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.