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YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

If we compared churches to different types of baked goods, what would we find?  It may seem a little silly, even irreverent to some, but since most claim to be representing the Bread of Life Himself, I feel it is appropriate.

So here for your (spiritual) dining pleasure is a list of the different offerings commonly available:

The Church of White Bread.

This bread is really bland. It has no nutritional value whatsoever because the main ingredient has been over-processed to the point that it is virtually unrecognizable from the original. It's main advantage is it comes pre-sliced, and prepackaged and can be purchased anywhere fairly cheaply.

The main ingredients in descending order are:

• Doctrines of Man.
• A Form of Godliness which denies the power thereof.
• Fear of Man.
• Legalism.
• Hypocrisy.

The Church Of The Donut

This church type actually has a myriad of different subtypes. The competition between the different bakeries over revenue and market share causes them to continually seek to outdo each other to come up with various toppings and additives. The product of some of the more extreme ends up being what can only be described by a nutritionist as Death on a Plate. Since there are so many subtypes, I'm only going to focus on three examples:

 The Glazed:

This is the foundational donut. All the others of this type are built upon this one. It is perhaps the most popular one. Even though the it contains the primary ingredient of White Bread, the Glazed has been sweetened to the point that Sugar has become the primary ingredient of this product. That, coupled with massive amounts of lard means that it has no nutritional value whatsoever.

The main ingredients in descending order are:

• Doctrines of Man.
• Seeker Sensitive.
• Greasy Grace.
• A Form of Godliness which denies the power thereof.
• Fear of Man.
• Legalism.
• Hypocrisy.

The Iced with Sprinkles

The I.W.S. is virtually indistinguishable from the Glazed variety nutritionally. Like the glazed it relies on sugar to attract customers. The main difference of course is the addition of the icing and sprinkles. Devotees claim that this product is far superior in every respect to the glazed, but the fact is that it is perhaps a little richer with far more empty calories. The ingredients are the same as the glazed so I'll just list the two additions:

• Iced with 'Your Best Life Now'.
• Sprinkled with a hard yoke and heavy burden.

The Donut Burger: (A.K.A.: The Abomination)

Words fail me. This thing is so revolting just looking at it makes you nauseous. This thing is popular among people who desire 'more'... of everything. They want things richer, with more sugar, more meat, more everything.The ability to eat one of these requires the consumer to suspend reasoning and ignore their conscience. They develop an almost cult like devotion to the baker, spending vast amounts of cash to enrich the baker while believing his claims that what is being offered is so rich, and tastes so good, that it must be from Heaven itself. Oddly enough while they claim to believe the bible, they love to misquote it and take it out of context.

The Abomination contains the same ingredients as the other two with the addition of:

• Pastor Worship (Touch not the Lords anointed).
• Greed (God's blessings are bought by your money)
• Prideful.
• Selfish.
• Manipulation.
• Control.
• Word of Faith (a.k.a. Name it & Claim it.)
• Noise (Evidently they believe that the presence of the Holy Spirit is measured in decibels).
• The Pastors Visions & Dreams that contradict the Bible.
• The Pastors personal 'Angelic Visitations'.
• 'Flaky' Prophecies.

Now that we've seen the range of th nutrition-less choices that range from the unwise to the deadly, lets examine what a church based on what the real Bread of Life would look like:

The Bread Of Life 

This type of church is packed with honest nutrients and flavor. Every ingredient is good for the consumer. There are no empty calories and will actually sustain life and promote health. The bakers of this Bread are careful follow the ancient recipes which allow for a marvelous range of ingredients that can be added or substituted. However the bakers of these loaves would never add man-made ingredients of any kind. The thought of pedaling an inferior product would horrify them.

The list of ingredients of this type are:

• Jesus Christ: who was crucified, died, resurrected, and seated at God's right hand. Who is coming again to judge the living and the dead.
• Love - for God 
• Love - for fellow partakers
• Full of the Spirit.
• Faithful
• Selfless.
• Hopeful. 
• Generous.
• Forgiving.
• Fruitful: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance.
• Spirit-led.
• Practice the Gifts of the Spirit.
• Lives Transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Ancient Landmarks

This morning while reading the news I came across a NYT article at MSNBC titled Tsunami warnings, written in stone, saved some.

The article tells of an old stone marker in Japan, that was set at the point of the farthest reach of a tidal wave that hit Japan 600 years ago. The people at this village have always obeyed this warning from their ancestors and so they survived the latest tsunami.

The article goes on to say that these kinds of stones are common throughout Japan, many as far as 3 miles inland. Some of the locals have faithfully obeyed them through the generations. In other areas these ancient warnings have been ignored. It was considered inconvenient to have to commute so far to their fishing boats. I'm sure that like u many were drawn and enticed to live within the proscribed bounds because of the beauty as well as the availability of prime coastal property.

In some areas the stones have been neglected over time: The carved writing has weathered away. The stones have been covered with vegetation. The people couldn't be bothered to maintain or heed these warnings. When the wave came, they died.

Are We Ignoring Our Ancient Stones?

I am convinced that yes, we American Christians are largely ignoring the ancient stones, or landmarks as the bible calls them, that God has given to us. In Proverbs 22:28. it says 'Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.'

So what exactly are our landmarks? What warnings have been 'carved in stone' for us that are going unheeded? No, I'm not talking about the Ten Commandments, which in our country have been rendered into the 'Ten Suggestions' by many. After all, we Christians are no longer under the law a, which was fulfilled by Jesus b. We are under grace a.

The Bible goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” The context refers to the Children of Israel that were led out of Egypt by Moses. It warns us that the things that happened to them: How they rebelled, murmured, and complained; and how they were judged by the Lord and severely punished was to warn and instruct us not to act the way they did. Check it out for yourself. Read the 10'th chapter of 1 Corinthians for yourself.

Entrance to heaven is by faith in Christ alone, but both the New and Old Testaments make it abundantly clear that we were created to walk with God. We were created to live closely with Him, to hear Him, speak with Him, love Him, trust Him, please Him, and obey Him.

Simply put: pay attention to the 'warning stones', the landmarks God has given. Don't ignore them or allow them to fade with time. Your life depends on it. Don't allow yourself to be deceived into thinking that just because 'the wave' has never reached where you are now, that it never will.

a. Romans 6:14 ( ESV) “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

b. Mathew 5:17 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

A Side of Quail?

While praying today God reminded me of Psalm 78 :25 – 31. It retells the story written by Moses in Numbers 19. It's the famous story of God feeding His people, Israel, quail in the desert.

The Israelites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt by many awesome signs and wonders. God himself went to war against their enemy, the Egyptians. The land of Egypt was laid waste. Their economy was ruined. Death had taken their eldest children, and God destroyed their military. Moses then led them out into the Sinai desert through the wilderness on their way to the promised land.

Now God had already performed great miracles for them He had more than amply proved His love for them and that He would lead them and take care of them,

The Book of Numbers relates the fact that it didn't take long for the people to become dissatisfied with the way things were going. God provided them with manna, Psalm 78:25 calls it 'the bread of the angels. He gave it to them abundantly every day to meet their needs. It was a magnificent example of His mighty power and love. It tells how the 'rabble' among them started craving all the really good things that they had to eat when they were slaves in Egypt, and now all they had was this boring manna stuff.

The complaining and discontent of the rabble spread like a virus through the nation. Soon everyone was griping about the lack of any decent food. 'If only we had meat to eat!' they whined, then we'd be happy and content.

What an incredible insult to the Lord Our God! They rejected His loving bounty, and demanded to have what they craved, lusted after, and desired. Psalm 78 says God became so full of wrath that it is described as a fire kindled against Jacob.

Next God opened up the 'windows of heaven' and gave them manna just Like He always did. Then he caused a wind to drive vast numbers of quail into the camp in such a way that they could be easily captured.

If we'd been there and had become part of the 'rabble' no doubt we'd be exulting and praising God for finally meeting our needs. We'd have gotten the charcoal and barbecue sauce and had a great cookout! Oh sure we'd have used the manna too, maybe as breading for the 'main dish'. We'd have tore into the feast with gusto! We'd have stuffed our mouths so full of quail we couldn't talk. And then right as the full juicy and delectable savor of our meal filled our mouths: We'd have choked.... to death.

Whoa! What's going on? The people only wanted a little meat, just a side of quail. What's the big deal?

It's simple, really. God provided for every need that they had. When they complained about not having meat to eat they inferred that they knew better than God, that if He really cared, He would give them what they wanted. Psalms Chapter 78:22 (ESV) says what happened to them was: “because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.”

Do we have food? Are we clothed? Do we have shelter? Are we content with what god has given us? Or are we always craving more? Maybe 'Your best life now' is best achieved by skipping the side of quail.

Paul said it this way in 1 Timothy 6: 6-8 'A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough.' (The Message)