The following appeared in Nov 2, 2000 Hallelujah Health Tip #154, which is published by Hallelujah Acres

In Halllelujah Health Tip numbers 68, 69, and 70, back in late winter 1999, I, along with a number of our readers, expressed concerns about the Weigh Down Diet. Through the years I have become increasingly concerned, not only that it teaches you can eat anything you want, but also for its departure from and misuse of Scripture. You can access these back issues at http://www.hacres.com/html/tiparchives.html

On October 30, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page feature article titled "Church Lady of Diet Weighs In On Trinity and Her Flock Flees." The article was written by Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, staff reporter of the Wall Street Journal. Following are some excerpts from the article:

"With a diet based on the Bible, Gwen Shamblin taught people how 'God can transform their hearts and minds so that they can rise above the magnetic pull of the refrigerator.' The Nashville surgeon's daughter rolled her program into 36,000 churches around the world, espousing a simple philosophy: 'God loved brownies.' Eat what you want -- just eat less of it.

"A 45-year-old dietitian, she published two best-selling books and produced videos. . . . Now, lots of people are focusing on Mrs. Shamblin, but with anger in their hearts.

"What has them cross: e-mail to 40,000 people on Aug. 10, in which Mrs. Shamblin disavowed the Trinity, the Christian belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one Godhead. She also invited people to the Remnant Fellowship, an 80-member nondenominational church she and her accountant husband had formed.

"Almost overnight, what slimmed down fastest were the ranks of Mrs. Shamblin's Weigh Down Workshop followers. Thousands of churches that embraced Mrs. Shamblin in their battle against gluttony have dropped the program. A religious publishing house, Thomas Nelson, canceled her new book. And workers in her warehouse say they are taking back more of her products than they are sending out.

"'She made all this money by deceiving all of us into thinking she was one of us,' says Pam Sneed, a volunteer coordinator who three months ago had happily paraded onto the stage at the annual convention of Mrs. Shamblin's adherents. . . .

"This month, the spat got messier. Four former employees filed a religious-discrimination lawsuit against her company in county court in Franklin, Tenn., alleging that they were fired for refusing to embrace Mrs. Shamblin's theological views and to attend her church. .. . Mrs. Shamblin acknowledges that 25 of her 90 workers departed recently. . . .

"Moody Church in Chicago dropped the program. Lifeway Christian Stores and Christian Book Distributors returned her books to the publishers. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod denounced her theology on its Web site. Brethren Church, a denomination based in Ashland, Ohio, revoked its support.

"Outside Chicago, Willow Creek Community Church, which bills itself the largest in North America, recently broke the news to 17,000 parishioners that it would cancel the Weigh Down Workshop."

Wall Street Journal October 31, 2000

Subscribers to the Wall Street Journal Online can find the full text of the article from the archives at http://www.wsj.com