Are you a big fatty? If so, you are not cute. You are a rebel.

I don't care how big your Sunday School is, or how many notches you have carved on your gun. You are living in open rebellion against God. Maybe this discussion will help you deal with it finally.

I knew a preacher in Michigan who was a sloppy fat blubber ball. He waddled around like a pregnant duck. He had a cover story, perpetuated by his church members, that he had a "metabolism problem." One day, after doing some shopping for my wife on my way home, I stopped at McDonald's for coffee and fries. I got my food and was going to find a seat when I saw this preacher. He looked at me rather sheepishly, and I stopped to say hello. I also noticed he had three Big Macs in front of him, and he was alone. I than realized what his "metabolism problem" was. For you not living in the USA, a Big Mac is a huge hamburger in a bun with all the extras.

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."

THE WICKED SOUL OF A FAT PREACHER

The preacher and his men stand around the foyer after the service tossing knives and trashing women who have abortions, woman who have babies for ADC money, AND the preacher looks like he is pregnant and ready to have triplets.

The folks chat around the noon mean about the evils of indulging in wine, drugs, and tobacco, while the preacher shovels down his second plate, pressed down, shaken together, and running over with carbohydrates.

The preacher lashes out in the pulpit against those other churches in town which have no standards with music, dress, and pornography. Yet this preacher has carefully eliminated any discussion of gluttony from his sermons in deference to his big belly. He calls you down to the altar to repent of sin, and he has to do a major balancing act to step down one step from the platform.

The world, and all the Liberal preachers in town, are laughing you to scorn, preacher. They know you are not a whit different in your lust for food than their people are in the area of booze and sexual appetite. In fact, if they have a shrink in their midst, he will assure them that you have a problem with sex because of your belly, and he will be right. The fat sheiks of Arabia, and the fat chiefs of Africa, have been historically famous for having young naked boys around the throne at all times.

The worst part of this picture is this-- Your belly tells every lost hell bound dope head and crack dealer that there really is no hope in Jesus Christ. Jesus really does not demand holiness, and anyway, if the crack head does long for deliverance, Jesus cannot deliver YOU from Krispy Kream donuts, so how can he deliver him from crack?

The world takes your lead preacher, and they indulge in their sin with the hope that "someday I will get right." Your talk, about every three months, about losing weight, is no more serious than the dope head or drunk saying, "I can quit anytime I want to." Your "metabolism problem" is their "back pain" problem. The alibi is exactly the same, and so is the sin.

So, the lost go to hell content that you are not having victory, and they won't either. Oh, you will repent and lose 100 pounds in short order after your first stroke or heart attack. But, by then, many sinners will have passed on into hell, having used you as their example of self-indulgence.

There are some folks who know me rather well who know that I know that they know that they are out of control and don't give a damn. They will hate me for this article, and they may very well be lost and damned to hell. A born again Bible believer gets under conviction of sin sooner of later. These people don't, and all over America, even the world, are Fundamental KJV Only Bible thumpers, who do NOT give a damn if their belly makes asses of the rest of us.

I have had one, only one, preacher write and tell me he took the challenge of my diet plan and shucked off weight. By the way, he was Black. White Anglo Saxons are arrogant cussed fools about their bellies. They think they are cute. Indeed, I have observed that big fat preachers actually use their huge presence to command the moment in preacher's gatherings and in conversation with other men.

Last thought: Do you know why you cannot find a fat blimp of a preacher at a local cafe with publicans and sinners? Answer: He would bust the chair and have the whole place roaring with laughter. He would be the byword of the town for years. His defeat with gluttony screams out, "I am defeated and Jesus cannot change anyone." Sinners love fat preachers because they make them comfortable with their own sin.

It is time for you fat preachers, and your fat church family, to remodel the church, for you ARE the Church. Jesus is the Head of a big fat failure, if you are the standard.

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.

Dear Bro Steve,

I am that mom of eleven that recently wrote you. Well, I can only steal away to read here occasionally. My husband and I read your articles together. Everytime we return to your site, we seem to have just witnessed what you are exposing, and what we ourselves were questioning!

For instance, we just sang at a local church's homecoming. The guest preacher was a well known evangelist (? not to us) who read Hebrews "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily doth beset us..."

"Now that doesn't mean the physical weight, folks, because I weigh 374 lbs! And if it meant physical weight, I'd be in trouble! But the scripture is talking about things that weigh you down spiritually!...."

This was interesting, as we recently visited acquaintances who homeschool, like us. The place was utterly filthy (by anyone's standards) though they have five able bodied teens who could easily keep the place up. The experience made a grave impression on us, and I brought it up for discussion among the ladies group at church.

I mentioned the scripture's admonitions toward cleanliness and the condemnation of filthiness and applied it to our house keeping. I was amazed how many argued that the bible is speaking of "spiritual cleanliness". I pointed out that you cannot claim to understand the spiritual truth of the verse if you do not understand the literal truth, first! (filthy-bad, clean- good! )

It seems we have folks who are spiritual giants (literally) without a lick of (what used to be called) common sense. BTW- is obesity hereditary? Because the wife and two children were also supersized.

Also, have you ever seen a man that big in pants without a suit jacket? Many times I have heard preachers scold that pants on women leave nothing to the imagination. My husband and I have concluded that men as well as women can be obscene, but only women are scolded from the pulpit about it.

Best, _____________

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 arentgs 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