Quit Picking Stupid Fights. Let This Mind Be in You. Sugar Industry Attempt to Manipulate the Science.

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Quit Picking Stupid Fights (and Start Showing Love Instead)

“Few things have highlighted our human tendency to be unkind or even cruel to those who disagree with us quite like the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we do better?

 In some ways, COVID transformed the world almost overnight.

In other ways, it just gave us a glimpse of some ugly truths that we’ve been sweeping under the rug for decades.

This isn’t an article about global supply chains or epidemic preparedness. It isn’t even really about COVID—that’s just the backdrop to a far more important issue.

This is an article, first and foremost, about how Christians ought to be treating each other.

Developing a foot-washing mind-set

Hours before His crucifixion, Jesus personally washed the feet of His disciples. That included the feet of Judas Iscariot, who Jesus knew would shortly betray Him to the Jewish authorities.

“Do you know what I have done to you?” He asked them. “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15).

Every year, Christians gather together for the Passover and fulfill that instruction—washing each other’s feet as our Lord and Teacher did for His disciples nearly 2,000 years ago. (Read more in “Passover and Forgiveness.”)

A key component in this ceremony is the attitude behind the foot washing. To stoop down and wash the feet of another human being can be humbling. To trade places and allow that same human being to wash your feet is beyond humbling. The whole ceremony is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness as fellow servants of Jesus Christ—and the importance of being willing to serve each other.

After the foot washing was over, Jesus told the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (verses 34-35).

Love is our proof of discipleship

There are quite a few identifying marks of the people of God. He gives us the weekly Sabbath as “a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you” (Exodus 31:13).

The annual feasts and holy days (Leviticus 23) are a sign. Our belief in and dedication to spreading “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 24:14) throughout the whole world is another.

But love, said Jesus, is the sign. The world will know us as disciples, followers and students of Jesus Christ, when they see us showing the same love that He showed.

How do you think we’ve been doing on that front?

How we failed the toilet paper test

COVID has been on the world scene for over two years now. Two years. In that time, what have you seen more of: Christlike love or resentment, bitterness and frustration?

More importantly, what have you shown more of?

I remember when we first started feeling the impact of COVID in my little corner of the United States. But it wasn’t the virus itself that caused the initial impact—it was people.

When we let our own thoughts and opinions get in the way, it gets harder and harder to love as Christ loved. When the shelter-in-place mandates started around the world, people panicked. They started stockpiling everything they thought they might need for the uncertain weeks ahead.

Including toilet paper.

The funny thing is, we were never really at risk for running out of toilet paper in the U.S. or most other countries. The supply chain for that particular commodity is strong—but people were buying it faster than it could be restocked. And so, on April 19, 2020, half the grocery stores in the U.S. found themselves sold out of toilet paper.

That’s not to say that everyone who bought toilet paper at the onset of the pandemic was wrong. But some turned acquiring as much toilet paper as possible into a mission and other shoppers into enemies. On the whole, it seems we were afraid that someone else might buy what we might someday need—so instead, we made sure to buy it first.

Is that what Christlike love looks like?

Plenty of hills to die on. The run on toilet paper wasn’t a Christian problem specifically. It was a human problem. But it did set the tone for things to come.

In the days and months that followed, quite a few of us became experts overnight. We were experts in epidemiology, experts in constitutional rights, experts in logistics, experts in economic theory, experts in legislation. My Facebook feed was flooded with people who were absolutely certain they knew The Right Thing to Do and were furious at the henchmen of The Other Side for spreading propaganda and rhetoric to the contrary.

It turned into a never-ending shouting match. Every news item, every CDC update, every governmental mandate became one more hill to die on. Masks. Social distancing. Self-treatment methods. Vaccines. Everyone had sources. Everyone had a reason why everyone else’s sources were wrong.

So many voices were shouting.

So many continue to shout.

So many of those voices belong to Christians.

COVID isn’t the real problem. I said earlier that this isn’t really an article about COVID. And it’s not. It’s an article about us. About Christians in progress. About how we choose to navigate things like COVID.

There are a lot of lessons to draw from this pandemic, but for me, the most visceral one is this:

When we let our own thoughts and opinions get in the way, it gets harder and harder to love as Christ loved.

And when we start viewing our thoughts and opinions as fact, it gets almost impossible.

The danger of losing focus

The early Church had a similar problem—because the early Church was made up of fallible human beings too. There was a debate over whether a Christian should eat meat that had been offered to idols, and even though “an idol is nothing in the world” (1 Corinthians 8:4), there were those whose “conscience, being weak, [was] defiled” (verse 7) by the act.

Paul told the Romans, “If your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died . . . For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

“Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food” (Romans 14:15, 17-20).

It is easy to get so entrenched in the ongoing debate over COVID that we become willing to “destroy with [our] food the one for whom Christ died.”

It is easy to forget that, as much as a worldwide pandemic affects every aspect of our lives, COVID is not the most important thing happening right now.

What matters is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not eating or drinking—not debates over vaccines and masks, not heated arguments over constitutional rights and governmental authority—“but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.”

Keys to pursuing peace

We don’t pursue peace by trying to force those around us to share our views on the latest update from the CDC or by vilifying and shouting down everyone who disagrees with us. We pursue peace by accepting that in a developing situation like a worldwide pandemic, no one but God has all the answers, and we make a conscious effort to not destroy the work of God for the sake of our personal opinions.

Please don’t misunderstand me—there are absolutely hills worth dying on. When God’s truth is challenged, when others try to lead us away from God’s explicit instructions, we are duty-bound to plant our feet and refuse to budge (compare Deuteronomy 13).

But when it’s something less than that—when it’s a difference of opinion that has no bearing on our entrance to the Kingdom of God, no matter how passionate our feelings—then “let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:3-4).

And again, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” (Galatians 5:14-15).

Learning to love others the way Jesus Christ loved us is a mammoth, lifelong task. But we can’t pursue that goal by tearing down our brothers and sisters in the faith who disagree with us.

We pursue it by getting on our knees and washing their feet.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/christian-living/christianity-in-progress/quit-fights-show-love/?

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Let This Mind Be in You

Philippians 2:3-5

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

The goal of Christian conversion and transformation is to become like Jesus Christ—to think like Him, to love others as He does, to have His mind in us.

Paul lists some of the changes that are necessary for a natural, selfish human mind to become like Jesus Christ’s mind. We must remove selfish ambitions and “empty pride,” replacing them with “lowliness of mind.”  “The Greek word suggests a deep sense of humility. Although the pagan writers used the word negatively, in effect to mean abjectness or groveling, Paul did not. What Paul was calling for was an honest evaluation of one’s own nature. Such an evaluation should always lead to glorification of Christ” (NKJV Study Bible, comment on Philippians 2:3).

Elsewhere Paul says it is not wise to compare ourselves with others (2 Corinthians 10:12). But when we do assess ourselves and do consider others, we should “be severe upon our own faults and charitable in our judgment of others” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, comment on Philippians 2:1-11).”

For more about developing the mind of Jesus Christ, see “Christ in Us: How Does He Live in You?”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/let-this-mind-be-in-you/?

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Sugar Industry Attempt to Manipulate the Science

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/TTYtuPPjSP8

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“Corporations are legally required to maximise shareholder profits and therefore have to oppose public health policies that could threaten profits.” It’s just how the system is set up. “Unequivocal, longstanding evidence shows that to achieve this, diverse industries with products that can damage health have worked systematically to subvert the scientific process.”

Take the sugar industry, for example. Internal documents showed they were concerned that health food “faddists” were becoming “an active menace to the…industry.” Sugar was under attack, “and many of the poor unfortunate public swallow the misinformation broadcast by the propagandists.” What were books like Yudkin’s Pure, White and Deadly saying?   “All of the propaganda [is] to the effect that sugar is a non-essential food.” Gasp! No! How dare they say sugar is a non-essential food? Next, they’ll be saying it’s not really food at all. And, that was the sugar industry’s line: “sugar is a cheap safe food”—and this coming from the founder and chair of Harvard’s nutrition department, Fredrick Stare, long known as “Harvard’s sugar-pushing nutritionist.”

Not only did the sugar industry try to influence the direction of dental research, but heart disease research as well, paying Stare and colleagues to write this review to help downplay any risk from sugar. Now, to be fair, this was five years before we even realized triglycerides were also an independent risk factor beyond just cholesterol. The main reason attention stayed focused on saturated fat is not because of the might of the sugar industry; there was just not as much data to support it.

In fact, “the [even] more powerful meat and dairy industries” loved the anti-sugar message. Who do you think sponsored Yudkin? In fact, on like the first page of Pure, White and Deadly, he thanks all the food and drug companies that had provided him with such “constant generous support.”  Who paid for Yudkin’s speaking tour? The egg industry, of course—to try to take some heat off cholesterol.

Hegsted, one of the co-authors of the funded review, wasn’t exactly an industry cheerleader. He recommended people cut down on all the risky stuff: “less meat, less saturated fat, less cholesterol, [and] less sugar, less salt.” It wasn’t the sugar industry that got him fired for speaking truth to power; it was the beef industry.

The sugar industry was able to conceal its funding, because the New England Journal of Medicine didn’t require disclosure of conflicts of interest until 17 years later. These muckraking researchers suggest policymakers “should consider giving less weight to food industry-funded studies.” But why is the food industry funding studies at all? When it comes to the “corporate manipulation of research,” ultimately conflicts of interest don’t just need to be disclosed and “managed,” but ideally “eliminated.”

Things may not change until public health researchers start “refus[ing] to take money from the [junk food] industry,” period. “It worked for tobacco.” Many prestigious medical and public health institutions “have…instituted bans on tobacco industry funding.”

But wait; can’t scientists remain “objective [and] impartial” even in the face of all that cash? Apparently not, as “industry funded research” has been shown to be up to 88 times more likely to produce funder-favorable outcomes. What, do we think corporations are in the business of just handing out money for free?

The classic example is the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, who “accepted $1 million [grant] from Coca-Cola.” Before the grant, their official position was that “frequent consumption of [sugary beverages] can be a significant factor in the…initiation and progression of dental [cavities],” which—after the grant—changed to “scientific evidence is certainly not clear on the exact role that soft drinks play.” As CSPI’s Integrity in Science Project put it, “What a difference a million dollars makes!” From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-sugar-industry-attempt-to-manipulate-the-science/?

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Meteorology, Oceanography and the Bible. The Sabbath: A Sign of God’s People. God Blessed the Seventh Day. The Truth About Cholesterol – LDL Cholesterol & HDL Cholesterol. Your Doctor Is Wrong About Cholesterol.

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Meteorology, Oceanography and the Bible.

“The Bible is not a science book, but it includes many fascinating scientific facts. Consider these four facts about meteorology and oceanography.

The Bible focuses on teaching us God’s plan for our lives and the best way to live. However, when we study the Bible, we also find plenty of scientific tidbits that can strengthen our faith in its authenticity.

Consider these Bible facts about the wind and sea, recorded long before they were common knowledge:

1. Air has weight.

Job 28:25: “To establish a weight for the wind.”

The Bible claims that wind or air has a measurable weight. Yet people have not always known this. Our bodies are so accustomed to atmospheric pressure that we don’t think of the air as “weighing us down.”

According to NOVA, the idea that air has physical properties such as weight was first proposed by Isaac Beeckman in 1618; even then he was staunchly opposed by his contemporaries.

However, over the next centuries, scientists confirmed that there is indeed a “weight of the wind.” A column of air stretching from sea level to the top of the atmosphere just one square inch in cross-section weighs about 14.7 pounds! (A similar column of air one square centimeter in cross-section has a mass of about 1.03 kilograms.)

That is, air is matter made up of individual bits (molecules) that each have mass and weight. The temperature and weights of these molecules control the density of an air mass. Its density, in turn, determines the pressure of the air mass and how it will interact with other air masses at weather fronts.

In other words, our modern understanding of meteorology is based on this central fact described long ago in the Bible!

2. Water can evaporate, condense, precipitate and collect in an endless cycle.

Several scriptures make clear that water continually circulates between earth’s surface and earth’s atmosphere. The water cycle remains a crucial model for many modern fields including meteorology, oceanography and geology. Job 36:27-28: “For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (see also Job 26:8 and Ecclesiastes 1:7).

3. Seawater follows currents in the ocean.

Psalm 8:8: “The fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.”

The Bible indicates that there are “paths” in the ocean where the water follows a predictable course. Indeed, the interaction of numerous factors (including geography, temperature, salinity, prevailing winds and the Coriolis effect) creates currents with dramatic influence over regional transit, climates and marine life.

Yet these paths in the sea were not extensively studied until the mid-1800s, when Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury of the U.S. Navy began scouring old sailors’ logs for information about wind and ocean movements. Maury’s study of the Bible (which he “constantly read and frequently quoted,” according to naval historian Capt. Miles DuVal) may have convinced him that he would find patterns, and find them, he did!

Describing the impact of Maury’s first “Wind and Current Chart” on navigation, DuVal wrote, “Previously the average passage from New York to San Francisco required 188 days but in 1851, the Flying Cloud … made this voyage in 89 days and 21 hours.” Studying the “paths of the seas” turned out to be a lucrative innovation!

4. The ocean floor has varied terrain.

2 Samuel 22:16: “Then the channels of the sea were seen” (see also Job 38:16 and Jonah 2:5-6).

The Bible describes “springs,” “mountains” and “channels” in the sea. Today, we know that the seafloor really has such features. Springlike hydrothermal vents form where tectonic plates pull apart. Seamounts develop over volcanically active areas. Abundant undersea channels range from deep trenches, where a denser tectonic plate is forced under a more buoyant plate, to what appear to be submerged riverbeds.

In fact, some of these channels still powerfully flow with their own currents of water carrying high concentrations of salt or sediment. The first such “undersea river” made the news in 2010, as reported in The Telegraph. The channels of many more have been discovered.

As Katia Moskvitch reported in February 2014 for New Scientist, “Drain all Earth’s oceans and you would find that underwater rivers have gouged a maze of conduits known as abyssal channels. The rivers that rush through them may look like terrestrial rivers, but they behave much more like avalanches, dust storms or the pyroclastic flows from a volcano.”

Today, locating these channels of the sea is a major occupation for both telecommunication companies (looking to avoid placing their cables near these destructive flows) and oil companies (looking to harvest oil and gas from long buried sediment). However, in biblical times, the landscape deep below the water’s surface was out of reach and unfathomable.

According to GEBCO, the international authority tasked with bathymetry (mapping the seafloor), a picture only began to emerge in the mid-1800s, when sailors started to record ocean depths along their course using weighted ropes. Knowledge of the seafloor increased rapidly when sonar was eventually invented.

The details recorded in the Bible anticipate modern discoveries by thousands of years.

For more about the science and the Bible, also see the articles in the section about “God and Science.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/is-the-bible-true/how-do-we-know-the-bible-is-true/meteorology-oceanography-and-the-bible/

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The Sabbath: A Sign of God’s People"

Exodus 31:16-17

“Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”

This is one of the many passages that connect God’s example of resting on the seventh day with the command for people to observe the Sabbath. God set the Sabbath as a sign and perpetual covenant with His people.

Verses 13 and 14 give more background. God said, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.”

God calls them “My Sabbaths.” And other passages show that God expects those who aren’t Israelites (gentiles) to also remember His Sabbaths (Isaiah 56:1-6).

The New Testament explains that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and that there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God (Mark 2:27-28 and Hebrews 4:9).

For more about the Sabbath, see our article “Is the Sabbath a Sign of God’s People?” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/the-sabbath-a-sign-of-gods-people/?

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God Blessed the Seventh Day

Genesis 2:2-3

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Genesis, the book of beginnings, recounts the six days of creation, followed by a seventh day of rest. By resting, God set the seventh day apart and made it holy.

This act of creation is recounted again in the Fourth of the 10 Commandments, which is about the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). See more about this in “Did God Create the Sabbath in Genesis 2?”

Here’s more about the Sabbath from our Fundamental Belief “11. The Seventh-Day Sabbath”:

“The seventh day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord our God, and on this day humans are commanded to rest from their labors and worship Him. Established and blessed by God at creation, the seventh day of the week begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. The Sabbath is an identifying sign and a perpetual covenant between God and His people. True Christians follow the example of Jesus Christ, the apostles and the New Testament Church in observing the seventh-day Sabbath.” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/god-blessed-the-seventh-day/?

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The Truth About Cholesterol – LDL Cholesterol & HDL Cholesterol

“Everything you knew about cholesterol is wrong—learn why!

See the charts, watch Dr. Berg explain on this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/C6SVB99mJHA

Just the highlights:  Timestamps: 0:00 The truth about cholesterol 0:15 The study that started the myth 2:40 What is HDL and LDL? 3:55 Why you need cholesterol 5:00 What causes clogged arteries 6:40 Why you don’t need to fear cholesterol 7:00 How to increase good cholesterol

In this video, I’m going to share the truth about cholesterol. There are a lot of myths out there about what cholesterol is and what cholesterol does. The cholesterol myth is this: the more fat you consume, the more likely you are to develop heart disease. This is a lie that one research came up with. In his research, he omitted all of the data that disproved his theory.

Here’s what you should know about cholesterol. HDL (also known as “good” cholesterol) stands for high-density lipoproteins LDL (also known as “bad” cholesterol) stands for low-density lipoproteins HDL and LDL aren’t actually cholesterol at all. Instead, they are proteins that act as envelopes to carry cholesterol through the body. HDL carries old cholesterol to the liver to be recycled. The truth is, the body needs cholesterol to function. In fact, your body makes 2000 mg of cholesterol every single day. Nearly every cell creates cholesterol. When you consume less cholesterol, your body simply makes more of it to compensate.

Cholesterol acts as a bandaid to heal arteries and blood cells when they become damaged. Your brain, cells, and hormones are largely made up of cholesterol—without cholesterol, you wouldn’t be able to survive. LDL carries cholesterol from the liver and into the body’s tissue. There’s nothing bad about this since the body needs cholesterol to function. Only a small portion of LDL cholesterol is bad and can cause artery build-up. Inflammation causes damage to the arteries, and LDL cholesterol comes around to fix the damage. The more inflammation, the more LDL builds up.

What causes inflammation? Sugar. This includes whole grains, carbs, and hidden sugars in juice, alcohol, and cereal. Instead of avoiding cholesterol, avoid sugar. Increase your good cholesterol with: • Egg yolks • Butter • Cheese”

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Your Doctor Is Wrong About Cholesterol

Dr. Sten Ekberg’s video about this: https://youtu.be/sY48qLl9ZzE

“Have you noticed your LDL cholesterol getting high? Maybe you saw your cholesterol levels spike after going on a low carb diet like Keto. Are you worried that your Doctor will tell you to get on statins? Here is what is happening in your body.”

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Christ Our Peace. Take the Bread and Wine in a Worthy Way. Processed Meat Like Bacon Causes Cancer.

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Christ Our Peace

Beyond Today - Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow

“In an emotional address before the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council this week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the U.N. world body was worth less than “a hill of beans” for its inability to act decisively in deterring Russian atrocities in his nation. The U.N. charter commits itself to maintaining international peace and security, but again has shown utter incapability to preserve world order. Russia sits as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and has since the organization was founded in 1945.

Ironically, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upset the security of Europe. Food shortages in poor nations will inevitably arise later because of this action. Ukraine and Russia account for more than a quarter of world grain supplies in wheat. World order has been disrupted. The crisis mounts while leaders at the U.N. debate endlessly and listen to a leader working to save his country.

Outside the United Nations Building in New York City stands a famous statue of a man with a hammer beating a sword into a ploughshare. The name of the statue is “Let Us Beat Swords Into Ploughshares.” It’s a symbol of peace. The concept is taken from the book of Isaiah where it speaks of a time to come when Jesus Christ returns to earth with the Kingdom of God. Nations shall go to Jerusalem to learn the ways of God. It says, “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

Ironically, this statue was a gift from the Soviet Union to the United Nations back in 1969. The sculpture portrays an ideal, based on a biblical truth. It was created at a time when the United States and Soviet Union were locked in a Cold War with the constant threat of nuclear conflict.
Peace is hoped for. Peace is talked about. But peace is not what we have.

I wrote to you last week about Christ our Passover. I would like you to think about that phrase again. Christ our Passover. He was sacrificed for us that we might have peace with God (1 Corinthians 5:7). Until individuals have peace with God through Christ’s shed blood there will not be peace on earth.

The inner struggles of our nature erupt into conflict, which may even rise to the level of war. It began when Cain raised his hand against his brother Abel, committing the first murder. It is what causes wars among nations. “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:1-3).

Next Thursday night is the memorial of the Passover, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Think on this in the next few days. Whatever your belief or understanding of Jesus Christ, think on what Scripture tells us. Christ is our Passover. He died for the sins of humanity and is alive today. He is your King and through Him we can have peace. That is worth everything.

This short read from the “Introduction” in our booklet, God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind, will help you understand the value of the Passover of the New Testament and God’s festivals which outline His purpose to bring many sons to glory.”  From: https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?e=72c729d811&u=1d04480cefc2e7c4492fe4a04&id=6b701a4cfa

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Passover: First of Seven Annual Festivals

Leviticus 23:4-5

“These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.”

Leviticus 23 lists all of God’s commanded appointments—His annual festivals and Sabbath days (see our article “The Seven Feasts of the Lord”). The first of the annual festivals is the Passover, which the New Testament shows is a memorial of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.

Learn more about the Old Testament and New Testament Passover in “Passover: What Did Jesus Do for You?” and related articles. Read more about all of the festivals and how they picture God’s plan of salvation in our free booklet From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/passover-first-of-seven-annual-festivals/?

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I’m a Christian, but I Don’t Keep Easter

“The Bible gives us instructions on how to worship God, Easter is not commanded there, but the Passover is... which will you observe?

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/aZHITw3kJDI

[Darris McNeely] I'm a Christian but I don't keep Easter. I'm a Christian, and I keep Passover. Now, when I say the word Passover, you may think, "Well, that's Jewish. How can you be a Christian and keep what you consider think to be a Jewish festival Jewish holiday?" Well, very simply, very easily.

I read the Scripture, and I understand what it says and I understand what the Passover of the New Testament really is. And I see instruction for me to keep that and I don't see the instruction for Easter, and a lot of other holidays that have been substituted for God's Festivals. But for a moment, let's just focus on the Passover.

As I speak here, at this time, we're just a few days away from keeping the Passover, a very important service for a Christian. One who has given their life to God, to Jesus Christ, accepted His sacrifice and are a disciple. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is writing to a Gentile church in the city of Corinth, and he's giving them instructions about their life, but then also about keeping the Festival of the Days of Unleavened Bread. And in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 5, he tells them, "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened." Now, that's a reference to putting out the leaven in anticipation of the seven days of unleavened bread, another festival, and keeping that with the unleavened bread of sincerity of truth. And he says, "For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." Christ, our Passover.

There are many scriptures that talk about the Passover service. There's certainly Old Testament Scriptures that define what it was in the Old Testament. And there are New Testament Scriptures that define what it means in the New Testament under the New Covenant, how Christ kept it, and how the church was instructed to keep it. And this is one of those and it says that Christ is our Passover, sacrificed for us. In the New Testament Passover, we don't kill a lamb. We don't spread its blood on the doorposts as they did back in Exodus, at the time of the Exodus.

We keep the Passover with the symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, but we keep the Passover. We keep the Passover because it points us to Christ who is our Passover. It's something that you should think about if you haven't before because, from the scriptures, we find that Christ is our Passover. And that's what I keep as a Christian. And I hope it will make you think if you're not already doing it, that that's what you should be doing instead of whatever you may be doing to worship God. Doing it this way is the godly way, the biblical way.”  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/im-a-christian-but-i-dont-keep-easter

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Take the Bread and Wine in a Worthy Way

1 Corinthians 11:27-28

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

The bread and the wine of the New Testament Passover, representing Christ’s body and blood given in His complete sacrifice for our sins, are not something to take lightly. Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians give us a warning and advice about preparing for this meaningful memorial.

Baptized Christians are commanded to take the bread and wine, to recommit to our loving God and Savior. Examining ourselves will surely show how far we fall short of the perfection of our Savior, and how much we need His sacrifice and His help to overcome. We are not worthy and cannot make ourselves worthy.

Thankfully Paul is not talking about being worthy, but about approaching God in a respectful way. Seeking God’s forgiveness and help allows us to take these symbols in a humble, worthy way.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/take-the-bread-and-wine-in-a-worthy-way/?

Study more about Passover in our Fundamental Beliefs “12. The Passover” and our article “Passover: What Did Jesus Do for You?” See also “‘Examine Yourselves’: What Does It Mean to Be Disqualified?”

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IARC: Processed Meat Like Bacon Causes Cancer

“How did the meat industry, government, and cancer organizations respond to the confirmation that processed meat, like bacon, ham, hot dogs, and lunch meat, causes cancer?

YouTube:  https://youtu.be/otx7pSrlIGs

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Intro: The International Agency for Research on Cancer has published a report classifying processed meat like bacon, hot dogs, lunch meat as a Group 1 carcinogen.    How has that revelation been received by governments and industry? And just how much cancer does processed meat cause? I’ll answer those questions in this two-part series.

“It is [perhaps] rare, in the history of nations, that one finds good reasons to render homage to the generosity and altruism of governments and those in power, but the birth of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) presents one of those rare occasions.” It all started with a single letter from a bereaved husband, relating the suffering of his wife after a cancer diagnosis, cascading into this open letter calling for governments to devote half of 1 percent of their military budgets to fight for life by attacking one of the greatest plagues that weigh on humanity. And 18 months later, the IARC was born in the World Health Organization. With what overarching motive? Cancer prevention.

The IARC is best known for its monographs––book-sized reports evaluating whether or not some suspected carcinogen does in fact cause cancer. They are generally accepted as close to as final word as there is on whether or not something is carcinogenic. And their 114th monograph, published in 2018, was on meat. After thoroughly reviewing the accumulated scientific literature, a Working Group of 22 experts from 10 countries, after considering more than 800 different studies, concluded their 500-page report by establishing that something like a burger or pork chop is probably carcinogenic; probably causes cancer. But processed meat was placed as a Group 1 carcinogen––the highest level of certainty––meaning that according to the best available evidence, the consumption of processed meat causes cancer.

So, that means foods like bacon cause cancer; ham, hot dogs, breakfast links, lunch meat causes cancer. But their definition also includes, for example, turkey deli slices.     Specifically, eating processed meat causes colorectal cancer––cancers of the colon or rectum, the second most deadly cancer worldwide after lung cancer, which is caused largely from smoking. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death here in the United States as well, and it doesn’t just strike older people. It’s also a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer earlier in life as well.

The meat industry wasn’t happy, calling it a “dramatic and alarmist overreach.” Speaking of dramatic and alarmist overreach, one ag group in Italy sent out a press release: Just say no to terrorism on meat.

The gloves were off. The meat industry in Canada tried to pressure the government to cut off funds to the IARC, asking the Health Minister to pull all funding from the agency after they dared to question meat. And the U.S. meat industry did the same thing. It’s no surprise the IARC is under siege by corporate interests, trying to challenge their cancer evaluations on Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide and meat; trying to discredit the agency and undermine financial support. Internal documents have revealed that Monsanto scientists, for example, “casually discussing ‘ghost-writing’ scientific papers and suppressing any science that conflicts with the company’s assertions of safety.”

The chemical industry has joined the corporate cacophony, calling the IARC monographs “dubious and misleading.” These are classic strategies straight out of the tobacco industry playbook. “But there is little to suggest that, as a corporate actor, ’Big Tobacco‘ differs fundamentally from, for example, ’Big Booze’ or ’Big Food’.”

One recurring corporate talking point is that basically, the IARC never met a carcinogen it didn’t like. But the vast majority end up being categorized as just possibly carcinogenic, or there really aren’t sufficient data to make a determination either way. And look, they only spend time looking at substances for which there is already an existing body of scientific literature indicating a degree of carcinogenic hazard to humans. So, no wonder many of them end up, indeed, carcinogenic.

How did the IARC respond to all the criticism? The World Health Organization received a number of queries, expressions of concern, and requests for clarification following the publication of their meat and cancer report. They replied, hey, we never told anyone to stop eating processed meats—your body, your choice. They just indicated that reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of a leading cancer killer. So hey, you like cancer? You do you.

The IARC is just a research organization that evaluates the evidence on the causes of cancer; after that, what you do with that information is up to you. The American Cancer Society was nice and clear when it came to alcohol. When it comes to cancer, it is best not to drink alcohol. But they got a little more wishy-washy with processed meat, suggesting people can get away with just limiting their intake.

The European Commission was a little clearer. To reduce our risk of cancer, we should eat plenty of whole grains, pulses (which are beans, split peas, chickpeas and lentils), vegetables and fruits, limit sugary, fatty, salty foods, and straight up avoid soda, sausage, and other processed meats. After all, in answering the question how much meat is safe to eat, the IARC replied that we don’t yet know whether a safe level exists, period.”

From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/iarc-processed-meat-like-bacon-causes-cancer/?

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Can A Christian Keep Passover? God’s Harvest Festivals. The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes.

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Can A Christian Keep Passover?

““That’s not what we Christians do. We keep Easter. Jews keep Passover.” This was blurted out one day by a gentleman with whom I was doing business. It illustrates the traditional beliefs of many people when it comes to Christmas, or in this case, Easter versus Passover.

I am a Christian believer in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and a person who observes the Passover of the New Testament. I do not observe Easter. Every year I teach the doctrines of the Bible to students and I thoroughly cover what the Bible says about the Passover Christ kept with His disciples. The New Testament teaching is very clear. The Church Jesus founded kept Passover with the new symbols Christ gave them. As the Church spread to the gentile peoples, the same teaching was given to them. The Church of the New Testament did not teach or sanction Easter.

Let me show you one clear scripture to give you something to consider. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a gentile congregation about problems they need to deal with. After telling them to work with a moral problem he pivots to teaching about God’s festivals. He tells them, “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Did you catch that? “Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Christ’s death was the Passover sacrifice.

You are probably familiar with scriptures describing Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” At the original Passover in Exodus 12 a lamb was killed. Christ was the fulfillment of that symbolic lamb. Christ, in truth, was the sacrificial “lamb.” Before His death He gave teaching which enhanced the meaning for a Christian. He told His disciples to take bread and wine as symbols of His sinless life and shed blood. That is what I do at Passover—once a year, on the anniversary of His death. There are important lessons I learn each year during this service.

You can learn the same lessons of humility, obedience and thankfulness. Christ’s death opens life for us. A Christian cannot fathom the hope of eternal life without coming to understand the full expression behind the words, “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.” Christian identity is tied to this truth of Christ as our Passover. Keeping the Passover is a key to your identity as a Christian.

You need to study this topic from your Bible. Your eternal life depends on this.

To learn more about the Passover of the New Testament you will find this chapter from our study guide, God’s Holy Day Plan, very informative. It’s titled, “The Passover: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?” It might also challenge your assumption that Passover is not for Christians.”

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God’s Harvest Festivals

Exodus 23:14-16

“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.”

God’s seven annual festivals listed in Leviticus 23 are several times grouped together as three main festival seasons of the year.

• Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread fall in an eight-day period in the spring.
• The Feast of Harvest, called Pentecost in the New Testament, falls in late spring or early summer.
• And the Feast of Ingathering, better known as the Feast of Tabernacles, comes in the fall, along with the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Eighth Day/Last Great Day.

For an overview of God’s festivals and God’s plan of salvation, see “Festival Meaning: What Are the Meanings of Each of God’s Festivals?” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/gods-harvest-festivals/?

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Zech: 14: 16-19

^{16 “}And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This shall be the ^[i]punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”  NKJ.

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The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes

How does sweet potato baking compare to boiling and steaming, and should we eat the skin?

Transcript of YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZ6Nbf7Dio

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“The only potential downside of eating sweet potatoes is if you eat too much, you could get a yellow nose. It’s called carotenemia. It’s a common, harmless condition due to elevated levels of beta-carotene in the blood, first noticed a century ago, when carrots were introduced into infant diets. It’s treated mostly by just reassuring parents that it’s harmless. But, if you don’t want your child’s nose to be yellow, you can decrease their beta-carotene intake, and in a few months, it will be gone.

But, color is what we’re looking for when picking out varieties at the supermarket. “The intensity of the yellow or orange flesh color of the sweet potato is directly correlated to [its nutritional] content.” So, the more intense, the better. Though, if you really want intensity, “sweet potato varieties…[range not only] from white [to] yellow…[and] orange, [but to] pink [and] “very to deep purple”—the natural pigments of which may have special anticancer effects of their own.

What’s the best way to cook sweet potatoes? Boiling may actually best retain the antioxidant power of sweet potatoes, compared to roasting and steaming. If you compare baking to boiling, microscopically, boiling helps thin out the cell walls and gelatinize the starch, which may enhance the bioavailability of nutrients, while at the same time the glycemic index of boiled sweet potatoes was found to be only about half that of baking or roasting. So, boiled gives one less of a blood sugar spike.

Make sure to keep the skin on, though. The peel of a sweet potato has nearly ten times the antioxidant power as the flesh—an antioxidant capacity “comparable [to] that of blueberries,” though it really takes a hit when baked, wiping out over two-thirds, whereas microwaving or boiling was comparatively much gentler. The same with the rest of the sweet potato. Baking can cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels—twice as much as boiling. So, “from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking can be recommended for sweet potato cooking.”

Boiling may be best, but sweet potatoes are so incredibly healthy, the best way to prepare them is whichever way will get you to eat the most of them—with the exception of deep frying, which can lead to the formation of acrylamide, a potential human carcinogen.”   From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-the-best-way-to-cook-sweet-potatoes/

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