Eating

PART 1 - WHAT AVATAR WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO GET THE JOB DONE?

     Our soul and the Holy Spirit are spirits.  They have no physical body by themselves.  Our body carries out their will in this physical world.  Our body is like their avatar.  It makes sense that the healthier our body is, the better we can carry out their will.  

     When we submit our own will to the will of the Holy Spirit, we will strive to carry out the great commission.  With a healthy body, we’ll be able to carry out the great commission better.  Our mind will be sharper, we’ll have more energy, we’ll be affected by physical problems, we’ll be less affected by the stresses of the world, we’ll look better, etc.  If we were to make an avatar from scratch and could give it any qualities we wanted, how would you make yours?  What qualities would be useful in carrying out the great commission and making disciples?

     We must always remember that by keeping a healthy body, we are giving God respect.  He created us, now it’s up to us to keep things looking good and in working order.  The Holy Spirit lives in us.  This alone should be enough to keep our body healthy and looking good.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV) says Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.            

 

PART 2 - WHAT IS OK TO EAT?

      Genesis 1:28-29 (NKJV) says Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."  And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.  OK, so we know that God originally made all the herbs and all the fruit from the trees for our food. 

     Genesis 9:1-4 (NKJV) says So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.  But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.  Here God mentions that he has given us every moving thing for food.      

     Notice that it says we shouldn’t eat live animals or its blood.  Leviticus 3:17 (NKJV) says This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.' "  So we know we shouldn’t eat a live animal, its blood, or its fat.  

     There came a time when God wanted to differentiate between His chosen people, the Jews, and all the other people, the gentiles.  Leviticus 11 says the Jews were only allowed to eat land animals that had divided hooves and chews its cud.  Of the things living in the water, they were only allowed to eat those that had fins and scales.  There was a list of birds that couldn’t be eaten.  There were certain insects that could and couldn’t be eaten.  These rules for eating were between God and the Jews at the time.  These rules are no longer in effect due to the new covenant with both the Jews and gentiles through Jesus.  

     This new covenant is made clear in Acts 10:9-16 (NKJV) The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.  Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.  In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.  And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."  But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."  And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common."  This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.  God said he has cleansed what was once unclean.  Now, to still consider something unclean that God has cleaned is unholy.  This is comparable to circumcision.  At one time it separated the Jews from the gentiles.  Now God no longer requires His chosen to be circumcised.  Peter knew this, but chose to act otherwise...at least until Paul straightened him out.  Galatians 2:11-14 (NKJV) says But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.  When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision.  As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.  When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

     We cannot be defiled by what we eat.  The food goes into our belly and is expelled.  On the other hand, what comes out of our mouth comes from our heart.  Knowing this, we can defile ourselves by what comes out of our mouth.  Matthew 15:17-20 (NKJV) says “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.  But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.  For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.  These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

     In a nutshell, we can eat everything except an animal that is still alive, its blood, or its fat.

 

PART 3 - WHAT’S THE BEST FOOD TO EAT?

     Let's try to figure out what would be best for us.  It seems like God would supply us with the best and healthiest food.  This means wherever we live will probably produce what’s best for us.  Eating local, seasonal, simple food seems like the way God meant for us to eat. In Michigan where I live, this would mean eating more veggies and fruit during the summer and more meat during the winter.  This seems like a natural healthy cycle.  Eating local and seasonal prepares our bodies for the upcoming season.

          I’ve researched many ways of eating, everything from the Zone, paleo, low carb, Atkins, Protein Power, keto and others.  I always end up circling back to eating local and seasonal.  It seems to satisfy all our nutritional requirements in seasonal proportions best for the climate where we live.   

     The more we refine the food, the more unhealthy it becomes.  Organic (chemical free) methods are best.  “Permaculture” is a good term to research.  It teaches us how to grow food within the natural systems that God made for us without using chemicals.  

     Learning to grow food without chemicals, eating seasonal and local, and learning to cook and enjoy simple foods is all fun.  It connects us closer to God who is looking for us to let him lead us in all things, including gardening, raising animals, hunting, fishing, cooking, and even eating!  When we connect with Him during such things, He’ll give us deep satisfaction, enjoyment, and peace while we do what others look at as mundane.

     Like every other part of a disciple’s life, discretion is important.  1 Corinthians 10:23-31 (NKJV) says “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying.  No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.  Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”  If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.  But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?  If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.  Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.

       

PART 4 - BEWARE OF THE DEVIL’S SCHEMES

     Eating in a way that God didn’t intend opens us up to sickness.  If there are demons in us that are trying to give us sickness, yet our body remains too healthy for the sickness to take hold, we remain healthy.  Demons are persistent though and they will hang out until we open the door for the sickness to take root (unless we don’t cast them out first!).  Eating in a way that God meant for us to eat is a good general rule to avoid sickness.  

     Eating badly, such as gluttony, and sexual sin are closely related.  This is because a demon of lust may be overseeing things.  A lust demon can not only open the door for fornication (any sexual sin), but also gluttony because gluttony is a worldly lust.  

     Lust demons are common in Christians because the lust seems to be only a detriment towards the person that the lust demon is in (which isn’t true).  Christians don’t usually like to do bad things to other people so conviction prevents them from harming others.  On the other hand, if the Christian is able to sin privately, without apparently hurting other people, the Christian is much more likely to proceed with the sin.  When researching gluttony and fornication in scripture, you’ll find they are often mentioned rather closely together.  1 Corinthians 6:12-14 (NKJV) says All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.  Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.  Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

     As we walk into the end times we will see things happening around us.  1 Timothy 4:1-5 says Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.  Abstaining from foods...hmm.  As we see society become anti-Christian, we’ll recognize the commonly known signs of the end times.  Did you know that people will be pushed into abstaining from certain foods?  The “climate crisis” will soon become the most important thing according to the media.  Government will have to take drastic action for everyone’s welfare.  The gas emissions from cows and similar animals will become a big concern.  Eating beef and similar animals will become taboo.  Pay attention to such things.  Pay attention to Bill Gates and folks like him.