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There is nothing in this world that can compare to being born again — not fame, riches, long life, or earthly pleasures — absolutely nothing. We can make this phenomenal claim without fear of contradiction simply because born-again comes from outer space. God, who dwells in the third heaven, which is beyond the visible heaven, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to become His only begotten Son on the earth and to redeem the souls of the lost at a place called Golgotha. Jesus gave His life’s blood that day to break the dark spell of Satan and to set our captive souls free. Through the born-again experience, even though we walk upon the earth in the natural state, we actually sit in heavenly places in the realm of the Spirit (true reality). Ephesians 2:4-6:
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Jesus said in John 3:3:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Have you been born again? Have you experienced, and do you live in this out-of-this-world place? Why not do it now while you still have time? Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, Matthew 9:14-15:
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
GOD SAID, Isaiah 58:6:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
MAN SAID: Don’t try to stuff that Bible down my throat. I believe in “science” and medicine. The concept of God is long outdated.
Now THE RECORD. Men call for truth and proof, yet the vast majority can’t even define these terms. Can you? The answers to these questions, by the way, are on this website. The Word of God, as stated in the majority-text King James Bible, is true and righteous altogether. God’s Word is the light of life. A multitude of proofs of the existence of God and of the perfection of His truths are found in His Holy Book. Thousands of years ago, our Creator gave specific instructions in the Bible (our owner’s manual) concerning this life. These perfect instructions were given long, long before modern science began to comprehend the benefits of obeying these directives. These modern day discoveries confirming God’s perfect, ancient commandments prove the supernatural characteristics of the Word of God. Only the creator of all, who would understand all the idiosyncrasies of life, would be able to develop such a perfect life-giving book.
God’s Word places heavy emphasis on fasting. Moses twice fasted for 40 days (a supernatural fast) before the Lord. Exodus 34:27-28:
27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
The Lord Jesus Christ began His ministry with a supernatural 40-day fast. Matthew 4:1-2:
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Fasting is power to access God. The supernatural, bondage-breaking power of the faith is unlocked by the holy fast. Isaiah 58:6-11:
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
When the prophet Jonah prophesied judgment over Nineveh, which is now found in the country of Iraq, the king of Nineveh proclaimed a national fast of repentance, and God heard from Heaven. Jonah 3:5-8:
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
When the Jewish people were doomed to die as a result of the stealthy hand of the wicked Haman, Queen Esther called for a fast as she prepared to approach King Ahasuerus and entreat him for mercy. Esther 4:16:
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
Jesus Christ declared the power of fasting in Mark 9:25-29:
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
The holy fast breaks the strongholds of Satan.
As in all of God’s beautiful commandments, the resultant benefits of obeying are first spiritual and then physical as well — first spiritual, in that the commandment is received and obeyed in childlike faith, and then the very real physical benefits that are a result of that obedience. A good example is God’s Old Testament commandment concerning male circumcision, which was the token of the Old Testament covenant. There are numerous features on GodSaidManSaid dealing with circumcision. One feature notes that when 50,000 cases of penile cancer were measured in the U.S., only 10 occurred in circumcised men. Another feature points out that male circumcision is the world’s number one defense against AIDS. As in circumcision, fasting will demonstrate very real spiritual benefits as well as physical.
For many years, health activists have pointed to the major benefits of fasting, such as the resting of the heart and digestive systems, the cleansing of one’s blood, and as an overall general healer. Ben Franklin said, “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”
The research concerning the supernatural wisdom of the God-commanded fast continues to pour in. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, in his newsletter, The Sinatra Health Report, under the heading, “Fasting,” had this to report:
One of the simplest ways to slow aging is to restrict your caloric intake. For example, several studies have demonstrated that animals live longer when they reduce their daily calorie count by 30 to 50 percent. Specifically, findings from canine studies indicate that dogs fed only one meal a day live as much as 18 months longer than those who wolf down three squares daily with no dietary restrictions. [End of quote]
As an aside, during a business meeting years ago, a gentleman nearing age 80 was in attendance. This gentleman was the picture of vibrant health and was an integral part of a very aggressive sales team. I asked him what his secret was. He responded, “I’m like a big dog. You feed him just once a day.”
Dr. Sinatra continues:
Why would caloric restriction slow aging? It appears that a little starvation actually boosts endocrine (i.e., hormone) regulation. In fact, the more balanced your hormone levels — from your pituitary, adrenal, and thyroid glands to your hypothalamus, pancreas, and gonads — the less oxidative stress you’ll have (oxidation is what oxygen does to iron, resulting in rust), and the more you’ll stabilize other cellular processes.
For instance, we know that imbalances in growth hormone and insulin accelerate aging, setting the stage for all kinds of systematic shifts, from weakened muscles to diabetes. Lower growth hormone or higher insulin levels lead to sub-optimal mitochondrial function. In other words, your cells’ tiny furnaces will burn more and more slowly and then eventually sputter and die if they’re overwhelmed by insulin or can’t get enough growth hormone.
So the goal is to promote hormone production, which you can do by fasting. Not only does fasting eliminate an incredible free radical load in the form of food, restricting caloric intake for 24 hours also makes your body secrete more growth hormone, the precursor for numerous endocrine activities. And if your endocrine system is balanced, it jump-starts your whole immune system. [End of quote]
On WebMD, in an article titled, “Skipping Meals Keeps Rodents Healthy,” new research concerning fasting is cited:
Skipping meals once in a while might help you duck diabetes, brain disorders, even heart disease — at least, that’s what it does for rodents.
Two new studies from the Institute on Aging shed more light on the effects of a calorie-restricted diet, an issue that has received increasing attention.
A handful of studies have shown that eating fewer calories can —over the long haul— lower your risk of cancer and kidney disease and protect brain cells from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases as well as stroke, says Mark P. Mattson, PhD, chief of the neurosciences lab at the National Institute on Aging. [End of quote]
In his research, Dr. Mattson wanted to establish whether the health benefits were a result of fewer calories or a result of fasting. The results weigh in favor of fasting. The article continues:
In his study, one group of mice fasted every other day but was allowed to eat unlimited food on the intervening days, thereby making up for missed calories. A control group of mice fed freely. A third group was fed 30% fewer calories every day than the control group received.
At the study’s end, the meal-skipping mice as well as the calorie-restricted mice had lower blood sugar and insulin levels than the free-feeding mice.
To test the diets’ effects on brain cells, mice were given a neurotoxin called kainite, which damages nerve cells in a brain region called the hippocampus — an area critical for learning and memory. In humans, nerve cells in the hippocampus are destroyed by Alzheimer’s disease.
The meal-skipping mice had nerve cells that were more resistant to neurotoxin injury or death — more so than the other mice. [End of quote]
Of course, God knew it all the time. He did, by the way, create all things.
Another article reporting on Dr. Mattson’s research was published by the Associated Press (AP) and printed in the Beaver County Times on Tuesday, April 29th, 2003. The following excerpts are from that feature article titled, “Regular Fasting Gains New Merit As Healthy Ritual:”
Mattson said an earlier study found that mice that fasted every other day had extended life spans and the new experiment found the mice also did better in factors involved in diabetes and nerve damage in the brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease.
In the new report, the researchers said both the fasting mice and those on a restricted diet had concentrations of blood sugar and insulin that were significantly lower than mice allowed to eat whenever they wanted. Indeed, insulin levels in the fasting mice were even a bit lower than the dieting ones. [End of quote]
Several months ago, a young man visited my office and the concept of fasting arose. He said the church he had attended in his youth never taught fasting. It should be no surprise when a vast percentage of churches are preaching out of the minority-text New International Version (NIV), which has removed key passages and/or words concerning fasting. Matthew 17:15-21:
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Note the supernatural power of prayer coupled with fasting. The NIV simply omits verse 21 entirely. It is missing in the NIV. In Mark 9:29, Jesus said:
And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
The NIV simply omitted the word fasting. Mark 9:29(NIV):
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
Key fasting instructions given by Jesus Christ have been omitted by the NIV. Prayer and fasting will break the yoke.
When God endorses anything, a wise man takes heed. Choose life and live! Prayer and fasting deliver life-changing results, first spiritually, then physically.
GOD SAID, Matthew 9:14-15:
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
GOD SAID, Isaiah 58:6:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
MAN SAID: Don’t try to stuff that Bible down my throat. I believe in “science” and medicine. The concept of God is long outdated.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
Authorized King James Version
Davis, J.R., “Skipping Meals Keeps Rodents Healthy,” WebMD
“Regular Fasting Gains New Merit As Healthy Ritual,” AP, April 2003
Sinatra, S., M.D., The Sinatra Health Report, March 2001
