Episode 21: The Enemy's Original Play

Biggest Takeaway:
You’ve been blindsided, not broken. The enemy's first play was food—and he's still running it today. But now you know the playbook, and it’s time to fight back with God’s truth, God's food, and God’s clarity.

Episode Overview:
In this solo episode, Matthew Headden kicks off a brand-new season of the Temple Keepers Podcast with a deep and personal message that hits at the root of one of the enemy’s oldest tactics: food. From the Garden of Eden to your dinner table, Satan has used appetite to hijack God’s design. But today, we’re calling out the play.

Matthew walks through Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and the Gospels to expose how Satan has consistently twisted our appetite to weaken our walk with God. But Jesus gives us the model to break the cycle—and this episode lays out the practical, biblical blueprint to start winning this battle in your own life.

You’ll hear:

• What the first and second things God ever said to man were (and why they matter)
• How Satan used food as the first temptation—and is still doing it today
• Why Jesus didn’t white-knuckle through His fast, and what His model teaches us
• How ultra-processed foods override God’s design for your hormones and cravings
• Why choosing man-made food is often a reflection of misplaced trust
• What Scripture says about appetite, idolatry, and turning back to God’s provision
• A practical, grace-filled guide to auditing your plate, finding community, and fixing your eyes on Christ

Whether you’ve struggled with food your whole life, or you’re just starting to question the world’s nutrition standards, this episode will open your eyes and strengthen your walk.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
👉 Download the God Food Guide
👉 Download the Faith & Fitness Book: What Does God Say?

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Transcript

Matthew Headden (00:00)
Welcome back to the Temple Key Years podcast. It has been far, far too long. I'm one of your hosts, Matthew Headon. Fortunately, even after the break, we're starting off with just me. Leo will be here on the next one. Let's just go ahead and dive right in because I know you don't want to listen to me ramble. What was the second thing God ever said to man? I'll give you a minute. Now, not quite sure. Well, next question. What was the first?

tools Satan used to tempt man to cause our fall to appeal to our ego, to rip us out of fellowship with God. Drawing a blank? Maybe you said apple, right? Well, the answer is food. Genesis 1.29, see, have given you every seed bearing plant and every tree with fruit. It shall be food for you. Genesis 3.1 through 6, the serpent zeroes in on food and one bite later humanity falls. So no wonder you're struggling.

Today we're going in exposing the enemy's original attack as old as plague. So once you know it, you'll spot it and see it coming and shut it down. He can't ambush us if we know the attack is coming. Quick note, when you hear me say God food, I'm talking about anything that still looks the way the father made it. Plants from the ground, animals that we eat, those plants, waters that hasn't been dyed neon, a la Genesis 9 23. And I know man has modified a lot of things.

There's a lot of things out there that may not have been the way they were 10,000 years ago. But the point is, the spirit of it is to get as close to what our Father created as humanly possible and not get stuck in the nuance. So when you hear me say God food, you'll hear me say it again and again because that's central to how we win this battle. So back to it. God's very first conversation with us was on purpose.

Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. The very next line, what to eat. Food is actually a frontline issue with heaven. If we flip forward one chapter, Satan walks in the garden and runs the opposite play. Did God really say you couldn't eat that? Same topic, twisted motive. That's the play he's been dialing up ever since. And it's one of the reasons we keep stumbling. Because what drives me

Now, y'all know I'm from South Carolina and I love football. Now, not as much as I used to, but I still love it.

Go Gamecocks, by the way. But nothing drives me more crazy in football when a team finds a play that works. And then for some strange reason, they quit running the play. But Satan doesn't make that mistakes. He keeps leaning on the same tactic. Appetite.

because most folks never recognize it for what it is. Here's the other thing that drives me bonkers. When the defensive coordinator or the head coach can't figure out how to stop a basic play that they've seen over and over, the problem is we're not calling out the play and the enemy sure isn't going to quit running it. So today I'm going to lay it out because for whatever reason, and this is another conversation, the Shepherds, the head coaches, the pastors aren't telling us what the play is. So no wonder the team

You and I, my brothers and sisters, are struggling with the same play. Let's take a quick snapshot of the Bible. Just a few examples here. Esau lets his hunger override his legacy and he trades his daggum firstborn blessing for a quick meal in Genesis 25. Israel, in the desert, they're grumbling. We miss Egypt's meat and melons and calls God's bread his manna. Boring. What happened? Plague follows. Numbers 11, right?

So then there's the golden cafes. That's a whole nother ball game. While Moses meets with God, the people throw a daggum party and they're drunk and they're eating all around a gold idol in Exodus 32. If you want to check that one out, it's wild. Then there's my personal favorite where Jesus is in the wilderness after his baptism, baptism, the Holy Spirit leads him into the desert for 40 days. We all know about that one, right? It's mirroring Israel's 40 years in the desert to face every temptation.

We face hungry and alone, the enemy comes out. If you're really the son of God, you're to turn these stones into bread. Well, Jesus answers with deuteromity, man shall not live by bread alone. He anchors his appetite to God's word, not his feelings. So let's take a little bit deeper look at how Jesus breaks this cycle. Now, again, there's 40 days, no bread, no fish, no fakes, none of the fun stuff. Then that guy shows up.

Satan looks at him and says, if you're really the son of God, really command these stones to become bread. Jesus just looked at him square up in the face, said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. It's Matthew 4, 4, Deuteronomy 8, The word cuts right through the life. The appetite bowed and Satan stalled. But

Of course, he doesn't quit with one try, So undeterred, Satan tried a different angle, identity, then authority, but the response never changed. It is written, it is written, it is written, it is written because scripture stands immovable. The enemy had no place but to retreat because when we lean on God, the enemy has no space to get in.

Then what happened? Silence, desert wind, the ministry of angels, because obedience crowned the fast, and the Father's provision arrived on Heaven's timetable, not Hell's suggestion.

Let that sink in for a second. How cool is that? But was Satan done there? No, he leveled up. He's always going to. So how is he leveling up? Well, he's hijacking God's design and our design with foods that look nothing like the Garden of Eden. Ultra-processed, highly palatable combos. Anything that's the polar opposite of God's creation and plan. Refined sugar, altered fat, synthetic flavors.

Nowhere in nature is the combination of sugar, salt, and fat found at all. And these combinations, these chemicals, altered chemicals, are engineered to override the very hormones and brain signals that God created to tell us when we're full. They slam the dopamine button, keeping us reaching for more more and more and more and whispering, man's way tastes better than God's way. But we're not seeing it for what it is. And here's what I remind

every single client. This one hits hard. Something either reflects God or it doesn't. There's no neutral ground. When I choose the food that God put here, straight from the Creator, my plate says, Father, I trust your design. But if I keep grabbing what a factory whipped up and man created, then what I'm really saying is I'm trusting man more than God.

You might say, and I have for years, there's no way I trust man more than God. But when we lean in on the foods that he created and the majority of our foods that we eat are actually the food that man created and not what God provided for us, that's actually what we're saying with our actions. And when that one hit me, it was like a punch in the gut. Seriously.

Philippians 3 19 does say a very strong lesson. Their God is in their belly. Their minds set on earthly things. James 1 17 is the complete opposite. Every good and perfect thing is from above. Now, nutritional science backs this studies from 2025 to 2020 to 2025 show that ultra processed diets at about 500.

accidental calories a day. They spike cravings, jack up obesity and anxiety rates and break God's design. The enemy is using technology and science to run the same old play, just faster and faster and harder to break.

So I'm not just going to call out the play. I'm going to give you the counterplay to fight him. To equip you to beat Satan and say, I got you. You can't beat me with this anymore.

Before we dive into the steps, remember again the model that Jesus mastered in the book. Jesus did not white knuckle his way through 40 days without food. He fixed his eyes on the Father. Every lie the enemy threw was met with, is written. It is written. So when the enemy said, turn these stones into bread, Jesus replied with scripture. When we're squeezed,

we should get scripture. So focus on the truth, not the trap. Abundance isn't found in more bites, it's found in deeper trust.

This is not about restriction, it's about abundance. It's not about removing, it's about adding and trusting and love. The enemy pedals in confusion and faux abundance, so we align with God's clarity and plenty.

Here's how we live that out. We spot the counter attack. Ask, did God make this or did man? Treat man-made additives kind of like a counterfeit bill. This really isn't going to be paying off what my body needs. This really isn't going to give my brain what it needs to function best. This isn't what my body needs to function as God designed it. Next, ask the presence question.

Would I eat like this if Jesus were sitting right here at the table with me? Now this isn't saying you can never have pizza because pizza is delicious. But if we're doing it all the time.

It's probably not a wise or good idea. Would we really sit there and eat an entire bag of Cheetos if Jesus was with us? Would we do it every day?

This question isn't about guilt or shame. It's quite the antithesis. It's keeping our eyes focused on the Lord. Next, check your comfort source. Am I reaching for this food to soothe an ache that only Christ can heal? If so, trade the snack for scripture and prayer. Christ is for comfort, not cookies, not Cheetos, not cocaine, not course. Christ alone.

And if you've been struggling with food for more time, then you can remember if you've gained and lost the weight and gained and lost the weight and gained and lost the weight, the problem isn't the weight. You can lose weight. You've proven that. Odds are there's too much food noise and possibly we're going to food for comfort.

That's Christ's job and Christ alone.

And that's idolatry. But we're not going to focus on the sin. We're going to focus on the solution. And that's love. Because we love him so much. And there's nothing he can't do. Next, audit your plate. Take an honest tally. What percentage of today's meals came straight from the Father's creation versus man's factories? Aim to tip that ratio toward God-grown fuel every day, every meal, and then every week. Remember.

It doesn't have to be a complete nutter overhaul all in one move like I do. Leah is much, much softer with this. I'm all in. She's one meal at a time. Find what works for you, but tip that ratio. And remember, balance is not 50-50. This should look like 80-20 or 90-10 with the foods that God created versus the foods that man made.

Make sense? So again, we're going to crowd out the junk and we're going to build each plate around protein sources, meats, colorful produce, fiber, because science shows, science shows this combo blunt blood sugar spikes and cravings. When we load up on protein and load up on vegetables and fruits, the cravings dissipate because those cravings come

from the brain from multiple places, but the brain actually saying, I need more. You're not giving me what I need. So it keeps telling you you're hungry. But if you give it the protein and the nutrients and the fiber that it needs, eventually that signal shuts off the way that God designed it.

Lastly, get community accountability. Join the Temple Keepers community for daily challenges, workouts, recipes, an education library, and brothers and sisters all changing the same goal. Now we're rebuilding this from the ground up. So hop in now, become a cornerstone, shape what we actually are creating, and lock in lifetime access for 40 bucks. Then there's personal coaching when you need it. Leah and I provide...

fully customized workouts, personalized nutrition plan, in-depth blood work analysis, habit tracking, and real-time accountability, so you're never left guessing. Remember, iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27, 17, right? We all know and love that one. Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. It's Proverbs 11, 14, and a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 412. And if it's not from us, find it somewhere, a church group, your friends and family, your loved ones, your friends that are going, but make sure they can hold you accountable, not out of guilt, not out of shame, but with good solid information, biblically grounded, scientifically accurate, and love. And if you would like, if you need us to do that, we would be honored because we love you and we're family.

Remember, when you practice these steps, you're retraining your taste buds and rewiring your reward pathways. So it's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard, but you're declaring through your actions, I trust God's goodness over man's shortcuts and restrictions.

As we close, I know we've gone over a lot of stuff and I could go very in depth in all of these things. And well, if you want, in different episodes. But I just want to remind you this. You're not bent, you're not, I want to remind you of this. You were not broken. You've been blindsided. But now you know the play that Satan's running. The second words that God spoke, the first weapon that Satan swung and his ultra processed upgrade. Remember God is a God of clarity.

grace and abundance. He laid out his foods with open-handed generosity. The enemy countered with confusion, restriction that leaves you emptier than before and addicted. So fix your eyes on Jesus, grab the clarity of his word and feast on the abundance your father already provided. If this hits home, share it with a friend, drop a review and let's help every temple keeper recognize the enemy's playbook. I'm Matthew Hedden, average never glorified God. So stay strong.

Stay faithful and I'll catch you next time.