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Amazing Facts

Refusing Babylon’s Buffet

Doug Batchelor

Refusing Babylon’s Buffet, Part 1

This presentation is brought to you by the Friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.

In January 2010, a minivan struck and killed a man crossing Brooklyn Street, Especially tragic because this was no ordinary man.

Joe Rolino would have been 105 years old in March.

His friends said he was the model of health.

A World War II vet with 3 purple hearts, Rolino got his start in the 1920s at the Coney Island Carnival, billed as the strongest man in the world.

5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, for his size he was 1 of the strongest men ever.

He could move 3, 200 pounds with his back, lift 475 pounds with his teeth, and 635 pounds he could lift with 1 finger.

At Joe Rolino's 103rd birthday party, a friend gave him a quarter and Rolino bent it with his fingers.

He then apologized because he used to do it with a dime.

Did I mention that Joe Rolino didn't drink or smoke.

He exercised daily and he was a lifelong vegetarian.

You know, the Bible also makes a connection between a very strong man and a unique lifestyle.

The Bible says Samson did not drink and he stayed away from unclean foods.

Anything is possible when we follow God's health plan.

So Join me now as we take a deeper look into this life-changing subject.

Well, tonight we're going to be talking about the subject of refusing Babylon's buffet.

So if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and turn to the book of Daniel chapter 1, and it tells us that in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and he besieged it.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the articles from the house of God that he carried into the land of Sinar, to the house of his God, and he brought the articles from into the treasure house of his God.

First thing I want you to notice about the book of Daniel, It is a battle between 2 gods and 2 kingdoms.

All through the book of Daniel it's talking about the gods of the world and the king of kings and who's going to ultimately win in this battle.

Then the king instructed Ashvanaz, master of the eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants.

Actually, some of these are descendants from Hezekiah.

And there had been a prophecy made by Isaiah to Hezekiah saying some of your descendants will be brought to the palace of Babylon and be eunuchs serving the king.

This was literally fulfilled in the book of Daniel.

Some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles and young men in whom there was no blemish, but good looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.

And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies.

From the king's cafeteria, they would be fed as they studied in the king's university to serve as advisors and wise men.

He said, we're going to get the brightest and the best.

Now from among those were the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

To them, the chief of the eunuchs gave the name to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar, then to Hananiah, Shadrach, to Mishael, Meshach, to Azariah, Abednego.

But Daniel purposed in his heart he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies.

Daniel was faced with a little moral conundrum.

He said, I'm thankful that of those who are carried away captive, we're going to be having comfortable quarters somewhere in the king's barracks.

I'm thankful they're offering to feed us.

That we'll be able to serve in this capacity, but they want us to eat things according to the Word of God we are not supposed to eat, and drink things according to the Word of God we are not supposed to drink, that the Bible says will defile us.

And so he came up with a, Daniel was very wise, came up with a solution and he suggested to the prince of the eunuchs, said test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

And so at first the prince of the eunuchs says I can't do that because my job is to keep you healthy and you're going to have to eat the good Babylonian food if you want to be healthy.

How can you be healthy eating vegetables and pulse and beans and drinking water?

They got the idea that somehow that the exotic food is going to be the healthiest food, but that's not true.

At the end of 10 days, their features appeared better and fatter in flesh.

Now you might be thinking, Pastor Doug, I don't want to be fatter in flesh.

What that means is they had just, you know, made a grueling trip across the desert to come to Babylon and they were probably worn thin and they were able to fill out.

They had elasticity in their step and zip in the hip and they just looked like they were in good shape.

And they looked much better than all of the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies.

Not only was there a visible difference after just 10 days of eating this diet, but it says in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them 10 times better than all of the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm.

Notice the connection between their perceptions, their intelligence, and their diet that is being made.

So why are we talking about this as we delve into deep prophecies, because clarity of mind is actually going to help in your understanding.

The devil is trying to befuddle this whole generation in the world with drugs and dissipation and bad diets, so we just don't think straight.

And it affects our understanding, it affects every aspect of our life and our relationships.

And that's why this is the first chapter that you find in the book of Daniel.

It's a lesson on self-control, giving glory to God with your body.

And tells us that not only did they live 10 times longer, you read on in that chapter, it says, Daniel lived until the time of King Cyrus, meaning Daniel lived about 100 years.

So he not only was sharp, and even you get into Daniel chapter 6, and he's already at chapter 5, he's an old man, and He's still brilliant at that time and God is still speaking through him So let's find out what the Bible says about how to take care of our bodies So that we could have a longer stronger more abundant life And you know friends when I began to learn these things it just changed my life and I'm just so thankful that we have a chance to share this with you.

You want to know what the Bible says, amen?

And I think you're gonna be blessed by this.

First of all, question number 1, What was the original diet that God designed for humans?

You read the answer there right in the first chapter of the Bible.

It says in Genesis 1, verse 29, and God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you, it shall be for food.

The original diet for man was fruits and nuts and maybe beans.

But in the beginning man was certainly a vegetarian and during that time his life span was measured in centuries.

And now you might be saying, Pastor Doug, you're telling us that we've got to be vegetarians.

I'm saying this is where we came from and this is where we're going in heaven.

This is God's original plan and since God designed our bodies, he knows that this is the best diet for the human body and science now is backing that up.

Question 2, after Adam and Eve sinned, what supplemental food did God add to their diets?

You read in Genesis 3, this is following sin, man could no longer eat from the tree of life, he said, and you will eat the herb of the field, that is better known as what?

In other words, at first it's just the fruits and the grains, the, you know, water of course, nuts, and then he adds vegetables.

Now, you know the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

Let me do a little quiz with you real quick.

They sound alike, potato, tomato, but they're different, huh?

Anything that is a product of the blossom is a fruit.

Any part of the plant, whether it's a tuber like a potato, and then you get the carrots or the root or the stalk or the leaves, that's part of the vegetation, that's a vegetable.

I know a lot of kids are really sorry God added vegetables to man's diet.

But this was the original diet for man and man was originally a vegetarian.

And it's been proven, a lot of athletes have also discovered that in that diet you're gonna have less disease, less cancers, your life will be longer.

Refusing Babylon’s Buffet, Part 2

Nuclear submarines or boomers are modern engineering wonders equivalent to a tightly packed self-contained city where a crew of 140 share the space of a three-bedroom house.

A nuclear sub can stay submerged up to 90 days.

There's little contact with family during this time.

Along with the pressure being prepared to launch nuclear weapons, it's 1 of the most stressful military assignments.

To compensate, the Navy trains the best chefs for these subs.

A meal might be prime ribs, sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes, fresh bread, and real chocolate cake.

They say an army travels on its stomach, and that's why the military spends millions evaluating what their soldiers eat.

Why is it that many Christians think God doesn't care what his soldiers eat?

You know, the Bible teaches that whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Since our bodies are God's temple, we should present them to Him as a living sacrifice and not abuse them with gluttony, especially since we're soldiers in His army.

So join me today for this program as we uncover more amazing health facts from the Word of God.

Well friends, we have a very important lesson tonight.

I want to welcome you to the panorama of prophecy.

Again, tonight is going to be a practical lesson, but it's also a lesson found in the book of Daniel, which is a book of prophecy.

We're going to be talking about the subject of refusing Babylon's buffet.

And if you have your Bibles, you want to go to the book of Daniel.

Now Daniel is a book filled with apocalyptic prophecies.

We've got that prophecy in chapter 2 of the metal image.

You get the prophecy in chapter 7 we're going to be talking about.

Chapter 8 where you've got the ram and the goat, chapter 9 where you've got the dates concerning the Messiah's return, and then it's 1 of the longest prophecies in the Bible, which is from Daniel chapter 10 through Daniel chapter 12, and where it talks about the abomination of desolation.

But it's very interesting that the first chapter in the book of Daniel is dealing with 1 of the keys to understanding all prophecy.

It has to do with self-control, wisdom, mental clarity, and your lifestyle.

And so, of course, this story found in Daniel chapter 1 sets the stage for why Daniel was who he was through the rest of the book.

You can read there in Daniel 1, 8, Daniel, and it's assumed that this is also true of Hananiah, Mishael, and Nazariah.

They purposed in, it says, he purposed in his heart, he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies.

What they had on the menu there in Babylon, said we can't eat it.

It included some food that was unclean and no doubt had been offered to Babylonian idols.

And so he came up with a, Daniel was very wise, came up with a solution.

And he suggested to the prince of the eunuchs, said, test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

I grew up living with, my father was very wealthy.

Sometimes he'd take us out to nice restaurants and we'd order escargot, snails, frog legs, turtle steak, and they're supposed to be the delicacies.

And then when I was poor and I lived up in the mountains I ate beans and rice and fruit, I had no refrigeration.

I felt much better eating the poor man's diet.

You know in some of the countries when they eat a very simple diet of beans and rice and things like that, they live much longer, they have less disease, less cancer, then they're converted to the Western diet, a lot of fat and sugar and processed food and the heart disease and the cancer just skyrockets.

Notice what happens after Daniel convincing the Prince of the Eunuchs, he said, give us 10 days to try this diet out and it says, in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them 10 times better than all of the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm.

So why are we talking about this as we delve into deep prophecies?

Because clarity of mind is actually going to help in your understanding.

The devil is trying to befuddle this whole generation in the world with drugs and dissipation and bad diets.

We just don't think straight and it affects our understanding.

It affects every aspect of our life and our relationships and that's why this is the first chapter that you find in the book of Daniel.

It's a lesson on self-control, giving glory to God with your body and tells us that not only did they live 10 times longer, you read on in that chapter it says Daniel lived until the time of King Cyrus, meaning Daniel lived about 100 years.

So he not only was sharp, and even you get into Daniel chapter 6, and he's already at chapter 5, he's an old man, and he's still brilliant at that time, and God is still speaking through him.

So we're going to find out what does the Bible say about how you can have a more abundant life, a longer life, a healthier life, a clearer mind, and I think you're going to be blessed by this.

First of all, question Number 1, what's a good Bible rule for healthful living?

Therefore, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all for the glory of God.

Now, if it tells us to eat and drink for God's glory, is it possible for us to not eat and drink for God's glory.

You know, friends, I think just it is so critical for us to understand the brain.

Even with modern computers today, for them to build a computer that will do what the human mind does, you would need a building as big as the Pentagon to house it.

You need all the water of Niagara Falls to power it.

You would need all of the water of Niagara Falls to cool it.

The fastest computers they've got in the world now, it goes back and forth between the US and China.

I think Korea is striving for the fastest computer in the world.

They cannot do what a mouse brain does yet.

You know how much processing is going on in your mind even as we sit here right now?

You're taking these sound waves that are going through the air.

I'm trying to make some logical sense out of it and you're converting this into abstract thought and your brain is keeping your heart beating and it's controlling your respiration.

You don't know that it might even be controlling your temperature at this time and then all little hairs in your body are connected with your brain and you're sensing anything that might be going on.

You're hearing noises behind you and you're processing those.

All of this is happening at lightning speed right now as we speak.

Your brain is a strange combination of a physical organ and a spiritual thing.

And God communicates with us through our minds.

But because it's all so physical, taking care of your body, which houses your brain and follows the commands of the brain, it affects your clarity.

It affects how clear it is, how easy it is for God to speak to you.

If we're not following good practical principles for good health, our minds get cloudy and it's hard for us to comprehend spiritual truth.

I don't think it's an accident that the first chapter in this book of Daniel is talking to us about health practices.

So with these things in mind, and we're talking about glorifying God in our bodies, should a Christian use alcoholic beverages?

Now we're not talking about grape juice now, we're talking about the fermented stuff.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, whoever is led astray thereby is not wise.

If we're led astray with it, then we're not wise.

The Bible tells us that Noah drank and he stumbled around drunk in his tent and 1 of his family members ended up being cursed as a result of that.

Lot's daughters got him to drink alcohol and he committed incest with his daughters.

A whole race of people, the Moabites and Ammonites, came around that attacked God's people for centuries because he got drunk.

King David tried to get Uriah drunk so he would go against his conscience.

And you could just go through the history.

The Bible says, woe to him who gives his neighbor drink.

Because what's happening is, everyone knows that your response time is impaired by alcohol.

It destroys brain cells, not once but every time you drink.

And I don't know about you, but I can't afford to lose any more than I've already lost.

It dramatically affects our ability to reason.

You know, I'm really passionate about this because my father struggled with alcohol and it affected our relationship.

People drink, they say things they later regret, they stumble around, they do silly things.

My mother drank, I drank when I was younger.

You wake up in prison and you think, how in the world did I get here?

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Refusing Babylon’s Buffet

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