By 1 Timothy 4:1-5
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
I believe that Jesus will not loose one of his sheep. I believe in the eternal security of the believer. I also believe that some who “profess” to be christians “will depart from the faith.” Our text says that this will be the case. Let’s take a closer look to see what we can glean.
First, demons are “doctrinal.” They have a body of doctrine in which they teach through men and women who are insincere, have seared consciences, and who lie. This is amazing. Demons teach their false doctrine through humans! And those who “depart from the faith” actually give themselves over to the study of this false body of knowledge. It is not as if these professing christian give up learning, no they “devote” themselves to this demonic teaching.
There are two things that characterize this demonic doctrine. First, they seek to break apart the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. They would “forbid” marriage in the way in which the Bible would speak of marriage; they forbid traditional marriage. Wow is this close to home in our modern society. Minnesota just passed a law which forbids the traditional view of marriage. I do not mean that one man and one woman can’t get married; no, what I mean is that we have forbidden the one truth that marriage is a covenant union between one man and one woman till death parts them. This view is not seen as the only true understanding of marriage any longer. And therefore demons have taught us to believe what they are preaching through insincere men and women who have departed from the christian body of truth.
Second, demons teach that we are to abstain from foods that God says are “good.” Demons say “gluten is not good.” The Bible would teach that “gluten is created by God and is therefore good.” Demons say “sugar is not good.” The Bible would teach that “sugar is created by God and therefore good.” Do we live in an age where demons are teaching us to abstain from foods that God has said are good? Yes we do! I know that certain people can be allergic to anything under the sun. Elsa (our 2 year old) swells up like a balloon when she eats walnuts. She needs to abstain from walnuts because God has made her body to reject them. But this does not mean that walnuts are bad, for God is the one who made them.
I know that the rub comes when we try to define what types of food actually are created by God. Some see that because of modern pesticides and genetically modified blah blah, our food is no longer created by God but by man and is therefore not good. Funny how God wouldn’t have known that man would be as smart as he is today when he wrote that “nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” I know this topic is more complicated then I making it out to be, but what I do know is that demons teach that we must abstain from foods that God has said are good. Demons always call evil good and good evil and we must be on our guard to not give ourselves over to this “teaching.” Christians who “devote themselves” to this abstinence doctrine will depart from the faith and become sheep in Satan’s pasture where the grass is always green and genetically unmodified. These are serious and eternal consequences! Food is either “made holy by the word of God and prayer,” or it isn’t.
Leading Family Devotions 
Very thought prevoking, how should one look at processed foods? Or when non food ingredients are added to our foods?
Thanks for the question Jamie. Here are a couple of things for your consideration as you ponder this topic for your family.
One of the central pastoral issues of the New Testament was over food. The people of God were divided over what they could and could not eat. Paul addresses this issue in multiple places. Bottom line is that God does not want his children to be divided at the fellowship table over what we can and can not eat. The table is a place of unity, not disunity.
That being said, what are we to do today with food that is processed by unnatural means or has been genetically modified to resist certain pesticides? Well, I think it boils down to either a life expectancy or a quality of life issue.
First, does what I place in my mouth have any bearing on my appointed day to pass from this earth? In other words, will I kill myself earlier because of my food choices? I think we could both agree that God has the day of my death appointed already. I can not add one day to my life and God does not want you or I to worry about such things. The runner still dies of a heart attack, and the drinker and cigar smoker still lives to 102; you can’t predict with certainty these things.
What about the quality of life? Do my food choices have any bearing on the quality of my life? Will I feel better whether I eat grass-fed beef or McDonalds? Possibly, but as long as my food choices don’t bring me to a state of sin (like being so over-weight that I can not work, or making me so tired that I am lazy) then who cares? A couple of years ago my dad had a heart attack. The doctor told him it was because of poor food choices. Could this be true, sure. He then had a couple of stints placed in his heart to help with circulation and today he feels better than he has in years. Did his food choices kill him, no. Could he have lived a better feeling life the previous 15 years or so if he would have chosen better foods, possibly, but from my stand-point he lived a perfectly happy life in-spite of his poor choices. He may have even been happier because he was not motivated by guilt and fear to eat this and not that. He was free to eat what he liked.
Lastly, I think the food, drug, pharmaceutical, and vaccine industry tries to motivate us through fear. They try to convince us that we are killing ourselves and our children because of our food choices. And this fear is not a fear of the Lord. To place so much power in the hands of food is not biblical. Food is for the body and the body for food. It is passed through us and disposed. Our bodies are created to be able to handle and process a million things.
As I stated in my devotional, I believe that there are definite food allergies and food intolerance’s that affect people on a variegated scale. These things are real and people should use wisdom to determine what they should and should not eat. But these allergies and intolerance’s are not gospel and they should not be preached so as to place fear in the people of God. We can be so motivated by “monkey-see, monkey-do.” To need “gluten-free” food today has become almost cool. Personally I think the less we eat something like gluten the more intolerant we become of it when we try a little here and a little there. Our bodies build up a natural immunity and tolerance for just about anything. Hope that helps some.