EVERYBODY OUGHT TO BE HEALTHY
WHY are we not healthy? Perhaps nowhere is this fact more succinctly stated and effectively answered than in the words of the “General Confession” contained in that compendium of wisdom, the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican faith, said by the whole congregation, where it gives the cause: “We have offended against thy Holy Law,” and the effect: “And there is no health in us.”
Like so many other precious gems of unrecognized truth this quotation is repeated Sunday after Sunday by Anglican worshippers everywhere this service is practised. Far more inclusive than the health laws, those weighty words, “We have offended against Thy Holy Laws”, embraces the reason for all our troubles in this topsy-turvy world, both individual and national. Replace these seven words to their final analysis and it will be found that the base rests on law.
All things are based on law of some sort. The laws that governed creation still govern the heavenly bodies and the world. So far as is known no philosopher or scientist has been able to explain those laws, but we do know they exist. However, insofar as laws necessary for the self-government of mankind are concerned, God has given us in His written Word a perfect set of laws. They surpass anything man is capable of devising, something wholly practical and flawlessly equitable: in fact, perfect in their effectiveness, for they were given by God Almighty Himself, and His prescriptions are infallible. In order that they might function in all the perfection for which they were originally intended the Great Physician has imposed one condition, and one only: obedience!
If Israel would comply with that condition, He has given us His promise, His guarantee, that we would be attended with the utmost prosperity and happiness in all respects, including the inestimable boon of no sickness. These laws are set forth in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, in which are included Statutes and Judgments for guidance, lacking nothing that is needed for a perfect social order. But, as prophecy declared and history has faithfully witnessed, our forefathers failed to obey the laws, consequently bringing upon themselves and succeeding generations the curse of the law, which plagues us in a thousand forms today.
We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep… We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts … and there is no health in us.
Isaiah 24: 5, 6 defines the curse of the law in the following words:
“Because they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant, therefore the curse devoureth the earth.”
One of the most important sets of laws, and perhaps the most violate are the food laws set forth in the 11 chapter of Leviticus and 14th chapter of Deuteronomy given to Israel for the prevention of disease. Choice of the right food therefore must be important, because God has devoted a 47-versed chapter to the subject, sealing with His authoritative preface: “And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron saying …” carefully and plainly pointing out what foods were allowed and what forbidden for His chosen people Israel. To what purpose? As it says in Leviticus 11:44: “And you shall be healthy, for I am holy, and you shall not defile yourselves.” (Ferrar Fenton Trans.). And in order to emphasize its importance this injunction is repeated in the succeeding verse. Moreover, these food laws were written into the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Israel. It will be a surprise to many professing Christians to know that the Bible contains such health laws, and a perusal may furnish a still further surprise to find how far we have strayed from His ways in the matter of diet.
A CRITIC ANSWERED
Concerning the foods mentioned these two chapters the critic will quote I Timothy 4:3,4: “Every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused.” Characteristic of his ilk he stops here and does not follow the argument in the context, ignoring a very important IF – “If sanctified [set apart] by the word of God”: i.e., only clean animals, those so categorized in the food laws.
Paul in his exhortation on eating allows considerable latitude in the relation of guest to host, or setting an example to some brother weak in the true faith. Nevertheless he is a stickler for strict observance of the law saying: “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies as living sacrifices wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” This, of course, applies in a much broader sense than mere food, yet food is a most important factor. Inasmuch as the food laws are an integral part of the Constitution of Israel they are most certainly included in those confirmed by Jesus Christ in His sermon on the mount.
Another favourite objection is that passage in Acts 10 of Peter at Joppa. One day, when possessed of a very keen appetite and while waiting for the serving of a meal, he fell into a trance wherein he had a vision of all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air and there came a voice saying: “Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter replied; Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. The voice spoke again, the second time: What God hath cleansed that call not thou common.”
The operation of lowering and raising in the vision was performed three times. Like the critic, many people, either in ignorance or in order to clear their consciences for eating anything and everything that their appetites crave, stop here, but the narrative goes on and plainly shows that the vision has nothing whatever to do with food for the satisfaction of bodily appetite, but is symbolic of three men seeking him by divine guidance even at the moment of the vision, the purport of which was, as stated in the 28th verse, that it concerned humanity: that the gospel of salvation and the gospel of the Kingdom are open to mankind of every race, creed and countenance.
(These words are not used and are misleading – Ed.)
In such manner, as in the imagination of the inconsistent critic, are the food and other laws distorted and abused.
PORK AS A FOOD
Enoch Haughton, public benefactor and fearless crusader in exposing criminal practices of butchers and purveyors who adulterate the vital necessities of life, has, through a long period of years by personal investigation, court prosecutions, etc., succeeded in uncovering some of the most loathsome, unwholesome and unlawful practices that become positively revolting in the reading of them. As one who firmly believes in the health laws of the Bible he says concerning the pig “… one of the most common causes of blood impurities and preliminary to the setting up of cancer. I am so impressed in my belief.., that pig is the absolute cause of cancer … Pork exerts the most pernicious influence on the blood, overloading it with carbonic acid gas and filling it with scrofula.”
The Jewish Encyclopaedia says: “The swine is, of all animals, most subject to disease and, as its intestines most resemble those of man, an epidemic among swine was the cause of the ordinance of public prayers and fastings.”
Lippincott’s text book, Productive Swine Husbandry, by George E. Day, B.S.A., as used in agricultural colleges, says: “The swine is the most parasitic animal in existence. Its muscles teem with tapeworms, and is in all respects ‘unclean.’ Among the many diseases to which it is prone are Cholera, Tuberculosis, Eczema; and written in the Breeders’ Gazette under date of November 12th 1914: that dreaded foot and mouth disease, of which Dr. A. G. Alexander has described: “So highly contagious is the character of foot-and-mouth disease that its eradication and control necessitates, instant isolation and slaughter of affected animals, deep burial of the carcasses in quicklime, thorough cleansing, disinfection and whitewashing of the infected premises, strict quarantine of all infected stables, farms and areas, restriction of the movement of animals and pasteurization or boiling of milk.” It is highly doubtful if these drastic prescriptions are widely observed.
Like all shellfish (oysters, crabs, lobsters, clams, etc.) swine was created a scavenger and not a flesh food.
At the risk of incurring the displeasure or multitudes, will lovers of pork please note, however unwillingly, that there is more caution to avoid such meat than any other kind of viand. Because we may delight in succulent roast pork, sizzling bacon and other alluring, tasty dishes of swine, hog or pig, (whichever name is preferred) the dainty appetizing service and savoury smell, however intriguing, does not make them otherwise than what the commandment enjoins, viz: a forbidden food – and what is mere man to gainsay the commandment of the All Wise and Omnipotent?
God, speaking through Isaiah 65:3 and 4, says: “A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face … Which eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels.”
“Broth of abominable things” means soups flavoured with unsaleable meat trimmings, ham bone, kidney and other forbidden portions of animals.
It will be noticed that more is said in the Bible about forbidding swine’s flesh as a food than any other one of the animal foods. That is a staggering revelation to us Anglo-Saxons, because pork is America’s principal meat diet.
The consumption of pork is generally about 140 percent of beef consumption, 740 per cent of veal and over twelve (12) times the consumption of lamb and mutton, all of which goes to show how very far we have erred and strayed in this vitally important matter of health foods.
BLOOD
“For it [blood] is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof; therefore I said unto the children of Israel ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof. Whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” (Leviticus 17:14. See also Leviticus 7:26 and Deuteronomy I 2:23, 24.)
Concoctions made from blood, such as blood puddings, blood sausages, etc., are strictly taboo, because blood is life and is expressly forbidden. Since the life of the flesh is blood, if that blood be impure or diseased in anyway it follows as surely as the night and day that the body consuming that diseased flesh must also, in time, become diseased, and since modern methods of slaughtering are very often wrong, much blood is consumed unwittingly. The carcase of the beast or fowl should be completely drained of blood. Unless this is done the blood is eaten with the flesh, because blood cannot be extracted after death. This is one of the questionable practices of the trade, because the carcase with blood in it weighs more and becomes a commercial consideration. Particularly is this applicable to poultry, the custom being to wring the neck. In the matter of butchering there is much malpractice. The orthodox Jews follow biblical law far more closely than do Christians and it is a well known fact that Jews suffer a great deal less from serious diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis etc.
Epicures are great offenders in the matter of healthy foods, for the flesh of such creatures as shark, horse, snails and other forbidden foods are considered delicacies by some. However delectable to the palate, they should be studiously avoided. A skilful cook, with the aid of condiments, can make many a dangerous diet appetizing and agreeable to the taste. Poison also can be taken in disguise. We must remember that the devil always presents himself as an angel of light when tempting his victims, displaying just the right proportion of truth to deceive, but never the whole truth.
It seems exceeding strange, in view of the great mass of evidence confirming the Bible injunction that pork is “unclean” and therefore not healthy for human consumption, that there does not appear to be any medical or scientific finding condemning it in similar terms. Why? We wonder! Perhaps because it is the largest meat product on the North American Continent and of enormous commercial proportions. On the other hand, calculate the staggering bill for sickness as the result of violating the divine health laws. But let that pass if we believe the Bible to be the Word of God, and therefore supremely wise and true in all respects, we must accept those laws as being perfect, as in Psalm 19 and elsewhere they are declared to be, so why worry about a doctor’s or scientist’s certificate when God’s prescription for prevention is the supreme authority and by all odds safest and best, to the end that there shall be no sickness among you?
Yet so many people cannot accept God’s promissory note unless backed by some human being of lettered distinction, for security reasons, we presume, just in case God slips up on His promise.
Reprinted from Destiny Magazine
