Unclean Meat and True Christianity

Bible News Prophecy

Brought to you by the Continuing Church of God  “Bringing you news and analysis of world events in light of Bible prophecy.”  This is a mandate of the Continuing Church of God.  Do true Christians eat unclean meat? Does the Bible declare ALL “food” clean? Is unclean meat ever described as “food” in the Bible?  Do the Roman Catholics eat unclean meat? If so, by what authority are they allowed to eat?  How about the Protestants? Do they eat unclean meat? If so, by what authority are they allowed to eat? What about true Christians? Do they eat unclean meat? If not, by what authority do they refrain from eating?  According to the Bible did ANY Christian EVER eat unclean meat?  Does it really matter? What does God say? Does it matter to God if we, as Christians, honor Him, through obedience, as we would our worldly father?  Isn’t it good that we do what seems right in our own eyes?   Watch this video as Dr. Thiel quotes scripture and cites historical facts to shine the light of the Word of God on the truth written in the Bible.  Read the full article to this video titled 'Meridian Church of God Seventh Day misses Sabbatarian history on avoiding unclean meats’ at URL https://www.cogwriter.com/news/doctrine/meridian-church-of-god-seventh-day-misses-sabbatarian-history-on-avoiding-unclean-meats/

Transcript

00:00Greetings, friends. This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program with Dr. Bob Thiel,

00:09bringing you news and analysis of world events in light of Bible prophecy.

00:13Dr. Thiel, do we still have to obey God concerning eating clean or unclean meat,

00:19or can we finally do what seems right in our own eyes?

00:22Well, we should always obey God, and the Bible warns against doing that what's right in our

00:28own eyes in Deuteronomy 12.8. But there's a Sabbatarian group. It's called the Meridian

00:33Church of God's Seventh Day. And someone sent me a booklet a couple days ago on this topic,

00:41and it's titled, Why Strain a Gnat and Swallow a Camel? Is the Unclean Law for Us Today?

00:47So I want to read from this booklet. The purpose of this work is to study the unclean law and its

00:54relationship with mankind as found in the Bible. During the last two or three generations,

01:00especially among Sabbath keepers, there's been a new school of thought. The school holds that the

01:06law which forbade Israelites to use certain meats is still valid and should be observed today.

01:11We have endeavored here to explain the other school of thought, which is, of course, going the

01:16opposite way. Now, the idea or the claim that it's only in the last two or three generations that

01:22Sabbath keepers were against eating unclean meat. That's just not true. Early Sabbath keepers did

01:29not eat unclean meat. Actually, in order to be allowed back in Jerusalem in the second century,

01:34professors of Christ were told they have to eat unclean animals or else. And so they didn't do it,

01:41and they moved to places like Pella and Edessa, and they didn't do it. And then later,

01:47Sabbath keeping church of God leader named Theophilus of Antioch warned that it was unlawful

01:55to eat human flesh. So true Christians didn't believe they could eat human flesh, which is also

02:03unclean, by the way, to eat. Isn't it a stretch to say that eating humans is still prohibited as being

02:10unclean as opposed to saying eating something like pork chops, which falls into the same category as being

02:16unclean, is also still prohibited? No, that was just one example. Plus, I told you what happened

02:21in Jerusalem. Furthermore, in the third century, a Sabbath keeper by the name of Peonius of Smyrna,

02:28he refused to eat unclean meat. And in the fourth century, Emperor Constantine commanded that Christians

02:36in Jerusalem, these were Sabbath keepers, if they would not eat pork, they would be killed.

02:41Eating unclean meat was not part of the original Christian faith. You know, the Apostle Jude wrote

02:49verses three and four of his letter, says,

02:54Beloved, when I was very diligent to write you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary

02:59to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the

03:07saints. For certain men who've kept in unannounced and they want to deny the grace of God

03:14and turn it into lewdness. Now, in the fourth and fifth century, Greco-Roman Catholic writers said

03:22there were Sabbath keepers who avoided unclean meat. They were called Nazarenes. And then somebody

03:30named Faustus in the fourth century complained, such people keep the Sabbath and they shun swine's meat.

03:36Now, there's a Lutheran historian by the name of Johann Moschin. And related to a Sabbath keeping

03:46group in the 12th century, he said they abstained from those meats which were prohibited under the

03:52Mosaic economy and they celebrated the Jewish Sabbath. This distinguished them also because they

04:01were against three persons in the divine nature.

04:05So is this Lutheran historian tying in the eating of unclean meats right along with some of the other

04:11Jewish laws?

04:13Yes, but they're not Jewish laws. They're God's law.

04:16Okay.

04:17Look, these people kept the Sabbath, abstained from unclean meats, were opposed to the Trinitarian view.

04:25And so it sounds like they were pretty much like us. Now, in 1402, by the way, there's a

04:31Sabbatarian by the name of John Sagono. And he stated that swine was unclean to eat.

04:37And then they found around 1600, an old hymn book of the Sabbatarians. And it said that they only keep

04:47the feasts that are in the Old Testament and they keep the dietary laws. And then later in 1618,

04:57there's a Roman Catholic priest who wrote against a guy by the name of John Trasky. Trasky kept the

05:02Sabbath, Passover, days of living bread, didn't eat unclean meat. Furthermore, according to the

05:08historian, Brian Ball, Church of God's Sabbatarians in England, who also kept Passover on the 14th,

05:15they also taught against eating biblically unclean meat in the 17th and 18th centuries.

05:21You have cited several sources from the time of Christ's death through the 18th century

05:27or so showing that Christians of old did not eat unclean meat. Do you have any more modern references?

05:36Well, as far as Sabbath, you've got Seventh-day Adventists, they don't eat it. That's from the 19th

05:40century. And in 1885, in something called the Advent and Sabbath Advocate from Jacob Brinkerhoff,

05:49he confirmed the wisdom of not eating unclean meat. And in 1933, the Church of God's Seventh-day

05:56formally denounced any who claimed it was fine for Christians to eat unclean meat, because apparently

06:01some people thought that they should be able to do it. Sabbatarians avoiding unclean meat has been

06:07the historical position of the faithful. The Meridian teaching is flat-out historical error.

06:14It does make a difference, by the way, what Sabbatarian church, someone's part of it.

06:18Okay. Now, I want to read something else from that Meridian booklet. It says,

06:23the reasons for this rather comprehensive examination are several. They're claiming

06:28that their examination was comprehensive. But for one example, they totally ignored the historical

06:34realities of this doctrine. Now, its booklet does mention things related to sacrifices. And it's true,

06:41the New Testament shows that they were done away, no longer necessary in places like Hebrews 8,

06:469, and 10. But that's got nothing to do with Christians eating biblically unclean animals.

06:53Is there any example in the Bible of Christians eating unclean meat?

06:58No, there's not one instance in the Bible where any follower of God ate unclean meat,

07:03Old Testament or New Testament. But in that booklet that group puts out, it says,

07:09the unclean law was a type applying only to the nation of Israel, not a moral law for all men as

07:16the Ten Commandments. Now, that logic, by the way, is very similar to what the allegorists back in

07:23Alexandria, Egypt taught. They have a false booklet called the Epistle of Barnabas. It's false because

07:30Barnabas didn't write it. He didn't write it according to Church of God scholars, Protestant scholars,

07:34as Greco-Roean Catholic scholars. But it says, but in that Moses, he said, you shall not eat the swine.

07:43So the commandment of God is not that we should not eat, but Moses spoke in a spiritual sense.

07:51Well, does that seem to make sense from a human perspective, doesn't it?

07:57No, there are two types of ways to look at the Bible. One is that you believe what it says.

08:01The other says, you don't believe what it means. But what it actually says, for example,

08:06Deuteronomy 14, verse 8, is the swine is unclean for you.

08:10OK, you should not eat their flesh. That's it.

08:13OK, you know, you people might want to speculate why God made this ordinance,

08:18but it's wrong to conclude like the Epistle of Barnabas does, that this was

08:21not a command to not eat swine.

08:23And Alexandria was the home of this allegory method of looking at the Bible.

08:30And it was also home to these Gnostics and the semi-Gnostic leaders and people who wanted to put

08:35Greek philosophy in. You know, you Christians want to base their faith on those who don't believe

08:41what the Bible really says. Now, then this booklet goes in and talks about Peter's vision in Acts

08:47chapter 10. However, they come to the wrong conclusion. Peter did not conclude that he

08:53should eat unclean meat after that vision. What he concluded, this is what he said, Acts 10, 28.

09:00God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

09:06Now, let me add that the Meridian group claims that unclean animals are food.

09:11Well, nowhere in the Bible they refer to that way.

09:13And no early Christians thought they were allowed to eat it.

09:17Now, that booklet goes into some details on what they call dispensations.

09:22And they talk about why you shouldn't listen to scriptures such as Isaiah 66.

09:28But early Christians didn't accept that kind of nonsense arguments.

09:32And, you know, look, let me read a few things from the Old Testament, the Bible.

09:36And some of these are prophetic, by the way.

09:37Isaiah 65, verse 3, talks about a people who provoke me to anger continually to my face,

09:44who eat swine's flesh and the broth of abominable things.

09:49Isaiah 66, starting in verse 3.

09:53He who offers a grain offering, as is like he offers swine's blood,

09:57is like one who burns incense as he blesses an idol.

10:01Just as they've chosen their own ways,

10:03and their soul delights in their abominations.

10:07So I will choose their delusions.

10:10When I spoke, they don't hear.

10:12They did evil before my eyes.

10:14They won't listen to the word of God.

10:16And in verse 6, 17, same chapter,

10:19those who eat in swine's flesh and abominations of mouths

10:22shall be consumed together, says the Lord.

10:26But really, isn't just keeping the seventh day Sabbath enough?

10:30Well, as Isaiah clearly shows, no.

10:33Well, many foolishly think that any Sabbatarian Church of God group is acceptable.

10:37That's not the case.

10:38And the Meridian Group's position on unclean meat consumption is unbiblical,

10:42and it's certainly not how faithful Christians understood Scripture

10:45and this matter throughout history.

10:49When and why did Greco-Roman Catholics, Protestants, and others adopt eating unclean meat?

10:56Well, basically, it was after the allegorists pushed it.

11:00But still at that time, most people still didn't accept it.

11:03In the year 180, approximately, the Greco-Roman Catholic saint,

11:08Irenaeus of Lyon, he's considered a saint by the Protestants,

11:12he said that certain animals were still clean and certain animals were unclean.

11:17And he also described how humans could be clean and unclean,

11:21but he never suggested that anyone should eat anything unclean

11:24because he condemned gluttony and the adopting of the lives of swines and dogs,

11:29both of which are unclean for meat.

11:34If the true Christians never ate unclean meat,

11:37how did the idea of eating unclean meat come to being okay and so widespread?

11:43Well, in addition to these false writings like Barnabas and Gnostic writings,

11:48there's something called a Libra Potificalis.

11:50And it said that around year 185, Bishop of Rome Eleutherus decreed that

11:56no kind of food in common should be rejected.

12:00Okay.

12:00Then the Catholic encyclopedia said he decreed no food should be despised by Christians,

12:08but the Bible doesn't call this stuff food.

12:09Okay.

12:11So basically around 185, the Roman Catholics say that's when they switched.

12:19But the Roman Emperor Constantine apparently liked unclean meat so much,

12:24he persecuted those who would not eat it.

12:29And there was a, it talks about,

12:32I want to read something from a scholar by the name of Shlomo Pines,

12:37talking about Constantine, what he did.

12:39And that they suppressed the faith.

12:42Then Pines says,

12:43In this way, people who professed the religion of Christ came to do all that is reprehensible.

12:50They worshiped the cross, observed Roman religious rites, and ate pork.

12:56Those who did not eat it were killed.

13:00Explain to us the phrase, the people who professed the religion of Christ.

13:04What is meant by the word professed?

13:07That means people who claim to be Christians, but were not necessarily so.

13:11There was always a group of faithful who practiced true Christianity.

13:15And there were also ones who were not faithful.

13:19And this went on for a long time.

13:22Not only did Constantine put out the death penalty, by the way, for Sabbath keepers who wouldn't eat pork in Jerusalem,

13:31Cyril of Jerusalem said to keep away from people who believed that.

13:35But yet, over a millennium after the allegorist confederation formed, the Protestant Reformation occurred.

13:42What did the Protestants decide to do concerning eating unclean meat?

13:48Well, instead of going for the original faith, they didn't want to rock the boat for tradition they got from the Church of Rome.

13:54They couldn't refer to papal decrees, so they twisted scriptures to say what they wanted them to say.

13:59But, of course, that didn't change the faithful.

14:02You know, 20th century groups like the Radio Worldwide Church of God didn't eat it.

14:07In the 21st century, like our spiritual ancestors, we had a continuing Church of God,

14:11continue to keep the Sabbath, avoid eating unclean meats,

14:14because we are contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

14:18True Christianity.

14:19Thank you, Dr. Thiel.

14:22For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written, as well as audio articles,

14:26visit our website at BibleNewsProphecy.net.

14:29This is Steve Dupuis for the Bible News Prophecy Program.

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