In the old testament law there were certain foods that God called unclean and told the children of Israel not to eat.
These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase. Deut 14:4-8
If the children of Israel followed the law God said:
And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. Ex 15:26
Blessing for obedience:
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Deut 28:1-2
Curse for disobedience:
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Deut 28:15
The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. Deut 28:20-22
The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deut 28:27-29
There are chapters and chapters of the curse and defilement and uncleanness in the book of Deuteronomy. The curse of breaking the law applied to them if they broke any part of the law. If they committed adultery they could have all those curses come upon them, even if they didn’t break the food commandments. If they ate kosher but had an idol of another god, or if they stole or lied, they would face the same curse. Somehow people have decided today that if they eat the wrong foods then they will get sick or be unclean and defiled. It wasn’t the food they were eating, God wanted them to obey Him, He could have just as easily said the opposite foods not to eat. Jesus spoke of exactly this when He told them it was not what they were eating, or whether they washed their hands before eating, that was causing men to be defiled, it was that they had forsaken God. They were ignoring God and clinging to the traditions of men.
Jesus said:
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mark 7:6-7
Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. Mark 7:18-23
If we take Jesus at His word on the subject then it is not eating those eggs for breakfast that causes heart attacks. Those heart attacks often come because a guy in a car cuts in front of us, and we want to kill him because we are in a hurry and are angry, we have murder in our hearts.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Romans 5:12
When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden sin entered into man and has been passed down to all men.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Romans 5:19
It is because we dream of sleeping with our neighbors wife, because we have adultery in our hearts, (you may say, I do not have adultery in my heart, never have, perhaps you aren’t beset with the sin of looking at others for intimate pleasures but there is more: God said the children of Israel were committing adultery with other gods and idols and by seeking to other kings for their aid when they were in trouble)
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
James 4:4-5
It is because we steal from our employer by lying on our time sheet or on our taxes, or we want (covet) what our neighbor has, things like that defile a man Jesus said.
Jesus forgave a man his sins and the man was healed:
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. Luke 5:20-25
The man was healed when forgiven of his sins, not because of his diet. (this is not to say that every time a person is sick it is because he is sinning
But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. 1 Cor 8:8
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Col 2:20-23
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 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. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. 1 Tim 4:1-5
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14
There was a discussion in the early church about whether the Gentiles that believed should follow the law of moses, after much prayer they determined:
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. Acts 15:19-20
My mother was not considered by many to be a spiritual giant or anything, she didn’t go to a lot of church functions. She never walked around saying Jesus said to do this or that, she taught me to fear God and to never take His name in vain. She had a bible on her headboard, and it never got dusty. When she taught me to cook she said to me, “don’t buy chickens grown in this state, they have changed the butchering laws, I always buy southern grown chicken, otherwise you are eating strangled chicken full of blood.” (I don’t know what the current butchering practices are anymore, but I suspect it’s the same as when my mother told me that, it is harder and costlier to process meat the correct way.) When she taught me that I didn’t even know that it was in the bible. I have also never in 50 years since had anyone else tell me anything like that. Lots of other rules and regulations and traditions of men have been told to me, but never Acts 15, which deals with converted Gentiles and that no one should eat things strangled or full of blood. We tend to make things overly difficult and overlook the simple few things that Jesus has asked us to observe.
When Jesus brought in the New Covenant He made all foods clean but He did not change this:
Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Lev 7:26
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. Lev 17:13
Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land? Ezek 33:25
Except for eating things strangled, and blood, and food sacrificed to idols, Jesus spoke of food differently than the laws of the old testemant:
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? 1 Cor 10:25-29
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. Titus 1:15
Jesus also said:
Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Matt 15:17-20
The things that come out of our mouths make us sick, not the things which go in it. If our hearts have evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, these things defile us. When we are defiled we are susceptible to all manner of sickness and disease. Instead of a million hand sanitizers we need a heart sanitizer~ oh, we have one- His name is Jesus!
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. Matt 15:18
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:8
And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Luke 18:27 (I’m pretty sure Jesus was smiling when He said that.)
About dieting:
daniel 1:8 tells a wonderful story of how daniel went on a vegetable only diet and was “fatter in flesh” than the others that ate at the kings table. If we think that dieting will keep us looking a certain way we have missed an important concept, that we did not make ourselves, God made us as He wanted to. If we continually eat “junk food” in excess we will probably have a weight problem, we will have a problem whenever we don’t have temperance.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Phil 4:5
If you have a problem with moderation concerning food or types of food you can pray about it, Jesus said one fruit of the Spirit is temperance.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Gal 5:22-23
If you don’t see instant results, have a friend pray with you. Know that many christians, like Mandisa, who wasn’t ashamed to say it publicly, have had battles with food issues. Know that Jesus loves and cares for you. He doesn’t judge people by their outward appearance, but by their hearts. Sometimes we eat too much because we have fears, food seems to comfort us when we are anxious.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment… 1 John 4:18
I pray that we would get to know Jesus more and more so that we can be filled with even more of His perfect love. Sometimes Jesus doesn’t deliver us instantly but instead walks with us through the reasons we are having food issues.
If you have struggled with a weight problem, you surely have noticed, as I have, that some people can eat anything they want and not gain a pound. Others seem to gain ten pounds if they eat one sweet. Zoanne Wilkie shared that she had been battling and praying and trying so hard to lose weight because she was so overweight until one day when she asked the Lord simply WHY cant i lose weight? She said He answered and said that when He sent His people to set the captives free often the captives were so scared that they stayed in their cells, but when He sent her they came running out. He made her exactly the way He chose to.
Little Sanctuary Ministries 