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Fasting is a practice that has been in use for millenia. It has been practiced by Christians, Judaism, Islam, Hindus, Egyptians, and many many more cultures, societies, and religions. But what is it that Scripture says about fasting? Join us in this teaching as we explore what Scripture states about fasting. Join us as we learn the truth: the God Honest Truth. https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/2023/06/16/fasting-god-honest-truth-live-stream-06-16-2023/
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Fasting is a practice that has been in use for millenia. It has been practiced by Christians, Judaism, Islam, Hindus, Egyptians, and many many more cultures, societies, and religions. But what is it that Scripture says about fasting? Join us in this teaching as we explore what Scripture states about fasting. Join us as we learn the truth: the God Honest Truth. https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/2023/06/16/fasting-god-honest-truth-live-stream-06-16-2023/
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The speaker discusses the topic of fasting and provides information on where to find additional resources on the subject. They mention that fasting has been practiced by various religions and cultures throughout history. They also highlight the importance of making healthy food choices and eating in moderation. The speaker then examines examples of fasting in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and the Brit Hadashah (New Testament). They note that while there is no explicit commandment to fast, it is understood to be a part of religious practice. The speaker emphasizes that fasting should be done with sincerity and not to seek attention or impress others. Like I said, tonight's Drash is going to be all about fasting and as I said before, if you happen to miss anything or happen to go back and re-watch something, maybe you get some notes that you didn't get the first time around, the on-demand version will be available online starting tomorrow morning and of course, the post for this Drash is up online on our website right now, that's on GodHonestTruth.com, just click on the post for fasting, you'll be able to see the live stream through Rumble and you'll also be able to see the Drash slides that we'll be going through here on the video and you'll also be able to get the research notes that we did for this Drash, all right there on that one post and that's going to be very helpful too if you'd like extra links to some books or some resources you can check out on fasting and there's even a whole bunch of medical and scientific links there, leads you to some medical and scientific information on fasting which is, needless to say, very interesting for nerds like me especially, so go check it out on GodHonestTruth.com, click on the post for fasting or look down in the description of the video or audio podcast that you're on right now and the direct link to that post will be right there in the description. So way back in the day, this has been something that's been practiced by many, many, many different religions and faiths and of course many different cultures throughout the world and for millennia, literally millennia, but way back in the Egyptian times they had wrote something on a pyramid stating that humans live on one quarter of what they eat, on the other three quarters lives their doctor and this is kind of true, we are damaged somewhat and held back by what we put into our bodies, it's not just the exercise that you know helps us out or the junk food or laying around but sometimes it's by eating way too much and way too often and we're told by different professionals and organizations and whatnot how to have a healthier body and stuff, for instance, Claudia Carberry says make healthy food choices, eat a balanced diet, drink mostly water, eat the right amount and in the right quantities and the right frequencies and to also eat a breakfast within two hours of waking up. Okay, most of that's pretty good advice, right? Everyone thinks of that to eat good food, eat you know plenty of varied things that are good for you, etc., etc., but as a lot of us have found out these things don't necessarily make us as healthy as we could be and a lot of these things definitely don't help us to lose weight no matter how hard we try. From the Berkeley Wellness, they say pretty much along the same lines here, they say to eat a variety of food, to focus on high fiber foods, limit your amount of sweets, that's good advice, eat whole grains, avoid highly processed food, cut down on sodium. Again, something that all these things here are good to take in mind when you are eating but at the same time it still doesn't get you to the optimal health point as healthy as you could be and for a lot of people eating by these guidelines doesn't help you lose weight and keep the weight off either. Well, in the downfalls of these various things in various diets, especially the fad diets, in light of all this, there's the age-old practice of fasting which we're going to be telling you all about here in this drosh. Now, before we get to it, just want to make this disclaimer, obviously, that any information contained herein should not be construed as medical advice, evaluation, or consultation and should not be considered a replacement for an actual evaluation by your physician or related consultation and is not intended as a substitute for medical or professional care, treatment, and or advice. So, what's being presented tonight is going to be lots and lots of scripture and we did not get all the scriptures that we had found put into this drosh. That's why I put up the notes for you to look at up on godhonesttruth.com, so definitely go check those out. But we're also going to be getting into some of the benefits that fasting can do for you and a little bit of the history to kind of dispel some of the myths out there about fasting. But when we think about scripture itself, who do we think about that fasted in scripture, right? Well, obviously, we have people like Yeshua. We know that he went out and fasted. Well, Elijah fasted, John's disciples, we read that in the Brit Hadashah, right? Along with many, many other people, which we'll be getting into tonight. So, to dive right into the scripture, let's start at the very beginning with the Tanakh and fasting. And we read in Exodus 34, 27 through 28. And Yahweh said to Moshe, write these words, for according to the mouth of these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with Yahweh 40 days and 40 nights. He did not eat bread and he did not drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 10 words. So, here we can see that when Moshe or Moses went up on the mountains to receive the 10 commandments or the 10 words, however you want to describe it, that he was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. And his method of fasting was not eating or drinking anything, not even water. Now, we're going to get into the methods of fasting later on. But right now, we're just going to go through some of the scriptures to give you a better understanding of what scripture says about fasting. Then we go to 1 Samuel 7, 4 through 6. And the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreth and served Yahweh only. And Shemuel said, gather all Israel to Mizpah and let me pray to Yahweh for you. And they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. And they fasted that day and said there, we have sinned against Yahweh. So, here you see fasting in scripture as an act of repentance and mourning for what they had done before. They got rid of all the evils they were doing and they fasted as a way or as part of turning back to Yahweh. Then we see 1 Samuel 31, 11 through 13. And the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilad heard what the Philistines had done to Shaul. And all the brave men arose and went all night and took the body of Shaul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. And they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted for seven days. So, here we can see a length of fasting which was seven days. Definitely not anywhere close to what Moses did on the 40 days, but the reason they were fasting here is for mourning because the Philistines had killed King Saul and his sons. Well, all but one, which is another story for another time. So, there are different lengths of time that you can fast for. There are different reasons why you could fast. And there are different methods of fasting. Again, we'll get all into that later. Then we go to 2 Samuel 1, 11 through 12. And David took hold of his garments and tore them, and also all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Shaul and for Jehonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. And then 2 Samuel 12, 15 through 16. And Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh smote the child that Uriah's wife had borne to Dawid, and he was sick. And Dawid saw Elohim for the child, and Dawid fasted, and went in and spent all night lying on the ground. So, here is yet another reason for fasting. Dawid was trying to make intercession for his sick child, so the sick child would be better and live. So, in order to make intercession, one of the things that Dawid did was to fast. Then we go to Daniel 9, 3. So, I set my face toward Yahweh the Elohim to seek my prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Daniel 10, 2 through 3. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three weeks of days. I did not eat desirable food, and meat and wine did not come into my mouth, and I did not anoint myself at all till the completion of three weeks of days. So, here we see another method of fasting. Esther 4, 16. Go, gather all the Yehudim who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I too and my young women shall fast in the same way. Then I shall go to the sovereign, which is against the law, and if I perish, I shall perish. Those of you who are familiar with the story of Purim are seeing some familiar verses here, and also with Esther 9, 30 through 32. And Mordecai sent letters to all the Yehudim, words of peace and truth, to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Yehudi and Sovereigness Esther had established for them, and as they had established for themselves and their seed concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting. So, when Esther was going to King Ahasuerus, she fasted and prayed for three days, and she instructed Mordecai to do the same and to also tell all the Judeans to join in with them. And then here in chapter 9, once the Judeans had been saved from Haman and the evil plan to destroy them all, they then initiated the annual remembrance of this salvation and called it Purim. And part of that was remembering the fasting, and even today, as part of Purim, lots and lots of people fast for that feast day. So, like I said, this is just a sampling of the times that you can find fasting within scriptures, and especially here, the Tanakh. There's many, many more in our notes, and we invite you to go take a look at that, but this might kind of start getting your brain to working and thinking. It's like, okay, we went over all this in the Tanakh to include the Torah, so is fasting actually commanded anywhere in scripture? Well, let's take a look at that real quick. Let's look at Leviticus 23, 27, and 32. On the tenth day of the seventh new moon is Yom HaKippurim. It shall be a set-apart gathering for you, and you shall afflict your beings, and shall bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a Sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your beings. On the ninth day of the new moon at evening, from evening to evening, you observe your Sabbath. So, here we see the modim of Yom HaKippurim, and one of the things it says here as part of observing Kippurim is to afflict your beings, okay? So, does that mean that we are to fast on Kippurim? Well, the word in Hebrew for fasting is the word sum, and that's Strong's H6684, and it pretty much means that which we think it means, fasting, right? To abstain from food, to cover up, and for different reasons. Here in Brown Driver Briggs, it says for mourning the dead, for worship, for disappointment, vexation. We've already seen some of that in the scriptures that we've went through already. But it pretty much means exactly what we think it means now. It means to fast, to abstain from food and or drink at certain times. However, when we look at the verses in Leviticus for Kippurim, we don't find sum, the word for fast. We find the word anah, which translated here means afflict your beings. Now, anah is Strong's H6031. Now, this means to be translated a myriad of ways, but in the, in summation, I guess you could say, it means sort of like humble yourself or to submit yourself, right? Or make yourself humble, to abase yourself. You could also mean to be afflicted or to afflict yourself, but in general, in a way to bring yourself to humility. Lots of different lexicon entries on this one, and as you see, I've shortened the lexicon entries for the sake of the drosh slides, but the full entry is on the notes for this drosh on godhonestruth.com. Well, we find this word anah listed or used in several different places. For instance, in Genesis 15, 13, we read, and he said to Abram, know for certain that your seed are to be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years. Now, this is a prophecy to Abraham about the slavery in Egypt or Mitzrayim, right? And we know for a fact that their time in Mitzrayim wasn't spent in fasting, okay? So, anah doesn't really mean fasting, right? One way you can afflict yourself or humble yourself is by fasting, but it doesn't mean that you have to fast. Another way or another place we find it is in Deuteronomy 8, 16. Who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know in order to humble you and to try you to do you good in the end? This is the word anah where it says in order to humble you. So, again, here it's talking about feeding them in order to anah them. So, obviously, this word anah doesn't mean, strictly mean anyways, fasting. And one more time we find anah in Psalms 119, 71. It was good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your laws. So, again, anah is used here in Psalms 119, 71 for the word afflicted or it's translated as the word afflicted in various translations. But, again, it kind of has that connotation of being humbled or humbling yourself. Another way you might be able to phrase this is it was good for me that I was humbled that I might learn your laws. So, again, anah does not necessarily and strictly mean fasting, but at the same time it can include fasting. So, if you look back at Leviticus 23, 27, and 32, we're talking about the commands for kippurim. It says that you shall afflict your beings on kippurim. Now, one of the ways, again, one of the ways to do that is through fasting, possibly, but there are other ways and it's not a commandment, not even from these verses, that you fast. So, this is the only place we could find that even comes close to even possibly being a command to fast in the Tanakh. And a lot of those within Judaism actually do take this as a command to fast, but that is just a tradition. And as we've seen for our very selves from scriptures and the lexicons, this section here for kippurim does not command us to fast, not even on Yom HaKippurim. So, now let's take a look at Brit Hadashah and fasting. Luke 4, 1 through 2, And Yeshua, being filled with a set-apart spirit, returned from the Yarden and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, being tried for forty days by the devil. And in those days he did not eat at all. And afterward, when they had ended, he was hungry. So, here we can see that Yeshua fasted for a certain length of time, and this was forty days, just like Moses did and also just like Elijah did. We didn't go over that specific verse, but Elijah fasted for forty days as well. But here, this is the beginning of Yeshua's ministry. And so, one of the things he's doing here by fasting is in preparation for his ministry. Then we look at Matthew 9, 14 through 15. So, obviously, the disciples, the apostles, did not fast while Yeshua was here. But he said that was okay, because the bridegroom was with them, and then once he's gone, they will fast again. Acts 10, 30. Now, here, Cornelius is the centurion whom Yahweh sent to speak with after he had the vision about the Gentiles and including them. Cornelius was a Roman centurion, a non-believer, right? You could even say pagan, same thing as Gentile. But even while he was a non-believer, before he got saved, he was still fasting. So, this is evidence from Scripture that even outside cultures fasted also. Then we look in Acts 13, 2 through 3. And as they were doing service to the master and fasted, the set-apart spirit said, separate me Barnabas and Shaul for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed and having laid his hands on them, they set them away. So, here we see two different instances of fasting by the same people. And in the first part, or in the first instance of fasting, we see them praying and doing all the works and stuff and fasting at the same time. And as they were doing this, they received a message from the set-apart spirit. And then Barnabas and Shaul were selected to go do some work. And after that, they fasted and prayed again, laid hands on them in preparation for sending them out. And then they went on their ways. So, they were fasting in preparation like Yeshua was earlier. Acts 14, 23. And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the master in whom they had believed. So, here you see another form of fasting or another reason for fasting is in seeking guidance into who to select for the elders and also in putting the elders in place. And they did this by fasting. Matthew 17, 19 through 21. Then the taught ones came to Yeshua by himself and said, why were we unable to cast him out? And Yeshua said to them, this kind does not go out except through prayer and fasting. So, another reason for fasting is exorcism, as we see here in this passage and what Yeshua said. I, myself, haven't seen any exorcisms in all my life as far as I know, but if I ever did or ever found someone who was demon-possessed, I guarantee prayer and fasting would definitely be one of the tools I go to for that because these are the words of Yeshua. Matthew 6, 16 through 18. And when you fast, do not be sad-faced like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that they appear to be fasting to men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret but to your father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. Now, as we went over before in the Tanakh, we found no command in the Tanakh to fast, right? There was no command to fast. Well, when you look all through the Brit Hadashah as well, there's still not a command to fast. However, as we can see here from the words of Yeshua, he has given us some guidance as to when we fast. And notice what I just said and also what Yeshua said and when you fast. So, although there isn't a command to fast, there is kind of the expectation that you will be fasting from time to time. Does that make sense? So, there's no command to fast, but it's kind of understood that you will fast. And this is what Yeshua is referring to here and giving guidance on. So that when you do fast, that you don't make a show of yourself out there saying, look at me, look at me like the Pharisees were doing. Pharisees were doing. That's what Yeshua was referencing here. From the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary on Matthew 6, 16 through 18, they state, here voluntary fasting is presupposed as a religious exercise, but Jesus warns against making it an occasion for a parade of piety. The important thing is purity and honesty of intention. Fasting should be to God, not to impress human beings. Jesus approves of fasting if it is an expression of inner contrition and devotion. And I love the way they put this. They really got right to the point that fasting should not be all about you, that fasting should not be out there to shine a spotlight on you and make you look good in your own eyes. Instead, fasting should be to Yahweh. But to kind of put it in another way, you don't fast to be seen. However, it is okay to be seen fasting. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, it should be fairly self-explanatory, but just to go into a little bit of detail, don't fast, you know, just so you can be seen by others to be fasting, to be like the Pharisees in order to raise yourself up and look good in the eyes of men. However, those of you out there who have fasted before kind of know that when you fast, it kind of eventually gets hard to not talk about it, right? Because it seems like every time I fast, something comes up. There is a family reunion. There is surprise guests, which is fine. I love having guests. There is, you know, something that comes up where people offer you food and you say, no, thanks. And maybe the first time works and you don't have to say anything, but multiple times they start wondering about you and they start asking, you know, if you're okay, if you're sick or what's going on. And maybe it's just me, but I don't want to lie to them. So I eventually end up telling them, oh, I'm not eating because I'm fasting, right? So sometimes you really can't get away with it without lying, which you really shouldn't do. But if at all possible, don't let anyone know that you're fasting. But if people do come to realize that you are fasting, that's fine too. Just don't be fasting in order to be seen and, you know, put the spotlight on yourself. So with all this being said, you may be thinking to yourself, okay, what exactly is fasting anyways? Well, it's a very basic understanding definition of it. It comes down to exactly what we think it is. It's abstaining from food. And our word in English, fasting, comes from the old English. I read that fastan, which means to fast, and also comes from the proto-Germanic fastanen, which means to hold or guard. And when you send it to a religious act, you observe abstinence. So it's really interesting, at least my nerdy self thinks, to look at the etymology of these kinds of things. And again, all this stuff is also on the notes at godhonesttruth.com. The link to that is in your description down below, whether you're on video or whether you're listening through podcast. But an interesting thing is that a certain section of your small intestines is called the jejunum. And this is derived from the Latin word jejunus, which means fasting. And that's because a lot of times when they would examine dead corpses, and they would look at this particular section, it was frequently found to be completely void and empty. Which kind of goes along with the whole theme and meaning of fasting. You're void of food, right? But to get really nerdy here, get into some dictionary encyclopedia definitions. Fasting from Encyclopedia Britannica, abstinence from food or drink or both for health, ritualistic, religious, or ethical purposes. The abstention may be complete or partial, lengthy or short, duration or intermittent. From fasting.com, fasting is the rejuvenation of the body through the intentional abstinence of food or through limiting food in order to mimic physiological fasting. I love the way they define fasting here, calling fasting the rejuvenation of the body. And that is actually what I have experienced. I can also put in body, mind and soul as well. Because about day three or day four, you really get this clarity of mind that is surreal that you don't experience in your normal life when you're just normally eating, eating like you do every day, or most of us do every day anyways. But that clarity of mind that you get about day three or day four, at least it was for me, is just, it's awesome. It's amazing. It's hard to describe how clear your mind gets. Now, with all these definitions of fasting, one thing you should notice right here, it kind of goes along with the common myth, is that fasting is not starvation. Okay. That means two different things. Fasting is the intentional controlled abstinence of food. Whereas when we think about starvation, that's more along the lines of, let's see, I would put this, it's non-intentional. Okay. It's against your choice. That's what starvation is, going to food, but you don't have a choice in the matter. Whereas fasting is you do have a choice and you're choosing mentally to refrain from consuming food. So in talking about what is fasting, it would definitely be beneficial to go over the different types of fasting that are out there and available to you. Number one, there's the total fast. And of course, this is the fast from both food and water. No food, no water, when you do a total fast. Next, what we have is what's called a water fast. This is the kind that I do. And this is where you refrain from all food and all liquids except for water. The only thing that you consume is water. And then you have something called a juice fast. And with this, this is refraining from all foods and all drinks except juice and maybe some water too. Personally, I don't see this as a fast. I really see this as like a juice cleanse. But other people refer to it as fast. Maybe you want to try that. So there you go. Juice fast. Then you have the Daniel fast or what people nowadays kind of call the selected food fast. And this is where you refrain from eating certain types of food and or liquids. Okay. Maybe you refrain from chocolate. Maybe you refrain from any kind of sweet. Maybe you refrain from carbs. That would be an example of a Daniel fast or a selected food fast. Then you have what is the rage nowadays and most of the fasting world. This is called the intermittent fast. This is where you during a 24-hour period, you have a certain time that you don't eat and then a certain time where you are allowed to eat. Examples of this would be like a 16-8 fast where you fast 16 hours of the day and are only allowed to eat 8 hours of the day. Another example would be an 18-6 fast or a 24 fast where you would fast for 20 hours of the day and only allow yourself to eat during four hours of the day. There is lots and lots of information out there right now because like I said in the fasting world, this is the thing going on which everyone's excited about and lots of people are doing. So go check it out. There's lots of information on intermittent fasting. Then you have something called fasting mimicking. Now this is something I still haven't completely got my head around but basically the idea is you still eat and you still drink but it's only certain types of food in certain frequencies and in certain amounts that is supposed to scientifically trick your body into thinking it's fasting. So you still get all the benefits of fasting without completely abstaining from food. Again something I haven't got my head completely wrapped around yet and definitely needs more research into it and like always invite you to go out and do your own research further and above what you get in this drawer. So more nerdy word etymology is the word breakfast. Now break that down and you get break fast and literally in our English language that's what it really comes from. It comes from the middle English breakfast from the phrase brick and fast to break one's fast to end abstinence from food. So literally we got our word breakfast from break fast meaning to break your fast and it's sort of kind of the thing we do nowadays right. We have supper at night and then it's a few hours and we go to bed and we don't eat at all until we wake up in the morning and have breakfast. So we've had you know 12 hours or more since our last meal so it's almost like a fast right and then that what we call breakfast is what breaks that kind of daily fast that we have every day. So now we went over fasting in the Tanakh, we went over fasting in the Brit Hadashah, we've went over types of fasting. So now you may be asking yourself okay why would I fast? Why in the world would anyone want to do this right? Well there are lots of reasons to fast okay. In the scriptures we get various different things or reasons why people fasted all right. Some people fasted because they were in mourning, some people did it for intervention, some people did it to give additional weight to prayer, some people do it for personal health, some people do it in preparation for something to seek guidance in a particular area for seeking guidance making a decision even. And we've seen or at least most of these we've seen in scripture already right. When King Saul died the people fasted because they were mourning. We saw King Dawid fast for intervention in his sick son. We saw you know Yeshua and the apostles fast for preparation etc. etc. So different reasons as to why you would fast. But at the base level anyways fasting is something that is really really extremely convenient okay. Think about it. When you're fasting there's no shopping to do, there's no cooking, there's no eating. You can do it any time and anywhere. There's no portion measuring, there's no calorie counting, there is no meetings to go to, no dues to pay, no books to buy, no meal plans to purchase. It's just so convenient. That is a really good thing about fasting and the fact of the matter is just about anyone can fast. If you don't eat meat you can fast, you don't eat wheat you can fast, have an allergy you can fast, don't have time well you can definitely fast, don't have money yep you can fast, if you're traveling all the time you can still fast, if you don't cook all right cooking's fun if you don't cook all right cooking's fun anyways but if you don't cook then you can fast. So just about anyone can fast. However there are some caution to take into account when you're considering fasting. Number one pregnant or nursing mothers probably shouldn't fast. They're going to need those vitamins and nutrients and minerals that they get in their food to pass along to their children. Speaking of children, children more likely than not should not fast. Consult your pediatrician but most likely they're going to tell you that no children should not fast. If you have an eating disorder like anorexia then you probably shouldn't fast either because your body probably doesn't have that normal store of energy and minerals and vitamins for you to fast anyways and it could be very dangerous in that kind of situation. But if you can fast then there are many benefits that come along with doing so. For instance there is obviously weight loss and in the first little bit that's going to be mostly in water. It helps your insulin sensitivity. There have been studies to show that it helps with type 2 diabetes even sometimes reversing type 2 diabetes. It helps with heart disease. It helps with cancer and chemo treatments. Helps with liver disease. Helps with mental clarity like I was referring to earlier. It can help you live a longer life and when you fast it also helps increase your HGH right or human growth hormone and there's lots of other benefits that go along with this and some of the research I came across I didn't include it in here but also helps to stimulate stem cell production. So if you have something like brain damage or heart damage okay your brain and your heart needs to regrow cells to kind of repair that and when you fast and increase your stem cells it helps them to create those new cells to repair itself and make you healthier. So that's another advantage too along with many many others. I would again I know I've been pounding this all dross here but go look at the notes and go look at the research links down below the videos the text links the books that are listed there. So much information and you'll be amazed at all the benefits that come along with fasting not just religious benefits not just spiritual benefits but also medical and scientific benefits that go along with it. Now like I said before sometimes it's really hard when you do fast because when you fast if you're like me then there's always somebody that's going to bring in some kind of food and it's usually something really good and really delicious right. If any of you have fasted before you know exactly what it is I'm talking about. So how about some interesting knowledge about fasting or at least some things that I found interesting. Think to yourself some of you may know this some of you may not. What is the longest fast on record right. In the scriptures we have Moses and Elijah and Yeshua fasting for 40 days. So is that the longest fast on record? Well outside of scripture the longest fast we have on record is about 382 days or 13 months. So again this goes back to dispelling that myth that you're going to die while fasting. This 13 month fast was actually taken on by a guy named Angus Barbieri in 1965. He was 27 years old at the time when he started out he was 456 pounds and when he came off his fast he was 180 pounds. That was 13 months later that's 276 pounds that he lost. Do the math on that and that's about 0.72 pounds per day. Think about that almost a pound per day he lost. The only thing he consumed during this 13 month fast was vitamins, tea, coffee, and water. Now this is pretty extreme right and during this 13 months while he was on this fast he was actually monitored and looked at and looked over by physicians and doctors the whole time. But yeah he fasted for 13 months only having vitamins, tea, coffee, and water. And then after he got done with his fast even after five years he was only 196 pounds. So he was only 196 pounds. So he kept that enormous weight off after fasting which is fairly amazing. And for those of you watching on video here is the picture of Angus Barbieri. On the left there you can see the before picture and on the right you can see the after. The major major difference it made in this one man just by fasting. That was just weight loss. I'm sure he had many many other benefits that came along with that as I can attest to from my personal experience. So some famous instances of fasting in history. We have Sarah Jacobs back in 1869. This is the story of a 12 year old girl who her parents said that she had not eaten for about two years. And it was kind of being billed as this miraculous thing. So the Catholic church sent in nurses to observe her and confirm it. And after nine days of being observed by these nurses the little girl died from not eating. So I kind of don't believe the whole two year claim and subsequently the parents were charged and convicted with manslaughter because of this whole situation. Okay decide for yourself whether they should or shouldn't have but that's kind of the story. Then you have Jacques. I don't know his last name where he is from or whatnot but anyways in 1888 he fasted for 30 days. Then in 1890 he fasted for 42 days. In 1897 he fasted for 50 days. Then there was a guy named Succi. I think that's how you pronounce it. He's Italian. And in 1890 he also fasted for 40 days. Then there's the story of four men and a 14 year old boy who was trapped in the Tennewood mine in South Wales. Now they were left without food without choice obviously but they survived without eating for 10 days back in 1876. Then there's the story of the Medusa frigate where 15 people survived on a life raft for 13 days without food back in 1816. So as you can see people really can fast for a prolonged period of time without eating and they won't die. So that myth is dispelled and my longest fast has been six days and when I tell people that they kind of don't believe me. They think well after three days a person's supposed to die without food. No, no, no. The average person might die after three days without water but not food. Your body has, most people's body anyways, has plenty of fat stores to live on for a long, long time. So we went over the longest fast in recorded history but what was the longest fast in scripture? I've already told you a couple times tonight. Well the longest fast in scripture was for 40 days and this title was held by three different men. Number one, Moses who fasted for 40 days and depending on how you interpret the scriptures could have even been 80 days but that's a discussion for another time. There was also Elijah who fasted for 40 days and of course Yeshua who fasted for 40 days in preparation to begin his ministry. So even after the time of the apostles that we start getting into the first century, second century, etc. the early years of Christianity we still had people fasting. We look at this quote from the new Shaft Herzog encyclopedia. It states, the Jews had observed Monday and Thursday as fast days and whoever wished to fast did so on those two days though there was no general command to fast. The Christian churches appointed Wednesday and Friday. From the beginning of the third century a third weekly fast on Saturday was instituted in Rome. It is possible too that an anti-Jewish temper may have led to the institution and the afterward because the Jews celebrated Saturday as a festival the Christians dishonored it by fasting. The east always declined to adopt it and from the end of the fourth century considered Saturday as well as Sunday a holy day. Now a couple things on this section right here is that it says starts out by saying the Jews observed Monday and Thursday as fast days. Well the reason Jews have done this or those within Judaism have done this for so long is because they believe that Monday was the day that Moses went up on the mountain and Thursday was the day he came down from the mountain right the receiving of the Torah. That's why they fasted on Monday and Thursday. Well when the Christian church started fasting as well they did it as it says here on Wednesday and Friday and sort of maybe a anti-semitic kind of thing don't really know but they didn't keep the same days as Judaism did. Also if you'll notice here it says later on in the third century that there was also a fast within Christianity that was initiated instituted on Saturday starting in Rome. You may have noticed from our Sabbath teaching a couple weeks ago we talked about that phrase that a lot of people are familiar with nowadays where it states when in Rome do as the Romans. Well that comes from this whole Sabbath issue and fasting issue right same thing that it started in Rome that they were instituting a fast on Saturday or Shabbat in order to get people away from observing Shabbat but instead observing the first day Sunday as Sabbath. That was really the start of it right there and the reason for this was as it kind of insinuates here that the Jews celebrated Saturday as a festival was that Sabbath was meant to be a joyous time almost like a weekly feast you might say. So in order to try and get Christians away from this quote-unquote Jewish Sabbath they initiated a a fast on Saturday so as to kind of lead Christians away from the biblical Sabbath towards the Roman Sabbath of Sunday. We also read in the Didache references to fasting as well and they get into some more reasons for that like in this first excerpt here I'll read it for those listening on the audio podcast. It states now the teaching of these words is this bless those that curse you and pray for your enemies and fast for those that persecute you. So here we can see in the Didache it's actually recommending that if someone is persecuting you fast for them okay pray for them bless them. Then in the second entry it states and before the baptism let the baptizer and him who is to be baptized fast and any others who are able and thou shalt bid him who is to be baptized to fast one or two days before. So here it's saying that anyone who is about to be baptized and even the person who is doing the baptizing should fast before the time of baptism. Okay that's not a commandment from scripture but hey I don't see anything wrong with it. And then in our third and final quote from the Didache it states let not your fast be with the hypocrites for they fast on Mondays and Thursdays but do you fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. Now remember the Didache was written somewhere around the first century maybe even the beginning of the second century. So this is very very close to the time of the apostles when they wrote down what we now call the new testament and this sounds very much like the words of Yeshua that we read earlier says let not your fast be with the hypocrites. Almost like what he said right but here they're calling the pharisees those within Judaism the hypocrites and referring to their fast as on Mondays and Thursdays and saying that we shouldn't be like them instead we should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. So there's another kind of conflict between the early Christian fast days and the early Judaism fast days. So in summary fasting is abstinence from food or drink or both. Fasting has many spiritual benefits. Fasting also has many medical or scientific benefits as well. We didn't get into a lot of those but again go check out the links we've got on the notes page on the post for this draw but again go check out the links we've got on the notes page on the post for this drosh link down in the description below whether you're watching on video or whether you're listening on audio. There are many examples of fasting in scripture. We went over several of those tonight in tonight's drosh but there are many many more that we have in our notes and there are possibly even many many more than that as well. There are also many methods of fasting we went over some of those right you have the total fast you have Jews fast intermittent fasting Daniel fast etc etc and there are many reasons for fasting that we went over as well and the fasting is not for promoting yourself those are the very words of our master and messiah Yeshua and to dispel the myth fasting is not starvation okay it takes a long long long time for someone to well for the average person to die of starvation all right the more body fat you got on you the longer you can go all right breaking your fast is a very important step now we didn't go over this in tonight's drosh but I did want to bring this up because it's very very important that you know this if you're planning on doing a fast you need to do some research and learn how to break your fast all right you can't go 3 7 40 days without eating anything and then go right back to a steak and potato dinner your very first meal after the fast okay that is very very not good and can even be dangerous you have to kind of take it slow with something very simple like bone broth or chicken soup but again take this away it is very important that you break your fast in a certain way and definitely go and do your research on this on breaking your fast if you're thinking about fasting and finally scripture does not command nor does it prohibit fasting we saw that as well and if we happen to miss anything definitely be sure to let us know but so far as what we have found in scripture scripture does not command nor does it prohibit fasting and that's just the god honest truth I'd just like to leave you with this few quotes the first one from Mark Twain he states a little starvation can really do more for the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors Benjamin Franklin wrote the best of all medicines is resting and fasting and Martin Luther the reformer wrote of fasting I say this it is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body and I think they're all right you
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