INTRODUCTION

It was a Saturday, and I was in a relatively small church in northern Georgia; asked to speak at a men's conference. The overall purpose of the conference was to sharpen the men to live a more Biblical life. The event organizer wanted me to speak on a specific subject - Biblical food.

When he told me the subject I raised my eyebrows and gave him a look that screamed, "Your kidding right?". He noticed my expression and informed me that this conference was not for the faint of heart; this conference is for men who want to fashion their life to look more godly.

So, here I was. We just had a fine lunch; steak and potatoes… a real men's conference. Immediately after the food was a teaching on food. I wasn't sure I really wanted to be there. I mean; teaching what the Bible REALLY says about food in the Bible belt is a danger to my life. Bible belt - You know that southern area of the United States where they say they follow the Bible but they don't really read it?

Two days prior, while in a small town in Kentucky, I had a man say, "You know, the Bible says you won't be able to tell one season from the next". No, it doesn't "snickerdoodle". That's southern talk. Even though I don't really speak southernly, sometimes you got to become all things to all people so you may win some (1 Cor 9:22). I told that nice man, "You know… that is nowhere in the Bible." "It ain't?" He replied.

You see, that's the problem. For generation after generation, we listen to what tradition tells us, what denominations tell us, what people tell us, but we really don't open the bible to see what the Bible tells us.

There is no debate that the Old Testament has explicit commands on what we can and can not eat. The problem comes to the New Testament. There are no EXPLICIT commands on what we can and cannot eat. Therefore, the church takes one of two paths.

The first path is to believe that as long as the New Testament does not say it, then we must not have to follow any longer. Basically, people feel the rule is null and void. I wonder if this would work in our own homes.

If your fifteen-year-old boy was to take your new sports car for a joy ride, would you accept the excuse of "You told me I couldn't drive your old car but you didn't tell me I couldn't drive the new"? No. We would not accept that excuse and I don't believe God would either. So, we need to make sure that we are looking at this correctly.

We need to remember how the Bible is assembled. The Bible is not assembled to answer OUR questions. It's assembled from preserved letters and documents that answer the question of the person or church that the document or letter was written to. The apostles did not sit down and determine to write a theological thesis that would answer the questions of each generation. The letters were specifically written to these groups of people. We need to see what the letter is saying to them and then determine what that means to us.

Since there is no explicit command for foods in the New Testament, the second path the church takes is to pull some Scripture from context and twist it in order to force Scripture to conform around our lives rather than our lives conforming around Scripture. We feel we need Scripture to support our desired way of living; therefore we will find something we can pull from the actual meaning and make it mean something different.

We are going to look at all the passages and beliefs used to support our choice of diet; we're going to put the passages back into its context and see if it is really talking about the type of meat we eat.

PETER'S VISION (Acts 10:9-16)

Acts 10:9-16 (NKJV) The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."
14 But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."
15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.


This passage is one of the most used to support eating anything we want to eat. Out of context, it seems like a very viable passage; yet, within its context, it means something totally different. In verse twenty-eight, Peter explains the meaning of the vision.

Acts 10:28 (NKJV) Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any MAN common or unclean.

The meaning of the vision had nothing to do with opening up the food table for anything we want; its purpose, and subject, was opening up the Gospel to the gentiles. The gentiles were viewed as common, as unclean. The apostles were not going to the gentiles with the Gospel and God showed Peter that they were not to consider the gentile common or unclean.

Praise God for this vision; for many of you may not be reading this study if it were not for this vision.

We now know that Acts 10:9-16 is not God giving us the ability to eat anything we want.

DO NOT JUDGE IN MEAT OR DRINK (Colossians 2:1-17)

Colossians 2:16-17 (NKJV) So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

This particular version says "food". The KJV says "meat". The Greek word is brōsis; which means food, eating, meat. We must be careful not to employ a twenty-first American grammar to a first-century text. Unless the text specifically indicates meat, as in the muscle portion of an animal that is consumed by humans, meat is actually the word used for food in the first century. This is also seen in passages as Act 2:46.

Acts 2:46 (KJV) And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

It's the reasoning of the first-century grammar that the NKJV employs the word "food" and other translations, as in the NLT, employs the words "in what you eat".

No matter the translation, when one looks at the context of what is being said, a question comes to mind: "What does eating unclean meat have to do with a shadow of things to come; which is Christ"? That's what verse 17 is saying. All these things, "WHICH were a shadow of things to come" The "substance" of those shadows "is Christ".

The fact is, the abstaining from dirty meats had absolutely nothing to do with the shadow of things to come and Christ.

The other question that comes to mind is "Where are there any passages, in the Old Testament, that talks about unclean drink"? If this statement is talking about unclean meat then it must be talking unclean drink also but there is no such thing as an unclean drink.

When we pull this passage from its context, the churches who now have brewery's can use the same passage to support their drinking anything they want.

So, what is the context of this statement? In order to get the context we must back up to verse 11:

Colossians 2:11-12 (NKJV) In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

Like most of the churches by which we have Paul's letters, Paul is addressing Jews professing to be Christian who are condemning gentiles for not keeping with Jewish ceremonial rituals; typically circumcision. In fact, this happened so much, in the churches Paul established, that Paul got so frustrated that he said he wished the knife would slip and they would cut it all the way off (Gal 5:12).

The meats and drinks, days, moons, and sabbaths are part of the ceremonial law. Paul was talking about the ceremonial law, not what manner of meat we may eat; thus he nearly quoted the passage from Ezekiel 45:17

Ezekiel 45:17 (NKJV) Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, AT THE FEASTS, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings TO MAKE ATONEMENT for the house of Israel."

At one time, this was the process required for atonement; yet now we have Christ. These were a shadow of things which were to come; these were the essence of who is Christ.

EVERY CREATURE IS GOOD (1 Tim 4:4-5)

1 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV) Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from FOODS which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

This one seems a bit more difficult but that's only because we read on the surface, and we typically apply no level of brain activity. The first thing you need to do, if you want to know what Scripture is saying, is slow down and look closely at what it's saying; then make the brain work for you. Not that you imagine it saying what it's not; we have enough of that already. But, notice the deliberate speech that is often used.

Verse three talks about "foods which God created to be received". Not everything God creates is food. Think about this… not everything that God creates is food. Therefore, not every creature God creates is for food. You would not eat a blowfish, would you? Absolutely not, because it would kill you. What about if you prayed over it? It would be okay to eat them, right? No, it wouldn't; because God did not create blowfish to be food.

Doesn't verse four say "every creature of God is good"? Yes, it does, but here's where you need to slow down and look at deliberate speech. Verse three says "FOODS which God CREATED to be received".

God creates a lot of good stuff, but there are often restrictions on it. Sex is good, but only in a marriage. Anger is not bad unless it causes you to sin. Food is good, but there are somethings that cannot be eaten.

If Paul is not talking about clean and unclean, then what is he talking about? The key phrase here is "by those who believe and know the truth"

Paul and Timothy had been traveling the lands of the gentile where meat was offered in sacrifice to pagan idols. As long as one does not know it's been offered to idols, then receive it with thanksgiving; as long as it does not become a stumbling block to those who are weak (1 Cor 8:6-13).

1 Corinthians 8:6-8 (NKJV) yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.


Yet, if you find out the meat was offered to an idol, then avoid eating it (1 Cor 10:28).

1 Corinthians 10:28 (NKJV) But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for "the earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness."

So, if you're eating at your favorite Asian restaurant, with all those buddha's and cat's around, don't worry if they offered it as a sacrifice to those dead idols. If you have a brother, or sister, with you who is concerned about it, then move on to another restaurant. If the server tells you the food was offered to idols, move on to a different Asian restaurant… and tell them to keep their mouth shut.

IT'S NOT WHAT GOES IN A MAN THAT DEFILES HIM (Mark 7:14)

Mark 7:14-16 (NKJV) When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Yahshua was not walking around just spitting out commands and sayings. When you read something He said, go back and see what action or statement caused Him to say what He said. To grab the context of what He's talking about here, we back up to verse five:

Mark 7:5-8 (NKJV) Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
'This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."


Yahshua makes note to the pharisees that their concern with man's traditions and refusal to follow God's commands is what defiles. While food, specifically eating with unwashed hands and not meat, was the trigger to the subject, the subject was not food. The subject was the actions of the pharisees; and their lack of obedience to God.

We've looked at four passages and, within their context, not one single passage is talking about types of meats.

The question is, "Did Christ ever give permission to eat dirty meat?"

If He did, then we are fine. Yet, if He didn't, then the law still stands and we could be in violation of the very subject of Mark 7; because we are following the traditions of commandments of men while forsaking the commands of God.

DID YAHSHUA TEACH TO EAT ANYTHING?

The question is, "Did Yahshua teach that we can now eat anything?" People believe the Bible does not say; I believe it does —— If we will just listen.

Yahshua had His twelve inner circle disciples. He also had three of an inner circle of an inner circle. Anytime He was going to do something special, He always took Peter, James, and John.

If we back up to the first passage we looked at, what do we see Peter saying?

Acts 10:14 (NKJV) But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."

Verse fifteen says that this was done three times; which means Peter, one of Yahshua's inner of the inner circle, was arguing with God on the fact that he has never eaten, nor will he eat dirty meat.

For Peter to be so adamant about not eating unclean meats that he would argue with God three times on the subject would mean that Yahshua never ate it; and, Yahshua never said: "The Spirit has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to open the food table to allow you to eat anything you want."

Since we see Christ tightening and loosening Old Testament Laws all over the place, in both teaching and action, the fact that He never taught against, nor acted against, the abstaining of unclean meat, that would mean that rule still exists today.

EATING BLOOD (Acts 15:20)

Let's take this a step further. How do you like your steaks cooked? Medium rare / rare. You know there's a warning on the menu for a reason right? It's not there because the Bible says to avoid blood, but it does support the fact that the Bible, New Testament to be exact, says to avoid blood.

If you back up to the beginning of Acts 15, you see there's a debate on whether or not gentiles will be required to undergo circumcision. As a conclusion, James says:

Acts 15:20-21 (NKJV) but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

Why did James and the disciples decide to write only on these four subjects? Think about it. There are so many instructions in the New Testament; and, James, the book of James, is so full of things to do and avoid that it's a thorn in the side of the hyper-grace movement. Why did they choose only these four subjects?

Again, slow down and notice deliberate speech. Verse 21 says that Moses, being the first five books of the Bible as we know it, was preached to the gentiles through many generations. James and the other apostles were addressing what needed to be addressed. Just as in each letter we have in the New Testament, they were not writing a full list of how to act but rather addressing only what needed to be addressed.

HANDWRITING OF ORDINANCES (Col 2:13-14)

Backing up to Colossians 2, because I stopped short to talk about this now, let's continue with what it was saying:

Colossians 2:13-14 (NKJV) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

I often hear that we no longer are restricted from dirty meat because the handwriting of requirements was nailed to the cross. The handwriting of requirement was on Mt Sinai, and shortly after, by Moses. Back up to the days of Noah and we see God telling Noah:

Genesis 7:2-3 (NKJV) You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male, and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.

This is about 1000 years before the handwriting of requirements, and clean and unclean were already established. Before a law was ever written, God already determined what would be clean and what would be unclean; what is suitable for sacrifice and food and what is not.

JUDGEMENTS OF GOD

We usually look at food very lightly and believe there would be no judgment for what we eat. We know there's a judgment of God coming in the end; but, we often forget there are judgments of God here now.

There are two types of judgments upon man here and now. The first is natural judgment. This is a judgment that naturally happens in disobedience to God's laws. If you play around with sexual immorality long enough, sooner or later you're going to get an STD. If you jump off a cliff, sooner, and not later, you will die. The second type of judgment that can come upon us here now is the direct judgment of God. These are the judgments that God says, "Because you did this [this] will happen to you." We see these judgments in God sending an evil spirit to Saul, we see it in Jezebel, in both the Old and New Testament. We also see both natural and direct judgment in the garden. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they immediately felt shame and saw their nakedness; this was natural judgment. Then God came on the scene and said, "Because you did…"

We see many things today as direct judgments. When the planes hit the towers in 9/11, when the hurricanes and floods hit New Orleans, many people saw these as direct judgments from God upon a sinful city. This is likely true, but we need to be careful in our placing judgment upon these cities because there is no righteous city in the U.S.

We can also see many of the natural judgments of God. As mentioned earlier, we see STD's as a natural judgment for sexual immorality. We can see the pulling of skin off of our back and faces as a natural judgment for meth. What we don't see is how decaying teeth can be a natural judgment for indulging in sweet deserts while many in the world starve. We don't see diabetes type 2 as a natural judgment for gluttony. And we certainly don't see any link between pork and natural judgment.

In 2016, when I returned from Ghana, I returned with a parasite. This is one of the feared results of traveling to third world countries. I was able to get rid of the parasite through certain things I ate and some medications.

I'm a sponge for knowledge I started to research parasites. I was amazed at how many parasites are actually caught within the United States. The problem is, most doctors do not know how to diagnose for them.

The most deadly parasite to the human body is called trichina, and it's contracted from eating pork. Concerning trichina, this is what the Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine has to say:

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE MEDICINE

"Using a digestion technique alone, studies found recently that 17.15 percent (out of 344 unselected cadavers) were infected in Rochester, N.Y., and 27.6 percent (out of 58) in Boston, Mass.; McNaught and Anderson similarly found 24 percent (out of 200) in San Francisco, California. Riley and Scheifley, using a compression, direct examination technique, found that 17.9 percent (out of 117 cadavers) were infected in Minneapolis, while McGath, using a similar technique at the Mayo Clinic, found an infection rate of 7 percent (out of 220 cadavers). Hall and Collins find that it is necessary to use both techniques to get a true picture. They examined 300 cadavers in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., and found 13.67 percent infected. They estimate that the infection rate for the whole of the United States is about 17.5 percent."

So, out of those reading this article, it's likely that 17.5 percent are infected with the most deadly parasite to the human body. In comparison, in 2015, smoking deaths, in the US, equate to 1% of the population.

Don't tell me praying over it makes it ok. You stand a better chance praying over a cigarette.

SECOND COMING (Isaiah 66:15-17)

When God first started showing me these truths, I use to think that it's just a health principle, yet I followed the truth of God's command anyway. Then God showed me a passage in Isaiah 66. Before we get to chapter 66, we are going to back up to chapter 65 to get a picture of what's being talked about and a pattern of how the prophecy is put together:

Isaiah 65:1 (NKJV) "I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, 'Here I am, here I am,'
To a nation that was not called by My name.


God, speaking through Isaiah, is coming against the sins of Israel and prophesying of how the gentile will come unto Him. This is a prophecy of the first coming and the building of a renewed covenant.

Isaiah 65:15 (NKJV) You [Israel] shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen;
For the Lord God will slay you, And call His servants by another name;


In verse 15, God's prophesying how the sinful people of Israel will have a cursed name and they will no longer be according to bloodline but rather called by a new name and established by a new way (Col 3:11; Gal 3:28-29)

Isaiah 65:17 (NKJV) "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Isaiah 65:19 (NKJV) The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
Nor the voice of crying.

Isaiah 65:25 (NKJV) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,


Notice that this is not the New Covenant but the very end, when sin is wiped away and those who followed God on earth will remain forever.

When we get to chapter 66, God returns back to Israel's disobedience then returns again to the very end of time in verse 15. Notice the language:

Isaiah 66:15-17 (NKJV) For behold, the Lord will come with fire
And with His chariots, like a whirlwind,
To render His anger with fury,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by His sword
The Lord will judge all flesh;
And the slain of the Lord shall be many.


This is obviously not the first coming but rather the second. This is after God's calling the gentile by His name.

17 "Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves,
To go to the gardens
After an idol in the midst,


Those who sanctify THEMSELVES and return to idols are those who go through the religious rituals for sanctification but it's just going through motions because they return to their idols; they're hypocrites.

Eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse,
Shall be consumed together," says the Lord.

Well, now that's interesting. In the very end, after the gentile who pursue God are being called by God's name, when Christ returns to render judgment, those who eat swines flesh will be consumed with the hypocrite.

Some may be asking, "Are you saying that eating pork will send me to hell?" No, I'm not. The Bible is; and more specifically, God is.

WOULD GOD PUNISH US FOR FOOD?

This begs the question; the question I get most often, "Would God really punish us for food?"

Think about Heaven. What is Heaven really? Heaven is personal communion with God; face to face. While we have communion with Him now, the Bible talks about our communion with Him - FACE TO FACE (1 Cor 13:12; 1 John 3:2).

What caused the separation of our communion with God, to begin with? The eating of food we were told not to eat.

Yet, was the essence of the sin of Adam and Eve about them chewing on some food? No. That was the act but that was not the essence of their sin.

If we reduce bad to a mere breaking of God's commandments and good in keeping the commandments then we will never really understand why we do what we do. You will never know who you are. You will never see the greatness of the Majesty of God, you'll never see the fullness of the triumph of Christ, you'll never know the glory of what the Christian life is about.

The moral outrage here, the essence of the evil of Adam and Eve, was Adam and Eve desired food over God, they desired what the fruit could do for them rather than desiring what God could be to them, they chose themselves over God.

Question: "Obedience to God's Commandment" and "delight in God's Character"… which is more essential? If we had a choice between obedience to God's Commandments or taking delight in God's Character, which would be most important? Which of these is at the root of the other?

In Ps 37:4, God turned the delight in His Character into a commandment. God doesn't take neutral things or bad things and turn them good by turning them into commandments. By His very nature, and by His supreme beauty and His supreme worth, it is right to delight in Him above all things; and THAT'S WHY it is a commandment.

Did God turn the action of desiring anything before God evil by making it a command? No! It was evil before there was a commandment in the universe it was evil to desire anything over God.

MOCKING GOD IN OUR FOOD

To make things worse, we don't just choose food over God we choose food over God and then we mock God over our choice; not so much in WHAT we eat but in HOW MUCH we eat. We joke and make light about food and about gluttony as if God has no care in how much we eat.

When I mention Sodom and Gomorrah the first thing that comes to peoples minds is sexual immorality. Yet, when we look at Ezekiel 16, we see a list of why God destroyed these cities; and sexual immorality is last on the list while gluttony is second.

Ezekiel 16:49 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

And when we look at James, you remember James right? He's the one who set the four subjects to have the gentiles follow in Acts. When you look at James, in chapter five, you see a warning to those who are rich and gluttonous:

James 5:1-6 (NLT) Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.


Did you see that in verse five? When we are operating in gluttony, we are fattening ourselves for the day of slaughter. Like cattle before they day they are killed, so we are fattening ourselves for the day of our destruction.

I know many reading this don't think of themselves as very rich. We often hear about, and look to, the ones we call the one percenters. Fact is, if you make 41,000 a year or more, you are in the top two percent of the richest people. If you make 34,000 or more a year, you are in the top three percent of the richest people in the world. In America, we throw away 40% of our food. Truth is… all the warnings of the Bible about rich people, gluttonous people, people living in luxury, is talking about us Americans; who are the richest people in all of history.

Christ did not die on the cross so we could eat what we want and how much we want. Christ died so we can have communion with God and to be the image of God to others in the world. When we choose ourselves over God, there is no communion; there is no image.

This is not the un-Biblical works based salvation no more than my not sleeping around on my wife is done because she said not to. I don't sleep around on my wife because I love her and I don't want to sleep around on my wife. This is the call, a call to love God so much that we would not worship ourselves or food above His desires.

Let us enter into communion with God. Not by saying I can't do this or I can do that, but by saying, this is Your Word, Your desire, I'll choose you over myself.

This is not a radical form of Christianity - This IS Christianity. This is what it means to be called a Christian. We don't call the shots - He calls the shots.

This is my call to you. This is the call of God to separate ourselves from the things and the desires of this world AND to give glory to Him in what and how we eat. And I believe God will bless us for it. Not because we didn't eat dirty meats but because we put Him first in every aspect of our life.

DISEASES CAUSED BY PORK IN DETAIL

The following lists show germs or parasites that are found in pork and some diseases caused by them. Many of these diseases are contagious while some are proven fatal.

PARASITIC DISEASES
a) TRICHINELLA SPIRATIS ( Trichina worms )
It is the most dangerous parasite to man ( Rheumatism and muscular pain). The infected persons showed no symptoms, recover very slowly some die, some reduced to permanent invalids. No one is immune from this disease and there is no cure.

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE MEDICINE
"Using a digestion technique alone, studies found recently that 17.15 percent (out of 344 unselected cadavers) were infected in Rochester, N.Y., and 27.6 percent (out of 58) in Boston, Mass.; McNaught and Anderson similarly found 24 percent (out of 200) in San Francisco, California. Riley and Scheifley, using a compression, direct examination technique, found that 17.9 percent (out of 117 cadavers) were infected in Minneapolis, while McGath, using a similar technique at the Mayo Clinic, found an infection rate of 7 percent (out of 220 cadavers). Hall and Collins find that it is necessary to use both techniques to get a true picture. They examined 300 cadavers in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., and found 13.67 percent infected. They estimate that the infection rate for the whole of the United States is about 17.5 percent."

Don't tell me that praying over it makes it better. God will not be mocked.

b) TAENIA SOLIUM ( Pork tapeworm )
The worm causes malnourishment of the person leading to anemia, diarrhea, extreme depression melancholia and digestive disturbances. Cysticercosis means that larva enters the bloodstream then settle down in one or more of the vital organs of the body, for example, brain, liver, lungs or spinal cord. They grow and encapsulate, inducing pressure to the
system around, resulting in dangerous diseases (diarrhea, digestive disorder, anemia, chronic invalidation).

c) ROUNDWORMS
Examples: Ascaris, which may lead to digestive disturbances, appendicitis, obstructive jaundice.

d) HOOKWORMS
Examples: Ancylostomiasis, which may lead to anemia, oedema, heart failure or retarded growth ( mental and physical), tuberculosis,
diarrhea and typhoid.

e) SCHISTOSOMA JAPONICUM
Bleeding, anemia and other syndromes. If ova are settled in the brain or spinal cord, paralysis and death may occur.

f) PARAGOMINES WESTERMAINI
Infestation leading to bleeding of the lungs ( endenve haemoptysis)

g) PACIOLEPSIS BUSKI
Digestive disturbances leading to persistent diarrhea; generalized oedema.

h) CLONORCHIS SINENSIS
chlonorchiasis-obstructive jaundice, liver enlargement.

i) METASTRONGYLUS APRI
Causes bronchitis, abscess of the lungs.

j) GIGANTHORINCHUS GIGAS
Cause anemia and digestive disorders.

k) BALATITIDIUM COLI
Causes acute dysentery and general weakness.

BACTERIAL DISEASES
Tuberculosis
Fusiformis necrofurus: causing foot-rot which is very difficult to heal.
Salmonella Cholera suis: causing cholera
Paratyphoid
Bruceellosis: Acute, sub acute and chronic. It may lead to permanent disabilities.
Swine Erysipelas: causing Erypelas in man.
Viral Diseases
Small pox: was a source of infection to man.
Japanese B-encepphalitis: It is the source of infection
Influenza, foot mouth disease, gas tro-enteritis of the new born babies.
Protozoal Diseases:
Toxo plasma goundii- It is a very dangerous diseases.A new born baby of an infected woman may die within few days or weeks after delivery. But if he survives he may develop blindness or deafness.In adult chronic exhaustive fever with enlarged liver and spleen may occur. Pneumonia, or celebro- spinal meninggitis which may lead to death or madness. The patient may become blind and deaf too.

Fats In Pigs:
Pork contains more fats than other meats. Therefore, people who are fond of pork are more obese than others. Cholesterol is higher in their blood thus making them more prone to asthereosclerosis cardiovascular accidents and sudden death.

Other Diseases:
The flesh of the pork is hard to digest and may lead to chronic digestive disturbances. Pimples, boils, cysts are common in pork eaters. These are some of the parasites and diseases found in pork and/ or the skin of pigs and certainly, there are many more. There is still no means of killing these parasites, in the tissues, neither has anyone found a method of expelling them, even produced any specific treatment for the diseases.