March 8, 2026

To Eat Or Not To Eat, That Is The Question

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In this episode of Torah Awakenings, we take a deeper look at one of the most debated aspects of Torah observance: the biblical dietary laws. Many believers who are beginning to see the relevance of Torah often struggle with the issue of clean and unclean foods, frequently pointing to Peter’s vision in Acts 10 as proof that God changed His dietary instructions. But when we examine the full context of the passage, we discover that Peter himself explains the vision was not about food at all, but about how Jews viewed Gentiles. From there, we explore the Hebrew concepts of sin, transgression, and iniquity, the call to holiness in Leviticus 11, and the idea that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. While Scripture ultimately grounds these dietary instructions in simple obedience to יהוה, we also consider possible health implications and the broader spiritual principle behind God’s commands. The question ultimately becomes one every believer must answer: when revelation brings understanding, will we adjust our lives to align with God’s instructions—or ignore the light we’ve been given?

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00:00 - Setting The Stage: Torah And Diet

02:31 - Kosher Vs Biblically Correct

04:40 - Why Diet Is The Sticking Point

06:33 - Context Before Peter’s Vision

09:05 - Peter’s Vision Explained In Full

13:05 - Three Times For A Reason

15:15 - Revelation: Not Food, But People

18:00 - Obedience When Taste Tempts

20:25 - Sin, Transgression, Iniquity Defined

25:10 - Leviticus 11 And Holiness

27:43 - Health Risks And Cleanliness

30:05 - Your Body As A Temple

33:28 - Maccabees And Defiled Altars

36:25 - Paul’s Analogy Applied To Diet

38:44 - Did Jesus Change The Menu

41:20 - Weighing The Stakes Of Lawlessness

45:15 - Cherry Picking Torah And Sabbath

49:20 - From Ignorance To Iniquity

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Shalom and welcome back to another edition of Torah Awakenings, the podcast dedicated to awaken believers to the truth of Torah and the testimony of Yeshua.

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And today I have an episode that I want to bring to you that is actually a re-recording from a message that I did yesterday in church.

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And as always, you know, I like to bring to the podcast the things that I teach in the congregation.

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And so without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and jump into this.

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So what I want to do with this episode is take on a topic that I've talked about frequently, but not in the sense where I actually did a deep dive into this context.

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But more and more I'm finding that people are starting to understand the relevance of Torah in our lives as believers.

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In fact, there are more than a few places where we see the idea of Torah observance and faith in Yeshua going hand in hand.

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And I'm seeing believers coming to the realization of this.

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And so as a result, there are things that are slowly starting to change in their lives based on this revelation.

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And so the topic for this one is to eat or not to eat.

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That is the question.

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And so what's really looking into the idea of the biblically correct diet.

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Now, some people will call it a kosher diet, but as my rabbi puts out, there's a difference between kosher and biblically correct.

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Biblically correct talks about what the Bible outlines as good and not good.

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Kosher is something that is based on the Bible, but at the same time, there are some additions into it based on a rabbi coming in and approving this product and saying that it's kosher.

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And so sometimes you'll have things that are deemed kosher by the rabbinical standards, but all they really did was just come in and just put their seal on it.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Nothing special was done.

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So we try to get away from the idea of kosher and more into the idea of a biblically correct diet.

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So with this understanding, one of the biggest things for many people, many Christians, to accept is the dietary aspect of Torah.

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They'll come into the knowledge that Torah is relevant and all this kind of stuff, but the diet thing, they have a really big problem with it.

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And what we find is that many of my Christian friends, when talking about this one one issue, they have the greatest problem with it.

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You know, and what I found is that this is one of those places where the idea of cherry picking comes into play.

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I like this aspect of Torah, but I don't too much like this because I like this and I don't want to give this up.

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You know, they'll find all kinds of justifiable reasons to justify why they keep doing this thing that they're doing, as opposed to submitting to the word and giving it up.

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But let's take a look at some of the most common verses used to justify why the idea of eating things condemned in the Bible no longer applies today.

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And in these conversations, the first, actually the main verse that always gets pulled up is one about Peter's vision in the book of Acts.

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And this passage is usually always given minus the full context of what's going on in the text.

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And what I find is that lack of context is the enemy of understanding.

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And what do I mean by that?

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When you don't have the full context of something, you know, your it, your understanding is distorted.

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And that's why I say it's the enemy of understanding, because they can't that they don't go hand in hand.

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And so what we find is that we have to give full context of the word before we run off with something, because now we're finding that we're running off half-cocked based on what we think is truth, but it's not truth.

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So let's dig into this.

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We first need to look at what happened before Peter had his vision.

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Now, this comes from Acts 10, verses 1 through 8.

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Well, actually goes through 1 through 14, but we're gonna just talk about 1 through 8 to give context.

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And so as we read chapter 10, verse 1 through 8, we're introduced to Cornelius, and the text says that Cornelius was known to be a devout man and one that feared the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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Now, what many believers miss is that this text lets us know that Cornelius was basically a proselyte, which is a Gentile believer that converted and submitted himself to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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And basically, you say he became a Jew.

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And so, as such, he was clearly Torah observant, you know what I'm saying, to the point that an angel acknowledged his devotion and sent him or had him send men to go talk to Peter to get the understanding that he didn't have.

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And so during that time, we find that there were a lot of people, a lot of Gentiles that were known to be God fearers.

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So when you hear God fearers, think of proselytes, they were Gentiles that converted to become Jews.

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Okay, and what also needs to be understood is that as Peter will later tell us, it was culturally forbidden for Jews to come in contact with Gentiles, especially to be in the home of a Gentile.

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And so, in the eyes of the Jews, Gentiles were considered to be undesirable.

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And keep in mind that I guess keep this in mind as you read the the scripture about the encounter.

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Now, one thing I do want to give more clarity on is that this was never what Torah taught.

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Torah never taught that Jews cannot come in, you know, come in contact with Gentiles or be in their house or anything like that.

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This was something that the religious leaders put out, and so the Jews that they were obeying the religious leaders, they said, okay, well, if this is what the teaching is, this is what we're gonna do.

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And even within the realm of the disciples or the apostles, they still had this mindset because all their life they were told it's unlawful for us to come into communication or contact with a gentile.

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And again, Peter's gonna say this, okay.

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So let's look at chap verse 9 through what did I say?

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14.

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Acts 10, 9 through 14.

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And it says, On the next day, as they, these are the men that Cornelius sent, were on their way approaching to the city.

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Peter went on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became hungry and wished to eat.

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But while they were preparing, he fell into a trance, and he saw the heaven open, and a certain vessel like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and led down to the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping creatures, and the birds of the heaven.

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And a voice came to him saying, Rise up, Peter, slay and eat.

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But Peter said, Not at all, master, because I have never eaten whatever is common or unclean.

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Okay, so based on what we just read, we find that even after the resurrection, the apostles were still observant to include the dietary laws.

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And this is a very important fact because many people in the church are being taught that the dietary laws and all those things ended at the cross.

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But if they did, why do we find here after the resurrection that the apostles are still observing the dietary laws as well as other aspects of Torah?

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But having seen the vision of all these unclean animals and hearing the voice of God telling him to eat, he firmly refused.

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He's like, No, I'm not going to, I can't do that.

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And he explained why he refused.

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And so, again, even after the resurrection, he still kept the biblically clean diet.

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Now, I want you to keep that in mind and not lose that.

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Just put a pen, put a pen, put a pen on that.

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And so a voice came to him, this is verse 15, from heaven the second time.

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What Elohim is clean, you do not call common or unclean.

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So again, keep in mind God's reply to Peter's statement.

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You don't call what God cleansed, common or unclean.

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Verse 16, and this took place three times, and the vessel was taken back to heaven.

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So this vision of the sheep coming down before heaven and hearing the voice saying, Rise, kill, and eat, happened three times.

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And three times it happened, Peter's comment was still the same.

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Despite the fact that God said, Well, God is cleansed, don't you call comment unclean?

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Okay, so keep in mind, three times it happened, three times Peter responded the way he did, three times God responded the way he did.

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And then the next thing to take note of is the number three.

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Everything happened in threes.

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The sheet came down three times, Peter responded three times, God responded, or he counted him three times, and the Cornelius sent three men.

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There we go, which we're about to see.

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Verse 17.

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And while Peter was doubting within himself about what the vision might mean, look, the men who have been sent from Cornelius having asked for the house of Simon stood at the gate.

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And calling out, they inquired whether Simon, also known as Peter, was staying there.

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So Peter was thinking about this vision and wondering what this is all about.

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And at this time, these men that came from Cornelius, these Gentiles, were outside inquiring about him.

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And no doubt, as I said, Peter was completely baffled by this.

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Like, what is this about?

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You know, I've always been careful to eat a briefly correct diet, and suddenly God is telling me to eat.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Something that's not right.

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And so, again, as I said, up until this point, he always made it a point to make sure that he kept the Torah commands, you know, even while he was walking with Yeshua, okay?

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And that includes the dietary laws.

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In fact, during the earthly ministry of Yeshua, Yeshua himself never contradicted the teachings of Torah.

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Yet we see suddenly the voice of God is telling him to do something contrary to what the Torah is telling him.

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And that doesn't work because God would never tell you to do anything contrary to what he has told you to do in the first place.

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But no doubt Peter's wondering what this was about.

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And seeing as it was a vision, clearly, he understood that there had to be a revelation behind what he was seeing.

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Okay, because this didn't make sense.

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So he's like, okay, there's more to this than what I'm understanding.

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In verse 19, it says, and as Peter was thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, See, three men seek you.

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Look at all these threes.

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So take note again.

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The number three is mentioned.

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Now we have the vision happening three times, Peter's response three times, God's counter three times, and three men coming to see him.

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So this we see we see the setup for revelation ultimately.

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Verse 20 and 21 says, But rise up, go down with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.

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This is the spirit talking to Peter.

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And it says, So Peter went down to the men, and they had been sent to see him and said, Look, I am the one that you seek.

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Why have you come?

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So let's talk about this.

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The spirit instructs Peter to go with these three men, doubting nothing.

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So it wasn't fully until they arrived at Cornelius' house that Peter understood the matter.

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No doubt he was still kind of baffled trying to figure out what this meant.

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But we find as he begins to share the story with Cornelius and his friends, and later with the apostles, he tells them, you know, he got the revelation what God was showing him.

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So Peter understood that the vision was not so much about changing his views on the biblical diet, but rather changing his views on how he sees Gentiles.

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Again, when believers read this passage, it's almost like they missed the revelation that Peter had gotten, even though Peter makes it clear what this revelation was all about.

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And so sometimes with revelation, God would take something that is fully understood by you to bring out another point for something else.

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So in this case, he Peter understood how they looked at the unclean animals.

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And he had his comment and God had his rebuttal.

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And then God said, What I've caught, what I've cleansed, don't call comment unclean.

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And so ultimately, Peter was able to understand that, okay, it wasn't about the food, but it was about how I see people.

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You see what I'm saying?

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So it was a deeper meaning behind this.

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And in all honesty, I'm inclined to believe that most believers, when they read this, they ignore his revelation in order to justify not having to give up something that they enjoy eating.

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Now, just to keep it real, I'd be lying if I said that some of the things that were considered to be unclean or unlawful were bad.

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I mean, they I mean, as far as in taste, a lot of them taste good.

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Just being real.

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In fact, a lot of these, oh my God, I remember before I started doing this, I used to love eating crab legs and lobster tails, and that stuff tastes good.

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And it was really hard to give it up.

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But I was like, Torah says that these things were not designed to be food, so I had to let it go.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Because this is what the word says, you know.

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And it's interesting that when we read the scripture, it tells us the things that are forbidden, but it never says why.

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And I'm like, that's really weird.

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You know, you outlawed all of these, but you're not gonna say why.

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You know, he just said, Don't eat these, you know, these are forbidden.

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And the only reason that I found when I read it is in the Hebrew, it says, I need Yehovah, which means I am Yehovah.

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In other words, I'm not obligated to explain myself to you.

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Ultimately, it becomes a thing about obedience.

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And so I kind of liken that to being a parent, and you tell your child not to do something, and the child asks you why, and you say, Because I said so.

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That is it.

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The child understands your authority, respects your authority, even though no reason was given, but he respects your authority and he doesn't do that thing anymore.

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And this is what God was doing here can condemning these foods, these foods are forbidden, and the reason behind it is because I said so.

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And so now our job, like we expect our kids, to respect his authority, respect what he says, and obey.

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Okay, so the question becomes is this a heaven or hell issue?

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I'll let you judge that.

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I'm not even going to even put my personal opinion on this, but one thing that I do want to reiterate is a part about revelation.

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We have to understand that revelation is only given when there is an absence of knowledge or understanding, and I'm gonna say that again.

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We have to understand that revelation is only given when there is an absence of knowledge or understanding.

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What do I mean?

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How many of us listening can say that we honestly know everything?

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Everything there is to know, we know.

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You know, we are ever learning as we come into the knowledge, and so that said, revelation comes to shed light on things that we are currently in the dark about, and when it comes, change always follows after.

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So revelation changes our current status as it shed lights, bringing clarity to what was once unclear, to what is now fully understood, hence the change that follows after.

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So let's break this down.

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I was reading last week during the Torah portion, and I saw something that really blew my mind.

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I mean, I was floored by this.

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And as Jehovah was speaking to Moses, he began to speak about sin, transgression, and iniquity.

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It's the part where God passed before Moses, and he began to say, Yehovah, Jehovah, rich in mercy, and you know, he was just going and going, and he began to talk about sin, transgression, and iniquity.

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And clearly, through the course of my life as a believer, I've heard these three words before: transgression, iniquity, and sin.

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But how many of us truly knew the difference between the three?

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And in all honesty, just being real, I didn't.

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I pretty much assumed that they were all basically the same thing.

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And so as I saw it this week, I felt inspired to really investigate them.

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You know what I'm saying?

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But not just from a modern modern-day perspective, but rather from a Hebraic perspective.

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And so I find that when I do my biblical studies, I like to look at the Hebrew perspective as opposed to modern-day perspective, because this is a Hebrew document written for Hebrew-thinking people, you know what I'm saying?

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And if we're going to understand this, we need to understand things from their perspective, and that's that helps with our context.

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And so, although these words are technically the same, each word carries a deeper meaning from the previous word.

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And so here's where here's where I was reading.

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It was it was Exodus 34, 6 through 7.

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And I'm gonna read that, you know, because again, I want you to have context.

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And the Lord passed before him, being Moses, and proclaimed, Yehovah, Yehovah, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children up to the third and fourth generation.

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So this is where he mentioned all three of those words.

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Now, we already know, because I've taught this in time past, that the word, that's the Hebrew word, is what we translate to sin.

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And it comes from the root word kata, which literally means to miss the mark.

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I'm like, wow, I really find that interesting, you know, that the word katah means to miss the mark, whereas the word Torah comes from the root word yala, which is also archery term, which means to intentionally hit the target.

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You know what I'm saying?

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So looking at that, the two words sin and Torah are both polar opposites.

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You know, one means to miss the mark, the other means to hit the war hit the mark.

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And so the concept of het or sin is understood as unintentional error, falling short of God's righteous standard, ignorance or weakness.

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So that is basically the Hebrew understanding of what the word sin is.

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And I was like, wow, you know, it goes on to say that this word does not always imply outward rebellion, sometimes it's just a failure to live up to what's right, you know.

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And so, in looking at that, how many of you guys knew that honestly?

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You know, again, not me.

00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.759
I thought it was the complete opposite, you know, that it was, you know, outward rebellion and all that.

00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.759
Kind of stuff, but it's not, it's about the unintentional, you know, shortfalls or shortcomings.

00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:22.319
And so as we read about the very sacrifices in Leviticus, you find that the sin offering, the offering that's supposed to cover for sin, was always focused on unintentional sins, things that you unintentional, you did accidentally.

00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.680
You know what I'm saying?

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:25.279
And I was like, wow.

00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:33.279
So in other words, it was one of those things where I didn't know I was doing wrong, and I did wrong, and I realize it, so I want to repent.

00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:34.480
You know what I'm saying?

00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:36.799
So those type of things are sins.

00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:43.599
And so this is this, this, this right here happens before revelation sets in.

00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:50.319
Because as I said, revelation brings clarity requiring an immediate course correction.

00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:50.880
Okay?

00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:58.480
So sin is bad, but it's not as you see, it's gonna get worse.

00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:05.200
Next, we have Pesha, the Hebrew word pesha, which we translate as transgression.

00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:11.759
And the meaning of this word, liberty, means rebellion or revolt.

00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:21.839
And so the three aspects that this covers would be rebellion against a king or a ruler, political revolt, or breaking a covenant.

00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.160
And I thought that was kind of interesting.

00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:29.039
The Hebrew concept here is that of intentional defiance.

00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:31.920
I knew I know it's wrong, I'm gonna do it anyway.

00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:33.519
You know what I'm saying?

00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:39.759
Revelation set in requiring a change, but you refused to course correct.

00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.119
So you didn't know before, you were in ignorance, you were in sin.

00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:46.720
Truth came before you, and you still said, you know what?

00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:48.720
I don't care, I'm gonna do it anyway.

00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:56.400
You clearly knew God's stance on the issue, but you wanted to continue in whatever the thing was that you were doing.

00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:03.680
And so as we go from one position to the next, remember the question I asked: Is this a heaven and hell issue?

00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:09.839
It really starts to make you wonder now because you're going from one stage to the next stage and they're progressive.

00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:18.480
Finally, we come to the Hebrew word avon, avon, which is translated as iniquity.

00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:25.359
And the literal meaning here is to bend, twist, or distort.

00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:32.240
It describes something that has become morally crooked, and this didn't happen overnight.

00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:36.240
As I said, it came in stages, gradually from one stage to the next.

00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:41.279
You go from sin to transgression on into iniquity.

00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:57.599
But this is much deeper than a single act, it refers to perversity of character, crooked moral nature, or even guilt produced by sin.

00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:06.640
And I'm like, wow, so you could actually do a complete word study on these three words.

00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.039
I mean, a part one, part two, part three.

00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:10.960
I mean, because it's so in-depth.

00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:18.079
And what I found is that when you put the three together, you get a really clear picture.

00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:27.680
First sin, first sin comes, you miss the mark, revelation comes, but is ignored, so change never happens.

00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:30.079
Next comes transgression.

00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:34.559
You're set in the thing that you're doing, which caused your rebel against God.

00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:39.920
And then finally, iniquity sets in, bringing moral quickness.

00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.720
I'm like, wow, that just really blew my mind.

00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:52.960
And so, with all this in mind, as we jump into Leviticus 11, Leviticus 11 is the chapter that talks about the dietary laws.

00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:58.319
God goes into great detail about what is and what isn't meant to be food.

00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:16.000
And in verse 43 and 44 of chapter 11, he concludes the matter this way: He says, You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them that you should be defiled thereby.

00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.920
For I am Yehovah, I need Yehovah, your Lord.

00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:25.519
You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you should be holy, for I am holy.

00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:31.759
Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:39.359
And I think in the last episode, we talked about the state of being, we talked about that being holy.

00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:43.759
I would have you refer back to that teaching to get a better understanding of this.

00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:55.839
Anyway, these things that have been prohibited as food are considered by God as being things that make us abominable.

00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:57.359
Think about that.

00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:10.079
He also says that they defile us, and so as I said before, there is no def there's no definite reason other than I need Jehovah as for why we shouldn't eat these things.

00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:14.160
So the question becomes how do we proceed from here?

00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:26.480
From this point, for those who were unaware, know for certain that revelation has just set in, the light has just been illuminated on what you were doing.

00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:29.440
So your ignorance has been exposed.

00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.640
Revelation has brought illumination, showing us where we were missing the mark.

00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:37.680
So the question becomes, what now?

00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:47.839
And although Torah does not give us any definite explanation other than I need Yehovah, let's look at some other things.

00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:51.039
Cleanliness is important to God.

00:27:51.279 --> 00:28:03.200
We're told numerous times in Torah to abstain from blood, and many of these animals that we're forbidden to eat, if you notice, a lot of them are predatory animals or bottom feeders.

00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.200
They eat other animals in addition to consuming blood.

00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.759
And remember, blood is something that makes you unclean.

00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:13.920
God is forbidden us to touch blood to consume blood because the life is in the blood.

00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:17.599
And so, again, many of these animals even eat filth.

00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:25.440
And so if we in turn eat these animals, we're consuming this same uncleanliness as they did.

00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.160
And so think about that.

00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:32.000
This is how we're defiling ourselves or making ourselves abominable.

00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:45.839
Now, medically, we find that many of these animals and scavengers carry high risk of transmitting parasites or toxins or various diseases.

00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:54.720
And ongoing studies show that shellfish and pork have been associated with increased risk of cancer.

00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:00.799
And you notice how cancer is like, I mean, the numbers of people catching getting cancer is insane.

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:16.720
Ultimately, we could surmise that these things could have adverse impact on our bodies at a molecular level, bringing on terrible sicknesses and diseases as time goes by.

00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:21.759
Another thing linked to unclean foods is high blood pressure.

00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.359
That's another one, you know.

00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:24.559
So think about that.

00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:39.200
So I'm not saying this is a fact, but when considering the high rate of cancer and some of these other diseases that are killing people today, could there be a link to generational diets?

00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:40.480
You know what I'm saying?

00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:52.640
Toxins from certain foods can cause epigenetic changes, essentially influencing how the genes are expressed into our offspring.

00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:03.680
And while they don't necessarily change one's DNA sequencing itself, some epigenetic markers can be passed down to our offspring.

00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:19.119
And so, all that to say, if one dug deep enough, I'm sure a medical argument could be found that firmly agrees with why these foods prohibited by God were even prohibited, why we shouldn't even eat these.

00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:32.799
But for now, the idea of predatory animals consuming other animals, a thing that God never intended for animals to do, is more than enough reason for me to abstain from them.

00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:37.279
Remember, as I said, the life is in the blood, you know.

00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:44.319
So you eat these things that eating is filth and consuming blood, and you bring that into your own body.

00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:47.599
Now, one or two things can happen.

00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.079
Change can cause us to course correct and get back on target.

00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:59.759
We can move on into rebellion by means of continuing down our current path.

00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:10.640
And should we persuade ourselves to not course correct, the excuse of ignorance no longer shields us from things that might come down the line.

00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:15.359
Now, let's look at this from another perspective.

00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.599
Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 17 through 19.

00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:24.160
And it reads, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:25.680
Flee fornication.

00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:32.720
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committed fornication sins against his own body.

00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:38.160
What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?

00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:39.519
I'm gonna read that again.

00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:48.480
Know you not that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own.

00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:49.839
Think about that.

00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:52.319
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

00:31:52.559 --> 00:32:04.400
So in a letter to the Corinthian church, a church that's comprised of both Gentile and Jew, Paul tells them that their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:06.319
So let's break that down.

00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:11.839
Just to reiterate, the body is considered to be a temple of the Holy Spirit.

00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:26.559
So we have the physical temple, which housed the Ark of the Covenant, which is where the presence of God dwelt, and then we have our bodies also a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.

00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:29.759
You know, so this is scripturally sound.

00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:34.880
So I'm hoping that we could agree on this, that that we we agree on the understanding of this.

00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:41.680
Now, the Tanakh or the Old Testament teaches us about how we are to deal with the temple.

00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:54.960
It is understood as a holy place, and that nothing unholy or abominable is allowed to be in the presence of the temple, let alone inside the temple.

00:32:55.119 --> 00:33:06.480
And so, with this in mind, to make this more applicable to today, we understand through the scriptures that it will indeed be a third temple before the last days.

00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:17.119
Okay, and so with this in mind, how many of you listening today will bring something unclean or something abominable into the temple of God?

00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:27.759
I'm sure there's not one person that's saying, Me, me, me, me, but would you believe there was actually a time when this actually happened?

00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:39.359
During the time of the Greek occupation, this was during the 400-year gap between the last book of the Tanach and the New Testament.

00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.240
It was a time when there were no prophets.

00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:53.200
Okay, in any case, the Greeks came in and they took over and they defiled the temple of God.

00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:55.119
How did they do that, you asked?

00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:56.319
I'm glad you asked.

00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:59.839
In the book of Maccabees, we find this story.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:08.079
Now, I'm sure that some of you out there probably have never heard this book, or perhaps you have, but you never read it.

00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.760
It's not in any of the Bible.

00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.159
Well, it's not in many of the Bibles today, I should say.

00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:18.320
However, there are some versions that does still have it.

00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:23.280
So because of this, it's considered to be extra-biblical literature.

00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:36.480
Yet, historians do agree that the events outlined in the book of Maccabees really took place and that they were indeed real people, you know, that that lived during that time.

00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:40.320
So this is not something that was made up, it's not it's not disputed at all.

00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:57.519
But we learn from this book that in an attempt to make the Jews assimilate into the Gentile culture or the Greek culture, that they went on a campaign to force the Jews to defile themselves from a Torah and to eat or basically face death.

00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:58.960
And many people were killed.

00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:06.400
I mean, it was horrendous murders that took place because the Jews refused to defile themselves.

00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:20.000
But in addition to this, they even went into the temple of God and erected a pagan god in the temple, as well as sacrificed a pig on the altar of God.

00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:24.159
I mean, you're talking about both, they utterly defiled the temple.

00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:27.039
These acts rendered the temple unclean.

00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:36.960
A side note, I want to point out that the Ark of the Covenant had been long removed from the temple before this took place, you know, so it wasn't impacted by this event.

00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:44.480
But in case this is where the events happened that lead to the Jewish holy day known as Hanukkah.

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:50.000
So if you want to know about Hanukkah, you find that story in the book of Maccabees and understand why it's celebrated.

00:35:50.320 --> 00:36:03.920
But it was after the Greeks were expelled from the city that the Jews went into the temple and they removed the pagan statue, they removed the altar, you know, that was that was there, and they replaced it and they cleansed everything.

00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:07.039
And so this is where the word Hanukkah comes from.

00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:13.119
And Hanukkah literally means rededication because they rededicated the temple.

00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:19.440
So, in other words, having been defiled, they had to rededicate the temple back to God.

00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:37.760
Okay, so with this in mind, if the physical temple was defiled by unclean animals being built within it, how much more as the temple of the Holy Spirit is being defiled when we consume these same unclean animals?

00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:39.760
Are you seeing the correlation?

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:46.159
Now, in the letter from Paul to the church, he was speaking against sexual immorality.

00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:54.880
But I use this text because he was one that used the analogy of the body being a temple for the Holy Spirit.

00:36:55.119 --> 00:37:00.079
So he's comparing the whole that our bodies to the temple that housed the Ark of the Covenant.

00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:13.360
And so, with this in mind, understanding that concept, I wanted to address the biblical dietary laws into that equation, since indeed Torah still applies today, contrary to popular belief.

00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:22.000
And it's funny, you know, I actually had a brother that came to me yesterday after I taught this, and he told me that my teaching was in error.

00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:29.840
He said that Jesus did indeed change the dietal laws before he was crucified.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:38.719
And so the verse he used was where Yeshua had sent the disciples to go and spread the gospel to the people.

00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:39.360
Okay.

00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:43.920
Matter of fact, let's read this for better context because I don't want to just tell you, I want to show you.

00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:50.559
Luke 10, 5 through 9 reads, and whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house.

00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:54.400
And if indeed a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it.

00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:56.559
And if not, it shall return to you.

00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:02.320
And stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever with them.

00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:04.079
Read that again.

00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:07.119
Eating and drinking whatever with them.

00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:09.599
For the laborer is worthy of his wages.

00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:23.840
Do not remove from house to house, and into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat whatever is placed before you, and heal the sick, and say to them, the reign of Elohim has come near to you.

00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:28.000
So here it keeps talking about eat whatever whatever is placed before you.

00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:28.559
Okay.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:31.519
So kind of keep that in mind.

00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:34.639
And so my response to him was simple.

00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:35.840
It was very simple.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.000
Yes, Yeshua did indeed say, Eat whatever set before you.

00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:51.280
But the question not asked was this the people that they the disciples were being sent to, were they Jews or were they Gentiles?

00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:54.239
The simple answer is they were Jews.

00:38:54.559 --> 00:38:59.199
Yeshua's entire earthly ministry was towards the Jews.

00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:15.840
And while he did encounter a couple of Gentiles here and there, it could be argued that they themselves were known as God fearers, apostelites, which basically means that they were Gentile believers aligning themselves with God's Torah.

00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:16.639
Okay.

00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:48.079
And I let him know that.

00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:57.599
And so, as I said before, and I've said again, lack of understanding is the enemy of lack of context, excuse me, is the enemy of understanding.

00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:01.280
So it all boils down to a crap shoot.

00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:07.119
How do you feel about rolling the dice for your life over a right or wrong choice?

00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:13.920
I'm reminded of when a scripture in Matthew 7, 21 through 23, and I'm gonna pull that up.

00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:34.400
And then it reads, Not everyone that says to me, Master, Master, shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of my father in heaven, many shall say in that day, Master, Master, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and done many mighty works in your name?

00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:37.760
And then I shall declare to them, I never knew you.

00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:41.599
Depart from me, you who work lawlessness.

00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:44.079
Wow.

00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:48.960
Take note of these people that are being rejected by Yeshua.

00:40:49.360 --> 00:41:07.039
You know, they still did great acts in his name, you know, and the fact that he didn't deny their acts validates their claim that they actually did do these things, that they were they were spied on, they were they were being truthful about that, but yet he told them he never knew them.

00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:21.360
And the fact that they did these acts, they imply that they were not unbelievers, but rather a people that really believed that they had a relationship and right standing with him.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:27.119
These were the religious people, but somehow they missed the mark.

00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:30.880
Think about that.

00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:44.800
Yeshua also used the term lawless, which if you look into the strongest concordance, the word used for lawless is connected to being without Torah.

00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:47.679
Or I would say being Torah-less.

00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:50.880
I know that's not a word, but you understand what I'm going when I say that.

00:41:51.119 --> 00:42:03.360
Again, I'm not saying that this was or is a heaven and hell issue, but his word clearly condemns eating unclean things.

00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:13.360
And personally, I'm not a gambler, so for me, I'd rather eat things that he has given me to eat as opposed to things that he has considered abominable.

00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:35.920
I've used the example of in the Millennial Kingdom, as Yeshua comes back to reign on David's throne, and we're sitting down having a meal, how many of you would be so bold to bring a pork chopped sandwich or bacon, lettuce, and cheese sandwich, or a seafood oil and that he doesn't eat these things.

00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:37.199
Think about that.

00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:42.639
If you wouldn't do that in his presence, why would you do that outside of his presence?

00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:52.480
So again, as I said, I'd rather eat right and find out that it didn't matter than to not eat right and to find out that it did.

00:42:53.119 --> 00:43:06.480
So again, to eat or not to eat, that is the question that I believe every believer has to answer what revelation illuminates the truth of the word.

00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:17.119
And so again, I just wanted to kind of share that with you guys because I know that many of you that are listening probably still eat whatever you want, and and that's fine.

00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:20.559
That's that's if that's what you do, that's what you do.

00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:30.960
But if you're gonna be a follower of the Lord, if you're gonna be a follower of his commandments, then these things have to be looked at.

00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:44.800
They have to be looked at because again, you can try to justify it however you want.

00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:51.280
You can say, Well, I'm still gonna do this, and you can try to find scriptures to back up your point.

00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:59.119
But again, I have to go back to the analogy that I used early on that in the millennial kingdom, would you eat that stuff in his presence?

00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:07.280
You know, you can't really cherry pick what you like and what you don't like when as it relates to Torah.

00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:18.800
You know, it's interesting, and I've taught this before, that if we talk about the law or Torah, both words are used in the singular.

00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:19.920
Okay.

00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.280
The plural would be laws or Torah.

00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:27.599
That would be the plural.

00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:35.280
And considering that there are roughly 613 commands in Torah, right?

00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:40.639
You think they will say Toro or Laws.

00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:44.880
But we speak for we speak of them in the the singular.

00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:56.719
And I'm reminded of how Paul says that if you break one, you're guilty of breaking them all, because the same God that says thou shall not commit adultery also says thou shall not kill.

00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:58.239
I'm paraphrasing.

00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:07.280
And so the point being is that all of the the entire Torah, it considered like a huge one-on- sentence.

00:45:07.519 --> 00:45:08.480
You know what I'm saying?

00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:12.079
So if you take one thing out, you derailed everything.

00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:14.000
And that's what Paul was saying.

00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:17.360
So you can't really cherry pick what you like and what you don't like.

00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:19.679
You know, that kind of goes to the thing about the Sabbath.

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To Eat Or Not To Eat, That Is The Question

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