Does God Mind What We Eat? Part 1

Does God Mind What We Eat? Part 1

In The Beginning

From the beginning, when God created man, He gave man precise instructions on what to eat: man was to have a vegetarian diet.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Genesis 1:28-29)

God was very specific with Adam about what tree not to eat from in the Garden of Eden:

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:15-17)

In Genesis 6, some time had passed since man’s creation and humanity had fallen into deeper sin. Angels (referred to as the sons of God in Genesis 6) had come to the earth and were having children with earthly women, and the hybrid offspring were abnormal, called giants. God decided to end the human race together with the giants through the great flood. However, he found one man that was righteous, in that his parents, grandparents and children were 100% human and not hybrids. He decided to save him and his family from the flood He was sending. God commanded the man to build an ark to house him and the animals God wanted to save.

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:21-22)

Notice that “all food that is eaten” referred to the vegetarian diet that both men and animals ate (or were supposed to eat) at that time.

As the ark was completed, God instructed Noah what animals would come into his ark. Notice that at that time, God already had determined which animals were clean and which were unclean.

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 7:1-3)

A Change of Order

Before the flood, the Earth was surrounded with a “firmament” limited by water. The Earth was surrounded with a coat of water all around the planet, with an air space between the ground and the water. There were no clouds, and it did not rain (look this up in Genesis 1:7; Genesis 2:5). When the flood started, this coat of water came down to the earth and was never replaced. I believe that the coat of water had a function: protecting life on earth from some type of rays that were detrimental to human and animal life. To compensate for this change in the atmosphere of the earth, God now allowed both humans and animals to eat meat with one condition: that the meat would be drained of all the blood.

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:1-4)

We can see that in the book of Genesis alone there are several commands from God on what to eat and what not to eat. Is God concerned about what we eat? It certainly appears so.

A Meal In A Hurry

Most Christians are acquainted with the historic event of the Hebrew slavery in Egypt and all the attempts of Moses to take them out of Egypt. This involved a lot of miraculous events that were devastating to the Egyptians. Finally, when it was certain that the last of these events would convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go, God called for the Hebrews to have…a family meal!

This was quite an extraordinary set of events, but look at how carefully God planned this meal and what detailed instructions He gave:

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover. (Exodus 12:1-11)

Does God care about what we eat? He cares about how we eat it also!

Supernatural Food

God has supernaturally intervened in our meals and our food, AND He still does. The following is recorded in the Bible, but He continues to do “food miracles” that are not recorded.

One of the most famous food miracles was the one of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned several big containers of water into excellent wine. Here are some other lesser known miracles:

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:11-16)

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord. (2 Kings 4:39-44)

I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. (Exodus 16:12-20)

Five Loaves, Two Fishes, Five Thousand Men

And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. (Matthew 14:17-21)

Seven Loaves, a Few Fishes, Four Thousand Men

And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. (Matthew 15:34-38)

The Greatest Passover So Far

And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. (Mark 14:12-15)

During this Passover Jesus took bread, broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is my body…” And as they drank the wine, He said, “This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many…”

Eating After the Resurrection

Genesis chapter 18 has the story of the Lord and two angels appearing to Abraham. Abraham offers them a meal, which they accept and eat. God is a Spirit, as well as the angels. These materialized spirits ate and drank with Abraham! The following scriptures tell us of the Lord eating and drinking in His resurrected body:

And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. (Luke 24:38-43)

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. (John 21:3-14)

From Beginning to End

We have seen that from the beginning that God is concerned about what we eat. At the end, when we get to heaven, a marriage banquet is waiting for us. (Revelation 19:9)

Think of food, eating and drinking as something spiritual. Certainly the Lord does, and He is concerned about what we eat, He has given us commands as to what our food should be, and He wants us to mind what we eat.

Does God Mind What We Eat? Part 2

A Revelation About Blood

Many years ago, as soon as I became a Christian, I started reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and when I finished it, I started from Genesis again. There were certain scriptures that I felt the Holy Spirit was impressing upon me, and I wanted to look at them more closely. The food laws in the Torah was an area that particularly struck me. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me, “That is how I want you to eat”. It would happen every time I read those scriptures. At first, I wondered, because the church I attended did not teach about the subject of food, and none of the mature Christians I knew were obeying any special food laws. Nevertheless, since the Holy Spirit kept dealing with me, I started to slowly take away the “unclean” meats.

One day a Lake Hamilton Bible Camp newsletter came in the mail, and I read an article about a discovery. While ministering to a lady who had a blood disease (I believe it was diabetes), the ministers were trying to cast out a demon that said it had a right to be in her, because she had eaten blood. They discovered that eating blood gave rights to demons to bring blood diseases to people, Christian or not. Why? Because it is written:

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:4)

It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood. (Leviticus 3:17)

And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it. For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. (Leviticus 7:24-27)

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:10-14)

Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. (Leviticus 19:26)

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. (Deuteronomy 12:16)

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water. Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 12:23-25)

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water. (Deuteronomy 15:23)

From the above, we can learn the following: neither the children of Israel nor “the strangers” were to eat fat or blood. If your ancestors were not Israelites, but you are a Christian, you have been grafted into the vine, so spiritually you are an Israelite. (Even if you don’t believe so, how do you know there are no Israelis in your ancestry?)

We learn that the soul that eats blood will be “cut off”; “cut off” means death, obviously by blood disease. This is a curse of death. We learn that this curse is inherited, and it falls upon generation after generation. This means that even if you have never eaten blood, the curse falls on you if your ancestors did.

You might think your family would not do something as disgusting as drinking blood. How about eating blood? Many European and American cultures make “blood pudding” and blood sausage. If you eat Cajun food or Spanish food, you may be eating blood sausage (like boudin). And if you like your steaks rare with the red juice running all over your plate, you may be eating blood.

Arriving to a Conclusion

When I read that article in the Lake Hamilton newsletter, I realized that the same would apply to eating “unclean” meats. If we eat something that the word of God specifically says not to eat, we are giving demons legal rights to enter.

To verify my conclusion, I tested it by having a “mass deliverance” of demons that entered by eating prohibited foods, including blood. I tested it on a group of about 25 ladies. I made a short list of “unclean” animals. I led the ladies in a prayer of confession and repentance for having eating things prohibited by the Lord, and they asked forgiveness and were forgiven. Then, since the demons no longer had legal rights, I commanded them to go one by one, according to each kind of food. There was tremendous deliverance in the group. There was a lady who had eaten some unusual animals, such as snake and armadillo. The Lord brought those to her mind, she asked me to work on those, which I did, and the lady was delivered of those demons also.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: As the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you: They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, And the vulture, and the kite after his kind; Every raven after his kind; And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you. These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. (Leviticus 11:1-30)

Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind, And every raven after his kind, And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat. (Deuteronomy 14:3-20)

Healthy Eating Doctors and Healthy Eating Books

Is it a coincidence that modern science has found that eating the very same foods that God prohibits is not good for your health? There are several Christian doctors on TV programs who have also written books advocating healthy eating, and their guidelines are the same as the word of God says.

But What About The “Other” Scriptures?

Some Christians get really, really angry when I suggest they follow the food laws. I wonder what makes them so angry? One of the first scriptures they bring out to defend their eating is:

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance. And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. (Acts 10:9-20)

And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28)

And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing. And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. (Acts 10:30-33)

The interpretation of Peter’s vision was not about food, but about people – Jewish and gentile people. A triple vision just before three gentile men knocked at the door. And Peter, who walked with Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, was not sure what it meant. He was not sure because it was a paradigm shift for him—the shift being for Messianic Jews to stop rejecting gentiles and rather to accept all people who wanted to believe in the Messiah. The Holy Spirit told him to quit doubting his interpretation of the vision.

There are other scriptures that bring confusion to this issue of food. But we must remember that the first church was at Jerusalem, and the head of the church in Jerusalem was James, the brother of Jesus. This church kept the Sabbath and went to the temple, and Sundays they would meet from house to house. They kept the laws as Jesus commanded:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

Now the above might go against some Christians’ theology, but deliverance uncovers the truth. And the truth is that eating as God commanded is a matter of life or death.

One Additional Anecdote

Many years ago I was attending a Bible study in a lady’s home with a group from a Methodist church that my husband and I were attending at the time. We were studying the passage in Acts referred to previously about Peter’s vision. The study leader asked for comments, and I said that I didn’t think this passage was talking about food at all; that it was an allegory for Peter to understand not to reject Gentiles from becoming part of the Messianic movement. Therefore, that being the case, then the food laws still applied today, that is, we shouldn’t eat pork, bacon, etc. No sooner had I said this than the lady of the house exploded in an outburst completely disagreeing with me. It shocked me because this was so out of character for this normally calm and demure “spiritual” lady. I felt the Holy Spirit witness to me that food indeed was a spiritual issue, that this reaction was too over the top for it not to be a spiritual issue.

I have also had other Christian friends mock me and put down this particular viewpoint of the food laws. In conversation, I was not trying to impose my beliefs on them; people can eat however they want, it’s between them and God. Yet, they seemed to object to my decision to eat “kosher”, so to speak, to the point of ridicule. Again, this appears to be a spiritual issue. The demons do not want us to obey God in even, what appears to be to me, the smallest and easiest law to follow. It’s not a huge sacrifice in my opinion. For me, better to be safe than telling the Lord, “sorry”.

The Love Affair with Pork

The Love Affair with Pork

Recently I posted this article on my Facebook page and not one single person made a comment. I wrote, “I stopped eating pork about 10 years ago. Here’s why. Read it if you DARE! Maybe the God of the OT was just looking out for our best interests when He told us not to eat pork. Maybe Paul was wrong to tell us ‘all food is good to eat’. This is ‘food’ for thought. This is not the only article out there about this either…..”

http://arkwriter.hubpages.com/hub/porkhazards

I happened to speak to one friend of mine who read it, and he said it scared him to death. My gut feeling is that people read the article and kept mum, or started reading the article and stopped out of disgust or not wanting to know the truth.

Funny how the scripture says, My people perish for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

Years ago, it dawned on me that I had misinterpreted Peter’s vision in Acts 10 of the sheet that was lowered from Heaven full of unclean animals. Here is the passage:

9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. 17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” 21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” 22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

Like most people, I erroneously interpreted this passage to mean we could eat all the unclean things now that God had previously said in the Torah we couldn’t eat. After all, everyone eats pork and shrimp and catfish in Texas. What’s the big deal? But upon further investigation, I realized that this vision was a metaphor for the Jews not excluding Gentiles from salvation (Jews=clean animals; Gentiles=unclean animals), as it says further down in the passage. It really was not referring to food.

Why does God communicate with us this way instead of being straightforward? I am sure a Bible scholar could answer this, but here are my guesses: (1) He wants us to think; (2) He wants to test us to see if we have really hidden the word in our hearts; (3) He wants us to sharpen our ability to discern good and evil; (4) He wants us to seek Him in prayer when we don’t have the answer.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)

When I decided that perhaps eliminating pork from my diet might be a good idea physically and spiritually (I say spiritually, since God told us NOT to eat it, and if we do the opposite of what God says, that is called sinning and there are consequences to sin that might not be immediately visible), I discovered that this whole pork subject was quite the spiritual issue. Here are two stories to relate, but there are more.

In the first story, I was doing the Disciple bible study at the Methodist church I was attending at the time. We were on this Peter passage during this particular weekly meeting. We were meeting in the home of a woman whom I will describe as very elegant, very calm, almost a zen-like quality about her. Never raised her voice, never showed drama, very demure. Then, when we were all discussing this passage, I said that I didn’t think this passage was talking about food, therefore, it looks like we really shouldn’t be eating pork. I barely finished my sentence when this woman absolutely erupted in anger in front of the entire group. I’m sure my eyes were as big as saucers. I looked around the group and there were a few other surprised faces. At that moment I realized that the pork-eating topic was a much more spiritual issue than I had realized. What on earth would make this woman so drastically explode like that but a demon who did not want her to stop eating pork?

Another time, I was at the home of some dear friends of mine, and the husband, who was getting his PhD in “Religion” from Baylor University, and who had donned a pretty arrogant demeanor, volunteered to make omelets for breakfast. He asked me what ingredients I wanted and gave me some choices. I made my choices and they did not include the diced ham that was on a plate. He asked me, “Why don’t you want the ham, Mandy? What’s wrong with the ham, Mandy?” He continued to taunt me and lecture me. It took me quite by surprise. If it had been cheese or chives or mushrooms or onions, I don’t think this would have happened. Clearly the pork-loving demon in him was hard at work.

Upon further investigation about clean vs. unclean animals, you will find a common thread among both groups, but let’s take unclean animals like pork, catfish, shrimp, oysters, etc. That is, they are scavengers, they eat garbage, they are bottom feeders, and/or their digestive system is unsophisticated, so they retain toxins in their meat that clean animals might not retain. I liked the following commentary that I found on a website called answers2prayer.org:

One thing one learns when exploring the Bible – God is very practical. There are some quite good medical reasons for following the food health laws. Here are some of them.

All ‘clean’ animals are ruminants. That is they have four stomachs. This ensures a much more thorough processing of food than is possible with one stomach, and less pollutants are stored in the flesh. It has also been discovered that ruminants are not subject to flesh worms. These can be acquired from eating the flesh of almost every other animal. The pig, which got special mention as ‘unclean’, stores poisons in its body fat. A snake cannot kill a pig. The poison is just stored in the fat under the skin and is ingested by anything that subsequently eats that pig. Many outback Australian properties keep pet pigs around the home buildings to deal with snakes which come in plague proportions when the cracks in the ground, where they live, are closed by the swelling of the earth after rainfall. Pigs love snakes – they suck them up like spaghetti. My wife grew up with pet pigs that were kept for this purpose.

Concerning the flesh of the pig. With today’s hygienic methods of raising these animals it is unlikely they would carry the same risk as one raised in the wild, but consider this: the meat takes 4 days to digest in the bowel instead of 2 for ‘clean’ meats. Bowel cancer has been linked to excessive meat consumption and if the length of time spent in the bowel has anything to do with it then pork is twice as bad as beef.

Likewise the birds that are clean have an organ called a ‘gizzard’ which again permits the bird to process its food more thoroughly.

Most of what we call ‘sea food’, prawns, crabs, shell fish etc. are filter feeders. What they do is clean up the pollution in the oceans and store it in their bodies. Oysters for instance thrive best downstream from sewerage outlets. When one eats these creatures the pollutions become more concentrated in our own bodies. Calcium kidney stones for instance are often the result of over indulgence in these foods. Fish without scales, like sharks and catfish, are scavengers and are at the top of food chains. Their bodies will contain a much higher level of pollutants than creatures further down the chain.

Now one more thing to consider: When Paul said that all foods were good to eat (see I Timothy 4), what was he defining as food? We have to put on our thinking caps here. Perhaps a pig was not considered food any more than we consider eating a cockroach as food. Does that thought make you nauseated – putting a big crunchy cockroach, antennae and all, in your mouth? Perhaps Paul had the same thought about pig meat. We can’t assume that just because it’s common to eat pork today and consider it meat or food, that that’s what they were doing in Paul’s day. In the US, some of us would probably become nauseated at the thought of eating dog meat. Well it’s a meat, isn’t it? Other cultures eat dog meat. But is it food? Not in the U.S. You have to put the food argument in its cultural context.

Bottom line is, eat pork at your own peril, physically and spiritually.