Choosing the Way of Death
“Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof ….. and the swine though he divide the hoof, and be cloven – footed, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.” (Leviticus 11: 2&7)
In the Digest of the Divine Law by Howard Rand, he writes on page 44, “Examination of the mummies of Egypt has disclosed the fact that the Egyptians were subject to the diseases which afflict our nation today. God declared that the violation of His laws would bring upon us all the diseases of Egypt, also every other sickness and plague (Deuteronomy 28: 58-61). We have them all. The judgment as pronounced has come upon us. This is evidenced in the sickness and suffering for our failure to keep the law and obey the injunction, ‘Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.’”
And yet we do, in increasing amounts. A reader wrote us in July saying, “ Canada is in bad shape. And is getting worse! I think you will agree when you read the enclosed newspaper clipping. Maple Leaf Foods currently have a meat plant in Saskatoon which currently processes 17,000 hogs a week. They are planning a 110 million dollar addition to the 66 year old plant. The new plant will process 40,000 hogs weekly …..Over 2.4 million hogs are produced in the province [ Saskatchewan], all produced for human consumption. What happens to all the manure from all these hogs. Farmers do not want it on the land and if the plant is near water, the run off would foul the water…..A recent television review said cancer is now the leading cause of death and is now epidemic…..but people should be alerted to what happens to them when they eat pig. They do not know our Lord’s laws in the Old Testament. That book is considered taboo. Our ministers and church leaders are so guilty of not teaching the Laws……I hope you can bring something to their attention in your “Thy Kingdom Come.”
Her comment about ministers reminds me of a time I attended Easter services at a very large church and the minister announced that following the service a ham luncheon would be served. Yet, as Rand wrote, “Men are resentful when there is interference with their appetites. Christians who would not think of violating any of the Ten Commandments will deliberately violate the laws of continued health. Later in life, when the inevitable happens, and health is gone, they blame God, though Moses said, ‘See, I have set before thee this day to Love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that thou mayest live and multiply.’ (Deuteronomy 30: 15-16) Can God be blamed when men deliberately choose the way of death? Because the penalties for such law violation are deferred, in some cases until life has nearly run its full course, men harden their hearts….”
In our ignorance, “pig” is just one of the abominable things we consume in ever increasing amounts. Christians can rationalize their habit and its ultimate ill effects by blaming God or others but through the Apostle Paul, God told us very clearly to study to show ourselves approved. If the Scriptures were studied, as they should be, hog production would diminish, not flourish. How often do you hear, “Well, I’ve had my three score and ten?” I read God’s intention differently. Genesis 6: 3 tells us, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” I recall reading a book by Dr. Norman Walker who discovered the importance of proper foods in his mid-seventies when he had a health scare. He lived to well over a hundred and enjoyed the good health he sought.
How frustrating it must be for the Lord, watching as His people ignore the wisdom of His Word. Through the prophet Isaiah, he referred to our generation when He said, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon alters of brick; Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, (emphasis mine) and broth of abominable things is in their vessels:” (stew of oysters/clams/prawns, etc) Of course, Christians will take out of context certain New Testament passages, like Acts 10: 10-28, and justify their habit, notwithstanding that Peter did not eat and came to the realization that the vision’s meaning was otherwise.
