Does the gospel
of christ Do Away with the levitical dietary laws?
For one believeth that he may eat all things: another,
who is weak, eateth herbs.1
The Apostle Paul writes in the Book
of Romans, the fourteenth chapter, that Christians should refrain from judging
what people eat or what day they worship.
There are many Christians that interpret Paul’s letter to mean that
Jesus’ death canceled any obligation to the Old Testament’s Mosaic laws,
including the fourth commandment referring to Creation’s Sabbath. If that is true, why does the Book of Acts
reiterate the Old Testament’s admonishment of not eating the blood or things
strangled? We read, Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them,
which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
But that we write unto them,
that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things
strangled, and from blood.3
Could Paul’s main point be in Romans, the fourteenth
chapter, simply to warn the new believers not to fall into the same trap that
the children of
Why would a God, who never changes and knows all things,
declare certain animals unclean and after the death and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ would it become lawful?
What would cause these animals to suddenly become safe to consume? Why and how would the death of Jesus make it
safe to eat unclean meats, but not safe for us to eat the blood or things
strangled? Are there limits to God’s
power or are believers simply following their itching ears and wresting the
scriptures to their own destruction?
The Bible points out that believers are saved by grace. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.4 Why would anyone conclude that since we are
saved by grace that all of God’s precepts in the Old Testament are suddenly
nullified? Is it because the carnal
nature is still in rebellion to authority?
Since Satan was able to deceive one-third of the angels, wouldn’t it be
prudent for all of God’s people to study the Bible diligently and to take the
Bible in its entirety – prayerfully?
Those who are open to truth should notice that Paul clarifies that grace
establishes lawfulness. In the Book of
Romans, Paul writes, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.5
What law is it that faith and grace establishes? If you take the time to analyze who is behind
the great controversy and who it is that is constantly undermining every
dictate that God establishes, maybe we would be a little more cautious about
how we interpret the scriptures. For if
Satan was able to deceive one-third of the unfallen angels, how much more
vulnerable are we to his subtle deceptions in our fallen condition? If Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, in just ten days, proved to be ten times
smarter and ten times stronger by following the Eden diet, why would that still
not be applicable today, since in the earth made new, there will be no killing
or eating of animals?
Why would God want us to refrain from eating the blood
in the first place? Or is it just an
arbitrary commandment, free from logic, establishing His sovereignty? Let us read in Leviticus, 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
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. 6
Why do you suppose God instructed
His people to refrain from eating the blood?
What if one day, I was out working in my front yard and you come by and
ask me to give you some food, because you haven’t eaten in two weeks. After hearing of your plight, I immediately
go to my garage and retrieve a piece of schedule 40 plastic pipe and walk out
to the middle of the street and insert it down into the sewer. I then instruct you to eat, drink and be
merry. You say, “Gross.” I ask, “Why won’t you eat?” You tell me, “That’s poison.” I then bow my head and begin to pray, “Lord,
we thank you for the bountiful food that we are about to receive in Jesus name.
Amen.” Now you will eat it, right? The Bible says, He that regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord; and he
that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks;
and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.7 You emphatically decline stating that it is still poison
and rightfully so, because that prayer is a prayer of presumption. For it is written, Ye shall not tempt the LORD your
God, as ye tempted him in Massah.8
God said that
the blood is the life of the body. What
did He mean? I am going to say that the
sewer system is the life of the city.
What do I mean? If you don’t take
the sewage out of the city the city will die…from disease. The blood is the life of the body, because it
removes the urine and the toxins from the body.
The blood brings in oxygen and nutrients and removes the waste. If the waste isn’t removed the body will die.
God told them
to bleed the clean animals before they ate it.
Why? Because everything that is
in the sewer that you refused to eat, got there by the blood. God is simply telling his children not to eat
the blood, because we don’t know whether the blood is pure or full of
toxins. This reveals that God is not
making an arbitrary law, but one that makes sense. The same as not eating things strangled. When an animal is strangled, the adrenaline
makes the meat toxic. Again, God is
revealed as a God that cares, not as some despot that demands blind obedience. We are free moral agents, free to think and
to do, but we must make disciplined choices according to our belief system if
we are to remain free.
I find it
interesting that shortly after God gave Moses the Levitical health laws,
concerning the clean and unclean flesh, that we find in Deuteronomy these
texts.
Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy
soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God, which he
hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck,
and as of the hart.
Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as
water. When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised
thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat
flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.9
Was God canceling His Levitical Laws or was He simply
telling them that they could kill and eat any of the clean flesh they
desired as long as they bled it? Why
aren’t these texts used in the Old Testament as Peter’s vision is in the New
Testament to do away with God’s dietary commandments? In the Book of Acts we read, 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.10 God wasn’t telling Peter, that
because of His grace Peter was free to defile himself. Notice Peter never killed and ate. The Jews would never eat or mingle with
Gentiles or they considered themselves defiled.
The sheet was lowered down three times, symbolizing the three gentiles
that were coming to get Peter to teach Cornelius and his family the
Gospel.
The Gospel opened the door of
reconciliation to the Gentiles, too.
That is why the Gentiles were told not to eat the blood or anything
strangled or offered to idols. The Law
of God was still holy, just and good.
God doesn’t need to do away with what is holy, just and good to save
us…God offers to transform those that are unholy, unjust and bad. That is what the Gospel is all about. To provide a way back for those who are
willing to repent and trust God.
Jesus used food to describe a spiritual condition,
just as He did with Peter and let’s see if the Disciples understood what Jesus
meant. And when his disciples were come
to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason
ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five
thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye
took up?
How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Then understood they how that he bade them
not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and
of the Sadducees.11 The Bible states that Jesus would talk to them in
parables, And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying.12 Jesus spoke in the abstract, while the
people, including His disciples were comprehending literally. Many people today still interpret the Bible
literally, they fail to see the symbolic meaning and are therefore
often tossed about by every wind of doctrine that blows. There is a way which seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the
ways of death.13 We should ask the Holy Spirit, “We read what
the Word says, but what does it mean?” Trust in
the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.14 By always taking the Bible as a whole and praying
for the Holy Spirit to guide and interpret it’s true meaning, many of the
contradictions that appear on the surface will resolve themselves. If there are forty verses that are
consistent with the Bible and one appears to contradict the others, it may be
wise to look at the one from various perspectives and see if the contradictions
disappear.
One should read the whole
chapter of Numbers eleven, to discover that those who murmured for flesh were
given Quail in the wilderness and many
died. Quail is a clean meat, interestingly
enough. And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the
sea, and let them fall by the camp,
as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the
other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he
that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was
chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD
smote the people with a very great plague.15 Meat protein is high in sulfates,
while vegetable protein is high in alkaline.
An alkaline environment increases the thyroid and improves the immune
system, while meat protein lowers the thyroid and diminishes the immune
system. The sulfates mix with the water
in the blood and turns to sulfuric acid.
The body must break down skeletal mass to get the calcium to neutralize
the sulfuric acid and change it to calcium sulfate before it gets to the
kidneys and the liver. This is known as
osteoporosis. Those that died in the
wilderness, died of natural causes.
God’s laws are based on sowing and reaping. The question must be addressed. Taking the Bible as a whole… “Does the New
Covenant and Grace do away with the Old Covenant’s dietary laws? As Paul says, judge not…but take the mote
out of one’s own eye.
1 Romans 14:2 2 Genesis 1:29 3 Acts 15:19-20 4 Ephesians 2:8-9 5 Romans 3:31 6 Leviticus 17:10-14 7 Romans 14:6 8 Deuteronomy 6:16
9 Deuteronomy
12:15-16, 20 10 Acts
10:9-17 11 Matthew
16:5-12 12 Mathew
13:3 13 Proverbs 14:12 14 Proverbs 3:5-6 15 Numbers
11:31-33
1.)
In the garden of Eden, why do you suppose God gave them only the fruits, grains
and nuts to eat and then declared the day – very good?
2.)
God told Noah to collect seven pair of clean and one pair of unclean animals for
the ark. How did Noah know the
difference, Leviticus hadn’t been written yet?
(Genesis 7:2.)
3.)
If one is to continue to eat meat, shouldn’t they purchase it at a Jewish Deli
to ensure that is free of the blood, per the Book of Acts?
4.) Isaiah
66:17 talks about those sanctifying themselves while eating swine’s flesh and
stating they shall be consumed. Why?
5.)
What can be learned from Daniel and his three friends and the blessings they
received by being diligent in their walk with God?
6.)
Why did they die eating quail, a clean meat?
7.)
Paul writes he “who is weak, eateth
herbs?” What did he mean, what do you suppose the setting was?
8.)
God provided manna to wean the children off of the flesh pots of Egypt. Why weren’t they satisfied with angel food –
manna?
9.)
Immediately following the flood, what vegetation was left for Noah and his
family to eat? What do you suppose they
ate?
10.) Why on the ark were there only one pair of
unclean animals, compared to the seven pair of clean animals?
11.)
In the earth made new, what do you suppose the diet will consist of and why?
Send questions or comments to:
Magnifying the Law
10282 Sahara Road
Phelan, California 92371
1998 by Keith A. Johnson