Fasting means self-denial and restraint from snuffing, smoking, fornication, sexual intimacy, drinking, etc. While fasting, you also have to refrain from quarrelling, anger, evil communication, backbiting and the rest of the vices. Sin is also the greatest enemy of the Holy Spirit. For those of you who wonder how somebody can live without eating enough food, how did John the Baptist live? Orthodox churches claim that John the Baptist ate locusts and honey as food. One is therefore left to wonder how possible it was for John to have got enough of the type of species of grasshopper to feed on.

But, recently, those who came back from Jerusalem say John ate honey and a specie of herb called the locust bean. That was the reason Christ said that never has there been a being born of a woman who is greater than John the Baptist except the one who is the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, the Lord was invariably referring to Himself. The Pharisees fasted twice a week, but theirs was different from that of John the Baptist. You do not fast only of food but also of quarrelling, fighting, or backbiting and all that.

There is no point claiming to be fasting while you are harbouring people in mind and committing various vices. It were better you never fasted if your heart is not pure.

The assignment of John the Baptist was not to preach the gospel of repentance or to heal the sick. John’s duty was to reveal the coming of the Lord to the universe and to make His path straight. That was why he did not eat any other type of food except that prescribed by God, so that he will be able to recognise the Lord and hail Him. Without John the Baptist, the Lord would have come, toured the whole world, and nobody would have recognised Him.

Now, people eat anything and end up attracting various sicknesses to themselves. John the Baptist ate only honey and locusts and was never reported sick for even one minute. Once you begin to eat very little, even a grain of corn only, you will have no problem.

Initially, John, Peter, James and others were the disciples of John the Baptist and they worked together to make straight the path of the Lord through fasting and praying.

Leader Olumba Olumba Obu, Everlasting Gospel Vol.1 Chapter 51 Vs 18 – 26