Let’s talk about sodas, otherwise known as soft drinks. According to a 9/14/21 Newsweek.com article titled, The 10 Most Popular Sodas in America, Coca-Cola is number one on the list, followed by Diet Coke, but second only by a relatively small margin. This is intriguing because the primary reason for drinking Diet Coke is to minimize sugar intake. Simply stated, people don’t want to become fat by drinking too much soda. Could vanity be the single greatest motivator for its popularity? Granted, there are other health concerns associated with the intake of too much sugar (diabetes and elevated blood sugar levels), but I wonder which reason reigns supreme.

In general, we like the taste of soda but don’t like the effects of drinking too much of it. Solution? We have created sugar substitutes that approximate the taste of real sugar but lack the calories. The problem with that is the artificial sweeteners manufacturers use in diet drinks, like Diet Coke, aren’t necessarily healthy either (we substitute one set of health issues for another). The human body has its own way of detecting foreign substances, like aspartame or saccharin (artificial sweeteners), and providing us with something called an “aftertaste”, which, to most people, tastes a little “off”. Apparently, this unpleasant aftertaste isn’t enough to dissuade them from continuing to drink diet soda though.

According to a 2014 Rutgers.edu article regarding sugar substitutes titled, FDA’s Persistent Ban on the Artificial Sweetener Cyclamate, “Saccharin is 300 times sweeter than sugar, but it has one flaw- a bitter metallic aftertaste. Cyclamate is about 30 times as sweet as sugar and has no bitter aftertaste. Scientists found that when the two products were combined together, the saccharin gave the powerful sweetness while cyclamate masked the bitter after taste.” Not so fast! The U.S. banned cyclamates in 1970 because they were deemed carcinogenic. Doh! So close.

I don’t want this blog to become a rant about artificial sweeteners so let me get to the point…

A substitute can never replace the real thing. The best one can hope for is a close approximation. This goes for food, teachers, building materials, fragrances, music, friendships, love, and so on. Nowhere is this more important to recognize than with Bible doctrine.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
-2 Corinthians 11:13-15

Satan and the kingdom of darkness are relentless in pushing counterfeit doctrines. For example, a key ingredient in the recipe for spiritual growth is faith, arguably among the greatest counterfeited of all. However, there is no substitute for faith. To substitute something like human rationalism for faith is to displease God.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
…
And without faith it is impossible to please him.
-Hebrews 11:1,6

You will never realize how sweet true faith is until you taste it for the very first time. But you must abandon your “diet” beverage prior to picking up the real thing. Once you experience the truth you’ll never want to go back to the counterfeit! Part of my job as a pastor is to encourage you in this endeavor.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
-1 John 4:1-6

Once you’ve tasted the Truth, hearing false doctrine (a substitute for the real thing) will leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth. The more you are sanctified, the more you will develop a distaste for “diet” doctrines. Satan is a genius at creating them, but he is also critically flawed – he doesn’t possess the true ingredients, only lies.

[Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
-John 8:44

Lies grow exponentially the longer you cling to them. When one leaves an aftertaste, you must manufacture another to mask it. It’s a never-ending descending spiral which leads to death. For every “saccharin” there’s a “cyclamate” to mask its aftertaste. Lies require more lies to cover them. Therefore:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
-James 4:7-8

Would you be angry to find out that the Coca-Cola company decided to put Diet Coke in a Coca-Cola can? What would you say to yourself when you took your first sip and realized what they’d done? If all you’d ever drank was Diet Coke, would you even be able to tell the difference? You could go years before you realize you’d been drinking a substitute for the real thing, especially if Coca-Cola purposely mislabeled its products! You might even reject the authentic original, accusing it of being the counterfeit! It’s maddening bondage!

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
-John 8:31-32

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins