God warns us to eat only what he made for our health - eating the flesh of certain animals breaks down our bodies bringing on disease. God knows which animals are harmful to the human body and has told us which ones not to eat. God's guidelines make it fairly easy to understand that while cattle is good to consume eating pigs or even alligators certainly are not. At Jesus' second coming, those found eating pigs and mice will be punished. Christians are to offer their physical bodies as a sacrifice to God and therefore are required to keep themselves from being polluted. God will destroy all those who pollute themselves. You are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him because the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Believers are owned by Christ. We, therefore, are to take care of what he gave us

Can we eat anything we want? 

Does the Bible allow us to eat whatever plants or animals we desire?

In a way, we can eat whatever we choose. 

How about a salad laced with arsenic? 

Or maybe gobble down what you find behind the barn?

The reality is, God won't stop us from eating anything, but he has given us a menu of what's good for us and what isn't.

You know the arsenic salad would knock you dead in short order. 

Certain green herbs, such as digitalis and deadly nightshade, will do the same thing. 

We know not to eat such poisonous plants.

We have terrible illnesses with no apparent cause.

Eating the flesh of certain animals, however, breaks down our bodies bringing on disease.

Ingestion of the genetic code of such animals may be the cause of genetic mutation in the human body. 

Yet, like the plants, there is still quite a bit of meat we can eat with no adverse results.

God knows which animals are harmful to the human body and has told us which ones not to eat.

These animals are found in the books of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. 

God's guidelines make it fairly easy to understand that while cattle is good to consume eating pigs or even alligators certainly are not!

Clean Birds

Clean birds, which the Bible says are made for mankind's health, have six primary characteristics.

They are not birds that prey on others for food. 

They eat any food caught on the ground. 

They possess a longer middle toe. 

They generally stand on a perch with three toes on one side and one on the opposite side. 

Clean birds also possess crops. 

These animals also possess a gizzard. 

Any bird that does not have all these traits is considered unfit for eating.

Clean Seafood

Clean seafood can be determined fairly easily, as they must have not only fins but also scales. 

So why are oysters not fit to eat? 

God made them, and certain other creatures like shrimp, to clean the waters they live in of harmful substances. 

Their meat, therefore, contains chemicals harmful to man.

Using only certain parts or sections of animals designated as unclean is also not permitted in the Bible. 

This means humans should not eat food cooked in pork fat (lard) or drink beverages containing clam juice. 

God's word also warns against eating the fat or blood on any animal whether they are clean or not (see Leviticus 3, 7).

What About Mushrooms?

One common food we eat today, mushrooms, are not specifically listed in the word of God. 

Recall that God stated to Noah that he could use any herb that was green for food. 

Mushrooms are neither green in color nor are their herbs. 

They are a fungus. 

According to some experts, even the supposedly edible mushrooms can have poisons in them.

Some Bible verses certainly seem, on the surface, to state that we humans can eat anything. 

Here is something, however, to consider. 

God's word states at Jesus's second coming, those found eating pigs and even mice will be punished.

"For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a tempest, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire, for by fire and by His sword the Lord will execute judgment with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord will be many.

"'Those who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves to go into the gardens, after the rites of Achad, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, will be cut off together,'" - says the Lord (Isaiah 66:15 - 17).

If we can eat anything we want, meaning all animals have suddenly become "clean" to consume, then this warning serves no purpose.

Christians are to offer their physical bodies as a sacrifice to God and therefore are required to keep themselves from being polluted.

"I exhort you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service.

"Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God" - (Romans 12:1 - 2).

The Bible also states that the Eternal will destroy all those who pollute themselves.

"Don't you understand that you are God’s temple, and that the Spirit of God is dwelling in you?

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him because the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" - (1 Corinthians 3:16 - 17).

By virtue of conversion, believers are owned by Christ. We, therefore, are to take care of what he gave us and only eat what he made for our health.

BibleStudy.org, started in early 1996, is one of the longest operating Christian Web sites dedicated to preaching the gospel to the world! We are 100% independent which means we are NOT owned, operated by or affiliated whatsoever with any religious entity!

We use quotes from a variety of translations in our materials such as the King James Version, New King James Version, New International Version and many others. We also frequently use the Holy Bible, a Faithful Version (HBFV) since we find it to be one of the most accurate translations of God's word.

The site encourages you to verify our content through prayer and Bible study. Do not believe us (or anyone else!) just because we (or they) say so. Believe your Bible!

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The Tree Of Life - the marvelous Tree of Life will be planted once again "in the midst of the paradise of God" in the new earth which God will create some day. And "they that do his commandments" will then "have right to the Tree of Life." The leaves of the tree will be for the "therapy," or the effective services, of the nations in the new earth. We look forward to enjoying the fruit of the Tree of Life in the holy city someday. Meantime, we will be like little, life-giving trees living righteously, offering hope to the lost, and using our God-given abilities to all those we meet

No Water to Drink - God had led Israel to the driest place in the whole wilderness. It was a testing place with no stream, no well, not even a trickle of water. If you don't learn to trust the Lord in simple, childlike faith when you're being tested, he will bring you to yet another testing ground. Our loving, heavenly Father would never lead his children into a dry desert only to let them die of thirst, especially when he had a reservoir stored in a nearby rock. God has always had a plan for his people. He has a plan for you right now, to deliver you from your present trouble

Streams in my desert: Follow Your Hunger - hunger will take you where mere curiosity would never go. God is looking for hungry people. He is seeking people who are truly seeking Him. He has bread from Heaven for us, and it is eternally satisfying. God has eternal food prepared for us. We cannot afford to settle into the routine of a fenced-in reality, not when God has eternal food prepared for us. Let us, therefore, follow our hunger as we pursue the presence of God

Streams in my desert: John the Baptist in the desert ate locusts - John’s desert dwelling, coarse clothes, and harsh diet of eating locusts were, at least in part, what signaled to the people that he was a prophet. John’s life in the Judean desert was an indictment of the people as defiled and corrupt and a call on them to repent and seek cleansing and forgiveness from the Lord

Streams in my desert: Jesus is Our Manna - the Israelites experienced God’s divine provision of manna until they entered the land of Canaan just as God had promised them. The people had become profoundly aware that God was their provider, protector, and guide. The message of manna did not stop there. Generations later, God would send another kind of “bread from heaven” in the person of Jesus. We still need manna, for Jesus is the living manna that saves and sustains us

Streams in my desert: Consuming the Sweet Word of God - Ezekiel and Jeremiah experienced sweetness, joy, and delight consuming Scripture - God-breathed words from Yahweh’s mouth. This feasting took place against a horrid backdrop of hardened hearts, except for a small, believing, obedient remnant. The apostle John also ate a book. It was sweet going down in anticipation of God’s glory and return, but it quickly turned bitter at the sight of God’s coming wrath and eternal judgment poured out on those who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ

Streams in my desert: Love Feasts - the body of Christ showed its love at the love feasts. As the church was gathered, they would observe the ordinance of communion. Most likely, the love feast was a shared or communal meal somewhat like a potluck in present-day churches. Church members would bring food; the more affluent would bring a greater supply and in that way provided for the needy - the emphasis being on the lordship of Christ and the fellowship of all believers

Streams in my desert: Taste and See that the Lord is Good - all Christians, from the time of their new birth, are to hunger for the Word. A newborn baby does not need to be taught to hunger, to cry out for milk. God expects that we are to hunger internally for His Word. His Word nourishes our souls. When we hunger, we are to cry out in desire and in need for the pure Word and faithful teachings so that we will grow spiritually and we will “taste and see” the goodness and grace of our God

Streams in my desert: The Most Blessed Soul in the Word - those who hunger and thirst for righteousness     wip

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation - the full and final purification and restoration of Israel is yet future, but, for the moment, God is working his plan of redemption through His Church. In this present dispensation of grace, God is using the Church as His witnesses. As God's people ... we have, in many respects, become corrupt. We have compromised the truth of God's righteous Word by accepting unrighteous laws and false doctrines into our midst without challenge. And as the Body of Christ, we should humble ourselves and pray, and seek God's face, turn from our wicked ways, and cry out for His mercy

What Does Habakkuk 3:17 Mean? 

"Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fieldsproduce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls ..." - Habakkuk 3:17 (NASB

Habakkuk was part of the remnant of Israel who remained faithful to the Lord. 

He was jealous for the nation of Israel who had strayed far away from the Lord their God. 

He did not understand why God did not punish their iniquity and bring them back to Himself, as in times past. 

The apostate, northern kingdom of Israel, had already been sent into captivity by Assyria. 

The southern kingdom 'though equally wicked, seemed to be escaping the inevitable wrath of God. 

This prophet knew that God's chosen nation had wandered far from Him and had fallen deep into apostasy and idolatry and this prophet of God wanted them to return to the Lord ... yet it seemed that God was turning a blind eye to their spiritual adultery.

"How long," he mourned, "before the wicked go unpunished?"

Habakkuk wanted God to punish Israel so they would return to Him - as in times past. 

But how perplexing for this godly man to hear the Lord was to use the wicked Babylonian nation to punish His chosen people! 

Habakkuk knew that the pagan practices of the Chaldean nation were even more ungodly and evil than Judah's apostasy. 

They were a cruel, brutal, sadistic, violent, and prideful nation, with an insatiable appetite for bloodshed and a contempt for God, who were steeped in a corrupt governmental system which was unsurpassed.

Habakkuk could not understand how God could use such an evil and treacherous nation to punish His own people! Israel's sin did not seem to be so great by comparison. 

But all sin must be punished, and Habakkuk was given a great assurance, by God, that the barbaric nation that He would use to punish His own people would themselves be punished. 

They would be broken to pieces by the Lord's own righteous judgement upon them.

The realisation that a terrible time of tribulation was about to deluge the little kingdom of Judah, brought Habakkuk to his knees in sorrow and repentance. 

He pleaded that in His wrath, God would remember to be merciful to the apostate and idolatrous nation of Israel that was called by His name.

Habakkuk knew that God's judgement on His people was inevitable and shocking, but he also glimpsed the goodness of God, the righteous of God, and His never-failing faithfulness towards His chosen people.

Habakkuk was given a great assurance that Israel's coming terrible time of tribulation would have a purifying effect on God's people, and the Lord gave Habakkuk the assurance that, like Abraham, the just shall live because of their faith and that their faith would be credited to them as righteousness.

And so, despite knowing that a time of terrible tribulation was fast approaching the people of God, Habakkuk was able to trust the Lord to keep His promises. 

Habakkuk was able to pray with surety, "though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines ...

"though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food ...

"though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls ... 

"YET I will exult in the LORD.

"I will rejoice in the God of my salvation ... 

"for the Lord my God is my strength."

The full and final purification and restoration of Israel is yet future, but, for the moment, God is working his plan of redemption through His Church. 

In this present dispensation of grace, God is using the Church as His witnesses. 

And yet as time marches on, there seem to be many shadows of Israel's past faithlessness that parallel the current apostasy raging through the corridors of Christendom today.

As God's people ... we have, in many respects, become corrupt. 

We have compromised the truth of God's righteous Word by accepting unrighteous laws and false doctrines into our midst without challenge. 

We have embraced many worldly ways, watered-down the truth of God's Word, and allowed false teachers and doctrines of demons to infiltrate our churches and our minds - we have forgotten what it is to blush.

As a Church, we need to call out, as did Habakkuk, and pray that in His wrath the Lord would remember mercy. 

We should get on our faces and confess that as the Body of Christ, we have not done what we ought to have done ... and we have done the things that we should not have done.

And as the Body of Christ, we should humble ourselves and pray, and seek God's face, turn from our wicked ways, and cry out for His mercy, 

"though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines ... 

"though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food ...

"though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls ... 

"YET I will exult in the LORD...

"yet I will rejoice in the God of my salvation ... 

"for the Lord my God is my strength."

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the example of Habakkuk and for the truths that we can learn.

I acknowledge that, like Israel, we have gone astray and wandered far from You.

We have left our first love and flirted with the world. 

Forgive us, Lord. 

Purify Your Church and restore to us the joy of our salvation. 

Keep us faithfully looking to Christ and living by faith, for You alone are our strength and our salvation. 

In Jesus' name I pray, 

AMEN.

"Knowing Jesus" is a ministry aiming at edifying the body of Christ through doctrinal sound teaching.

If this page is unmanned ... then the most likely explanation is the rapture has happened. The rapture of the church is the "catching up" of the church taught in 1 Thessalonian 4:13-18. All people who have trusted Christ are taken to be with Jesus. No one knows the date when this will be. 

If the rapture has happened it is not too late for you. Put your trust in Jesus Christ work on the cross. He died for sin and rose again. Believe this and have your sin forgiven, and be saved.

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The Joy of the Lord - “joy in the Holy Spirit” is a distinguishing mark of the kingdom of God. Those who are part of the kingdom share in the kingdom’s delight. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit. In fact, it is our Christian duty to rejoice in the Lord. In Christ, the believer is “filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” The joy of the Lord - our gladness of heart - is present even through the trials of life. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Adverse circumstances can actually enhance our joy. For the believer in Christ, the joy of the Lord comes as naturally as grapes on a vine

You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord - before salvation, we were children of the night and a product of the darkness of sin. God sent His only Son to be the Light of the world, to give light to everyone coming into the world. We have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Our joyful calling is to glorify God in our body and in spirit, for we belong to Him. We have been supernaturally delivered from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Christ. We are instructed to shun the unfruitful works of darkness and expose them.

He Saved Us to the Uttermost - you will not go into eternity empty-handed, but with the rich content of the fruit of the Spirit in your own spirit. This is the content you have gained in the various opportunities that come to you as the trials, temptations, and challenges in your everyday lives that bring the sin in your flesh to light. Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost – a much deeper salvation not just from the wages of sin, but from the very chains of sin. You will be transformed – conformed to the image of the Son. You will become a partaker of the divine nature

The Proof of Ownership - possessions are not bad, but do not make them your master. You must break the mindset that poverty is a virtue. Poverty is a curse. The other end of the spectrum is greed. Greed is a compulsion that you have to have what you want now. You need instant gratification and cannot wait until you have saved for what you want. The lottery is not God's way, either. If you are diligent in doing things God's way, He will bless you richly

"For every wild animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills." -  Psalm 50:10

The proof of ownership is the ability to convey. 

You do not own your car if you cannot convey the title without paying off a car loan first. 

If you have a mortgage, you cannot sell your house and convey title until you first pay off the mortgage.

Debt is not your system; it is financial slavery.

Possessions are not bad, but do not make them your master. 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you" - (Matthew 6:33).

You must break the mindset that poverty is a virtue.

Poverty is a curse. 

The other end of the spectrum is greed.

Greed is a compulsion that you have to have what you want now. 

You need instant gratification and cannot wait until you have saved for what you want. 

The lottery is not God's way, either. 

"Ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere; an honest life is immortal" - (Proverbs 10:2 MSG). 

"Easy come, easy go, but steady diligence pays off" -  (Proverbs 13:11 MSG).

If you are diligent in doing things God's way, He will bless you richly.

Holy Spirit, help me to wait.

Further Reading

1 Chronicles 16:37-18:17

Romans 2:1-24

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 19:8-9

Pastor Rod Parsley

Your Daily Devotion from Pastor Rod Parsley

Rodney Lee Parsley is a prominent American Christian minister, author, television host and evangelist. He is senior pastor of World Harvest Church, a large nondenominational church in Canal Winchester, Ohio; a suburb of Columbus, which has a sister campus in Elkhart, Indiana. 

PastorRodParsley@breakthrough.net

rodparsley.com

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God Gives You The Ability To Produce Wealth - wealth and money are not evil. It is the love of money that will get you into trouble. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. God’s gift to produce wealth is a good and perfect gift if you realize where the gift came from and don’t get caught up in pride and greed. There is an end-time transfer of wealth into the hands of men and women of God that walk in faith and Godly wisdom

Want To Be Rich? - God wants to shower you with blessings and riches. Jesus reminds us that, just as we always seek to give the best to our own children, so our Heavenly Father will give “much more” to those who ask him. Do not trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. If you are part of God’s Kingdom, the Holy Spirit lives in you and works through you, you are rich in the very best way possible

Being Choked by Wealth - Jesus was not against wealth, but against a dependence on wealth. Jesus continually taught that a dependence on anything other than God was evil. The greater independence money gives us, the less dependence on God we need. Jesus cautioned us against living a lifestyle that required more than our basic necessities. Christ talked much about money in the Kingdom because He knew how much of a problem it was