Luke chapter number 24, the part that I would like to focus on is beginning in verse number 36 where the bible reads, "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst them, and saith unto them, Peace unto you. They were terrified and are frightened, and supposing that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hand and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and see for a spirit half not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believe not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye hear any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them."
I want to focus on that question that Jesus ask there, "Have ye here any meat?" The title of my sermon tonight, is veganism in light of the bible. Now, also a lot of what I'm going to preach on covers vegetarianism as well. I'm not here to offend anybody or hurt anybody's feeling tonight, you can eat whatever you want, but eating is something that we do multiple times per day, it's a pretty important part of our lives. The bible has a lot to say about food and we will be remiss to completely ignore scripture on such a key part of our lives and our lifestyle. We should look at what the bible teaches.
If we're going to consider veganism or vegetarianism, we should consider in light of the bible, in light of what the bible teaches. First of all, I want to start with Jesus Christ himself, because he is the example, he was the perfect man, he was tempted in all points, because we are yet without sin. He was the ideal man. God did not give the spirit by measure unto him. He was totally righteous. Everything that he did was right, he went about doing good, and he left us an example that we should walk in his steps.
What I want to start out by showing you is that Jesus Christ was not vegan, neither was he vegetarian. In this passage, we clearly see Jesus eating a piece of broiled fish and an honeycomb, and neither of these are vegan approved. Because veganism teaches, "Don't eat any animal product." That would be meat, that would be dairy, that would be eggs, that would be honey, anything that is produced by animals or comes from an animal, is not something that we're supposed to eat, according to veganism. Yet the bible is clear here that Jesus Christ, the son of God and his glorified resurrected form is chowing down on fish and honeycomb. Now you say, "Why is it that Jesus is eating fish and honeycomb?"
I believe that the most important reason why he's eating this is to prove that it was a bodily resurrection, makes it really clear here. They thought they'd seen a spirit or a ghost, and he is telling them, "No, a spirit have not flesh and bone, as you see me to have." I believe that the bible records him eating food just to really drive in the fact that he was physically there and that he had bodily resurrected. Now why did they give him a piece of a broiled fish? Why did they give him a honeycomb? Clearly because that is what they were eating, that's what they had in stock, and so they handed it to him.
Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 7, let's go back to Christ infancy, even when Jesus was just a baby, even when he was just a young child. Now, obviously every baby starts out with nothing but mother's milk, that's the only sustenance coming in. It is not healthy to give a child anything other than mother's milk when it's a newborn, that's what you're supposed to give it. For some reason they cent give mother's milk, then people will often give the child formula, but you can't just give a new born baby normal food. This is why there is no such thing as a lifelong vegan, it doesn't exist. Because a baby starts out drinking milk, and if you give a baby a vegan diet, it will die. In fact there is a woman who was charged with the crime few years ago, because she was this die hard vegan, and after just a few weeks she wanted to get the baby on a vegan diet, and the baby died, because she wasn't giving it milk, she was giving it plant based products, and it wasn't what it needed.
Therefore, there's no such thing as a lifelong vegan. Let's look at baby Jesus or toddler Jesus, the bible says and in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good." Butter and honey are both being listed as good foods and they're both animal based products, non-vegan. Look at 7:21, the bible says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep. And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter, for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land."
We see here, not just a mother's milk but also cow's milk being consumed, and also butter from the cow, and also honey. Now, if you would, flip over to Genesis 18, because as I was studying this, and I thought about the life of Christ. I was preparing this sermon, I said to my wife, "I know that the bible is perfect, and I would never want to tamper with the bible." God's word is perfect in every way, and I don't mean this in a blasphemous way, but I said to my wife, I said, "I just wish that there was an example of Christ eating beef in the bible." I'm not trying to tamper with the scripture. There are some that are vegetarians and they say that fish isn't really meat, like the meatless Friday where the Catholics don't eat meat but they allow fish.
I was just thinking, I'm not trying to change the bible, I love the bible the way it is, but wouldn't it be great if we just had an example of Jesus eating beef, eating red meat, just a burger, a stake, something. It's amazing how the bible really is the perfect book, because I found it. I've been studying bible for years. Somehow I missed it. God heard me, he heard my grumblings. He revealed to me last night in a vision, Christ eating beef.
Look at Genesis chapter 18, I'll show you … I'm kidding about the vision. Look at Genesis chapter 18. Here's the thing, Genesis 18 is a Old Testament appearance of Jesus. I have a whole sermon called Old Testament appearance of Jesus where I prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Look at verse 1 of Genesis 18, "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground." I don't want to spend the whole sermon on this one point, but let me just quickly explain to you the story here, in verse 1 it says, "The LORD", in all capital letters, the name there, Jehovah.
The Lord appeared unto him, the him is Abraham. The LORD Appeared unto Abraham as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. Abraham sees three men walking to him when the Lord appears to him. Now, these three men come to him, they commune with him, they dine with him, and then the bible says that the two men walk way towards Sodom, and then it talks about, Abraham is left alone with the Lord, and continues to converse with the Lord. These three men that walk up to Abraham in the heat of the day, one of them is the Lord in bodily form, the Lord as man. The other two are angles who also looked like normal ordinary men, and they are sent to Sodom.
Of course, in Genesis chapter 19, those two men appear in Sodom, and they go, and they go have dinner at Lot's house and everything. Dinner was better at Abraham's house than at Lot's house. Anyway, that's another sermon. The point is that this is Jesus, because of the fact that when we're talking about the Father, no man had seen God at any time, the only begotten son, which is on the bosom of the Father, he had declared him. Even Moses was told that no man could see God the Father's face and live. In fact Moses was just shown a glimpse of the hinder parts of God, as God pass by and put Moses in that cleft of the rock and covered him with his hand, and pass by, and then move his hand. Moses' face glowed and shown just from even having barely caught a glimpse of the hinder part.
Therefore, in order for the Lord to appear to someone in bodily form, that's not the father, that's the son, and that's not the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost is just Spirit. I don't mean just in a disparaging way, but he's not a flesh and blood, flesh and bone as Jesus. This is an Old Testament, and there are many Old Testament appearances of Jesus. For example, in Daniel 3:25, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in the fiery furnace, and the fourth man in the fire is said that the form of the fourth is the son of God. This is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. Let's keep reading.
He said, "My Lord … Verse 3, if now I found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant, led a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I'll fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts, after that ye shall pass on. For therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, so do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent onto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the heart. Abraham run into the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed and set it before them, and he stood by them under the three, and they did eat."
Jesus ate beef in the bible, halleluiah. This was exciting when I found this. You could still learn new things out of the bible, no matter how many times you read it. Jesus ate beef in the bible, in Genesis 18, because the calf is of course a young cow. This meal was filled with animal products, it's butter, milk, calf meat. Wait, what would we call that? Veil, right? I'm not that fancy to eat a lot of veil. Go to John chapter 6, not only did Jesus eat fish, not only did he eat honey, drank milk, ate butter, even ate beef, before he was even born he was eating beef, all right. He was eating beef in the Old Testament, all right. Not only that, he fed the 5,000 with a non-vegan fair, also is non-vegetarian, non-paleo, and he was also non-grain free, if you think about.
He was just feeding them with just food, just normal food. Look what the bible says in John 6:9, "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes." We can see exactly what grain was going into bread even. Five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they amongst so many? Look at verse 11, "Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would." Right, so Jesus is feeding the people with fish and bread. Go back to Deuteronomy 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32, right now we're just looking at examples of Christ eating a non-vegetarian diet, a non-vegan diet, and feeding everyone around him, the disciples, all of his followers, they're all being feed, they're all filling up on this stuff. Now, look at Deuteronomy chapter 32 for another scripture on God giving meat and dairy unto his people. Deuteronomy 32:9, and by the way every gift of God is good, and coming from above. It's from above and coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, either shadow of turning. Look at verse 9 of chapter 32, "For the LORD'S portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." What's another name for Jacob? Israel. "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness, he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. The Lord alone did lead them. There was no strange God with them, he made them ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the fields and he made them to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock."
Butter of kine. Now, kine are cattle or cows. "Butter of kine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs, and rams of the bread of Bashan and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grapes." God is feeding us people with butter of kine, milk of sheep, so not just, "Milk is good for you when you're a baby coming from your mother, but don't every drink cow's milk." I've heard this taught by people. Cow's milk isn't good for you, goat's milk isn't good for you, sheep's milk isn't good for you. I've drunk raw goat's milk many times. I like it, I think it taste great, some people said it taste a little too milky, but it is milk. I like the goat's milk, just as well as the cow's milk, I never had sheep's milk, but I like both the goat's milk and the cow's milk just as well.
I believe that these are good nourishing healthy foods. If you get them the way that God made them. If you get them after they've been tampered with, after the animal has been feed a weird diet, or a genetically modified diet, or a pesticide latten diet, after it's been homogenized and pasteurize, well them maybe all of bets are off at that point. I'm talking about the raw milk straight from the utter to our glass, is very healthy and great. I highly recommend it, the bible is recommending it as a beverage. Let's have you turn in to Genesis 9. While you're turn in Genesis 9, I'll red for your from Isaiah 55, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." The gospel is liken into the water of life, but it's also liken into wine and milk as a good beverage. How about this one, this is a key verse, 1 Corinthians 9:7, "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?"
Who keeps a flock and doesn't eat of the milk of the flock? Let's think about people who kept flocks, people like Abel, people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the children of Israel when they went down to Egypt, what did they tell the Egyptians? Our trade has been about cattle from our youth until now. Give us the land of Goshen so that we can raise cattle. Whereas the Egyptians were more of agrarian society, they were shepherds, they had cattle. Everyone who has cattle, the bible says, they eat of the milk of the flock.
That's why they're keeping the cattle in the first place, for meat and for dairy. It's not just an elaborate scheme not have just a lot of pets. It's a way to make a living. Look at Genesis 9:1, "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Is God teaching here that meat is an inferior form of food that it's not as good for you, not as healthy for you as the plantlike? No, he actually says, "I'm giving this stuff to you as food." It's coming from the hand of the Lord, he's giving it to you, it's a blessing from him. He says that it's as the green herb, even as the green herb, just as much as the green herb is food for you, so is the meat.
Same, both of them are good for you. Now, over and over again, the Lord … If you would turn to Exodus 12, when he tells the children of Israel about the promise land and he wants to really talk it up to them and try to motivate them to get out of slavery in Egypt, to get across the wilderness, and to get into that promise land of Canaan. What is it that he calls that promise land over and over again? It's a land that flows with soy milk, it's a land flowing with weed grass shots, it's a land flowing with carrot and orange juice. Is that what he said? No, it's a land flowing with what? Milk and honey. Is milk vegan?
Honey is not even vegan. Some vegans are like … It's vegan to us, honey is. Milk isn't. Really, honey isn't really different than milk, cow produces milk, bees produce honey, it really ain't any different, if you think about it. They're both very good for you if you're raw, locally sourced, those could be great things. Look what the bible says in Exodus 12:7, "And they shall take of the bold," this is the Passover meal. "And strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not if it raw, nor sodden at all with water," that means boiled, "but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD'S passover."
Notice that they eat all ... Every part of this passover lamb, they eat the head, they eat the legs, they eat the purtenance thereof. They're eating all of it. Not only that, but this wasn't optional. In fact, go to Numbers chapter 9 and you'll see that if people refuse to keep the passover, they can't be one of the chosen people in the Old Testament. Now, in the New Testament, to be one of the chosen people, all you have to do is believe in Jesus, that's the new covenant, the New Testament where by faith we are a part of the holy nation, the royal priesthood, we believe in the priesthood of the believer. In the New Testament, we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, we are a holy nation, we're a peculiar people, which in tie pass we're not a people.
In the Old Testament though, it was different. In the Old Testament, there was a chosen physical nation, and in the New Testament is a spiritual nation made up of all believers. Old Testament is a physical nation of Israel, but it wasn't enough to just be genetically or by blood, an Israelite. In order to be one of God's people, you had to also be circumcised, and you had to also keep the passover. The bible said that if you don't keep the passover, you can't be one of his people in the Old Testament. Therefore, veganism wasn't going to work. You were going to be God, how some people in the old covenant, you can't be vegan and be in the holey nation back then.
You can be vegan and be in the holy nation now, but I'm simply pointing out to you that in the Old Testament, veganism was unknown amongst the Israelites, or even vegetarianism, because part of being an Israelite was that you have to eat meat. Not even just that you could eat meat or was allowed to eat meat, no, no, no, you must eat meat. Look at proof, Numbers 9:10. Actually let's just start in, yeah verse 10, "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying if any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD. The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it. But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover," meaning somebody has no excuse, meaning that they're not going on a trip, and they're not unclean, or somehow prevented from taking it, it says, "If he shall forebear to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his, because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the , according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do, ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land."
When it says cutoff for among his people, it's not saying that you're going to be killed, it's just saying, your cutoff from among the people, meaning you're not part of the group, you're ostracized, you're not a part of the holy nation any longer, you can't be a part of the congregation of the children of Israel. Here's my question. If supposedly veganism is a better way of eating, is supposedly vegetarianism is a better way, the healthier way of eating, then why did God give us a book that over, and over, and over, and over again promotes commands and just tells us about eating meat and dairy over and over, and all the main bible character were serious meat eaters, all of them. Think about it, just think about the bible characters. What did most of them do? Most of them are shepherds, most of them are keeping cattle, and then we get in the New Testament, Jesus is choosing fishermen, they're all men who kill animals on a regular basis. It's almost prerequisite to serving God for these people, I'm not kidding, okay.
Think about it, Elijah, the first thing, Elijah or [inaudible 00:24:22] prophet throws the mantle on him, the first thing he does is kills a bunch of cows and serves a big beef fest, it was all family, right? He served the whole town beef, then he follows Elijah, then he pours water on the hand of Elijah, okay. You say, what about John the baptized? Even John the baptized is just eating just a pure animal based diet of locust, which are animals, and wild honey, which is an animal product. I find it real hard to believe that God would just command all the priest, because we're not even scratching to surface tonight. The think I want to make really clear is, I'm showing scriptures, I'm not even scratching the surface.
If I were to go through every example of people eating meat in the bible, or eating animal produce, or God telling people or giving people animal products, it would take all night, we'd be here till the sun came up, literally. I'm not joking, it's that frequent. Not only that, but the passover is even once a year, but if you stop and think about the priest, they had to eat meat every single day, because offerings are being made unto the Lord every single day, not just the morning and evening sacrifice, but also anytime somebody has a trespass offering, a sin offering, an offering of purification, they're bringing animal after animal, after animal, and that's what the priest were living on, just meat based diet to the extreme. Now, if you would go to Genesis chapter 1, how in the world could you expect me to believe as a bible believing Christian that abstaining for meat is going to be healthier or better for me when there's all this scripture where Jesus is eating meat, his disciples are eating meat, he's feeding meat to everybody, he's like, "I'm going to bless you by giving you a lot of butter."
The more butter, the more blessing. Lots of milk, honey, meat, it's going to be great. How many scriptures could we go to? Very many. Now, when you ask people to show your scriptural proof of why it's good to be vegan or vegetarian, pretty much they only have a couple of scriptures that they can point you to. Now the bible is such a long book that you can pretty much find verses to prop up anything you want if you take them out of context. This scripture from Genesis 1, it's the James 2 of this all meat issue. It's that one scripture that they take out of context and they'll tell you, "According to Genesis 1, what we really ought to be eating is a plant based diet." In fact, I've heard this called the hallelujah diet. There have even been independent Baptist preachers who are into this.
You say, "Why are you even preaching this? We're all Baptist here. We eat meat in same quantities. What are you talking?" Here's the thing, even Baptist pastors have fallen into this. This so called hallelujah diet, as if it's a praise unto the Lord, to abstain from his bounty of four footed beast that he gave us to eat, and be thankful for. They'll take you to Genesis chapter 1 and they'll take you to verse 29 where it says, "And God 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 the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to very beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so." They'll take this scripture here and say, "Before men sinned, before the fall God gave him a plant based diet, therefore that's the best diet."
Here's the thing, you're misinterpreting that scripture, because if that were true, then the other 1,088 chapters in the bible wouldn't just taken a totally different direction and just everybody is pass the milk, pass the butter, pass the meat, pass the fish, multiple it and feed 5,000 people. That doesn't make any sense, so you're interpreting it wrong, number one. Number two, let's just give you that and say, "Okay, before the fall of men, they ate this plant based diet, how wonderful." Here's the thing about that though, before the fall of men their bodies were different than out bodies are right now. Because of the fact that for example, God even says unto the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception and sorrow shall that bring for children. If he is multiplying her conception, if he is multiplying her sorrow in conception, then obviously there's a physiological change that's taken place in her body in order for that to happen. Not only that, but before the fall of man, before they sinned, they're never going to die, they're eating of the three of life every day, they're going to live forever just from eating that thing. It's providing such nourishment that it keeps their bodies in perfect health to the point where they've never age and never die.
The bible tells us that if they had kept eating of that tree of like, they would have just lived forever. That's why God throws them out of the Garden of Eden, he says, "Less he put forth his hand and eat of the tree of life and live forever." We don't know what kind of nutrients are in that tree of life, what kind of amino acids that are making up for the lack of meat and dairy in their lives. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You got people that never get sick, they never get old, they live forever because they're eating of a special fruit of the tree of life and then he tells them, "Yeah, just eat green herbs and you'll be fine." Wait a minute, how can you then apply that to us when our bodies aren't living forever? Our bodies do have problems.
Listen, if you eat a vegan diet, I don't care what anybody says, you are missing out on essential nutrients in your diet. People will sit there and say, "No, that's not true, you can get them another way." You're missing out on cholesterol. Don't laugh, that is an important nutrient. You're missing out on … Have you ever heard of the good cholesterol? Okay. I saw this really funny comic one time, it showed two coconuts, like a husband and wife coconut, and the wife coconut is really upset, and the husband coconut say into her, "I said you were the good kind of fat."
Coconut oil is the good kind of fat, all right. Maybe it was two avocados, something like that. The bottom line is, you're missing out on certain fats, vitamins, certain types of vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin K, things that are found in dairy, things that are found meat, nutrients in it. Here is one thing I've learned about nutrition, I've read a lot of books on nutrition, I've read a lot of just fitness books and they all touch on nutrition. Here's what I've learned about nutrition, if you talk to a whole bunch of different people about nutrition, even if their experts, and even if you read a whole bunch of books, by smart people writing about nutrition, they all contradict each other a lot, a lot. That is the one subject where you will never find agreement amongst people.
It is not a case closed. You could find books that will tell you how wonderful raw dairy is. Another book is going to tell you how horrible it is, one book is going to tell you that chocolate is a super food, and then another one is going to tell you that chocolate is bad for you. Which one do you think I subscribe to? Chocolate is the greatest super food on this planet, as far as I'm concern. I eat chocolate peanut butter cups virtually every day of my life.
I don't do [inaudible 00:32:37], I do an organic, the organic feed. Anyway, I do the organic Justin's, the dark chocolate peanut butter cups, I've had two today, and I'm not yet begun to fight, okay. Here's the thing, you can find nutrition books that will tell you, "It's all about being green free, it's all about the paleo diet, right?" You'll find another group that will do the opposite, no meat, it's all about green, eat a lot of green. You will find people teaching opposite things, all day long there's no consensus. Why? Because it's a very difficult subject to understand.
Our bodies are so complex, I think that there's a lot that science just doesn't know frankly. Otherwise there would be more agreement of … At least we can all agree on this, but our bodies are so amazing and this really is a marvel of creation, how you can pretty much put in anything into our bodies and it turns into fuel. Isn't it amazing how you can take people like the Mongolians? The Mongolians eat virtually no plant product. They don't eat fruits and vegetables, or at least in history they didn't, I'm not sure what they're like today. By and large today, they still eat the way that their ancestors ate, and I'm not saying that they just do a little bit of fruits and vegetables, I'm saying they don't do any. You read about Genghis Khan and his family and everything, they are just eating meat, and dairy, and that's what they live off of, just wild meat and dairy, and things of that nature.
When they wanted to get drunk, they don't even drink wine to get drunk or beer, or anything. No, fermented mare's milk, fermented horse milk is what Genghis Khan would get drunk with. It's a historical fact, my friend. The bottom line is that people like the Mongolians are just completely meat and dairy based. On the other spectrum you have people that are vegan, and it's just totally plant based, and yet both people can exist and function on some level. Isn't that interesting? Our bodies are pretty amazing the way they can adapt to different things. Our bodies are good at surviving.
Whatever you feed your body, you'll get us to it. There are people eat a lot of junk food, and although I do believe that they're doing long term damage to their body, they can pour nothing but junk food in their body and they're still alive. Sometimes I've worked with people where I'm marveled that they were even still alive. This one guy that I worked with, he had go to the gas station in the morning and get a pack of just the worst possible donuts and a super big gulp of diet coke, and a couple of ibuprofens for his headache, every day. He's getting just a little individual … He's in denial, he wouldn't just accept the fact that he has a head each every day because he eats a bunch of junk, because then it would made sense to go to Costco or some and get a big giant ibuprofen that's going to last him, so he could save a little money. No, it's just, just today I have a headache, let me get the little single serving.
It was virtually every day that he get it. Single serving, two Advils, donuts and diet coke. He just guzzles this supper big gulp of diet coke, then the whole day we're all sweating, we're climbing through attics, we're doing all this hot electrical work, no water is passing this guy. I'm drinking water, I'm drinking Gatorade, I'm thinking, "Man, I got to stay hydrated." This guy just diet coke, nothing else. Then at lunch he walks in to RBs or whatever and gets a sandwich of transparent meat.
You hold that meat up and look for it, and see how the other is like, he gets a bunch of clear meat on a sandwich, and another just gigantic diet coke. No, I'm like, "Do you ever drink water?" I don't like water. You're a miracle, you're a walking miracle. How are you even alive? Obviously, yeah, it catches up to you, you had a lot of health problems, he's got bad headaches all the time.
I'm not saying it's good for you, but it's amazing what our bodies can handle. Yeah, you can do vegan and your body can handle it for a while, but honestly long terms, I believe that it's going to have bad effects. You say, "No, the science says it's good for you." Yeah, but you could find a bunch of people that will tell you that it's horrible for you, and that your kids teeth are going to fall out after the third pregnancy, all kinds of crazy stuff, because of the nutrients that you're deprived of. You'll find other people seeing the price as a vegan as them all day long and tell you, it's great, it's perfectly health. How do you trust, right?
This is what I would go to as a starting point and just say, "Let's start here, let's start with what we know to be true, and then let's think about these other issues." If we're going to think about our diet and what we eat, shouldn't this be a starting point? The beginning of knowledge right here. I'm not saying it's wrong to study science and to learn about nutrition and health, but we should start with this and this should be the foundation of our philosophy on eating or any other subject. We start here, we're not going to walk away with a vegan mentality. Okay, now you can sit there and say, "The Garden of Eden is all plant based there, for a little while."
The thing about that is that they didn't have an issue of malnutrition, malnourishment, not getting the vitamins, because the fruit of the tree of life is just sustaining their bodies miraculously, and they're going to live forever, no sickness no pain, they're all good to go. We don't have that luxury. Now there are people out there that are apologist of the vegan lifestyle, and they will basically say, "You can get all the same nutrition from the plant base side." First of all, what I've notice is that in order to try to get all the same nutrition from plant based diet, two things, number one, eating becomes a fulltime job, trying to just figure out what to eat and then trying to cram all that rough edge down your gullet. It's just so much food that they have to consume. This one guy challenge me when I was preaching about this one time, "That's not true, you can easily get that much protein, you just need to eat four cups of beans and five peanut butter jelly sandwich."
I'm like, "Who wants to sit down and eat five cups of beans and four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?" Here's the thing, the only plant based way to really get protein in any substantial quantity is beans. There's just only so many beans you can eat, friend. How full of beans do you want to be? Beans have half the protein of meat, first of all. Don't argue my new show with me about the exact grams or whatever, look, I've looked at the chart that Chipotle hands out. Chipotle says how many grams are in the beans, and how many grams are in the meat, case closed, okay? There's twice as many grams in the meat. You look at the rice and it's just a tiny fraction of protein.
In order to get protein and substantial quantities, you have to get it from meat. If you don't get it from meat, you have to get it from dairy. If you don't get it from meat or dairy, you're in trouble. You're going to have to just eat a lot of beans, okay? I for one don't want to just fill up on beans and just be … I pare you why I don't want to consume that quantity of beans, but I don't want to do it, I'm not going to do. What's my quality of life worth? I've noticed that number one, eating is a full time job trying to do all these calculations and figure out where they're going to get the amino acids to forms and complete proteins?
Because beans are an incomplete protein, you have to couple it with rice to complete that protein. I believe that quinoa is a complete protein. I like quinoa as much as the next guy. How much quinoa can you really put down your gullet? Eating becomes a fulltime job with people like this, okay, when they do that. Number two, they end up just eating an ordinate amount of beans, that's a crazy amount of beans.
There are issues with eating too many beans, also for example with your teeth and bones, because of the levels of phytic acid, and I don't want to go into some big long thing about that. I'm just saying, it's easy to just, "Yeah, let's just try this radical new diet." Before you just jerk the steering wheel of your body, and just deprive it of these key nutrients found in meat and dairy, you need to realize that maybe there are things that nutritionist don't even understand till this day, and that maybe you're depriving yourself of nutrients that haven't even been discovered yet. I wouldn't want to play games with the radical diet, I would rather just stay with the classic traditional biblical type diet where you just pretty much eat a normal balance of food.
Hedging your bets as it were, rather than just putting all you money down on red 12, or whatever. Actually hedging you bets a little bit and saying, "Just in case there is something to fruits and vegetables, I'm going to eat a bunch of fruits and vegetables just to cover my basis, and just in case meat and dairy have something for me, I better make sure and get that stuff too. Just get a balance diet. The bible talks about all of these things as being good for food. Let's talk about Cain. Got to Genesis 4, Cain is the first vegan in the bible. Listen to me, there's a teaching out there and I'm going to admit you that I use to be wrong about this, okay.
Not about veganism, I've never gone down that road. I was walking around as a toddle eating raw hotdogs, but I don't like them anymore, thought, but they were good when I was a kid. I was hedging my bets back then, because I remember my whole toddle years, the only thing I remember about my toddler years is just walking around with the Tupperware cup full of cheerios in one hand, and a raw hotdog in the other hand. Whenever I think of being a toddler those are two foods I think of, that's my two favorite snacks. Anyway, here's the thing about Cain and Abel, see, I've always thought my whole life, and this is what I've always heard people say, this is what I've taught, and I was wrong about it for a longtime, but a few years ago I figure, "I don't think that that's right."
I always thought that they started eating meat after they got off the ark with Noah, right? Isn't that what the common teaching is? That's what I thought my whole life. The reason that you think of that, is because the bible gives us so little detail about those first 1,656 years of human history before the flood. You don't really get a lot of detail. It doesn't really tell us much.
You don't get all the facts, because God didn't feel that it was important to fill us in on every detail of what life was like before the flood, what cities where there. He gives us some things of interest in chapter 4, but it doesn't go and do a great deal. We see in the Garden of Eden that it's obviously plant based before they're kicked out of the garden. Then they're kicked out of the garden, and then the next thing we see is the story of Cain and Abel, where Abel is a keeper of the sheep, keeper of the flock, and Cain is a tiller of the ground or one who is a farmer or into agriculture. Of course, once we have the story of Noah's ark, then when they get off the ark, God point blank tells him in Genesis 9, "Every living thing that move shall be meat for you. As the green herb, I've given you all thanks."
I assumed that, that's when God started telling them to eat meat, okay. Honestly the more I think about it, though, I believe that it's completely unrealistic to think that for 1,656 years, they just never ate any meat, or never ate any dairy, they were just plant based, it really makes no sense when you think about it. Because why wouldn't they eat meat? Human beings are naturally created to eat mean, we have K9 teeth in our mouths. Obviously Abel is a keeper of the sheep, not just as a hobby but as a way of life, which shows that Abel is on an animal based diet, whereas Cain is on a more plant based diet. There's nothing wrong with farming, there's nothing wrong with growing plants in the ground.
I'm just simply point out the fact that Abel was one who had a flock and the bible say, "Who keeps the flock without eating the milk thereof?" At a minimum, even if you're going to say, "I still don't believe they eat meat." For 1,600 years they just didn't eat meat for no reason, because it's not like God ever told them not to eat meat. Don't tell me they didn't think of it. They were doing all this metallurgy, and they were doing all these technology in Genesis 4. They figure out meat, it's not that complicated.
By the way, there's this new Noah movie, obviously I haven't seen it, but I read up on it. In the new Noah movie, it's all about how Noah and his family are the strict vegetarians. All the bad people, all of the evil that are all going to get drowned, they're all a bunch of meat of eaters, that's why their bad, because they eat meat. Noah basically wants everyone dead, including him and his own family. That's not in the bible folks. Noah and his family were trying to survive in the bible. In the movie, I guess Noah is trying to murder his own grandchild, just to make sure everybody dies so that the animals can rule the planet and we can have peace and harmony in nature, because men is so bad, specially meat eating man.
This is the kind of Hollywood spin that they put on things. Honestly, that woke me up when I heard about that, it made me think more about this, I said, no. Why wouldn't they eat, where is the evidence that they didn't eat mean before the flood. Even if you say, well I still think they didn't eat meat until Genesis 9. Okay, let's say you believe that, no problem, but you must believe that there's that Abel is on a serious dairy diet then, because why else is he keeping seep when the bible says, … Why would the apostle Paul say, "Who keep sheep without eating the milk though?" Except the first shepherd ever, Abel.
Paul knew the bible, God knew the bible when he inspire that. Therefore it makes zero sense. He was at least just eating a lot of milk and cheese, but it makes sense that he wasn't just eating milk and cheese, but that he was eating more of a Mongolian style diet of meat, milk and cheese, and that Cain was on a more vegan program, okay. The bible says that in Genesis 4:2, "And she again bares his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." Let me say this, there are many false religions that teach vegetarianism or veganism. Let me list some of them for you.
Number one, Hinduism, many millions, hundreds of millions of Hindus are vegetarian, not all of them, but many Hindus are vegetarian, and even that ones who are not vegetarian all the time are vegetarian for one or two days per week, depending on which Gods they worship. Number two, Buddhism often teaches vegetarianism and veganism even. Let me just park it on Buddhism for a while, because this has made its way into the United States through Buddhism. Buddhism is the vehicle by which veganism has reached us today in the United States of America as a trendy fat. Now, first of all let me say this, the Seventh Day Adventists are really the first ones who brought vegetarianism to the United States as a major movement. Before the late 1800s with all the different sects of Millerites, from William Miller, the false prophet who wrongly predicted the second coming of Christ, it was known as the great disappointment. Ellen G.
White, the Seventh Day Adventist, they are the ones that started the vegetarian movement in this country. Before that, it was virtually unknown on these shores. The Seventh Day Adventist started vegetarianism, but vegetarianism is very different in veganism, because vegetarian still eat eggs, and milk, and cheese, and butter, and things like that. Veganism, the first time I ever heard of veganism was in 1999. I ask my wife and she gave the exact same time period, we both independently, we thought about it and realize it was both of us 1999. Who remembers hearing about it before that?
There's some people remember hearing it before 99? You guys are real … You guys in Hawaii were really on the cutting edge, apparently. I heard about it in 1999, I had a friend who was vegan, and their big thing, both my wife's exposure to it and my exposure to it was a thing of not harming animals, Buddhism. Because Buddhism has a doctrine called in their original language, I believe the Sanskrit word is Ahimsa, nonviolence. They don't just teach nonviolence to human beings, they teach nonviolence to all sentient beings, which includes animals. They don't want to harm any animal or human, not put them through pain in anyway, so they teach often vegetarianism, and even veganism, because they say, "Look at the harm that the milk industry, the dairy industry, and the meat industry does to these animals." This is not a biblical concept.
God does not take care for oxen, God says, "Arise, slay and eat." Even in Genesis chapter 1, when you're hallelujah diet is rolled out, very short lived by the way, propped up by the nutrition coming from the tree of life, that's where they're getting their vitamin A, E, K2 and all their amino acids and things. Even in Genesis 1 he say it have dominion over the animals. You can already see the foreshadowing of the fact that man is going to dominate and use animals for food. Buddhism is a false wicked satanic religion, they teach veganism, they teach nonviolence toward animals, they teach revering animals and animals have feelings too, and meat is murder, this is not a biblical doctrine, don't pretend that you got it from the bible, because you didn't. Not only did do the Hindus, the Buddhist and the Seventh Day Adventist, and the most significant of those are the Buddhist for veganism, and Seventh Day Adventist for vegetarianism, but also Orthodoxy, the Orthodox Church teaches veganism today per week.
They have two vegan days per week. Also Catholics have a one day a week vegetarianism on meatless Friday. Also this animal worship, animal rights activism is almost its own religion in a sense. I don't know what it's called, but it's a religion. If you would turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4, I'll close on 1 Timothy chapter 4. We see that vegetarianism and veganism is associated with false religion. It has come into your culture through false religion, through false doctrine, it's not something that's bible based, it's not backed up by the bible. I'm not saying that it's a sin for you to be vegetarian. I'm not saying that it's a sin for you to even be vegan.
I'm not going to get up here and say, "If you're vegan, come to alter tonight, we can get this thing care of tonight, we're going to take you out, we're going to buy you a stake, we're going to exercise in repentance tonight." I'm not saying it's a sin to abstain from meat, because it's not, I'm not saying it's a sin to be a vegan. Listen, if you want to be a vegan, you be a vegan. It will not offend me. I've gone out to eat many times with people who said, "I'm vegetarian, I'm vegan." I help them find something on the menu. Okay, if you're a vegetarian, I am thinking of multiple situations where I was out eating with someone who is a vegetarian, one of would say, one of them would not say, but I've been through a few situations. In both situations I said, "Okay, let me order your food for you, because I know how to order it, vegetarian here. I can order vegan for you."
I'm not being a jerk about it and saying, "You buffoon. You imbecile. You Christ rejecting Buddhist. What kind of a cultic, satanic garbage have you gotten yourself into? Shame." I didn't say that. I'm not like that. I don't even feel that way. I don't even feel that way, I just said, "Let me help you order it."
Because you know what? It's not skin off my chicken or skin off my back. If you're going to eat a vegan diet it's your lost, but here's the thing thought, I'm here to teach the bible. I'm a bible preacher. Tonight I'm teaching you what the bible says about this subject, I'm giving you an overview. You have the right to walk away and take this information, and decide, you know what, I still think veganism is healthy, I still think being a vegetarian, I still think meat is bad for you. Even though Christ stated, even though Christ handed it out, even though God said it's a blessing, even though Jesus say beef in the Old Testament, new revelation. Even though the priest ate it every day, I still [inaudible 00:55:10].
Fine, but honestly, I believe that you're wrong. I believe that veganism is one of the most healthy possible … I'm sorry, it's one of the most unhealthy possible diets that you adapt, I believe. I don't know about you. In my diet I focus on animal products. I'm the opposite of a vegan, in the way that I eat. I do a lot of eggs, the staples of my diet are eggs, cheese, milk and meat. I sprinkle in a little bit of fruits and vegetables too, but I do an animal based diet.
I had somebody tell me recently that they don't give their kid milk, because of give them animal products and they act like animals. Here's the thing about that. There is some truth to that in the sense that … It's very silly, I agree, but there is some truth to that in the sense that eating a lot of protein, what you get from meat and animal products, not from plant based products, unless you're just this bean addict. Eating meat and animal products and a lot of protein coming in, increases testosterone in men, okay. It's going to provide more lean mass in your body. Therefore eating meat and eating dairy, you're going to have more muscle on the bone. I'm sure most guys feel the same way as I do, we don't want to be skinny, we don't what to have no meat on bone.
That's another thing that's really unappealing about this vegan diet, because a lot of times what ends up getting substitute for meat is soy, in the form of tofu. Here's the thing about soy and tofu, it has this phytoestrogen, mimickers, where it basically raises your estrogen levels, which are a feminine hormone. Even for women is not good to raise your estrogen, because it needs to be in a certain balance. Elevated estrogen levels are associated with cancer. Not only that but men could become feminine by boosting their estrogen levels. Listen, testosterone levels amongst men in the United States are in an all-time low.
I was speaking with a doctor recently that was explaining how she would often test men that would come to her practice, test their testosterone levels and they were almost always way to low. There are all kinds of studies out there showing the drop in testosterone levels in this country. Part of it has to do with these estrogen mimickers in the BPA, in the plastics, and also in the soy products. Look, if you get prepackage junk food at the store, or if go out to fast food, there is soy in that food. It's true, because look at the ingredients, soy lecithin or soy whatever. There is soy based things in there, whereas homemade nutritious foods, you shouldn't include soy.
I don't do soy. When Chipotle offered a free burrito if you get so [inaudible 00:58:31], I skipped it. I'm pretty into Chipotle but I skipped it because I'm not doing [inaudible 00:58:37]. I'm sure they taste great, but I don't need that estrogen, I want to stay manly. Who here as a man says, "I want to reduce muscle mass"? Here's the thing, testosterone is associated with burning fat and increasing muscle mass. Don't go out and take steroids and screw up your body by putting in fake stuff, but honestly, naturally having a good healthy testosterone level, you're going to have more muscle on your bone and you're going to have less fat and you're just going to be healthier in general.
I'm not trying to sell you some weird product about it, I'm just saying eat meat, and exercise, and raise your testosterone levels, and you'll be manly, okay? You see a lot of these vegans, again, I'm not trying to say, and everybody is going to pull out, "I know a vegan and he's this bug buffed dude." Okay, fine, but the exception proves the rule. You know and I know that when dudes are vegan they get real skinny. Some of them might even have a psychological disorder like anorexia or something, because I've even seen them wearing revealing clothing and they think they look real good and everything. You look like you just came out of a concentration camp.
They're like, "Men, I'm in such great shape and everything." I'm just thinking, "No. I don't want to look like that." Why preach on this? Why talk about it? Pastor [Anderson 01:00:14], you're just getting up there and just spouting off your opinion and you just hate animals, you torture animals." No I don't. The reason I preach on these because the bible commands me to preach specifically on this subject. Not only does the bible say, teach the whole word, preach the word, all the counsel of God, right? The bible also specifically says, "Preach this. Preach this subject."
Look at the bible, 1 Timothy 4:1, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Now let me stop right here, I'm not saying it's a doctrine of devils if you say, "I'm a vegetarian for health reasons." That's not a doctrine of devils. If you command vegetarianism or command veganism, that is a doctrine of devils, that is demonic. Do you know what doctrine of devils means?
It's a demonic teaching, it came from the devil, it came from demons. Think about that. Are there demons in Hinduism? Are there demons in Buddhism? You think Ellen G. White was possessed with demons? If you've heard my sermon on it where I went through Ellen G. White, she got her revelations, you know she was filled with a whole legion of demons. Are the Catholic Church teachings doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry and a command of abstain from meat?
How about the Orthodox Church, demonic? It's all demonic, friend. I'm not calling you demonic if you say, "For health reasons I'm vegetarian." I think you're wrong. I don't think you're demonic, but if you preach, "They bible says we should abstain from meat", you're demonic at that point. Jesus ate fish, beef, and every milk, butter, everything. Let's keep reading, "For every creature of God is good."
He just finished [inaudible 01:02:18] commanding to abstain from meats, and then he says, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ." If I want to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, I need to put the brethren in remembrance of these things. it's easy to forget sometimes, and "Hey go vegan." No, put them in remembrance that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of food doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." As far as it's never word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for all the wonderful bounty that you've given us in the United States here Lord. I thank you that we can consume meat, and dairy, and butter, and cheese, and in such quantities Lord, because we have this bounty.
I pray Lord that you would please just help us in our daily lives to be wise about the choices we make with our food Lord, even if they're not a right and wrong issue, always Lord. Help us to just be smart, give us wisdom, Lord. Give us understanding so that we will know, what is good for us, and what is healthy for us, Lord. Help us to eat things that are good for our bodies, give us wisdom through the scriptures and also, Lord, just reveal things to us in our lives so that we can get healthier and be able to serve you at our best. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
