America was founded on Judeo Christian principles and therefore has a moral obligation to deal with the major epidemic facing this country in the 21st century. Looking at the waist line of Christians today they are filled with much more than just the Holy Spirit. (1 Pet. 2:9, KJV) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people…. Then why does the church look exactly like the world? It seems the local church has nurtured ones souls but neglected ones body.
The contemporary church culture has unwittingly contributed to the rise in overweight and obese parishioners. Today it is rare to hear a sermon preached on the stewardship of the physical body and even more rare on the vice of gluttony; it has become a secret and acceptable vice in the modern church. One of the reasons for this was stated to me by Apostle Aaron Royster, “You can’t preach about what you are guilty of.” Pastor’s being overweight and out of shape has become a norm. We see that rooted in catch phrases like, “anointed belly” referring to a pastor having a big stomach because he’s preaching the gospel.
This letter is a wake up call to the church to confront this issue before it becomes too late. Why the church you ask, well because the Church happens to be where this problem is the worst. A 2006 Purdue study found that the fundamental Christians are by far the heaviest of all religious groups led by the Baptists with a 30% obesity rate compared with Jews at 1%, Buddhists and Hindus at 0.7%.