—Read this before you next "pig out" - Stay Away From Pork (It's Poison) and God outlawed it.
While the first point in the article at the end of my introduction is true, it is not everything and has to be understood with other factors; it depends not merely what an animal eats, but also how it digests what it eats (as the article goes on to explain).
A chicken will basically eat the same things a pig will, but the chicken is clean because of how it digests it and because God designed and declared it to be clean.
A horse and a groundhog and muskrat eat the same thing that a cow eats (grass), but only the cow digests it properly... and it is not merely the digestion (which is described in Scripture as “chewing the cud”; only those animals with separate stomachs that regurgitate chew the cud and also eat hay or straw which contains a bacteria that aids in the digestion of the cellulose fiber in plants).
God separated animals at the very time that He created them—by their very design (not by “eenie, meenie, minee, moe” or flipping a quarter). Not only are they clean or unclean to us for food, but God Himself recognizes them as clean or unclean—long before the Flood, after which God allowed eating meat, He separated the clean from the unclean at creation, and clean and unclean were known because only clean animals were allowed for sacrifices (and thus Christ was not called “the spotless swine of God” and we Christ followers are not called His “piggies”).
The split hooves and chewing the cud do not “make” the animal clean or unclean: God made the animals clean or unclean and He designed identifying traits into the clean animals to distinguish them.
Clean mammals both chew the cud and have split hooves.
Clean fish have both scales and fins.
Clean birds, we are not given any characteristics concerning, but instead, God gives us representative examples of each and expects us to be astute enough to then know the difference. Seed eating, insect eating, grass eating birds (songbirds and fowl / poultry / gamebirds) are clean; birds of prey and scavengers are not. It seems that there has been some mistranslation due to obscurity of some Hebrew words; the swan is undoubtedly clean, as are duck and goose; the Hebrew word translated “swan” most probably should have been translated owl. Some, without authority, claim “web-footed” fowl are unclean, but that is only because they confuse birds with mammals, which they are not; split hooves apply only to mammals; based upon the split hoove fallacy in relation to birds, no bird can be eaten since none “chew the cud” either. Likewise, further improperly applied, no fish could be eaten, since fish don’t chew the cud and don’t even have feet, so they can’t be cloven footed.
God also forbids the eating of fat and blood. While the marblized internal fat does not need to be dissected with a microscope as if you are a neurotic obcessive-compulsive, all exterior fat that can be cut off should be cut off and not eaten; and any excessive fat on gravy / broth that solidifies on the top when refrigerated, would be best to remove. Fat should not be added to sausage, and certainly not blood.
Chickens if not penned up will usually eat only grass, seeds, and bugs; if penned up, they then are willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel and eat rotting whatever happens to be found under their own mucky feces; they will eat dog feces, etc., whatever is available. They foul their own water continually by standing in it and pooping in it; but they rarely get sick. But of course ideally, free ranging the birds is best because they keep moving one area to another and don’t have to settle for vile food, but will eat the fresh grass, seed, and bugs and have fresh water. However, it is hard to raise poultry free range (unless you have several large fenced in areas because of predators and because they will hide their eggs. Many breeds will fly out of a six foot-high fence and covering the top of the fence with chicken wire on a large area is impractical. So penning them up is necessary; though having various chicken runs or pens hubbing off the same common area of a henhouse, so that they can be rotated each week, is best (as it is with cattle and sheep and goats). Likewise, 3 days before slaughter, if you take chickens, sheep, goats, cattle, etc. off corn or grain and feed them only grass, will cut down most problems with e-coli. Keeping the chicken areas as clean as possible and of course keeping the water clean is a constant battle unless you have a sophisticated water fountain system that they cannot stand in, with a hose left on and a float valve (which I don’t have, because in winter, freezing of course becomes a problem); otherwise, any water container you have for the chickens, they will stand in, poop in, and even their drinking dirties the water; their beaks and feet are continually in the mud (which is mostly their own feces) and just taking a drink cleans their beak, and standing in the water cleans their feet, and then their drinking water after a few days looks like a muddy pond with a half inch thick of sludge in the bottom. Ideally would be to have a piece of property with a stream running through it, and divert a small channel of water to a fenced chicken area. But unfortunately, the ideal is rarely found. While chickens do not get sick quickly, conditions and water should be kept as clean as possible (for protozoa such as coccidiosis will eventually breed and that will be deadly; though in 20 years I have never had a problem with it).
Also, God’s Law even informs us the clean and unclean species of insects (yuk, I don’t believe even if starving to death I would ever eat insects, as long as there are trees and grass and herbs I would live on tea). It seems that the translation of some insects is in error due to confusion. It seems clear that the Scriptural litmus test for insects being permissible for food is that the insect must have wings and also must leap rather than merely crawl. This would leave out crickets and fleas, though while they leap they do not have wings, and it would leave out all beetles, for while most have wings, they all crawl and none leap. This would also leave out some insects commonly referred to as locusts, such as ciccadas, which look like large horseflies, and are not related to true locusts which are a grasshopper, since while ciccadas fly, they have legs that crawl and don’t leap. So it appears that the only type of insect permissible for food is the grasshopper type; I have not studied them in detail, so I don’t know if leap hoppers and katydids actually hop, or if they merely crawl and fly. Regardless, if you want to eat an insect, pull off its wings and see if it jumps or just crawls. The larval stage of clean insects would seem to be permissible (even though they neither fly nor leap, but will eventually), but this is initiating my gag reflex so I will leave off talking about insects.
Any other living creature (creeping, swimming, flying, or whatever) that does not fall into any one of these 4 categories is off limits.
God did not really give us any law concerning plant life. He gave us principles concerning “green herbs” “bearing seed within themselves”. Thus they utilize photosynthesis which is oxygenating and purifying. Mushrooms seem to be off limits. They grow primarily in feces and in the dark, do not use photosynthesis and are not seed bearing, but produce spores. Eating most green herbs, if they are not meant for food, will produce rather violent reactions rather quickly (poison ivy only bothers humans, but can be deadly and hellish, it and its cousins are some of the most toxic natural substances on earth; also poison hemlock, the stems, leaves, flowers of potato, tomato, pepper, horseradish, and rhubarb plants, some wild potato-like tubers, and many weeds are toxic, though some are called “low dose botanicals” that need to be used with caution, if at all). So we don’t need to be told which not to eat (though it would be nice; but then God’s hard-hearted people would complain that there was one more thing they weren’t allowed to eat), since they can be discovered short term. However, eating unclean animals, or fungus, is often very harmful long term and by the time you ever draw the connection in your mind (the pork chop and shrimp being the result of your cancer, or rattlesnake, frog, alligator, bear, squirrel, rabbit, etc.), the stimulus being so remotely apart from the effect (if the connection is ever recognized) it is often too late. However, there are some animals, that if eaten, will kill you right away (Fufu / Japanese blowfish); but in all cases, they are unclean animals and God forbade them, so if one rebels against God, it is Russian Roulette.
The average person is also spoiled and weak willed. Even when a person thinks that he is starving, that is no excuse to eat unclean animals. The average person who has a few extra pounds he could shed can go a month or two without eating anything. It is even healthy because after 3 days of no food (drinking only water), the body increases white blood cell production; and also begins to cannibalize diseased tissue, tumors, cancer, etc. The key is drinking plenty of pure water and stay hydrated (at least 8 to 10 glasses of pure water a day; not tap water with fluoride and chlorine). If a person feels light-headed when standing up, take a few deep breaths first, wait a few seconds, and stand up slowly. Fasting will also lower blood pressure. If fasting for over a week, it would be good to take psyllium fiber to absorb toxins, and also keep the bowel moving to prevent hemorrhoids. Psyllium and plenty of water will also help you feel full. The most important thing is staying hydrated and keeping your mind occupied. In a starvation situation, the needles of pine, spruce, fir, etc. can be boiled in water for tea, as can many leaves. Many flowers are edible. It would always be a good idea to keep and read every now and then, a book on wild edible plants (see book list in the back). God provided a ram in the thicket for Abraham to prevent taking Isaac’s life; God had ravens bring Elijah meat and bread. He can provide for us or we can fast until He does.
Regardless, God made our bodies and told us what fuel they are to run on, and not to violate the manufacturer’s instructions or it would void the warranty. If we violate the dietary laws, it won’t keep us out of Heaven—but may get us there sooner. The violations of God’s dietary laws will erupt in disease and poor health. It is not often noticed because it is gradual. Degenerative disease, cancer, tumors, etc., don’t “usually” develop fully over night, but over years of giving them fetid conditions; people get used to poor health, thinking it is “normal”, because it is gradual.
Unfortunately, violating God’s dietary laws rarely erupts like a bout of food poisoning in which your body violently rejects it in a very short period of time (unless you have observed God’s dietary laws for such length of time that your body is free of such contaminants, and if you are observant and in tune with the messages that God sends you through your body). But even then, like people who abuse alcohol, some people “get used to it” and then it does not affect them as violently (though it does damage)... their body builds up a higher threshold of tolerance to the pain and so they can (it seems) violate the laws of God’s nature with impunity... but they are slowly destroying their liver, brain, and other organs and will pay for it in the end.
If a normal person drank the excess some alcoholics do, it might result in acute alcohol poisoning and the person could die immediately. Whereas the alcoholic builds up a sort of immunity to the “adverse sensations”, though it will kill him in the end. The cumulative factor always wins. Being stung by 1 too many bees, or bitten by 1 too many snakes, has often been the straw that broke the camel’s back of people who thought that they had built up a tolerance to the poison. So it is with chemicals and toxins we are bombarded with in drugs, food, water, and the air we breathe, clothing we wear, and everything else.
The toxin build up is stored in the organs and we don’t have a “spit valve” like a trumpet—so if a person wants to be healthy he must every year or two do herbal cleanses (and use psyllium powder on a regular basis—with each meal— and even in between, in order to keep the large intestines clean, and periodically, undertake a 3-5 day juice fast and quadruple the psyllium amount consumed to a heaping table spoon every couple of hours) to absorb the toxins that dump from cleansing the organs (liver, kidney, gall bladder) so that the toxin build up is removed so it does not turn into disease (or just make you feel miserable for few days; and so your intenstines do not re-absorb the toxins).
It is also the same way with eating unclean food... as with alcohol, drugs, and toxins and other chemicals, those whose systems are free or relatively free of such things, will react violently if he ingests just a little... that’s God’s way of saying “NO”. If in our stubborn rebellion, we continue, our bodies will learn how to process it, to at least keep the body running... but like overworking and overheating a car engine, not changing the oil or filter, you are eventually going to blow the engine. Building up the tolerance of the toxins is the “stupid factor”. Yes, you may be able to abuse your body short term and get away with it temporarily, but it is slow suicide and self-masochism, as well as rebellion and sin against God. Though some people for attention and fame will eat broken glass, or engage in thrill-seeker, daredevil stunts, eventually, they pay the ultimate price.
In some parts of Europe it is common practice to make certain spirits with an extract of absinthe, a herb that is a member of the wormwood family; wormwoods are extremely bitter and are very low-dose botanicals that should only be used sporadically, by those in need of them, if they know what they are doing. However, in regions that use absinthe in their spirits and liqueurs, those raised drinking them build up a tolerance to it over time, from childhood, at it does not affect them (at least, not short term); but it could kill a foreigner who drank even a normal serving, not being used to it.
I have not eaten pork or any unclean food for 30 years. There is plenty of beef bacon and similar products which taste almost identical, but actually, once your system is cleansed of it, you don’t really want it; and even smelling pork bacon cooking, the grease in the air, makes me a bit queasy. However, one time about 24 years ago at my Christian college, at lunch I asked a person in charge if a certain dish had pork in it; he said no. A few minutes after eating it I started to feel mildly dizzy, nauseous, heart palpitations. I stopped eating, asked another person in charge, telling him that I was allergic to pork, and he grew concerned and told me that did have pork in it, stop eating it and if ever I had a question, to ask him and he would even make me something special if there was not anything without pork, that I should be able to eat (like pizza) since my tuition paid for food. He was kind and I was also (don’t ever be rude about it; you represent God), and he even brought me pork free-pizza to my table, without me even having to wait in the cafeteria line. Others around me asked why I got such special service. I just told them he was my brother. I later shared that with him and he chuckled, and then would call me “bro” and smile whenever he would see me. If you pay attention to the signals God and your body send, you will be better off and He will bless you.
I tell people that I am “deathly allergic” to certain (unclean) foods, not merely that it is a religious conviction. If you say it is a religious conviction, many will not care and won’t think anything of it; thinking it a mere quirk or preference that doesn’t matter: “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”. But, if you tell them you are deathly allergic to it, they are afraid of a lawsuit and will actually read the ingredients (even digging through the garbage) and tell you the truth. Of course, if the food service persons are friendly and Christians and ones you are on good terms with and visit frequently, you can also share with them that you used to eat pork, shrimp, etc., but when you realized God’s Laws were not abolished, you stopped eating them, and after many years of having your body free of them, your body reacts violently if you do eat it. Thus, it gives an opportunity to witness. Of course, most Christians who think they know the Bible will try to tell you that those laws were abolished, so it is good to read my, So You Call Yourself A Christian..., What’s Keeping God...?, and Does God Repent?, so you can competently answer them, if they really care about what God’s Word really says. Ask them: “If there is a chance that it is a sin against God, would you not want to know so that you could stop sinning?” How they answer will determine how you proceed with them. Clearly everyone is deathly allergic to poison; but if their bodies have built up a tolerance to it, they will die later than sooner. I prefer neither sooner nor later, but good health and a pure conscience before God. Sin (even ignorant sin) causes spiritual death, and breaks fellowship with God to the point that He will not hear our prayers until we repent—and will most often even chasten us (and if He doesn’t, we are not His children, but bastards), most often allowing us to reap what we have sown (cancer, etc.). He does overlook our ignorant sin when it is beyond our ability to comprehend, but He does still hold us accountable because He expects us to study His Word (and know what He expects of us) and to walk circumspectly in the light, not grope carefree in the darkness.
A mainstream Christian friend of mine, with whom I worked carpentry, was mildly mocking me one day because I would not eat pork. The next day he told me that night he had a pepperoni pizza and got violently ill and he began to have second thoughts about what he said to me and his possible misunderstanding of the Scriptures and that he might swear off pork altogether. I don’t know if anything ever came about from it, in terms of his concept of his “convictions” changing based upon actual study of the Word of God and true conviction of the Holy Spirit, to then translate into practice in his life or (whether like an alcoholic) if he just eventually ignored it and went back to his old ways; as Scripture tells us the “natural” man (unconverted mind and spirit) who beholds himself in a mirror and then goes away and immediately forgets what he saw. Also, some men have such evil wives, that if they disagree with his decision not to eat pork, she will feed it to him any way that she can, even secretly. God convict such evil people.
Peter’s vision had nothing to do with abolishing the dietary laws (see my booklet, So, You Call Yourself A Christian...), and neither did Christ’s death abolish the Law of God (see So, You Call..., What’s Keeping God...?, and Does God Repent...?). God gave us the Law for our good. He made our bodies and our life (what collective life then becomes society) and He alone knows how our bodies and our society should function. He gave His Law to keep us healthy, pure, out of debt, out of war, etc. Violating these laws brings judgment (you reap what you sow). The keeping of God’s Law never was for salvation, but for the reason He instituted each law. The blood sacrifices for atonement offered a temporary covering (which is what atonement means) until Christ came to truly take away the sin and its final (not immediate) curse / judgment / penalty (eternal death). One of the greatest lies of Satan is that God abolished His Law. It is the perfect crime and mind theft. By keeping God’s people in sin, God will not hear their prayers, and if God’s people do not realize that they are in sin, thinking the Law was done away with, then there is no way they can repent because they don’t even think that they are in sin. But this does not give us a free pass, because God commanded that we study and meditate upon His Word and Law day and night—and if we were obedient, we would come to the knowledge of the truth and realize how false shepherds have lied to us. But the average Christian rarely does this, so he only allows the preacher to tickle his ears with feel-goodism and “Touched by an Angel” Theology (“God loves you just the way you are: you don’t need to change anything”)—but it is touched by the wrong angel, a fallen angel... all the while our civilization is being stolen from us and freedom and Christendom itself are on the brink of disaster, nearing the threshold of the point of no return. God continually calls His people to repentance. He is now. Order my books and see the pure and simple, logical Truth of God’s Word.
God is Holy. He commanded us to be Holy because we are His children and He made us in His Own Image and when we sin, it is a poor reflection on Him; an insult; a shame to Him. John the Baptist and Christ came with the same message: Repent. It is the same message today. If the Law was done away with there is nothing to repent of. But the Law was not abolished. Drinks are not “free” and the bar tab is running ... and the bill will soon be due and demanded to be paid in full. The violating of God’s Laws (including the dietary laws) is merely one of Satan’s way of defiling and polluting Christ’s bride. What will you have in yourself to offer Christ? Will you be accepted or rejected? Keeping the Law does not save; it is a proof of salvation, because Scripture says, “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (the violation of God’s Law). Those who don’t care whether they sin against God or not, most probably, were never truly converted and it is sobering to note that Scripture does talk about those “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). Lord means “Sovereign, Boss, Master, Emperor, King, Supreme.” How can Christians call God / Christ their “Lord” when they go about their life doing what they want and not what God commanded? Did not Christ ask, “Why call ye Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things I say?” The unspoken answer is: “Because I am not your Lord”. Christ said, “Not one jot or tittle (the most insignificant pen stroke, the tail or dot of a letter in the mechanical writing) of the Law shall pass away. It would be easier for the heavens and earth to pass away. “Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments and teach others so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven” —if they are even admitted there... because Christ also said that any tree that does not bear fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, and that if we are truly in Him we will bear His fruit (not our own) and “If you love Me, keep My Commandments” (which are God’s Commandments) and “Not all who call unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the Kingdom, but they who do the Will of My Father Who is in Heaven”. On the Day of Judgement, Christ told us that there will be many who will say to Christ, “but did we not do all these good works in Thy Name...?” and Christ will reply unto them, “Depart from Me ye that work iniquity [anomia, “lawlessness”], I never knew you”. If you are in violation of God’s Law and you do not have Judgment in your life, it is possible that you are not converted, because God says that He chastens His children, and if ye be without chastisement then ye are bastards and not His. This is what is referred to in that we are to “work out” our salvation with “fear and trembling”. It has nothing to do with “earning” salvation, which is all of Christ—but it has to do with “examining yourselves whether you be in the faith” or merely are self-deluded, because “faith without works is dead” and “be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. True love results in obedience, true faith produces good works—obedience to the Law of God. Choose you this day. How you live your life reveals whether you are of God or not. Obedience is a choice. Ignorance is a choice. Make the right choice. God said he who turns his ear from the hearing of God’s Law, his prayer shall be an abomination. God that said He set before us life and death and urged us to choose life. Christ, the personification of wisdom said, “He who sins against Me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate Me love death.”
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http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html
Pig & Pork Facts
The pig or swine is a very popular food item with most Christians. Yet Christians are unaware that the God they profess to believe in had condemned the eating of swine’s flesh. The condemnation was based on some very sound biological principles. Here are some facts on pork that prove it to be a very unhealthy food to eat:
— A pig is a real garbage gut. It will eat anything including urine, excrement, dirt, decaying animal flesh, maggots, or decaying vegetables. They will even eat the cancerous growths off other pigs or animals. [This is gross, but a weak point, chickens do the same.]
— The meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge. Their meat can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison.
— When eating beef or venison, it takes 8 to 9 hours to digest the meat so what little toxins are in the meat are slowly put into our system and can be filtered by the liver. But when pork is eaten, it takes only 4 hours to digest the meat. We thus get a much higher level of toxins within a shorter time.
— Unlike other mammals, a pig does not sweat or perspire. Perspiration is a means by which toxins are removed from the body. Since a pig does not sweat, the toxins remain within its body and in the meat.
— Pigs and swine are so poisonous that you can hardly kill them with strychnine or other poisons.
— Farmers will often pen up pigs within a rattlesnake nest because the pigs will eat the snakes, and if bitten they will not be harmed by the venom.
— When a pig is butchered, worms and insects take to its flesh sooner and faster than to other animal’s flesh. In a few days the swine flesh is full of worms.
— Swine and pigs have over a dozen parasites within them, such as tapeworms, flukes, worms, and trichinae. There is no safe temperature at which pork can be cooked to ensure that all these parasites, their cysts, and eggs will be killed.
— Pig meat has twice as much fat as beef. A 3-oz. T-bone steak contains 8.5 grams of fat; a 3-oz. pork chop contains 18 grams of fat. A 3-oz. beef rib has 11.1 grams of fat; a 3-oz. pork spare rib has 23.2 grams of fat.
— Cows have a complex digestive system, having four stomachs. It thus takes over 24 hours to digest their vegetarian diet causing its food to be purified of toxins. In contrast, the swine’s one stomach takes only about 4 hours to digest its foul diet, turning its toxic food into flesh.
— The swine carries about 30 diseases which can be easily passed to humans. This is why God commanded that we are not even to touch their carcase (Leviticus 11:8).
— The trichinae worm of the swine is microscopically small, and once ingested can lodge itself in our intestines, muscles, spinal cord or the brain. This results in the disease trichinosis. The symptoms are sometimes lacking, but when present they are mistaken for other diseases, such as typhoid, arthritis, rheumatism, gastritis, MS, meningitis, gall bladder trouble, or acute alcoholism.
— The pig is so poisonous and filthy, that nature had to prepare him a sewer line or canal running down each leg with an outlet in the bottom of the foot. Out of this hole oozes pus and filth his body cannot pass into its system fast enough. Some of this pus gets into the meat of the pig.
— There are other reasons grounded in biological facts that could be listed to show why pigs and swine should not be eaten. But a true Christian should only need one reason why not to eat this type of food because God prohibited it.
“And the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.” —Leviticus 11:7,8; Deuteronomy 14:8
Those who say Christ abolished the Law condemning pork are motivated by their stomach not Scripture. The problems with pork are biological, and Christ never changed the laws of biology.