The Clean and the Unclean Food
1. Were there some beasts on earth before the flood that were not clean for food?
“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,” Genesis 7:2.
2. How did God specify the beasts that were for food, and those that were unclean?
“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,” Leviticus 11:2, 3.
3. Is there also a difference between the fish and the fowls as to their being clean and unclean?
“Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat,” Leviticus 11:9.
4. What does the Lord say specifically about the swine? Is it good for food, or is it unclean?
“And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you,” Leviticus 11:7.
5. Does the Lord say anything about the unclean beasts being an abomination to those who eat them, or even touch them?
“They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcasses in abomination,” verse 11.
6. What will happen to the abominable in the day of judgment?
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers . . . . and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death,” Revelation 21:8.
7. When the Lord comes with fire to judge the world, what will happen to those who eat swine’s flesh?
“For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be CONSUMED together, SAITH the Lord,” Isaiah 66:15-17.
NOTE: This plainly speaks of the future, when the Lord comes to judge the world. All who are found eating the swine’s flesh are to be consumed. This plainly carries the law of the clean and the unclean through the gospel age, and it is found binding even at the day of judgment.
8. What does the Lord say about the priests (ministers) in the day when He consumes the wicked with the fire of His wrath?
“Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the clean and the unclean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them . .
. . Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath,” Ezekiel 22:26, 31.
9. Does the Lord make any distinction in the New Testament between the meats that were created to be received, and those that were not set apart by the Word?
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith .
. . . Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth,” I Timothy 4:1, 3.
NOTE: Here we find a separation made between the meats. Some were created to be received for food, and the Lord speaks against those who command people not to eat the meat that was created to be received. He says it is “Sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” verse 5. The word “sanctify” means set apart. Therefore, some meat is set apart by the Word of God and prayer, for food. Even before the flood, some beasts were unclean and some were clean.
10. Is it not a fact that the Lord showed Peter all manner of beasts and creeping things, and commanded him to arise and eat?
“ . . . 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,” Acts 10:10-13.
11. Had Peter been in the habit of eating the unclean meat up to this time, and what did he say in answer?
“Not so, Lord; for I HAVE NEVER eaten any thing that is common or unclean,” verse 14.
12. Was this vision of all kinds of beasts, and creeping things given to show Peter that he should eat anything he wanted to? This is what many preachers will tell us, but what does the Bible actually say?
“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 SHOWN me that I should not call ANY MAN common or unclean,” verse 28.
NOTE: The Lord speaks quite differently here from what men tell us. They say this vision was to show Peter that he should not call any meat unclean and that we could eat anything we want. Notice particularly just what the scriptures say about it. “God hath shown me that I should not call ANY MAN (not beast) common or unclean.”
More people die from eating pork every year than from war. A serpent-like worm called “trichinae” is in every hog. None are free from it, says late investigation. Fifty years ago, the U. S. government spent more than a million dollars to propagate a breed of swine free from this worm, but it was in vain. When once in the human body, it never can be eradicated, and the person’s life is greatly shortened. Dr. James McNaught and Dr. Eugene Anderson report in the Journal of The American Medical Association that, “when once the meat is swallowed, each female worm begins to breed thousands of small worms, so little that for weeks they cannot be seen by the strongest microscope. They are so small that soon they work their way through into the bloodstream.” These doctors secured portions of muscle from two hundred people who died in San Francisco. These separately they ground to a powder and artificially digested the powder into artificial gastric juice, just as is done in the stomach, until the young worms which will not digest could be counted. They counted from 20 to 3,800 in each of forty-eight dead people. That was, in just the portions of muscle they took for the experiment.
Dr. Hall, from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and later in our national Public Health Service, says that post-mortem (after death) examinations prove that more than one fourth of all the people in Boston, Mass., are affected with these worms.
They all say that thousands of people die from trichinae (when it is supposed they die from most all common diseases), depending on where the worms lodge and begin their death work. Children and young people up to thirty are not so often dangerously affected, but above that age when glands do not function so strongly, trichinae win the battle and begin to increase.
Cooking, in many cases, does not kill the eggs or larva. Having the pork in the kitchen is extremely dangerous to the family. Dishes, knives, bread, and other things are often in contact with where it has been, and eggs and larva are smeared around and get into food or drink. Eating cheese from stores and meat counters where it is cut by the same knife that has been used in cutting pork, will bring the death worms in the home, and into our bodies.
Dear friend, let us believe God. The meats He declared unclean are unclean, and by believing and obeying we will escape much suffering and sorrow.