The Moment of Truth - Lesson 39

Death in the Kitchen

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Death in the Kitchen

Let's pray together before beginning this lesson:

Father,

Your Word has revealed to us so many wonderful things about You, Your immense love demonstrated through Jesus Christ, and Your will for each one of us.

This set of lessons is now drawing to its close, but we know that You still keep in store many truths which will enlighten our hearts and minds.

May Your Holy Spirit reveal these truths to us, as we open Your Word. In Jesus Christ we pray.

Amen.

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Death in the Kitchen

1 Corinthians 6:19,20	Comments
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.	Redeemed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, we now belong to God. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, making each of our bodies His temple. This is why God asks us to take care of our bodies.

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1 Corinthians 3:16,17	Comments
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.	God asks us to take care of our bodies, so that we may present ourselves to Him in the best possible health.
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

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3 John verse 2	Comments
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.	The Lord wants our whole being, the body as well as the spirit, to be in good health. He wants us to have a sound mind in a sound body.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Deuteronomy 6:24	Comments
The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.	Desirous of seeing us in good health, God has given us many practical guidelines. If we follow them, we can avoid many diseases.
Exodus 23:25
You shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

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Genesis 2:15	Comments
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.	God prescribed activity for Adam and Eve, asking them to take care of their garden home. He knows that regular exercise is the way to maintain optimal health, both physical and mental.
Proverbs 6:6,9
Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. (...) How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

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Ecclesiastes 5:12	Comments
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet.	A good day's work will be followed by a refreshing sleep. God also gave us the Sabbath, our weekly rest in which we put aside all our worries, to draw near Him.
Mark 6:31
And [Jesus] said to them, ŤCome aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.ť
Exodus 20:9,10
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

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Isaiah 5:11,22	Comments
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! (...) Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink.	God also asks us to avoid alcoholic beverages, which are responsible for so many broken homes, accidental deaths, and so much poverty here on earth.
Ephesians 5:18
Do not be drunk with wine.

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Drinking alcohol prevents us from having sound judgment:

ŤDo not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them.ť (LEVITICUS 10:9-11)

ŤIt is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.ť (PROVERBS 31:4,5)

ŤWine, and new wine enslave the heart.ť (HOSEA 4:11)

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Proverbs 23:29-35 : A sad description of the effects of alcohol...

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine.

Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.

Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying,

ŤThey have struck me, but I was not hurt; they have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?ť

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Luke 1:15	Comments
[John] will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.	God invites us to follow the example of John the Baptist who was Ťgreat in the sight of the Lordť.

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Deuteronomy 29:18	Comments
(...) that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness.	The wise Christian should avoid everything that is harmful to his health. Nowadays, many innocent-looking beverages, like coffee, tea and colas, contain drugs like caffeine. And let's not forget tobacco, which contains a lot of poisons.
Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

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Exodus 20:13	Comments
You shall not murder.	Use of alcohol, tobacco, and all kinds of drugs, shortens our life expectancy. Those things kill us by inches. Now, in the sight of God, to kill oneself is as reprehensible as to kill others.

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1 Corinthians 10:13	Comments
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.	Whatever bad habit we want to get rid of (tobacco, alcohol, or others), we can rely on God's help to succeed.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do.

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1 Corinthians 10:31	Comments
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.	God has also given us practical advice about the diet we should adopt. Let's not forget that God is our Creator: He perfectly knows how the human body works, and knows which kind of food is suitable for it. Don't we pay attention to the advice of our car manufacturer, about the kind of gasoline we should use? Isn't our body more valuable than a car?

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Luke 21:34	Comments
Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life.	God recommends us to make use of wisdom as to the quality as well as the quantity of our food. Overeating can only be harmful to our health.
Proverbs 23:2
Put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.

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Genesis 1:29	Comments
And God said, ŤSee, 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.ť	The first diet God planned for man consisted of grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, offering the right nutritional ingredients for good health.
Genesis 2:16
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ŤOf every tree of the garden you may freely eat.ť

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Genesis 9:3	Comments
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.	After the Flood, since all vegetation was destroyed, God introduced flesh as food. However the introduction of flesh into man's diet was followed by a dramatic decrease in his life expectancy, as we will see in the next table.

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Decrease in longevity, after the introduction of flesh into the diet:

Before the introduction of flesh |   After the introduction of flesh
------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Adam      : 930 years (GENESIS 5:5) | Shem    : 600 years (GEN. 11:10,11)
Seth      : 912 years (GENESIS 5:8) | Arphaxad: 438 years (GEN. 11:12,13)
Enosh     : 905 years (GENESIS 5:11)| Salah   : 433 years (GEN. 11:14,15)
Cainan    : 910 years (GENESIS 5:14)| Peleg   : 239 years (GEN. 11:18,19)
Mahalaleel: 895 years (GENESIS 5:17)| Serug   : 230 years (GEN. 11:22,23)
Jared     : 962 years (GENESIS 5:20)| Nahor   : 148 years (GEN. 11:24,25)
Methuselah: 969 years (GENESIS 5:27)| Terah   : 205 years (GENESIS 11:32)
Noah      : 950 years (GENESIS 9:29)| Abraham : 175 years (GENESIS 25:7)

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Leviticus 20:25,26	Comments
You shall therefore distinguish between clean beasts and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.	Although God allowed man to eat flesh, He indicated which kinds of animals are and aren't appropriate for consumption. Which are they?

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ŤYou shall not eat any detestable thing.ť (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14)

On earth, are unclean: | In water, are unclean:| In the air, are unclean:
-----------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------
The beasts that do not | All that do not have | Eagle, vulture, buzzard,
both chew the cud and | both fins and scales: | kite, falcon, raven, os-
have cloven hooves: |     among others,     |   trich, owl, seagull,
among others, swine, | shellfish (lobsters, | hawk, jackdaw, carrion
hare, camel, lizard, |    crayfish, crabs,   | vulture, stork, heron,
mole, mouse, frog,   |   shrimps, etc.) and |    hoopoe, bat, every
tortoise, snail, cha- |   seafood (oysters,   | creeping thing that
    meleon, weasel.    |     clams, etc.).     |         flies.

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ŤThese are the animals which you may eat.ť (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14)

On earth, are clean: | In water, are clean: | In the air, are clean:
----------------------+----------------------+-------------------------
The beasts that both | All that have both | The birds that are not
chew the cud and have |   fins and scales:   | considered as scavengers
cloven hooves: among |   thus, most kinds   | and are not found in the
others, ox, sheep, |       of fish.       | list of unclean birds.
goat, deer, gazelle, |                      | For example, chicken,
roe deer, antelope, |                      | turkey, and quail are
mountain sheep, wild |                      |          clean.
        goat.         |                      |

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Genesis 7:1,2	Comments
Then the Lord said to Noah, ŤCome into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.ť	Some people claim that the distinction between clean and unclean animals belongs only to Moses' law, and was therefore abolished at the Cross. But here we see that Noah, long before Moses, was already aware of this distinction. Noah had in the ark only one couple of each unclean animal. So, if he had eaten, for example, a swine, there would be no more swine today!

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John 6:11,12	Comments
And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ŤGather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.ť	When we draw a parallel between these two passages, we see that, although Jesus never wasted any food, he attached no importance to the loss of an entire herd of swine.
Mark 5:11-13
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. And all the demons begged Him, saying, ŤSend us to the swine, that we may enter them.ť And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

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Psalm 84:11	Comments
No good thing will [the Lord] withhold from those who walk uprightly.	If swine, hare, shellfish, seafood, were suitable to eat, God would not forbid them. But, from discovery to discovery, science confirms that God is right when He declares that these animals are unclean.

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Deuteronomy 7:12,15	Comments
Because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, (...) the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known.	The Jews are still keeping God's distinction between clean and unclean animals. Now, science has demonstrated that heart diseases, some kinds of cancer and some infectious diseases are more frequent in the general population than in Jewish communities. Most of these diseases have been linked with diet, even with consumption of unclean animals.

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Isaiah 66:15,17	Comments
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. (...) Ť[Those] eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,ť says the Lord.	What God tells us must receive due consideration. Therefore, the distinction between clean and unclean animals must be taken seriously.
2 Corinthians 6:17
Therefore ŤCome out from among them and be separate,ť says the Lord. ŤDo not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.ť

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Daniel 1:8-10

Comments

Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (...)

The chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel,

ŤI fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age?ť

This story shows the benefits of following the diet prescribed by God.

Led into captivity to Babylon, Daniel refused to eat the king's unclean dishes, even if these were considered to be the best food available then.

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Daniel 1:11-13,15,20

Comments

Daniel said (...),

ŤPlease test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances be examined before you, and the countenances of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies.ť (...)

At the end of ten days their countenance appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men (...).

In all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better.

After only ten days, the effects of the two diets were already obvious.

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Acts 10:11-15,17

Comments

[Peter] 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, ŤRise, Peter; kill and eat.ť

But Peter said, ŤNot so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.ť

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ŤWhat God has cleansed you must not call common.ť (...)

Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant.

Does this passage prove that the distinction between clean and unclean animals is abolished?

Peter himself wondered what this vision meant.

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Acts 10:28	Comments
Then [Peter] said to them, ŤYou know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.ť	As he was thinking about the vision, Peter heard that Cornelius, a Gentile (that is, a non-Jew), wished to meet him to listen to the Word of God. Now, according to the Hebraic law, a Jew was not allowed to associate with a Gentile. Peter then understood the meaning of the vision: God was inviting Gentiles too to salvation, and Peter was not to consider them as unclean.

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Romans 14:14,20	Comments
I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (...) All things indeed are pure.	Now, what about this passage? We must read the whole chapter 14 to understand that Paul wasn't trying to abolish the distinction between clean and unclean flesh. He was rather speaking about the purity of food offered to idols. Paul taught that a pure flesh remains pure, even if it has been offered to idols (see 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and 10:23-33).

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Matthew 15:11,19,20	Comments
Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a 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 unwashed hands does not defile a man.	Verse 11 is often used to prove that the distinction between clean and unclean flesh has been abolished. However, verses 19 and 20 clearly reveal that Jesus was actually speaking of washing hands before eating.

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1 Timothy 4:1,3-5	Comments
Deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons (...) 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.	And what about this last passage? Does it allow us to eat unclean flesh? Let's think about it: will Ťthose who believe and know the truthť eat unclean flesh? Can we eat swine Ťwith thanksgivingť? Is seafood Ťsanctified by the word of Godť? The Bible says: No.

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Deuteronomy 6:24	Comments
The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.	What more could we say?
Proverbs 4:20-22
Give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

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Let's pray together:

Father,

How can we thank You for all these valuable instructions You have given us, so that we may be in the best possible health! You have created us, and You know what is good for us.

Through the power of Your Holy Spirit working within us, please help us to put aside right now our bad habits, whatever they may be, and to adopt the healthy way of life You have taught us today.

In Jesus Christ we pray.

Amen.

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