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Our Mission: Revelation 14:6-12
The Moment of Truth - Lesson 39
Death
in the Kitchen
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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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1 Corinthians 6:19,20
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.
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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
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.
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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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God asks us to take care of our bodies, so that we may present ourselves to Him in the best possible health.
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3 John verse 2
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
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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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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.
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Deuteronomy 6:24
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.
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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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Desirous of seeing us in good health, God has given us many
practical guidelines.
If we follow them, we can avoid many diseases.
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Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
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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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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.
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Ecclesiastes 5:12
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet.
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Mark 6:31
And [Jesus] said to them, «Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.»
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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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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.
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Isaiah 5:11,22
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.
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Ephesians 5:18
Do not be drunk with wine.
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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.
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Drinking alcohol prevents us from having sound judgment:
«Do 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.» (LEVITICUS 10:9-11)
«It 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.» (PROVERBS 31:4,5)
«Wine, and new wine enslave the heart.» (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,
«They 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?»
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Luke 1:15
[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.
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God invites us to follow the example of John the Baptist who was «great in the sight of the Lord».
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Deuteronomy 29:18
(...) that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness.
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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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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.
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Exodus 20:13
You shall not murder.
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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
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.
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Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do.
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Whatever bad habit we want to get rid of (tobacco, alcohol, or others), we can rely on God's help to succeed.
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1 Corinthians 10:31
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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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
Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life.
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Proverbs 23:2
Put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
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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.
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Genesis 1:29
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.»
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Genesis 2:16
The Lord God commanded the man, saying,
«Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.»
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The first diet God planned for man consisted of grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, offering the right nutritional ingredients for good health.
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Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.
I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
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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
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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
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.
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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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«You shall not eat any detestable thing.» (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14)
On earth, are unclean: | In water, are
unclean:| In the air, are unclean:
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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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«These are the animals which you may eat.» (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14)
On earth, are clean: | In water,
are clean: | In the air, are clean:
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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
Then the Lord said to Noah,
«Come 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.»
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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
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, «Gather up the fragments that remain,
so that nothing is lost.»
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Mark 5:11-13
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains.
And all the demons begged Him, saying, «Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.»
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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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.
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Psalm 84:11
No good thing will [the Lord] withhold from those who walk uprightly.
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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
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.
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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
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. (...)
«[Those] eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed
together,» says the Lord.
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2 Corinthians 6:17
Therefore «Come out from among them and be separate,» says the Lord. «Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.»
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What God tells us must receive due consideration.
Therefore, the distinction between clean and unclean animals must be taken seriously.
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Daniel 1:8-10
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,
«I 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?»
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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
Daniel said (...),
«Please 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.» (...)
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.
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After only ten days, the effects of the two diets were already obvious.
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Acts 10:11-15,17
[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, «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.» (...)
Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant.
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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
Then [Peter] said to them,
«You 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.»
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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
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.
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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
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.
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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
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.
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And what about this last passage? Does it allow us to eat unclean
flesh?
Let's think about it: will «those who believe and know the truth» eat unclean flesh? Can
we eat swine «with thanksgiving»? Is seafood «sanctified by the word of God»?
The Bible says: No.
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Deuteronomy 6:24
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.
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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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What more could we say?
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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.
The test of Lesson 39 is waiting for you!