This story reminds us all of that scripture that says Hosea 4:6 “my people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge” because knowledge is something that this pastor’s wife needed more of prior to going on this three week fast that took her life in the end.
Evelyn Boyd/ Source: The Ledger
Pastor John Boyd of Higher Praise Full Gospel Ministries had gone fishing on Thursday to only find his wife, 55 year old Evelyn Boyd, dead on Friday from a water only fast that she had gone on for religious purposes. Reports state tat Eveyln Boyd decided that during this fast she would take time away from everyone, separating herself into a bedroom and only drink water. Even if she was feeling bad at the time of her death after three weeks of fasting, a doctor would not have seen her because the Boyd’s don’t believe in doctors at all. Some words that her husband, Pastor John Boyd spoke were “The Lord called her home.”
What is even worse about the situation is that apparently, Evelyn Boyd, really never exited the room during the fast. She is reported to have taken plastic bags in with her for waste elimination instead of going to the bathroom. She would then toss the waste out of the window into a garbage can placed outside. Read more of the story here at The Ledger.
Fasting. For religious purposes it is meant to actually be done so that one can remove their sights from all other things and focus solely on God and His will, to gain a better perspective, cleansing, healing and even deliverance. There are different types of fasting, however, when one chooses the fast of no food, survival is slim to none when going more than three days depending on each individual separately.
Jesus himself talks about fasting in the Bible in the book of Matthew 6:16-18
Matthew 6:16-18 (King James Version)
16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
When one looks at the book of Ester, there is even the time when Ester fasted for the deliverance of the Israelites.
Ester 4:16
16Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
And then there is the fast of Jesus for 40 days and 40 nights:
Matthew 4
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
This is sad news, but does anyone know that God never wants any individual to take fasting to an extreme so much so that their own lives are in jeopardy because fasts aren’t meant for people to lose sight of the fast’s purpose nor is it to prove something to God or others as God already knows what we are in need of. The purpose of the fast is for the outcome to represent living and not death such as Jesus talks about in Matthew in the scripture at the top - “of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces “ Fasts are a time for healthy meditation, not deathly meditation and prayer. It is for a reward while here on earth, not in death. God would not tell a person to starve him or herself to death for strength and deliverance.
Again, my people perish for lack of knowledge. Listen to the prophet Hosea. May Evelyn Boyd rest in peace.
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