You Are What You Eat

http://hishiddenvoice.livejournal.com/3103.html

Itinerary

Pastoral Prayer: Lindsay Lagasse

Special Music: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (this copy is by LightofChrist02 on Youtube)

Sermon: Lindsay Lagasse

Closing Prayer: Lindsay Lagasse



Welcome Worship

Father Above, oh the mercy you pour upon us! We stand before You, unworthy of the grace You bestow! Our works will never be good enough to make our way into Heaven, only by Your all merciful love can we join You in Your Kingdom. This week has been another one of pain for mankind on earth, and temptation has prevailed. Only You can guide us past the hurt and the sin, lead us to You, Father. As we settle down for this week's end, we pray the words written here will be a blessing to all who witness. In Christ's Name we pray, AMEN.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3e95vb3KMA



Sermon

Jesus, our only joy be thou. We need not partake in worldly things, just to find comfort in this dangerous world. Your face brightens our paths, and Your merciful hand guides us. And yet, we still sink into the tastes of the world. Those few things You have advised against, we continue to relish. The flesh of a swine, the tainted grape, both have been specifically pointed out in the Bible. The Lord knows that pig is bad for the health of our body (temple for Christ), and alcohol--even the smallest sip--fogs the mind, thus destroying connection to the Almighty.



The original diet did not, of course, include flesh. It was the Garden of Eden! No one died, and this includes animals! It is not like the Garden of Eden in the Simpsons, where Homer is Adam and strips bacon off the pig, and the pig doesn't mind. No, you have to kill to get flesh, and that was not permitted (or even comprehended) at that time. "And God 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'" Genesis 1:29.



There's no clearer way for me to display what is considered clean or unclean, then by simply quoting Leviticus 11. "Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. ‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat. But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you. ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you. ‘By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening; whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening: The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean. And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you. ‘These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, it must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean. Any earthen vessel into which any of them falls you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean: in such a vessel, any edible food upon which water falls becomes unclean, and any drink that may be drunk from it becomes unclean. And everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean. And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean. But if water is put on the seed, and if a part of any such carcass falls on it, it becomes unclean to you. ‘And if any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening. He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. ‘And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination. You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. ‘This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.’”



I know that's a lot, but there's a lot of guideline to follow! Another thing I know is that, if you're like me, reading too much on one topic causes that topic to become moot. So, I think there's no better way to leave the topic of flesh, than with those words of the Father. But meat is not the only thing He suggests against to maintain a healthy temple for Christ. The fermented grape raises a lot of speculation. Now, a lot of what I write here will be quotes from Doug Batchelor's book called "The Christian and Alcohol", so assume that for all quotations (unless I note them to be from elsewhere, of course).



Paul Harvey says "Tests show that after drinking three bottles of beer, there is an average of 13 percent net memory loss. After taking only small quantities of alcohol, trained typists were tested and their errors increased 40 percent. Only one ounce of alcohol increases the time required to make a decision by nearly 10 percent; hinders muscular reaction by 17 percent; increases errors due to lack of attention by 35 percent by and 60 percent due to lack of muscular coordination." Now, whether you're a Christian or not, shouldn't this be reason enough for you to stop drinking? Unfortuntaly, it isn't for most. Some Christians turn to the Bible, see Jesus drinking wine, and considerate it okay. What they don't take into account, however, is that our modern day English versions are all translations from Hebrew-- and rough translations at that. Like when the Bible says "meat", on some accounts, that just means food. Same goes with the crude translation of wine.



To discuss that further, I must point out that in the original Hebrew Bible, there are two seperate words that got translated to wine in our English editions. The first word is tỉyrộsh. This word can be defined as new unfermented wine. During the story of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding (in addition to a number of other stories), the term tỉyrộsh is used, thus saying that the water was turned into grape juice. The other word, the word used for fermented wine, is yayin. This term is used in stories like the one of Lot and his daughters. They trick Lot into drinking yayin, and he becomes drunk. This drunkedness causes bad judgement, so he has intercourse with both his daughters. And then there's the little known story of Noah. "The first reference to wine is found in Genesis when Noah, after the Flood, created the original fermented grape juice. "Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent" (Genesis 9:21). The sad record is that Noah drank and stumbled around naked and shamefully exposed himself to his sons. This first experiment with a new drug ended with a scathing curse falling on Noah's posterity."



"Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: 'They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?' " (Proverbs 23:31-35).



So much devastation is caused by alcohol in our community, on the roads and in homes, that this is hardly a bold or surprising statement. Indeed, even if the Bible were silent on the subject, the object lessons of devastation from a thousand years of history would still be crystal clear. But the Scriptures say plenty. Jeremiah said God would make "bottles of wine" freely available to destroy the nation (Jeremiah 13:12-15). How true is this in our own country, with advertising directed at our youngest and most vulnerable citizens!



Much of what is here today are not my own words, this I freely admit. But with my heart so strongly convincted on such a subject, how could I find words clear enough to display the importance of such a topic? It is true what they say, that you are what you eat. God wants you to be successful and happy, and He has given you the guidelines to do so. Will you listen?



Closing Prayer: Father above, our lives are lead by the world. We have forgotten what it is You have desired for us. Every suggestion You give is for better reasoning. Only You know for sure what will keep our minds clear and bodies healthy. We pray that You give us the will to follow the guidelines You've so graciously given. And as we face this coming week, filled with temptations and evil, we pray You keep our mind clear so that our actions may be to Your pleasure and joy. In Christ's name we pray, AMEN.