Scripture has much to say about what God intended His created beings to eat. However, many consider the old Bible writings to be outdated in this modern day and age. Just what does the word of God say to us?

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3

Jesus Himself is the Creator of this world and all the others in the universe, as well as the Creator of every being. He created this planet to be inhabited and to be enjoyed by mankind. He wanted him to be happy and healthy.

"Then God said - 'Let the land produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds', and it was so." Genesis 1:11.

"And God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:12

Everything was perfect with no weeds nor blights.

"Let us make man in Our image." "In the image of God created He him. Male and female created He them . . . to have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26

This dominion has subsequently been given up and someone else, namely the devil, now has it.

In Genesis 1:29 God said:
"I give you every seed-bearing plant (grains, legumes and seeds) on the face of the whole earth; and every tree that has fruit with seed in it," verse 29 (This includes nuts)

We do know that today we see only a fraction of what was originally growing on this earth. Many varieties have become extinct.

So, man's original diet was seeds, grains, nuts and fruit. Man's digestive system is geared to this type of diet! His system is very similar to that of today's fruit-eating animals. The length of the digestive tract is a strong indicator as to what type of food is normally eaten, and man's digestive tract is 12-14 times his trunk length (shoulder to hip), while fruit-eating animals is about the same.

Herbivores, such as cattle, have a gut-length some twenty times their body length, since it takes longer to digest that sort of material, because of the fiber content. The shortest tracts are, found in the carnivores - the meat-eaters. It does not take many thousands of years for a change to take place in gut lengths due to changes of diet. Recent studies have shown that this can take place over quite a short period of time.

Satan's work is to destroy or deface God's creation whenever he can. Due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, Satan took over man's dominion of the planet, but he knows his time is short and the whole of creation has been groaning ever since. After Eve, then Adam had succumbed to Satan's temptation. God told Adam that the earth would be cursed - that it would produce thorns and thistles - and "You will eat the plants of the field." Genesis 3:18.

So, after the Fall, mankind was also permitted to eat vegetables. This was presumably because the original foods were not so often and readily available as they were before. This may have been due to the seasonal changes that took place at that time, or the diminishing levels of nutrients because of the blighted earth.

Vegetables are very rich in elemental sulfur and are good cleansers of the digestive tract. The tomato is very close to a vegetable, but not to a fruit, which grows on a tree and has a high fructose content. Vegetables also take longer to digest than the original foods given by God; the fruits, grains and seeds. It has been found and proved that if one eats vegetables at the same meal, with any of the original foods, then fermentation takes place in one's gut. This is not a healthy practice! (See Food Combining)

This fermentation consists largely of fatty acids which have a detrimental effect on the body's immune system. Try and avoid eating vegetables and fruits at the same meal!

Fruits can be eaten with grains, seeds and nuts; and vegetables can be eaten with grains, seeds and nuts. Fruit is digested quickest, followed by grains, then seeds and then nuts. Vegetables take longer to digest than all these! (See Food-Combing Chart)

Avoid the two extremes at the same meal--fruit and vegetables.

About 80% of today's world population is near-vegetarian. Even today, everything our body requires is to be found in a grain kernel. It has the carbohydrate, the protein and the essential lipids we need; all in the correct amounts and proportions. However, man loves to separate these good foods - and sell them separately at much higher cost!

Is it man's greed for money which has caused under-nourishment in so many countries? Much of the whole food that is available is most likely bleached or treated with preserving chemicals. However, if we all ate more whole grains we would have far fewer diseases than we do.

Most of the bread we see these days is not what it could be, and often sadly lacks the basic natural ingredients.

Meat entered man's diet after the flood.

In Genesis 7:2, there is reference to seven pairs of each kind of clean animal, and only two pairs of each kind of unclean animal going into the ark. Thus, the concept of clean and unclean, is not a Jewish concept and has no ceremonial connotations, but emanated from the times before the flood. We are going to make a brief study of this very concept of "clean" and "unclean".

After the flood waters had receded, the earth had little vegetation for a while afterwards. Perhaps Noah had seeds with him and planted these for this first food. However, there would have been no fruit nor nuts for a number of years. So, the Lord gave this command:

"Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:3

"If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians - for I am the Lord who heals you." Exodus 15:26

God wants us to be healthy, and sets out specific guidelines as to what we should and should not eat.

"This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live; you must not eat any fat, or any blood." Leviticus 3:17

Today, man has come to realize, almost reluctantly, that fat is a killer.

The Israelites had become accustomed to the fleshpots of Egypt and were eating anything that moved, so God had to step in and specify which things were clean and fit to eat, and which were not.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying unto them: 'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, these are the beasts which ye shall eat amongst all the beasts that are on the earth'". Leviticus 11: 1,2

"Whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud among the beasts; that shall ye eat." Verse 3

These are the cows and goats.

All clean animals are cud-chewers; deer, buck and other game. They all have a pre-stomach, or rumen, in which the food is pre-digested. The bacteria is able to convert all the material into digestible matter. Only after this food has been thoroughly digested, does it enter the real stomach. Also, clean animals are all herbivores. They are, therefore, eaters of 'primary' material. Without exception, all other animals are unclean; those that consume secondary material; in other words, animals that eat animals!

Thus, God has specified that we are to eat only clean animals and none of the others.

Birds that have a crop, are also clean, since their food is well- digested and there is no fermentation taking place.

Certain animals are attracted to certain plants because of specific alkaloids in that plant which are agreeable to only a few of those that fly, crawl or walk. Not every animal was to eat the same plant - for obvious reasons.

After sin, some plants died off and others underwent a change. Some were now available for only a fraction of the year instead of the whole year, as before. So what was a hungry animal to do when his favorite food was not available? Some did adopt a system of hibernation, if they were physiologically and genetically able to do so; rather like going into cold storage when there was little food around. A few may have died off, but others simply changed their diet.

Instead of being merely plant-eaters they became carnivores. Ladybirds are carnivores, but during the apricot season - they go for apricots! When that fruit is out of season, they eat aphids.

When a species of Australian Parrot could no longer get his juicy grubs from the roots of plants (something his beak was designed for), he started attacking sheep; ripping open their backs and eating the fat around their kidneys!

In those parts of America where the forests are being rapidly removed, the poor chipmunk (traditionally a herbivore) has had to become a scavenger - even eating those animals that have been run-over on the roads.

The panda-bear is classified as a carnivore, but it eats mainly bamboo! If that is not available, it will eat a rat, for example.

The , however, has a fixed diet, eating only eucalyptus. Its digestive system just can not handle anything else, but most animals have become quite versatile and eat almost anything to survive.

A camel, for example, has no split or cloven hoof. It is unclean. This animal does have a similar digestive system to the clean animals; so what is the problem?

It has had to adapt to a world where there are deserts, which certainly were not there in the beginning. It has undergone a physiological adaptation to enable it to survive. Instead of sweating - and losing its body water - it allows its body temperature to rise to higher levels than before. This, unfortunately, allows the level of toxins in its body to rise to very high levels. This is its coping mechanism, but it is now unclean for human consumption.

The coney, or dassie, is unclean. He is a herbivore, but has a poor thermo-regulator. His body temperature does not remain constant throughout the changes in the weather during the year, and this causes his enzymes to be unstable, which results in intestinal fermentation being quite common. This means that the level of acid in his meat is much higher than in most other animals.

Leviticus 11:6 also states that the rabbit is unclean. Why is this? The horse is also unclean. These are only herbivores, so they should be clean. However, looking at the digestive tact of the rabbit we see a very enlarged caecum. In order for Mr. Rabbit to obtain sufficient nutrients from the plants he eats, like the cow, he has to ferment the material, which requires a fermentation chamber- with an alkaline environment; the bacteria, too, need to be nurtured for this process. Since, Mr. Rabbit has not got a pre-stomach, like the cow, he has to use his enlarged caecum.

However, his caecum is sandwiched between his gut and rectum and most of the absorption of the nutrients takes place here, so if he wants to re digest this material he has only one option. He becomes copro-phagae; in other words, he eats his own excrement.

The rabbit gets his extra nutrients he is seeking, but consequently the level of toxins in his tissues is far higher than in any of his other herbivore friends. Bile salts, fatty acids, gases, and ammonia levels are all at unacceptable levels for human consumption. He is unclean.

All rodents, the hare and even the horse, fall into the same category. They are all unclean - "and an abomination unto the Lord."

Now we turn to the swine, or pig. Its meat has a very high intracellular fat level. That is not all. All animal fat has a high level of toxic material.

In most modern farms, pigs are fed the worst of foods. On the biggest farms, the largest pigs are fed with non-hatched (rotten) eggs and chickens that had died from disease.

Sometimes, pigs are kept in batteries where four or five pigs have to compete for the food and only the front pigs get the food; the ones behind get the droppings. Because these materials are extremely toxic, any tissue from these animals makes them very unclean indeed!

Pigs have very high histamine levels which could create various immune reactions. The connective tissue is very rich in sulfur, leading to acidosis and osteoporosis, because of the loss of calcium along with the sulfates. It is believed that the high sulfate levels, especially in meat-rich diets, are responsible for osteoporosis.

Research is presently being done with sheep which have been developing osteoporosis due to their high protein diet, which is rich in sulfur.

At the time when pigs leave the farms, it has been found from a number of tests that 56% of all pork samples were contaminated with salmonella. When "clean" animals leave the farms, only some 15% of the meat is contaminated.

When the pig meat leaves the abattoir, it is 80% contaminated, and when it reaches the butcher, the levels are virtually 100%! The "clean" animals have only a 40% contamination level by this stage.

The pig is certainly responsible for much disease. Many people are allergic to pork (because of the high histamine levels), and it also encourages the formation of excessive amounts of mucous in our bodies. Avoid pork if you are asthmatic!

God warns us in Leviticus 11:26 not to even touch the carcass of a pig. It has high levels of contamination of bacteria such as campylobacta, salmonella, etc.

Turning now to marine life:

"These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters; whatsoever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas and in the rivers; them shall ye eat; and all that have not fins and scales, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you." Leviticus 11: 9,10

Those that do not have fins and scales are not edible.

The reason is really plain to see. The fish that have fins and scales are generally found in the deeper or fast-running waters, and, in at least part of their life cycle, they are herbivorous. They are mainly algal eaters. They also have an excellent detoxifying enzyme systems. Those fish that do not have fins and scales are either scavengers, or they are pure carnivores.

The common snoek has scales, but as it is taken out of the water they usually fall off so they can not be classified as clean. Anyhow, if a snoek is cut open, the trained zoological eye will soon see thousands of bladder worms. Each bladder is full of urea, and this is what gives that  that distinctive tangy flavour which appeals to so many hungry people! As a Zoologist I never used to eat snoek - for this very reason.

The chicken is listed as clean since it originally ate only seeds. Today, however, the average commercially-reared chicken is fed on fish meal or carcass meal, (reject material from the abattoir), and can no longer be regarded as acceptable.

All the unclean birds which God lists are carnivores. Not one is a herbivore! Not one of them has a crop.

Insects are mentioned under "flying, creeping things" in verse 20. We are told: "You may eat of these". These really only include the locust. The other insects listed as unclean are all second or third trophic-level insects - further down the food chain. Flying grasshoppers could be eaten but those that did not fly, such as crickets, were not for eating.

"Whatsoever goes upon his paws", verse 27, such as cats, dogs, rats, mice, and weasels, are unclean. All reptiles are also unclean.

After a lion makes a kill, the first morsel he looks for is the stomach; tearing open the rumen and enjoying its contents first - the herbivorous matter - and then he tackles the flesh. The young cubs have to be trained to go for the blood.

All the creatures that walk on all fours either fall into the carnivore category or the coprophaeic. Here, the toxin levels in their flesh are very high ,and the intestine length rapidly adapts to cope with the higher levels of ammonia, which is carcinogenic, and the high bile secretion due to the digestion of fatty tissue.

The intestine is short so that this material does not stay in the body any longer than necessary. God has placed this wonderful protective mechanism in His creatures, so they can try and cope with the results of sin on this planet. Is it not strange that it is these 'sharp' tastes that so many people go for?

Leviticus 11:37, 38 continues:
"If a carcass (of an unclean animal) falls on a seed which is to be sown, it shall remain clean; but if water falls on that seed, while the carcass is there, it is unclean. You must not plant it. You must not eat it."

God here is concerned not that the seed will yield bad fruit, but that it may be genetically impaired by the chemicals thus released when water is involved. God is concerned with the health of all His creatures - man and beast.

"For I am the Lord your God. Therefore, sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy; for I am holy. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt." Verses 44, 45

He takes us out of sin and all the consequences of sin. This does not only involve healing from our sins but the healing of our bodies, too. God wants to restore us and make us whole.

The concept in today's society is that there is no such thing as unclean, and that this has all been done away with.

It is said that it is not what goes into your mouth that is unclean but what comes out of it. Consequently, all Christians are told that they are under no obligation to follow the 'old' laws anymore.

We can turn to a story in Acts 10, where Peter, some time after the Lord's resurrection, and after the stoning of Stephen, has a vision of unclean animals in a huge sheet; and a voice saying; "Arise, Peter; kill and eat," and what does Peter declare?

He had already been told by Jesus, some years previously, about what goes into our mouth and what comes out, and apparently had not taken it to heart, for he now says: "Not so, Lord. For I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

Is this really what the vision is about? Did God really mean - that Peter was beginning killing and eating anything he wanted, and that all meat was now permissible to be eaten? No, Jesus was talking about something else at that time.

Peter, himself, was left wondering just what this symbolic dream meant; verse 17. He obviously knew it was symbolic and not literal and went downstairs to meet his visitors from Cornelius, still thinking about the vision. (verse 19)

However, by the time he had started talking with Cornelius the following day Peter had realized just what the vision meant. In verse 28, he says: "You are well aware it is against our law for a Jew to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call any man unclean."

The visible effects of the Holy Spirit on all the household of Cornelius, confirmed God's intention of calling what was 'previously unclean, as now being 'clean' or acceptable. Peter understood his vision correctly. Most Christians today do not. The vision of the unclean animals had nothing to do with what we should or should not eat.

This vision of Peter's was the Great Commission to go out to all nations and preach the gospel. The great prophetic clock had stuck. The 490 years for the spreading of the gospel amongst the Jews had come to an end in 34 A.D and the gospel was to go to all the world - to every nation, tribe, kindred, and people.

Our Bodies Belong to God

"I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice; holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

Is it not reasonable to care for these bodies God has given us, for His Spirit to dwell in?

Man's taste buds today have become so perverted and it seems that mankind will do anything to corrupt his body.

Look at the tea bush. Only the two top leaves and the bud are picked. All plants produce alkaloids, or toxins, which keep certain, or all, animals away from the plant at certain times. It may even attract certain animals to that plant.

On growing plants which parts should be protected from hungry visitors? The young leaves and the seeds. So, nature ensures that these have high levels of toxin so that animals and birds avoid them. What does man do? He picks these, dries them, makes an extract (to concentrate all that lovely flavour) and makes a beverage which the whole world can not function without! Why is man so intent on destroying himself?

"Whatever a man soweth, that will he also reap." Galatians 6:7

Does the concept of clean and unclean occur in the New Testament?

"Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you will be My sons and daughters', says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything." 2 Corinthians 7:1

This includes everything that contaminates the spirit and the body.

As a Christian who has accepted the gift of salvation from God, I must get my whole life in tune with God's original plan for me; totally and completely. I am on my way to the heavenly Canaan and must learn to say "no" to that which harms my body or my mind.

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 2

"Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you and which you have from God; and you are not your own. You are bought with a price." "Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's". 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20

"If any man defile the body of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 1 Corinthians 3:17

"Whether, therefore, you eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do - do all to the glory of God". 1 Cor 10:31

I invite you to start a new life style and take hold of the promises of Scripture. God will give you health, if you obey Him.

by Professor Walter J. Veith Phd.