As food is a huge topic, we cannot possibly cover all of it. But join us for this Parasha, we are going to focus on finding an answer to the age-old question: if Yeshua were here today, what would Yeshua eat?

We do not have enough time to cover everything with regards to food, so we want to cover the stuff that really counts.

Now, most people look at the Torah with regards to clean and unclean foods and they make a list of animals that have cloven hooves and chew the cud, and then they also make another list of fish that have fins and scales and then those that do not. And you can find these kinds of checklists all over the internet, they really do the job.

But does anyone ever really stop to ask why split hooves? Why chews the cud? Why fins and scales? What is Yahweh truly trying to say with all this? Would you just give us some random list of things that we are never supposed to understand what it is we are really doing for Him (which is how most people approach things)?

But is there perhaps something more to these lists of clean and unclean foods than checklists and the Rabbinical checklist mindset?

Now, in Shemote (or Exodus) Yahweh says several times what He really wants, what He is really after. The first thing He said when we came out of Egypt, He says He wants us to diligently shema, and to hear and obey His voice; to hear His words with an intent to memorize them and to do them. And if we will do that, He will not bring on us any of the diseases of the Egyptians.

Shemote (Exodus) 15:26
26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you [Rapha, רפא].”

But we have to obey it in faith; we have to give things our true all. Not what we think of as in all, but what He thinks of as our all.

But do we not know Christians, and Messianics, and Ephraimites, and others who say, “Well, we prayed for healing, but we did not get healing.” Okay, so what? So, Yahweh does not love us anymore, is that it? Is that what we are saying? No. No.

Okay, so the point is – and this is difficult for many of us to hear, but – the point is that, are there not many of us who think we are obeying Yahweh’s clean food laws, but we are not really understanding what Yahweh wants because we are still limited to the knowledge of these sort of (how should I say) rudimentary, elementary school checklists; these rabbinical versions of understanding Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 – but without having any true understanding of what Yahweh is trying to communicate with us?

Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:23-24
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to Elohim, in true righteousness and holiness.

We are approaching Scripture with Rabbinical checklist mindsets. And that alone, already that does not please Yeshua; that does not please Elohim. So, if we approach the Torah with a checklist mentality – what I am saying is, we are going to end up ignorant of what the Torah truly calls for us to do.

And we will not be free of the diseases of the Egyptians because we allowed ourselves to be deceived. We did not listen to Yahweh’s words; we listen to something else.

Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 17:40
40 However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals.

Well, brothers, we do not like Job’s friends here, but if we are going to have a food study that counts, we need to ask ourselves some hard questions, okay? If we as Elohim’s people are truly doing all the things that Elohim says He wants us to do, then why do many of us still have all these diseases today?

Even among Jews, and Christians, and Messianics, why do we have all the cancers, why do we have all the plagues? Why do we have celiac disease (another so-called Jewish diseases) if the Rabbinical version of kosher is so good?

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 26:16
16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

Okay, why do we have Rabbinical stamped candy bars, Rabbinical stamped processed, refined, GMO sugar? How can that possibly be kosher? How can that possibly be Elohim’s will, okay?

Studies show us that the average US citizen (Jew or Gentile) is taking four prescription medications each day. And we do not know the statistics for the rest of the world, but the Babylonian system is the Babylonian system and it is very easy to mislead people into doing things that really are not truly good for them.

So, how many Jews and how many Christians do we know that pray for healing, but they never really receive it? Why is that again?

Not to be like Job’s friends, but is it possible (just maybe) some of us might be suffering because (maybe) we are eating the fruits of our own disobedience and we do not even know it because we are following these Rabbinical checklists that do not really speak to the heart of things?

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 11:30-31
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

Now, just speaking of myself (I know I am not perfect), for years I did not know Yahweh and not surprisingly, my health in those years was very bad. One thing, I was born autistic, I have scoliosis, I have other issues, I have had a head injury in military service, I had a complete change of personality that went along with that; a lot of issues I have had to overcome. So, I have had all kinds of health issues when I was growing up and then, later because of the military service.

But I was growing up as a child in the Christian church eating pork, and candy, soda pop, crackers, you know those sugary red licorice vines. Yeah, it is amazing what those do to your teeth. So, and I used to get sick every winter, so, but since Yahweh called me to repentance on June the 6th of 1999, my health has gotten a little bit better every year ever since. And I keep cleaning up my diet and my health just keeps on getting better. I keep trying to treat the living temple the way the temple should be treated, and my health keeps on getting better. So, what does that say?

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 6:19
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Set-apart Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim, and you are not your own?

As we explained in the Nazarene Israel study, in Colossians chapter 2 in verse 16 tells us that the foods and drinks that we eat on Shabbat and on Yahweh’s Feasts are prophetic shadow pictures of coming things. And typically, they are prophetic shadow pictures of what is going to happen with the bride. And that’s why we are only supposed to allow the body of Messiah to be the ones to tell us what to eat and drink, because only the body of Messiah understands the symbolism involved in these things.

Qolosim (Colossians) 2:16-17 (NKJV Corrected)
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a feast or a new moon or sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Messiah.

So, what that means is we are supposed to obey the clean food laws of Leviticus 11 and Devarim (or Deuteronomy) chapter 14. And it is important to note, shaliach Shaul wrote Colossians after the resurrection, so nothing has changed, okay?

Well, when children are born, they are going to follow their taste buds, right? They like sugar. What do they like to eat? Sugar, like candy, like ice cream, like all sorts of things humans were never really meant to eat. And that is the main point, we were designed to eat certain foods. And today we humans are eating kosher foods ‘parv’, we were never designed to eat kosher candy bars, kosher soda.

Yahweh originally designed us with a plant eating system, our digestive tract is designed to eat plants. It was never designed for toasted chocolate sugar bombs. Our digestive tract, our stomach was never meant for that triple caffeine supreme latte, 16 ounces; the triple twist of vanilla (or whatever you got), right?

Okay, there is no commandment in Torah that says not to abuse your digestive system like that, but let us use some wisdom, let us use some common sense. What are we doing here? And if our body is temporarily the living temple, why are we polluting the temple with things the human body was never designed to eat?

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 6:19
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Set-apart Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim, and you are not your own?

You put junk in your car’s gas tank, how long do you expect the car to last? Same kind of a thing.

There is no commandment in Leviticus 11, or Deuteronomy 14, or anywhere in the Torah that tells us how much refined GMO sugar we are supposed to eat. What is the limit on refined GMOs?

Oh and when we are young we can pretty much eat anything, right? We get away with it. Stay up all night, party all night, drink all night, get up the next day go to work. Okay, we pretty much do not realize we have done anything wrong until things start hurting. We start getting into our 30s, and 40s, and 50s, we think we can ignore taking care of our bodies, we think we can ignore taking care of the spiritual temple until we find ourselves in the doctor’s office.

But is that what Yahweh always wanted? We are going to eat a bunch of junk; we are going to put a bunch of garbage in the gas tank and they are going to spend our money on car repairs, health insurance and the doctor? Oh! Well, good thing we are pushing ourselves so hard to make all that money so we can pay the doctor bills; we can pay for the surgeries.

If we consider ourselves dedicated disciples of Yeshua, we consider ourselves members of the sect of the Nazarenes, then please read our study on “The Torah diet”. We also have a study called “You Are What You Eat” and both of those are found in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume Five. We do apologize, we do not have time to cover all that material here.

But brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves, again we do not want to be like Job’s friends, but why do so many of us in Ephraim seem to believe that the clean food laws do not really apply to us; at least not the way Yahweh wrote them? If we are following the Rabbinical list, we believe we can eat GMO sugar, but what does Yahweh want us to do, especially when we know it was Yeshua who gave us the Torah?

And especially when we know that Yeshua says in Mattityahu (or Matthew) chapter 5 in verse 17 that we are not to think that Yeshua came to abolish even the least thing in the Torah because the Torah is given to us as our Ketubah (or our bridal Contract).

Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

So, if we want to be His bride, then we need to be purifying ourselves and refining ourselves by obeying the bridal Contract. It is not optional if we want to be the bride.

But when we come to Kepha’s (or Peter’s) famous vision in Acts chapter 10 (we are going to talk about it near the end of this study), well, in most Christian and even many Messianic circles, Kepha’s vision is often used to justify eating whatever we want just so long as we pray over it.

All right, but is that what Yeshua said we could do? Is that what Yeshua wants in a bride that just eats anything? Did Yeshua come to overrule His Dad’s menu choices? Did Yeshua come so we could expand our menu options in direct contradiction to His Dad’s house rules?

Trans-genetic, GMO pork or beef thankfully is still not on the menu. Spider genes in our tomatoes is not on the menu.

Deuteronomy (or Devarim) chapter 10 in verse 13 tells us that Yahweh gave us the bridal commandments for our good. We also know this includes the food laws.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:13
13 and to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

We need to follow Yahweh’s heart in this thing. Yeshua did not come so that we could eat things that are not good for us. Yahweh tells us this is good, that is not good, Yeshua did not come to change what His Father said.

Yochanan (John) 12:50
50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

We are going to look at Acts chapter 10 later. But Ma’asei (or Acts) chapter 15 in verse 20 tells us that, if we want to become Yeshua’s disciples, then what we should do is we should begin by obeying the four mandatory prohibitions of Acts chapter 15.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:20
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

These are four principles that are extracted from the Torah. These are things that will get you either killed or cut off from the nation of Israel. So, there is no sense coming into the synagogue if you are not willing to obey these four prerequisite rules.

The first is no idolatry because idolatry is effectively spiritual adultery. The second is, you cannot do anything sexually immoral. Now, that is defined by Yahweh; it is defined by Scripture and not by man. Because the way things are going, they are bringing bestiality around soon. Now, the third is, no strangled (or in context) also no unclean meats. That means nothing strangled and nothing also that violates Leviticus 11 or Deuteronomy 14 (or common sense which is what seems to be missing from so many of these Rabbinical checklists). And lastly, as Israelites we need to make sure that we do not eat physical blood because that will get us cut off from the nation of Israel.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 3:17
17 ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat [chelev, חלב] nor blood.’”

Now, yes, we symbolically take wine as representing Yeshua’s blood, but it is not physical blood, so it is not a violation of the Torah.

Now, once we begin by obeying these four prerequisites that is when we can enter the synagogue environment and take instructions from the elders; we can hear the Torah being read, we can discuss how better to live it in fellowship with our other brothers and sisters.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:20
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

Now, once we show our sincerity by obeying these four prerequisites, we can learn how to become more like Yeshua; now, to walk more like Yeshua. And Yeshua loved to be active in His local synagogue. He loved to spread the Word in His area. So, we want to become like Yeshua, that is something we should be seriously praying about.

Luqa (Luke) 4:16
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

So, now the question in this case ultimately becomes: What would Yeshua eat? If Yeshua were here today, would He eat GMO chocolate frosted sugar bombs even though they are marked as kosher?

Well, the reason I bring this up is, I cannot count how many Messianic gatherings I have been to where someone brings pork or someone brings something unclean, and the last time I pointed it out, the man, the brother I mentioned it to, he just shrugged. He was like well, “Yeah, okay I am a sinner” he reaches for the pork as if confessing Yeshua was his get-out-of-jail-free-card.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:17
17 “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” says Yahweh.

Now, food is a huge topic and we could talk about it all day, there is a lot of ground, we will not have time to cover in this study. But for the purpose of this teaching, what we are trying to do is, we are trying to understand: What would Yeshua do?

Now, we are not trying to teach people whether they should or should not eat meat, we do not cover that here, we cover it in the written studies. We also do not cover how much meat; we also leave that for the written studies.

If you are sedentary, you need less. If you are very physically active, you probably need more.

But the Torah commands us to eat meat on certain occasions like the Pesach, so where do people get these doctrines that you cannot eat meat?

Shemote (Exodus) 12:8
8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

We are sure Yeshua ate meat. We know Yahweh commands meat for the Pesach. And we also see Yeshua eating fish.

Luqa (Luke) 24:42-43
42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

Torah also tells us we can eat eggs from clean birds. That also tells we can eat dairy, again, from clean animals.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 22:6
6 “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young;

Shemuel Bet (2 Samuel) 17:29
29 honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Now, in context, we do not eat snake or reptile eggs. They are eggs, but they are not from clean animals. The Torah tells us that snakes and reptiles are unclean, so their eggs are unclean. Also, this is the same reason why we do not drink camel’s milk. It is because camels are also unclean according to the Torah.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 11:41
41 ‘And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten.

So, we can all read Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 for ourselves, but again, today we are trying to talk about why Yahweh made some foods to be clean and other foods to be unclean. What is He really trying to teach us here? What does He really want us to know? We have not seen this taught anywhere else.

So, just to get this right out of the way, we are allowed to eat meat; again, it is commanded at some times. And we are allowed to eat dairy. We are also allowed to eat bee honey. It was, after all, the land of milk and honey (and we will talk about date honey somewhere else). But Shimshon (or Samson) ate bee honey, so it is okay.

Shemote (Exodus) 3:17
17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

We are going to have to talk in some other place about why regurgitated bee vomit is clean in some other place. But Solomon says we can have bee honey, just not too much.

Mishle (Proverbs) 25:27
27 It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory.

Okay, now, the problem starts to come in with the fact that, one, we want too much of things we should not have too much of. We want things we should not have at all. And now we have another problem, it comes in the modern times. But the fact that food today is not really the same as it was in past days, a simple fact is factory farm-raised animals are not raised the same way as they were in ancient times. You do not have chickens running around loose in the yard, the cows cannot wander from one end of the fence to the other one.

Even the wheat is not the same. Modern wheat has been bred to have up to 50 times more gluten in it (maybe more than that now). And they know that this gluten can likely cause celiac disease. It can cause leaky gut syndrome; it can lead to all kinds of digestive problems. And if the microbiome in the gut is not healthy, the rest of the body will not be healthy for long. And this is just because our wheat today is not the same as the ancient Black-emmer wheat and the ancient Ein-corn wheat that were used in Scripture times; it was a different wheat back in olden times; old bread, it is very thick, very heavy.

Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 4:9
9 “Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it.

All that puffiness that we have in modern bread, a lot of people cannot digest the protein that makes it puff. A lot of people cannot digest gluten. It especially affects Jewish people quite a lot.

Again, back in ancient times you had free range animals; they were a lot healthier. They were free to roam, they got plenty of sun, they had fresh air, they got exercise. These animals were much healthier than the animals today.

Today most factory farm animals are not allowed to run free because it makes their meat tougher. If they keep them cooped up, the meat is softer and the customers are happier, so the animals do not get the same kind of exercise in a healthy natural outdoor environment as they did in years past. Plus, they also do not necessarily have chemical free foods; they do not have necessarily non-GMO foods.

Now, let us add to this the fact that back in ancient times the average Israelites did not eat meat every day. In fact, if you were an average Israelite, you probably ate meat maybe 20 or 30 days in a year. Meat was treated more either like war tack (i.e., war food) for the rich because it is a concentrated source of energy and protein, or it was considered a treat, a delicacy.

Now, if you were a king or perhaps a rich man, then you could afford to sacrifice an animal every day, or perhaps every other day, but there was no refrigeration and no freezer space, so meat did not keep longer than two days.

That we saw back in Vayiqra (Leviticus) chapter 7 in verse 16, that the sacrifice had to be eaten on the same day it was made, although you could still eat any leftovers the following day, but on the third day in the Middle East – they do not eat the meat on the third day in the Middle East, it is already turning green; you do not eat that.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 7:16
16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten;

Now, if you were Levite on duty in the Temple or the Tabernacle and people are offering sacrifices every day, then you probably had more meat than you really wanted while you were on duty. Maybe when you are back home, maybe things would have been different, we do not know.

In the studies we talk about what is called meat toxicity which is a very real thing; if you get too much meat, you get sick.

But your average Israelite was very poor, he did not have a freezer, he did not have a refrigerator, he could not just go down to the supermarket. So, your average Israelites sacrificed animals on Feasts and on special occasions like weddings. If he were poor, he just did not have more money than that; that was a lot of money for animals back in those days.

Or maybe if you are rich and your prodigal son Ephraim comes back home – he has gone off running to worship the queen of heaven on Ishtar morning with Ishtar sunrise service, or maybe he ran away to worship the sun god Tamus (whose sign is the cross) on Sunday morning (or something like that). And so, when Ephraim comes home, you probably slaughtered the fatted calf for him because your son was spiritually dead and now he is alive again; he was lost and now he is found.

So, that is worthy of slaughtering the fatted calf. It is not something you did every day, even if you were rich you did not necessarily eat meat every day unless you were rich. That was it; you probably did not eat meat every day. You probably ate meat for the Feasts except for Yom Kippur (of course).

If you are doing well, maybe you had meat for Shabbat each week to make it special. Or if you were a king or rich, again, maybe you ate meat every day, but not too much because Solomon tells us that we do not want to be what is called ‘gluttonous eaters of meat’.

Mishle (Proverbs) 23:20
20 Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Okay, well, in context, what is a gluttonous eater of meat in Yahweh’s sight when your average Israelite did not eat meat every day; when eating meat was to celebrate a special occasion, what is a gluttonous eater of meat in Yahweh’s sight in that case?

Well, to answer that question, first let us take a look at our biology, let us consider the way we are made. Back in the Garden of Eden, Yahweh gave us every plant of the field in which there is seed in itself which reproduces after its kind for food.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:29
29 And Elohim 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.

So, back in the Garden of Eden, do not we imagine or visualize that there was an innocent, almost childlike nature and no desire to eat animals, no desire to eat flesh, and also no desire for cannibalism?

Well, as time went by, our forefathers corrupted themselves more and more. B’reisheet (or Genesis) chapter 6 says that Yahweh could see that the wickedness of man grew great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually. His thought was not to take care of his brother, but to get ahead of his brother.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 6:5
5 Then Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And so, Yahweh was sorry that He had made us on the earth. And Yahweh was grieved in His heart over us, His creation.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 6:6
6 And Yahweh was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Now, how happy was Yahweh with us at this point? And He destroyed everyone except eight people, Noah and his family. And Yeshua tells us it is going to be the same way for us when He returns.

He says as it was in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. People are not going to be paying attention to what Yahweh wants, but they are going to be eating and drinking, feasting, marrying and giving in marriage, dancing; not paying attention to Scripture. If they are paying attention to Scripture, they are not doing everything Elohim says. Maybe they are not praying desperately to hear and obey His voice (which is what He really wants).

Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:37-38
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

Brothers and sisters, do we know, we know how bad things are going to get in these End Times, right? Okay, so today we are still early on, we still have a long way to go. Follow the Revelation timeline; we have a long way to go. Already, today we have the media, we have Hollywood celebrities promoting cannibalism. They have been doing it in the back rooms in their occultic areas for a long time now, but it is starting to come out into the mainstream. We also saw cannibalism happen in ancient times in the accounts of our ancestors.

So today, as opposed to the Garden, today we have murder, child sacrifice, homosexuality, all the same things that used to happen in ancient times, (basically) right before Yahweh wiped us all out.

So, just as a question: Is it possible that Yahweh knew that man was wicked in his heart, and that he would eat flesh, and that he would one day want to get into cannibalism just because that is the flesh there is to be eaten?

So, just like Yahweh knew man would fall in the Garden, did Yahweh know about this also?

Well, in our study “About Predestination” in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume One, we see that both shaliach Shaul and shaliach Kepha speak of the concept of predetermination (or predestination) in some versions.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 1:11
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

So, what that tells us is that Yahweh already knew that things would end up going a certain direction. Everything had to converge when His Son was there; everything has to work together. Just as Yeshua was slain, He was the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world; the world was created through Him.

Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:20
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

We talk about that in our study on “Yeshua Manifestation of Yahweh” in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume One.

So, what we are saying is this: Okay, even if our ancestors did get into cannibalism and even if the Babylonian, Amalek media is promoting cannibalism and eating human flesh today like it is some great environmental thing, if we look at the Garden of Eden, we did not eat flesh. Our digestive tract is not set up for it; it is set up for plants.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:29
29 And Elohim 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.

The Scripture tells us not to desire the things of the flesh.

Romim (Romans) 8:5
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Let us be real, how many of us have ever joked, “Hey, I am a meat eater! Hey, I am a carnivore!”? Do you ever stop to think about what we are really saying there?

First, I mean did Yahweh design us as meat-eaters? Did Yahweh intend for us to be carnivores?

I mean some animal gives its life for us to eat meat, right? Something dies and sheds its blood so that we can eat meat. And if we have to do that for our health, that is one thing. If we have to do it because we are commanded, that is another thing. But are we proud of that? Is that something we should boast of, is that some animal has to die and give its blood for us; we’re proud of that?

Well, now even if there is nothing wrong with eating meat and even the Dalai Lama, I believe, eats some meat because without meat he develops liver disease. And we never see veganism or vegetarianism in nature – just vegan and vegetarian cultures, we do not see them.

Okay, so and we know that meat is allowed; we know that meat is commanded in some circumstances. So, even if there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat, is not there just something slightly off about that attitude; being proud of being a meat eater?

Is it not just something slightly perverse to revel in the concept of eating the flesh of an of an animal like a wolf would do? Or like a bear? Because Yahweh did not make us for that. So, where did we get that from? We did not get that from Yahweh, so where does that attitude come from?

Yeshua says we will be judged for every idle word that comes out of our mouths, because it reflects something, right?

Mattityahu (Matthew) 12:36
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

In psychology they show you these Rorschach blot pictures and they say, “What do you think it looks like?” Well, you are reading something into the picture, something that is not there. So, what comes out of your mouth indicates the condition of the heart.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 15:11
11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

So, right now we are thinking about what goes into our mouths, but have we ever thought about what comes out of our mouths? and that, that is what we are going to be judged by, along with our works.

Now, let us remember the Levitical sacrificial system. And people forget this all the time. The Levitical sacrificial system was given to us as a punishment, precisely because we would not hear and obey Yahweh’s voice.

Romim (Romans) 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Adon.

Why did we not want to hear and obey Yahweh’s voice? Because we did not really want a true relationship with Him. He wants a relationship with us. How do you get a relationship? We have to hear and obey His voice. If you are not going to hear and obey His voice, are you going to have a relationship?

Yahweh is always trying to step us through this thing, step by step by step by step. “Well, I do not know, what do I need to hear and obey His voice for? Out of what good does that do our relationship? I want that for Moses. You go talk.”

Jeremiah is clear, Yahweh originally did not want animal sacrifices. Meat sacrifices were given to us as a punishment.

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:22
22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

And Shaul tells us that they were used as a trainer. Because why a trainer? Because we would not hear and obey His voice. We did not want that relationship with Him.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:11
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But a trainer, what does that mean? What kind of a trainer? Like training wheels? What are we talking about? What is the point? What are we being trained in with regards to clean and unclean foods? What do we need to know for that day when we go to the Father’s house? What does He want? What is He like?

Okay, well, let us notice that none of the animals that we are allowed to eat in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 are predators; none of them are meat eaters. Rather, they are all grazers; they are all plant eaters, okay? Now, we are not also supposed to eat sharks, vultures, eagles, raptors, or predators of any kind, okay?

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:12-13
12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,
13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds;

If we want to eat flesh, then Yahweh wants us to eat the flesh of grazers because that is what He wants us to become. And as the old saying goes, “you are what you eat,” okay? He wants us to become peaceful and harmless like sheep.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 11:29
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Yes, it is true, ducks, and chickens, turkeys, they eat bugs, but they do not eat other birds; they are not carnivorous and they are not cannibalistic; they do not eat flesh.

So, since Yahweh wants us to become like the grazers, He gives us grazers to eat, since He wants us to become like the non-flesh-eating birds. He gives us non-flesh-eating birds to eat, hoping that this is going to have an effect, because you are what you eat. Deer, gazelle, antelope, those are not hunters.

If we had more time we could talk about the future world where Yeshayahu (or Isaiah) chapter 11 and verse 7 tells us that the cow and the bear shall graze, and their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 11:7
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

It does not say the lion shall eat the ox, says he shall eat straw like the ox. And Yeshayahu 65 in verse 25 we read basically the same thing. It says that in this ideal future world that Yahweh is bringing us all to, (at least in a spiritual sense) the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. “The lion shall eat straw like the ox and they shall neither hurt nor destroy in all His Set-apart Mountain, says Yahweh.”

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 65:25
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Set-apart Mountain,” says Yahweh.

Well, the wolf is not going to feed on the lamb and the lion is not going to graze on the ox, so at least in a spiritual sense, can we see that there is not going to be a carnivorous attitude in this ideal future world?

Well, to bring things back to the present, or back to the timeline we have been discussing, we saw how things were before the flood. And then in B’reisheet (or Genesis) chapter 9, now Yahweh tells us that after the flood, yes, we can eat the clean animals, just not their blood.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 9:4
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Okay, well, obviously they knew the difference between a clean and an unclean animal because Noach was told to bring seven pairs of the clean and only two pairs of the unclean into the Ark.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 7:2
2 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;

But to pour out the blood and not to eat the blood, because the life is in the blood. What does this say? What it says (effectively) is we are not to behave like predatorial beasts with bloodlust; we are not to have that predator-prey drive with a desire to eat flesh. That ravenous drinking of blood.

Follow this; give it a moment. We are not to have the lifeblood of animals in us because the life is in the blood. So, we pour out the animal’s life blood and then we cover it with earth. And it is all good, okay? Now, after the flood we can eat meat. Except, let us notice that after the flood our lifespan also went down drastically, so perhaps any connection?

Well, Genesis 1 tells us that we can eat the fruit of the trees and plants that has its seed within itself and bears fruit after its own kind. We can also eat the seeds of the trees and the plants, because, notice, the seed of the trees and the plants nourishes life.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:11
11 Then Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

So, when we eat the fruit of the tree and the seed is the life of the tree inside, we are eating life. So, what is it when we are eating a dead animal’s flesh? It is the same thing.

Forgive me, but just to say it, just to drive the point home: We do not eat animal seed, okay? That is gross. That is sick, right? But we are allowed to eat plant seeds. Healthy, it’s nutritious. The life of the plant is contained in the seed. Every seed contains the potential for another whole plant.

But what is the thing with eating flesh, brothers?

Our forefathers had the bread of angels (or the manna) for 40 years in the wilderness; it was all they needed, but it was not enough for them. They wanted to eat flesh; nothing else would do. They wanted flesh like when they lived in Egypt.

So, guess what? Yahweh gave our forefathers flesh to eat, but He was not happy about it, okay?

Bemidbar (Numbers) 11:20
20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’”

If we care about Yahweh’s heart – which is why we are here – can we consider the idea that we maybe should not boast about being carnivores?

Is it possible that even though we can eat flesh for our health and it may be good for our health (at least after the flood), is it possible that Yahweh does not want us to lust after eating flesh; not to be proud of it?

And there are other things we should talk about as long as we are here. A lot of material to cover, we cannot cover all of it. But one of the things we need to know is that ground beef is not a biblical food. And ground beef is not really good for us. Ground beef does not pass the Colossians chapter 2 and verse 16 test, okay? Ground beef was not known in the Garden of Eden.

It is basically made out of scraps, no ground round. If you take a cut, take it to your butcher and he grinds it for you, that is one thing; that is ground round; that is a different thing. But ground beef is different. It contains gristle, and fat, and all kinds of things that they cannot sell in a regular package. And then they test ground beef for E.coli, it almost always tests positive.

And we are coming into a time when they say that modern medicine and antibiotics, they expect it to fail in the next 20-30-40 years. They are expecting to see more, and more, and more of these superbugs because they are feeding antibiotics straight to the cattle in their feed.

If that was not gross enough, ground beef is made (basically) by grinding the meat, and the scraps, and the fat, together in a grinder. And Yahweh says very clearly to cut out all the fat. Ground beef does not do that; ground beef includes the fat in the grind.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 7:23-25
23 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat [chelev, חלב], of ox or sheep or goat.
24 And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it.
25 For whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.

Ground round, you take something to the butcher, a nice cut, say, “Please grind it,” that is separate. Ground beef contains ingredients we are not supposed to have; it contains ingredients Yahweh says not to eat. So, we think we are eating kosher by eating ground beef, right? Okay, now let us bring in the modern day GMOs, and pesticides, and growth hormones…

I spoke to an organic dairy farmer one time, they pump cows a few times harder than they were ever intended to produce milk, two, three, sometimes four times as much as the cow was intended to produce.

Not only that, then we pasteurize the milk to kill it. So, it is no longer a live food, now it is a dead food. And they say we are what we eat. So, what happens? We are drinking dead milk, is that the same thing as live milk from the land of milk and honey? It is not the same thing at all; it is a different animal. Does it follow Yahweh’s heart?

Okay, now let us back up just for a moment. Let us take in what we might call the big picture view. Now, could it be that one of the big messages that we have here is that Yahweh is trying to remind us that, apart from Him, really, we have no life?

Because our life comes from Yahweh, but the life of the animal, that is in the blood, and we are forbidden to consume the animal blood, right? Okay, so what is Yahweh trying to say with all this? Could Yahweh be saying, “Do not find life in the dead animal that you are consuming, rather find life in Me”?

Yochanan (John) 6:54
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Yahweh gave our ancestors bread from heaven, they were sick of it. They had everything they needed, they were not happy. Are we the same? Are we willing to obey His laws and His Torah and find out what matters to His heart even in something as simple as food?

If we are dedicating our bodies, we are trying to become His dedicated set-apart bride, are we caring about His heart? Are we doing the things that we know that He would want us to do?

Okay, some more things we need to know about the fat that surrounds the kidneys and liver today, that has been made typically into what is called tallow.

Now, tallow is the purest form of animal fat that you can have. You can do all kinds of things with it. You can make soap, you can eat it (technically), well, not according to Scripture, but it is very high energy. Now, when you burn fat on the fire, it burns up high; a big old flame.

Now, here is the problem when we start to do what seems good and right in our own eyes. Now, some people, especially Hollywood and the media are beginning to teach that tallow and blood are very nutritious. In fact, they are even beginning to tell our children that they should eat tallow and blood. And now they are even beginning to say that human flesh is the most nutritious food there is and that cannibalism is the new best way to save the planet.

It is true, human flesh is very nutritious. It has everything you need right there to fuel the body; it is right there. And so, the Babylonian media is telling us to eat human flesh now. And it will take a decade or so to hit the mainstream, but eventually it will, and then what is next?

Yeshua tells us that as it was in the days of Noah so shall the coming of the Son of Man be, and they expect modern medicine to fail in the next 20-30-40 years which seems to correspond pretty well with the Tribulation time frame.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:39
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

So, if anyone is looking for a good career to go into I would say natural medicine would not be a bad one; if you are a young person looking for a career, then I recommend perusing natural medicine; Yahweh’s medicine.

Well, what is the good in all this; what is the positive; what are the good takeaways here? Okay, well, one takeaway is what are called ruminant animals; animals that chew the cud such as sheep, and goats, and cows, those are very interesting animals; we can learn a lot about them.

We are supposed to become like sheep. And one thing we notice about the ruminant animals, sheep, and goats, and cows, they are very fussy eaters that sniff their food first. Everything that smells bad, smells like manure, or just smells rotten (you know what I am saying) they will not eat it; they are very picky eaters.

Plus, they have more than one stomach, so what they do eat, they ruminate, they meditate. They burp it up and they chew the cud, so they get a lot more goodness out of the grass and the grains that they do eat.

The spiritual sense is kind of like, when we hear a lesson from Yahweh or Scripture – someone’s teaching on something, someone is trying to tell you all you must do is watch Saturday Night Live and buy their books and tapes and everything is good, you should sniff it; just sniff it first (so to speak). Smell like a Scriptural teaching? Does it smell like candy coated arsenic?

And some people, as long as it smells good, they will eat it. Yes, but if it smells bad, or it smells wrong, or if something is not right, do not eat it. Or if it is not the message our body is designed for, do not eat it, right?

But what we do eat, we meditate, we ruminate on it, we burp it up (so to speak) and chew on it some more before we are all done with it (so to speak). Whereas, in contrast, pigs just swallow whatever you give them, straight down. They can have manure, it can have feces, it can have rotten food, they do not care, they will just suck it straight down, they do not even chew on it, they just swallow it, okay?

Well, does not that kind of remind us of some Christians who just sort of believe whatever their pastor tells them? Or perhaps, forgive me, like Catholics who believe whatever the Pope tells them even if it is in contrast to Scripture?

And like the eucharist literally becomes the body and blood of Jesus (or whatever they teach). Okay, that would be literally eating blood; that literally would be a refutation of the Torah.

Well, then we have our Rabbinical brethren who basically believe whatever the Rabbis or the town would say. They do not ruminate on it, and they do not compare it to Yahweh’s Word; they just swallow it straight down, whatever the Rabbis say. Okay, well, you can say, “Well that is the Rabbis, and this is us. We have Yeshua so we get the clean food laws,” but do we really?

Timotheus Bet (2 Timothy) 4:3
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

A lot of Christians and even many Messianics have swallowed some pretty bad smelling teachings about what Acts chapter 10 really says. And they swallowed it straight down without even reading the whole chapter. Because in Ma’asei (or Acts) chapter 10, Cornelius who was the first non-Jew to get called to the faith (he was the first returning Gentile), Cornelius believed on Yeshua and so Yahweh sent Kepha (or Peter) to go to minister to him.

Ma’asei (Acts) 10:4
4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, master?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before Elohim.

In verse 11, Yahweh gives Kepha (or Peter) a vision of a giant sheet (perhaps a tallit, perhaps not – what we call a tallit today did not even exist in the first century – I believe, created in the second century after the Roman exile, but), Kepha sees a giant sheet descending with all sorts of unclean animals in it. Then a voice said, “Arise Kepha, slay and eat.”

Ma’asei (Acts) 10:11-13
11 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.
12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.
13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

And the Mystery Babylonian church system will tell you that this means we can eat whatever we want now. Lions, tigers, and bears; animals – snakes, pigs, and wildebeests. And now the Babylonian, Amalek media is also promoting eating bugs along with cannibalism.

Okay, so the Catholic church should be good with that, right? Evangelical Christianity should also be good with that, right?

Well, I mean, because we do not have to obey the clean food laws in the church system, right? Oh, but funny, it turns out that bugs like that are highly toxic and they are going to make you sick because we are not meant to eat those bugs. That is what Yahweh is trying to tell us in Leviticus 11 in Deuteronomy 14.

Now, we do not want to argue with anyone, but if we are going to argue, let us argue with Scripture. What does Kepha (or Peter) say that the vision meant? Does Kepha say that his vision meant that we can eat deep fried hamsters, mc-pig, the guinea pig? What are we supposed to eat now?

Okay, verse 34, Kepha opened his mouth and said, “Ah! In truth I perceive that Elohim shows no partiality between Jews and Gentiles, but whoever believes on Yeshua. But in every nation, Yahweh accepts whoever fears Him and obeys the Torah (or works righteousness). So, whoever obeys the Torah, which is what working righteousness is – in Hebrew parlance – whoever obeys the Torah, is accepted by Him.”

Ma’asei (Acts) 10:34-35
34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that Elohim shows no partiality.
35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

It has always been that way. Gentiles could always join the nation of Israel. Ruth, Rahab – it is just that, until Yeshua, not that many wanted to, that is the difference. And Yeshua also brought the mass outpouring of the Spirit. That is also why, in Acts chapter 15, the commandment is for the returning Gentile Ephraimites to abstain from the four abominations that will get you killed or cut off from the nation of Israel, according to Torah.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:20
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

Once again, they are making a ruling according to Torah. These are the four things that will get you killed or cut off from the nation. But as far as most of the Mystery Babylonian church system is concerned, Acts 15 means nothing, Colossians 2 means nothing.

We look at Colossians 2 verses 16 and 17 in the New International Version, it says these are a shadow of things that were to come (I mean they are done away with). It says, “the reality then, however, is found in Christ.”

Colossians 2:16-17 (NIV)
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

That is nothing like Shaul’s original meaning for the Christian church. Foods apparently have absolutely no spiritual values. That is why the Methodist church was offering raisin cakes to the queen of heaven several years ago. And that is why the church teaches you can eat whatever you want now, since Yeshua died to set us free from the bridal Covenant. Now we can eat snakes, and bugs, and crickets.

And there is just so much more we could say here, but we need to keep it simple. At some point, brothers, sisters, what we have to do is we have to make a decision to trust Yahweh and trust in His Word, and to believe that He has a reason for commanding the things He commands us.

Qorintim Bet (2 Corinthians) 6:2
2 For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

He says He commands these things for our good. At a certain point we have to make a decision to trust Him. It is to come to Yeshua moment. We have to decide to quit trusting ourselves, quit trusting our own eyes, our own opinions, our own thoughts on the matter, and start seeking what Yahweh says. What does Yahweh want? What is Yahweh’s heart in this thing? If we are going to be His bride, do we care what His heart is?

Yeshua is going to be coming to take His bride soon and that is how it is for a Hebrew bride. You listen to the bridegroom’s best friend (which is the Spirit) tell you what the Bridegroom likes. So, we should always be in contact with Yeshua’s Spirit; finding out what Yeshua wants in this circumstance, finding out what Yeshua wants in that circumstance.

Yochanan (John) 14:26
26 But the Helper, the Set-apart Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Oh! And not surprisingly – Oh! Guess what? Big surprise! Yeshua likes what His Father likes. What a surprise! Oh! And since we are going to go live in His Father’s mansion, we are going to serve His Father, does it not make sense to learn what His Father likes so we can serve Him, what He likes on His own menu, in His own house?

What do we think we are going to do? We think we are going to go serve the Father foods that He does not like? We think we are going to serve the Father foods that He said we should never have? It is like, what are some people thinking?

It is like, there are so many contradictions; people are so confused. When we obey the Torah with all our hearts, all those contradictions disappear, Yeshua becomes our reason for keeping the Torah. But we keep the Torah because Yeshua gave it to us; He told us to keep it.

Yochanan (John) 14:15
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And brothers, what are we going to do? Are we going to take delight in eating Levitical sacrificial meats even though the Levitical sacrificial system was originally given to us as a punishment and as a retraining mechanism because we did not want to hear and obey His voice; we did not want to develop a relationship with Him and love Him and hear what is on His heart?

Mattityahu (Matthew) 23:37
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

We did not want to do that, so now we have the Levitical sacrificial system. And now we have a Rabbinical version of the Levitical sacrificial system. They are going to establish a temple in Jerusalem dedicated to the Rabbinical version of the punishment system that was given to us because we did not want a relationship with Yahweh.

So, we got punished, so now we are going to revel in eating the punishment meat of the sacrifice offerings as if it makes us righteous? We are going to have some set-apart barbecue with Yahweh and then we are going to be proud, we are going to feel justified in our flesh that we followed the commandments?

“We did what we are supposed to do! We are so proud that an animal gave his life for us to eat! We are going to go to the temple and be proud to shed blood even though we are supposed to be like sheep! Oh! But we want to eat what we want to eat!”

Esau sold his inheritance for a bowl of food. He had the kingship by birthright; the kingship was his, but he valued his food more than what Yahweh wanted him to value. Yahweh wanted this, Esau wanted that.

B’reisheet (Genesis) 25:34
34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Brothers, can we hear the rod?

Okay, what about us brothers? We see the Tribulation – Matthew 24 is knocking on the door every day now. Do we want to be found faithful in the day that our Husband Yeshua returns for His faithful bride?

Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:44
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Adam is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Do we want to serve His Father the foods He wants to eat in His own house? Or is our plate more important to us than serving Elohim? Do we want to be the ones to write the menu?

We are serving Him as a waiter. He is going to walk in the room, we are going to go, “I know what you want!” And we are going to run off and get it. We are not going to listen, we are not going to sit, we are not going to let Him sit down and tell us what He wants.

I mean it does not make sense to get circumcised if you are not going to submit your reproductive urges to His dominion. It does not make sense to eat clean food laws designed to make us into grazers. And then we are going to take pride in the fact that some animal gave its blood so that we could eat it.

Eating meat is even commanded in some places; there are sometimes we are supposed to eat meat. Surely Yeshua ate meat. Yeshua absolutely ate fish. Where is that kind of a pride commanded? Where is the joking, “Yes, I’m a carnivore.” Where is that kind of pride commanded when the animal sacrifices were originally given to us as a teaching mechanism so we would learn to listen to His voice; care about what He wants in His heart? And then maybe we would not sin.

May Yahweh please lead us all to take a good long sit down, look at ourselves in the spiritual mirror. And may He make us care about His heart. May He help us to make the decisions that will please Him with regard to our food and our diet.

Let us remember only to let the body of Mashiach tell us what foods and what drinks we are to eat, and what Sabbaths and Feast days were supposed to rest on, because these are prophetic shadow pictures of things that will soon be happening for the bride.

Qolossim (Colossians) 2:16-17 (NKJV Corrected)
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a feast or a new moon or sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Messiah.

In Yeshua’s name,

Amein.