leave your church fellowship. Your wife and you will one day be filled, without measure, with hate for a long list of people. This hate will eventually consume you, and Bible believers will discern that you are a fraud. The mighty men and the godly women will slip away one by one, and you will be left with a bunch of limping babies for a congregation.

9. Finally, your belly will get you laughed at. You will be a byword and a joke to many immature saints, and you will be a frustration to mature saints. You have no right to make a pest of yourself and claim, at the same time, that you are given to the church to bless them. I have also noticed that over weight evangelists tend to be comedians. People laugh better at fat preachers, so these men adapt to this profane art and turn their ministry into a goon show.

Here is God's opinion on the Gospel blimp:

Genesis 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

What would you trade off in the way of spiritual power so that you could keep your big belly?
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Deuteronomy 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

God made provision to stone a fat cheeky brat. You are not in good company, my friend.
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1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
13 And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;
14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
16 And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.

I recall that Eli was a big fat man. Could it be that his lack of self-control with food helped his boys turn wicked. I think so. By the way, preacher, have you ever seen pictures of the cardinals and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church gathered. Why do you suppose they wear those ecclesiastical robes? One reason is to hide their huge bellies. You are in bad company.
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Proverbs 23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

Appetite combines with lust for ambiance and good living to become a vicious snare to the soul.
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Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Do you sleep too much, and do you feel tired when you wake up? God told you to plan on it if you are a glutton.
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Proverbs 30:21 For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

Filled with meat? This means with food, not just fried chicken. Keeping full will cause similar conditions as alcohol in affecting the brain. People who have just eaten too much are prone to blow off at the mouth and say stupid things. If you over eat at the church dinner, you will preach a sloppy sermon in the evening service.
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Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

So, if you believe that, do you let the appetite enslave your mind? Are you always getting ready for the next meal or snack?
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Ecclesiastes 10:17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Eat in due season-- what does this mean? They eat at the appropriate times, and they eat to be warriors, fair rulers, and not slow bellies. Any crook knows that a fat judge will take a bribe. Also, I notice that drunkeness is associated with food as much as with wine.
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Isaiah 22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

And, preacher, you WILL die. You will die before you get your work done for the Lord. Fat kills.
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Amos 6:4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

I have noticed that fat preachers are NOT "grieved for the affliction" of the widows and the folks in the nursing home. They are seldom seen visiting the people of the assembly because they are on a tight schedule to keep a tight belt.
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Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

This fool is talking to himself. Did you notice that? Fat people talk to themselves a lot. They tell themselves that they are really just as useful to God with a big belly as the man who is slim and trim. They talk to themselves about the handsome preacher down the street who is also an adulterer. They measure their sanctification by that of other people around them. We can always find someone more wicked than ourselves who is not fat, right?

Another way people talk to themselves is this: Many saints who are over weight will look at another saint who is far more over weight than themselves. They will justify their lack of self-control by telling themselves they are at least not as bad as THAT person. How about talking to Jesus about your weight instead of talking to yourself about it all the time. See what Jesus says to you.
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Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Jesus was warning John, Peter, James, and Matthew, among others, not to become self-indulgent and miss the day. Which day? Any day, my friend. The day of soul winning-- The day of feeding sheep-- The day of playing ball with your kid-- The day of making love to your wife naturally-- And, finally, the day of the rapture. Would you still be fat if God said you had to lose 80 pounds before you could go to heaven? Some of you would.
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Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

If you are fat and sassy about it, you are a night person. Read it again. You are not in the light. You have put on the fat instead of putting on Jesus Christ.
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Philippians 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

Is your belly your God? If so, you are not born again. You are a wolf in sheep's clothing.
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1 Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Banquetings? Are you a high class sinner? You keep your big belly be eating in only the best restaurants, right? I don't like these all-you-can-eat restaurants because just as you get your plate and sit down, some monolithic pile of blubber sits down at the next table, and you have to watch him shovel in two bushels full as you eat. You cannot pay enough for the food, nor add enough class and sophistication, to make the sin of gluttony look wholesome.
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Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

You are a grease spot. Do you need a Greek lesson? SPILOS-- From which we get the English word, SPILL. You are a spill on the white linen of the Lord's Supper. You are a blight on the Bride's wedding garment.

END THOUGHTS

Well, there it is. The Word of God has plenty to say about our lust to serve our bellies. I must say, many of us are not blubber balls, but we are ten, twenty, or thirty pounds over weight. We buy loose hanging suits to conceal what we know is a problem. Some of us even preach against the sin of gluttony and speak of our own personal problem, even asking for prayer to overcome it.

So, what is the issue? In the Western cultures, it is the fork. Just lay it down sooner my dear diddle head. You don't need the latest trick diet to get the fat off. Just stop shoveling the carbs into your face. To you in the Asian and equatorial cultures, pull your hand out of the dish sooner. It is as simple as that. Many people in developing nations have the notion that a big belly is a sign or prosperity. That is of the devil. It is NOT God's idea. You better get your cultural ideas under the authority of the Word of God.

What about snacks? When famine and lack of food are replaced, in any nation, by some level of prosperity, snack food becomes popular, even an addiction. So, snack on things that don't make you fat. Bangers and chips, Big Mac and fries, and the handy dandy candy bar are making a fool of you. Carry something healthy and satisfying. Beef jerky in the USA, raw herring in Amsterdam, and roasted meat in Nairobi. All cities and cultures have snacks that don't kill you if you just go to a little trouble.

Is your house full of fat food? How about having a burning?

In Africa, when I was a kid, my Dad, who was a missionary, used to go off with the church leaders from time to time to a "burning." This followed a sinner getting saved, and preceded baptism. The church leaders would ask the new believer, in their village, to find all their fetishes. The new believer would have to take some off which they were wearing. They would dig others out of the thatched roof. Others might have to be dug up where they were buried in the ground. These fetishes would be piled up and set on fire while the men stood around and sang Power in The Blood. Wild things often happened, and the new believer was sometimes attacked physically by devils at this time. The victory of this event was powerful and final. YOU preacher, my dear fat friend, do YOU need to have a "burning"? Have you got your stashes all over the place, at the house, in the office, in the car, in the golf bag, out in the barn. How about rounding up your sin supply and burning it out back of the house? Or, feed it to your trash can.

By the way, this article is not just for preachers. I don't care who you are. If you are born again, and if you are a big fatty, man or lady, girl or boy, 5 or 95, you are NOT blessing your Savior with that big belly.

A word here to teen agers. If you have a great load of weight on, you are not very good to look at, and you are already heading for an early heart attack. You will find it hard to win a spouse who has self-control. Please get the fat off. Ask your pastor or his wife for help. If your pastor is a big blubber ball, find a real pastor please. Your pastor is a loser. He is just going to let you stay fat and defeated. Go find a church where the pastor has self-control. I want to see you find a spouse who helps you live in victory, not defeat.

If you need to talk, SEND MAIL.

Some people are fat and defeated because they are not born again. I believe I know some pastors who are not born again, and one reason I believe that is that they lie and cover for their run away appetite. Liars don't go to heaven. Certainly, we go to I John 1:9 and confess sin, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, BUT he also wants to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, if you hide in I John 1:9, why is God not cleansing you of your lust for food? No victory, and you cover for it? You like your sin? You, sir, are NOT born again. Will you go to hell for Big Macs?

To you who are slim and trim: Do you think your self-control with your appetite makes you more spiritual? If you think that way, you have another problem. You think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Take heed lest you fall in some other area, such as playing the dude with the ladies and destroying your testimony with adultery. Also, stop helping your fat friends make jokes about their problem in order to take away the urgency of their problem.

Two things are evil in dealing with a fat friend.

First, do not feed them food that will make them fat as if you are doing them a favor.

Second, do not make light of the problem to reduce its seriousness.

Now, let's all of us go do the right thing.

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

COMMNETARY FROM THE WEB

"The Bible says that gluttony is a sin. But when I watch overweight preachers on TV Sunday morning they speak only of the other six deadly sins. Why? Because in America, fat is sacred." An unrighteous web writer mocking our side.

"I think it is strange that in Acts there are four areas where we are told to be obedient and that three of the four deal with food and only one of the four deals with sex. Yet how many radical right overweight preachers dwell on the sex issue and try to lead their overweight followers to do the same." Another web based complaint

"A few years back I was at youth camp listening to an overweight man preach against the evils of smoking, and during the sermon he reminded another overweight preacher in the audience of their trips to McD's and the vast amount of fast food they had put away at a single sitting, all in a braggadocious manner. I think it would have more impact if he had admitted this particular weakness and stressed the need for continued vigilance. Instead he came across, in my view, as a hypocrite." Online Forum

"Why don't we just say that preachers who are overweight are disqualified from ministry. I mean can you just limit what they can preach against to drinking and smoking. Just kick 'em out of the ministry - that's what they deserve." Online Forum

"I imagine that no church would allow a preacher who had a glass of wine with lunch, especially if the alcohol is still on his breath, behind the pulpit. However, every Sunday there are an almost innumerable number of grossly overweight preachers behind pulpits."
Online Forum

Six things are strange, seven are totally absurd:

Churches that give more to the new building fund than to the poor
Couples that have been divorced and remarried several times who give marriage seminars
Fat preachers who preach on self-control
Music ministers who give performances and say they are leading worship
Hypocrites who say they avoid church because of the hypocrites
An interpretation of a fake utterance in tongues
And a fake interpretation of a real utterance in tongues.

"You said it well. One of the things I have only heard preached on once was gluttony. When I was a young Christian I saw so many fat preachers and really was confused about what it was. I am ashamed to associate with fat preachers. I grew up with parents who are non-believers and would hear comments about some preacher on TV that was way overweight. I often got the feeling by the comments that who was that preacher to tell someone how to live when he was fat as a pig. I grew up on a dairy farm. We worked hard and those preachers gave the image of being lazy and in need of exercise. My parents drilled in us the value of having food. We never wasted food. They grew up poor and had little. Then to see a fat preacher just drove a wedge between what they saw and what they heard. But when I became a pastor that was like the end of the world. We got a number of letters describing the ills of pastoring from those non-believers."
gb93433-- Baptist Bulletin Board

"There is a church or two on every corner, but the communities are in shambles. Life is short and especially short if you have diabetes and cancer. Many fat preachers are in the pulpit and weigh in over 400 lbs, but you can tell me about my sin lust of the flesh but you get to chow down on hog backs with cornbread. And you (COGIC) Look like hypocrites to the rest of God’s Children. I dare you to find the real truth to challenge and question everything you have been taught. Seek God for yourself. I dare you. But it is too convient to rely on the Pasta’. Call me the truth"
From a bulletin board by a Black writer-- One of those wicked people who are too lazy to work, right?

From a bulletin board discussing if masturbation is sin or not, the following logic was used in defense of masturbation being OK:
"People like to pick and choose what is sin to them and make it sin for everybody. If it is sin to you, then it is sin to you. Look at all the fat preachers out there. What about what the Bible says about gluttony. The Bible speaks clearly about that. Read the very first post, this is still the same topic after all this time."

"Everbody is more than ready to throw rocks at the drunk but what about the fat folks? I personally have a real issue with people, christians in particular, who are significantly overweight. It is a sign of a lack of self discipline. I can't stand to listen to a fat preacher. I've heard all of the excuses, the thyroid disorders, etc.. but bottom line is it can't go on your waist line if it doesn't go down your neck. Every fat person I know justifies it just like drunks do. The bottom line is if you see yourself getting fat, do something! Get off the couch, put down the Doritos and exercise. Then comes the excuses, I have a bad knee, my back hurts, yada, yada, yada. Suck it up and do what you have to do! There is no excuse for being fat! It is laziness and a lack of self discipline! I hear fat folks say, "I want to serve the Lord with my whole heart." Well, what if he wants you to run 5 miles. Are you gonna waddle your way to the finish line or have a heart attack 1/2 a mile into the trip."

Same source:
"Having said that, I would say that the definition of gluttony isn't absolutely interlinked to size. It is how much you eat. It is the symptom of someone out of control. I suppose that if your metabolism could keep up then you could eat like a horse and not be too fat. But you could still be a glutton if your eating habits were out of control."
Read the whole forum page of discussion

PHOTO GALLERY:

On the left is the blimp, Newt Gingrich. Indeed, a big fatty. Looks like a Fundmental Baptist preacher.

Teddy blew up and deflated depending on when the next election was.

 

Lest you think I jest carelessly about fat Baptists, consider the preacher from Lynchburg, VA. Did he shorten his life because he was a man of appetite?




Proverbs 23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

That might solve a lot of problems, right?

 

 

Look who preaches against excess with alcohol ! Second performance

Fat is an equal opportunity multi-racial problem

Lady preacher- Benny Hinn's wife

Then, there is a Governor you may know.

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