For many, “Easter” is on the horizon and ham is the choice meal.
Should we as bible believing Christians, eat ham? Consider the following:
Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
In 1 Tim chapter 4:3 The foods that are being referenced are the ones that split the hove and chew the cud because the law of Moses clearly states that unclean beasts are not to be considered as food. We are not to abstain from eating cow; sheep etc… because they are what we are told in the Law of Moses that we can eat as food or are as Paul said, “of God.” The problem in our culture is that we have embraced the idea that Pigs are food even though God forbade eating them in the Law of Moses.
Deu 14:8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.
We have this phrase “unclean beast” and we do not know what to do with it because we do not know what it means nor why God would make an unclean beast. Why is a pig unclean? A better question might be, why did God make unclean beasts? We can go down the rabbit hole further when we ask the question, why did God allow unclean beasts on Noah’s Ark if he was cleansing the world of sin and everything bad?
Gen 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
Once we understand why a beast is declared unclean in the scriptures, things then become clear as to why we are told not to eat them.
As an example, Shellfish are unclean in the scripture.
Lev 11:10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
Lev 11:11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Understand this, shellfish are bottom feeders and they eat the muck that other creatures poop or waste. If you put a bunch of clams in a dirty water in a glass fish tank, they will clean the water and the glass and water will become clear. They are the dirt and disease filters that God made to clean the waste products of other creatures. By design, they clean or filter the worlds waste.
Pigs are the same way. The prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, came to himself when he was willing to eat the same meal that was set for the swine that he was feeding. So he set off and returned to his fathers house, willing to be a hired servant of his father and eat the food of his father’s servants. We should note that he did not even consider eating the pigs he was feeding in the story that Christ told about him. Remember 1 Timothy 4:3 talks about the teaching of abstaining from Meats as a doctrine of devils. Christ didn’t say the pigs looked good to eat, he said the food they were being fed looked good to the young man. Pigs eat just about anything that the rest of the farm has as waste. They are cleaners or filters by design and are therefore unclean. This is paramount to understand about unclean beasts; God said they shall be unclean to YOU in the context of food. He was not saying they are filthy sin filled beasts, he was saying they are unclean to you as food.
We all really need to get this point, as stated above, in the Law of Moses God told Israel not to eat swine nor to touch a dead pig carcase. God told Adam that he was not to eat the forbidden fruit, but he did not say anything to Adam about touching it. This is where the Word of God started to get misrepresented by Eve. It was Eve that said to the serpent that they could not touch it. She ADDED to the word of God, a phrase that God did not say to Adam. She said they could not touch it or they would die. Eve was not yet created when God gave the food instructions to Adam. She was the first creation to represent the Word of God and she botched it. According to the Apostle Paul, this is why women are forbidden to speak with authority in the church.
1Ti 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
1Ti 2:13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
*** 1Co 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1Co 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1Co 14:35 And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
God did not say a living pig could not be touched nor kept as an important part of his creations and God did not say to Adam that he could not touch the forbidden fruit.
As soon as we make the leap that swine, shell fish etc… was all inclusive when Paul was talking about ALL creatures of God are good for food we miss the mark and we embrace the idea that God altered the purpose for unclean beasts. Christ died for the sins of the world to clean man of his sin. Christ did not die to clean the unclean beasts that God made to clean up the waste products of the world. If all creatures were including unclean beasts the Prodigal son could have had ham and the story might have ended differently.
I know that many of my bible believing friends are locked and loaded and ready to say that the law of Moses no longer applies because Christ fulfilled the law and it is not longer in affect and therefore we can eat everything God made.
Friend, If that is true and you believe the law of Moses is no longer in affect I will ask you to consider the following:
I am going to make the assumption that if you made it this far in my composition that you have a least a basic bible understanding and know that in the end times during the great tribulation of our future the antichrist will desecrate the alter by slaying a pig on it in the new Temple in the holy city of Jerusalem.
So I will ask you, If the Law of Moses is no longer in affect because you believe Christ said we can now eat pigs (swine) and defy the law of Moses, why would it be a prophesy of blasphemy “Daniel Chapter 9 and 11” for the antichrist to kill an unclean beast (a pig) on the alter in the NEW SOLOMONS TEMPLE in Jerusalem?
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
*** Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Dan 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
The pig is either, clean because of Christ, and no longer subject to the Law of Moses or it is not clean and that act would be a defilement of the alter.
The truth is that Christ fulfilled the law he did not do away with it. We are to love the Law and Keep it and delight in it.
Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
With respect to your upcoming holiday meal, the fall of man in the creation story was handled over food instruction.
You should read that again.
Shouldn’t we take heed to ALL of God’s food instructions, especially on a day where specific food instruction are given for that day? The Passover meal is the celebration meal that Christ was eating on the evening that Moses broke bread and ate bitter herbs before leading the children of Israel out of bondage.
The children of Israel ate lamb and God told them to put the lambs blood on their door post and if the door was marked with the lambs blood the angel of death would PASSOVER them.
This is the meal that Christ ate with his disciples. He also broke bread with them. Please get this point; Adam was driven out of Eden and an angel was placed at the gate to keep him from entering and EATING from the Tree of Life. God specifically said that he would no longer have that fruit as an option and he said that man would instead Eat BREAD.
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
When God told Moses to annually practice what meal to prepare and rehearse every year after the Exodus from Egypt, he had the children of Israel remove the leaven out of their homes and they had unleavened bread as part of the Passover meal and the days of unleavened bread would follow as a rehearsal.
Food preparations, food instruction are given throughout scripture as a practice or rehearsal for the end time’s believer.
Do you know how God will feed the people that follow him during the great Tribulation? Are you prepared for the Great Tribulation? Have you been rehearsing his instructions or are you following the will of the Lawless one?
Lear more. Read Survival Guide To The Great Tribulation
