Eat Clean!
“Did you know the Bible has a clean eating plan? It’s not only about good physical health but choosing godly conduct as a way of life.
Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/ReVWmiI7IjY
[Steve Myers] Diseases. You've heard the names like SARS, and Ebola, swine flu, MERS, and coronavirus. These could have been prevented by obedience to God's food laws.
Clean eating, boy that idea has become very popular these days especially for people who are concerned about their health. Eating clean speaks to good nutrition. I mean choosing those foods that really give you the best benefits. And what do you think of? Well, you probably think of eat more fruits. How about those good vegetables, proteins that are lean? But snacks, too many sweets, processed foods, no you got to get rid of those. Yet what about eating clean when it comes to the Bible? Have you ever thought about that? What about clean eating and the Bible itself?
Now we're not talking about food being free of dirt and that sort of thing. But did you know that the Bible has a clean eating plan? In fact there's even a spiritual perspective when you choose to become, what you could say a biblical foodie. So let's talk about eating biblically clean. Now does that mean I eat manna like the Israelites did? Or maybe eating fish and bread like that miracle that Jesus did? Well wait a second. Does God even care? Does God even care about what you eat? Now you might be surprised to learn that a biblical diet instructs all Christians not to eat bats, buzzards, and bacon, or cats, and coyotes, and camels, hare. Not hair on your head, but hare like the rabbit kind of a hare. Hares, ham. Or what about hawks? Should we eat that? The Bible says, "No, don't eat pigs or pepperoni or pork." But you might say, "Wait a second, does that apply to me today?" I mean, I thought that was just for the Jews, that old law that was done away with.
Well stay with me for a second because I hope you'll accept the challenge to let the Bible, let the word of God transform how you see food because scripture describes animals whose flesh is good, acceptable to eat. And you know the term that it uses? It calls that food clean. And then there's food that's not suitable to eat. And the Bible calls that unclean. So scripture describes the flesh of those unclean animals. It says, "It's an abomination." It says, "It's detestable." It doesn't sound real appetizing does it?
So what's the big deal though? What's the big deal? Well from cover to cover, from Genesis all the way to Revelation, nowhere in the Bible will you find an example of a servant of God, nowhere in the Bible will you find a follower of Jesus Christ eating the flesh of an unclean animal. You'll find that God does give food laws for clean eating. So that way, we can be a biblical foodie. In fact we'll find that there's even a connection between God's food laws and true worship.
I mean have you ever considered that the Bible actually begins with an issue about food? Adam and Eve, we know the story. Remember their first choice? It was about eating, breaking God's command of what to eat. You could say that's a food law. It caused Adam and Eve to sin. And you know the story. They were in the garden and there was plenty, plenty of clean eating. But God told them, "Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." So God was clear. He showed them that certain foods were acceptable and this other unacceptable. And they were to eat clean by obeying God and following His instructions. Yet we know what happened.
But here's the question, would you allow God to tell you what you should and shouldn't eat? I mean they decided for themselves. It was a disaster. Adam and Eve would not let God tell them what to eat. So what about us? You see God made a distinction between what was good food and what was not. And yes there was even a spiritual connection. There was a lesson to learn. And when we consider that story we also have to realize that was thousands of years before the Old Covenant. That was thousands of years before Moses, before the Jews, before Mount Sinai. And that story clearly shows that it was at creation, right at the very beginning, that God gave guidance when it comes to food. In fact it was part of God's law for all time, something that you should really learn more about.
In fact we want to help you to do just that. And so we've put together a study guide. And in this biblical guide, it's called, "What Does the Bible Teach About Clean and Unclean Meats?" Because you want to know what God has to say about it? Does the Word of God actually make a distinction? Does it really matter that much? Something you need to find out about for yourself. So go to our website beyondtoday.tv. There on the website you can read this study guide for yourself or you can download it to your phone, or your tablet, or to your computer, and you can read it there. If not we'll send you a free copy right to your door. So call us at the number on your screen. And when you do that, absolutely free, this will come to your door. So you can check out what the Bible actually says when it comes to clean eating. So go to our website beyondtoday.tv because you'll want to know, what does God have to say about it?
So one of the things that you'll find in Scripture is that there is a consistency. In fact when we move forward from the time of Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel, we find that Abel gave a pleasing sacrifice that God respected. It was, imagine this, a clean animal. It was a lamb. He offered a lamb to God. Now his brother Cain, his offering was not respected. In fact Cain became so upset he killed his brother. Now it's important that we recognize there was already a command against murder. But you think you can find that before this time in Scripture? It's not mentioned. But murder was a sin.
And in the same way there were already commands about sacrifices and about food. There was already a difference between clean and unclean foods and what a proper sacrifice was long before this, long before the Old Covenant. And of course you may say, "Well, wait a second, that's kind of a stretch, isn't it?" Well think about that for a moment. I think we can begin to see that God gave food laws for all time, for all mankind, long before the Jewish people. And here's an interesting story that I think bears that out. I mean we're all familiar with the story of Noah. We have this wonderful little diorama here to make this point. In fact what did God tell Noah? "Build a giant Ark." Okay it was a little bigger than this one.
In fact maybe you learned that little song when you were a kid. "The animals go in two by two, hurrah, hurrah. The animals..." Anyone sing that song? Okay, maybe you learned, but wait a second, was that really the case? Did all the animals go in two by two? Not exactly. In fact when we read Scripture, when we read what it actually says in the book of Genesis, you may be surprised what God actually told Noah. This is in chapter seven verse two. God said, "You shall take with you seven each, or seven pairs of every kind of clean animal," that's what the NIV says, "a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male, and its mate."
Now that may sound a little bit surprising that the clean animals, there were seven pairs. But the unclean, like these little piggies, just two of them and yet all these pairs of the clean animals. And that's surprising I think, in a number of ways. Think of it this way, God told Noah exactly how to build that Ark. He told them, "Here's how you do it. This is the structure of this thing. Here's the size of how big it should be. Here are the materials that you should use to build this Ark." And God explained every single little detail about its design. But there was one thing God didn't tell Noah. Do you know what you cannot find in Scripture? God did not instruct Noah about which creatures were clean and which ones were unclean. Why didn't God explain the difference? Does that make sense?
You see Noah already understood which creatures were clean and which ones were not. You could say it was common knowledge. In fact as you consider this, the unclean, just a couple of them each. And yet the clean ones you've got all these seven pairs of each one of them. I mean why would God say, "Take seven pairs of these clean ones?" Well these were the animals that Noah's family could eat. They're going to be on that ark for a long time. And they're also the ones that could be sacrificed as well. And so what we find, as this story of Noah shows, that it was an ongoing law of God. And this was long before the time of the Mount Sinai covenant. There was a distinction between the clean and the unclean. Noah knew it already and he didn't even need an explanation.
And I think this makes an important point. I mean all these examples we've looked at are before Old Covenant law, before the Hebrews, before the Jews. The law of clean and unclean foods definitely predates the Old Covenant. Now certainly it was a part of that agreement, part of that contract, but it wasn't limited to just that contract. They were commands, commands that God gave for all time like the Ten Commandments. They were always expected of God's people. So when we finally get to Israel at Mount Sinai, now it was time that God codified these different rules and laws. In fact He had to do it for a number of things that had already been in effect.
Now you might say, "Well, why would that be?" Well remember those Israelites? Where were those Israelites? I mean they had been in captivity. They were slaves to the Egyptians for hundreds of years. They had lost so much understanding that God had to give them instruction. And so we find that God gave these instructions in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. They delineate which creatures are set apart as suitable food and which ones are not. And so remember clean eating, that's those animals whose flesh is acceptable for food, that's clean. Not suitable, things that you shouldn't be eating, the Bible says that's unclean.
And so we see by this chart God gave specific animals. And we can tell the difference then between a chicken, which would be good to eat, and a hawk that we should avoid those types of birds. Or a cow, well that's good food, but other animals? No we don't want to eat those cats that shouldn't be a part of our diet. And so when God doesn't give the exact name of the animal, He does give specific instructions how to determine if an animal is clean or unclean. In fact you'll find this chart on our internet site. So go to the web and you can see this chart and download it for yourself. In fact we've got a listing in our study guide as well.
Now you might say, "Well why would God do that? What's the point? Is it still important even today?" Well God says, "Yes. Yes." It's important to discern the difference. And in fact it's very practical. Like His instruction to Adam and Eve, it was this from the beginning to today as well as tomorrow. There's a powerful object lesson in this whole situation. Because God says, "The point is we should make a difference. There is a distinction. We should choose to eat clean and avoid the unclean." And in fact in the book of Leviticus He makes that very point. What is it? Well before He gives those instructions in Deuteronomy and right after He gives those instructions, He says something absolutely critical. Here's what he says, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself." Continued at: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-television-program/eat-clean
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Joel Osteen’s sermon about pork: https://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=C1C1FNNU
Kosher laws are for Christians too! They are for everyone! Obey God's commands!
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Each devoured pork chop raises the risk of dying from liver cancer as much as drinking two cans of beer
“Pork, too, can serve as a source of multiple human illnesses. Yersinia poisoning — linked almost universally to contaminated pork — brings more than a brief fling with digestive distress: Greger notes that within one year of infection, Yersinia victims have a 47-times higher risk of developing autoimmune arthritis, and may also be more likely to develop Graves’ disease (page 96) (64, 65Trusted Source).
Recently, pork has come under fire for another health hazard as well: hepatitis E. Now considered potentially zoonotic, hepatitis E infection is routinely traced to pig liver and other pork products, with about one in ten pig livers from American grocery stores testing positive for the virus (page 148) (66Trusted Source, 67Trusted Source).
Although most viruses (hepatitis E included) are deactivated by heat, Greger warns that hepatitis E can survive the temperatures reached in rare-cooked meat — making pink pork a no-go (page 148) (68Trusted Source).
And when the virus survives, it means business. Areas with high pork consumption have consistently elevated rates of liver disease, and while that can’t prove cause and effect, Greger notes that the relationship between pork consumption and death from liver disease “correlates as tightly as per capita alcohol consumption and liver fatalities” (page 148) (69Trusted Source). In a statistical sense, each devoured pork chop raises the risk of dying from liver cancer as much as drinking two cans of beer (page 148) (70Trusted Source). From: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-not-to-die-review#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3
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Hyperactivity and Diet“
”A new study from the United Kingdom has found that common food dyes as well as the food preservative sodium benzoate can increase hyperactivity in children. The study is so authoritative that the Food Standards Agency of Britain recently issued a statement advising parents to limit the intake of food additives to their children if there are any signs their behavior is affected.
The study showed that sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in soft drinks, fruit juices and salad dressings, can encourage hyperactivity (Sylvia Hubbard, "Study Shows Hyperactivity Linked to Diet," Newsmax.com, Sept. 24, 2007).
God made a plentiful variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, cereals and dairy products to be enjoyed in moderation. Eating these and avoiding overly preserved and processed food is certainly a delicious way to help prevent hyperactivity.” From: https://www.ucg.org/vertical-thought/in-the-news-hyperactivity-and-diet
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Hopefully, you are all in good shape after the freezing weather that we have had. It didn’t feel like we are having global warming! But then I was told that it was because of it.
“The brutal cold in the middle of the country seemed to defy a trend of ever-milder winters, but the frigid temperatures in Texas could be a consequence of global warming. There is research suggesting that Arctic warming is weakening the jet stream, the high-level air current that circles the northern latitudes and usually holds back the frigid polar vortex.” From: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/16/us/winter-storm-weather-live
Now Texas is back to normal and it is 73 deg. today!
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