When it comes to issues like the weekly Sabbath, annual Holy Days or the Bible clean food laws, these truths hit us right where we live. There is no getting around it. No amount of talk can cover for what we actually do daily. Old habits die hard. Personal enjoyments are difficult to give up when they are found to be unscriptural.

      In their hearts and minds, the Israelites had a hard time leaving the leeks and melons in Egypt for the supernatural manna given to them in the wilderness. Adjusting our lives to a new walk in Yahshua is what being a True Worshiper is. This is how Yahweh tries our hearts, as He did with ancient Israel.

      Do we really believe enough to put arms and legs on that belief, or is it just a lot of lip motion? Nothing less than living up to Yahweh’s standard will do if we hope for an eternal future in His kingdom. To have the mind of the Messiah to actually think and live and do as He did must be our goal. Basic to that obedience is our adherence also to laws that affect our health and well being. Nothing hits us where we live quite like the food we eat.

Is Mushroom Fit For Food?

Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 is where Yahweh the Creator and Designer of our bodies tells us which foods are good for us and which are not good for our physical (and spiritual) well being.

      He tells us to eat only from seed-producing plants and trees that are green:

      “And Elohim said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is there is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:29 KJVER).

      “Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Genesis 9:3 KJVER).

      Despite His command, non-green plants like mushroom are a popular food today. These plants are part of the earth’s vast garbage disposal system. Being a fungus, it lacks chlorophyll and consequently is unable to manufacture its own food. Thus, they focus all their energies on their main job: breaking down waste matters that they feed on.

      In addition to mushroom, consider funguses that athlete’s feet can be quite prone to. So is the mold found in the corners of shower stalls and/or on rotting fruits? Who would think of making good of these funguses?

      Certainly, the Great Designer of our bodies knows which foods are proper to fuel and nourish us. He tells us not to eat certain foods as well as which foods are healthful. As our Maker and Sustainer, He has a reason for all of His laws.

Pork Still Abominable

We have iron clad proof that pork is still unclean because of prophecy speaking of times yet ahead of us in Isaiah 66:17. The Prophet, by Yahweh’s direction, describes those who defiantly seek their own worship and eat what pleases them:

      “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says Yahweh” (KJVER).

      These people will be destroyed because of their rebellion against Almighty Yahweh. They sanctify and purify themselves in pagan practises including the eating of unclean animals such as pork and even mouse, forbidden practises by Yahweh and His Word, to eat such and the like.

      Yahweh’s people are to be sanctified or set apart for a holy purpose. Maintaining a strict diet in keeping with His dictated food laws and other laws are still mandatory and a necessary stringent measure in defining who His people truly are.

      Our desire is to adhere to all of Yahweh’s laws and not be consumed when His Son Yahshua returns.

Swine Don’t Cud It

Yahweh tells us which animals are fit for food and which are not.

      “...These are the beast which you shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parts the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that shall you eat. Nevertheless these shall you not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof; it is unclean to you. And the coney, because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof; it is unclean to you. And the hare, because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof; it is unclean to you. And the swine, though it divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet it chews not the cud; it is unclean to you” (Leviticus 11:2-7 KJVER).

      The pig has split hoofs but does not chew its cud like such as the cow, sheep and goat. Therefore, Yahweh says it is not suitable for consumption by us human beings.

      A favorite habitat of swine is mud. And they will devour anything that appears organic, whether alive, diseased, dead or rotting.

      As someone once remarked, “Pig just look like large rodents.”

Poison of the Sea

Yahweh commands against eating scale less fish and shellfish. Again, these are mostly the garbage disposers feeding off the bottom of oceans, lakes and rivers. Now science has finally caught up with the inspired, Sacred Scriptures.

      The medical community is warning against consuming shellfish because of its toxemia capability. Scripturally unfit for human consumption are mollusks like snails, clams and oysters, as well as crustaceans like lobsters and shrimp. These animals feed mostly on the waste of their watery world. These creatures are polluted with mercury and other heavy metals that damage human organs like the brain. There is an even more important reason that we eat certain foods and avoid other foods.

      Yahweh wants His people to be a separate, holy people as well as to enjoy good health.

      “My dear friend, I pray that everything may go well with you and that you may be in good health—as I know you are well in spirit” (3 John 1:2 GNB).

      His will is that we be spiritually set apart from the non-worshipers of Yahweh, living differently and away from their lifestyle. So we avoid harmful foods as we do the spiritually harmful aspects of this world’s culture, like the sins that pollute hearts and minds.

      The lesson is clear. Paul wrote, quoting from Isaiah 52, Ezekiel 20 and Hosea 1, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says Yahweh, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says Yahweh [the] Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18 KJVER). This applies both physically and spiritually.

      But of all the unclean foods consumed today, none is more popular than the pig—that four-legged garbage extraordinaire.

James Modest

Shawford Estate

Roseau Valley

Commonwealth of Dominica

Windward Islands, West Indies

Tel.: (767) 440-3595

Cell/mobile: (767) 614-2042

March 2007 (Adar 5767)