The ‘Truth and Clarity’ series seeks to shed light on difficult issues.

This ‘Truth and Clarity’ series of short booklets on interesting topics may be of use to study groups which like to discuss issues that are often ignored or deemed controversial. As a former police detective, Michael Fryer’s aim is to present us with the evidence - not only to support his points, but to help us make our own minds up.

Study group leaders may want to supplement the information in the booklets by looking at other sources - but the booklets nevertheless provide useful starting points for a lively debate and further investigation.

The Truth about Food

The author provides a full and clear explanation of all the main biblical texts on the interesting topic of what the Bible has to say about food. Fryer’s aim is to answer the related questions of what Christians should eat and what they shouldn’t. This he achieves in an unambiguous way, steering a clear path through the equally thorny territory of how Christians should regard Torah today.

His starting point (based upon Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14) is to regard the phrases ‘clean and unclean’ when referring to creatures as ‘animals which are and are not food’. There is plenty in the rest of the booklet to stimulate much discussion and, possibly, to encourage people towards a healthier and Godlier lifestyle. This is a topic we have covered on Prophecy Today before, recommending other good resources, but here is a useful starter based upon a sound exposition of Scripture.

Legalism: Whose Sabbath Laws Do We Keep?

This booklet should provoke a lot of discussion (and argument!) on the issue of the Sabbath. However, be aware that it does not cover legalism more generally - only within the context of this particular topic.

Fryer asks all the right questions regarding how Christian freedom sits alongside honouring God through his unchanging requirements concerning the Sabbath and the Feasts. However, somehow the answers never seem to fully emerge. Fryer does provide a comprehensive survey on the various laws that have been in place throughout history concerning Sunday (and Saturday), but there is not the thorough biblical investigation into what God requires today that would help us work our way through this thorny issue.

I wasn’t sure I was any further forward by the end of the booklet, and any group leader would certainly need to find other material to make the discussion more worthwhile.

Anti-Zionism: The New Anti-Semitism

He begins with a working definition of anti-Semitism (basically, Jew-hatred in its various manifestations) and then shows how it is often linked to the State of Israel in an attempt to justify anti-Semitic activities under a new guise.This booklet arose from Fryer’s concern that Christian anti-Zionism is being portrayed as an accepted and approved theology based on social justice for the Palestinian people, when in reality it is a new form of anti-Semitism.

Fryer asks how anti-Zionism is connected to anti-Semitism and concludes that they are without doubt bedfellows that cannot be cleanly separated. Further key questions include whether Christians can (or should) be anti-Zionist and how we can identify anti-Semitic trends operating among Christians today.

This is a huge topic which is also well-explored in many other writings, but once more the author has done us a service by opening up a debate that might otherwise be regarded as taboo.

The Truth about Kabbalah

The author is concerned that elements of the Kabbalah can be identified within some strands of the charismatic prophetic movement. Without naming names, he asserts that ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ have entered the Body of Christ with deceptive teachings which are largely based upon the mystical, meditative and magical teachings of the Kabbalah. These so-called paths to spiritual enlightenment are highly dangerous and will lead Christians astray.

Whatever we conclude from his arguments, the booklet provides a very useful explanation of what the Kabbalah is, what the Kabbalistic texts are like and what Kabbalists teach. It also alerts us to the need to keep our eyes open for false teaching and to make discernment a key feature of our Christian lives.

Buy the booklets: Each of the above booklets are available from the Father’s House website, priced at £2.50 each + P&P.

About the author: Michael Fryer is a retired police detective and now a pastor in North Wales. Click here to read more about him.

As Shavuot is celebrated this week, we review resources tackling this intriguing question. 

This question should be of great interest to everyone, or at least anyone who eats! The topic is well worth studying personally, but also as a family and in small groups. It will certainly provoke much discussion, even controversy!

A good starting point is to consider eating as a spiritual matter as well as a physical one. Too often, we separate the physical and spiritual dimensions of life - far more than God does. God has created our bodies and everything we put into them. Indeed, it seems he has designed us to receive certain foods, and avoid others.

We each need to decide if our loving Heavenly Father is asking us to reconsider what we choose to eat (and what we eat is a choice, one we make regularly). If gluttony is wrong and fasting is of benefit (including spiritually) then our usual eating must fit somewhere between these two extremes. Our mealtimes become part of the battle between flesh and spirit. These regular times during the day provide repeated opportunities to make good choices. Each meal is a chance to submit more to God’s will and become more conscious of him, perhaps paving the way for other spiritual improvements.

A good starting point is to consider eating as a spiritual matter as well as a physical one.

What we eat may not be a matter of salvation or of huge doctrinal significance, but it is about pleasing God and being obedient to his will. There may well be health reasons too (obedience and being healthy often go together!). It is well said that ‘you are what you eat’ – or, perhaps more accurately, you are what you absorb from what you eat – for biology will back up what our Creator has decreed.

Temples of the Holy Spirit

The Bible contains many laws and requirements relating to food, especially in the Old Testament, but ultimately for Christians this is about walking in the Spirit. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20). What we place inside us should not be approached carelessly. God was very precise about what the Israelites brought into their Temple, so perhaps also he cares about what we put into ours.

Moreover, the meal table can (maybe even should) be regarded as an altar at which we bless and honour God for all his provision, including the remarkable gift of daily life and how he sustains it.

The Bible challenges us repeatedly on the issue of what we eat. From the very beginning, God instructed Adam on what he could and could not eat (Gen 1:29, 2:16-17) and the first disobedience involved eating (Gen 3:6). Animals were designated as clean or unclean even before the Flood came (Gen 7:2) and eating meat with blood still in it was strongly prohibited from the time of Noah (Gen 9:4), through the Levitical laws to Israel (Lev 19:26, Deut 12:16) and later to Gentiles in the Apostolic decree in Acts (15:20, 29).

What we eat may not be a matter of salvation, but it is about pleasing God and being obedient to his will.

Many questions are raised about our eating habits simply by reading the Bible. What do ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ really mean, especially regarding eating animals? What did Jesus say on all this - did he change or add anything here? Should Gentiles take seriously Jewish kosher rules, especially in the light of modern methods of food production? Does what Paul says on food offered to idols have any relevance for us today?

If all this has made you want some answers, here are some books to help.

‘Holy Cow!’ by Hope Egan and Thomas D Lancaster (First Fruits of Zion, 2012)

Despite the jokey title, this is a very serious attempt to answer the question ‘Does God care about what we eat?’, which is actually its subtitle. Its main strength is its co-authorship. Part One, by Messianic Jew Hope Egan, gives the perspective of a ‘nice Jewish girl’ (as she describes herself!). She tells her story in a forthright and informative manner - how she came to understand the importance of the Hebrew scriptures in helping her decide which foods to eat.

Her review of the topic spans both Old and New Testament, and takes in what Jesus would have eaten as well as modern Jewish views. She is bold enough to ask whether her ancestors took it too far, especially regarding the separation of meat and milk. Each chapter concludes with questions to discuss and ponder, making it an excellent resource for group study.

Part Two, by Thomas Lancaster, provides extra theological insights on the important biblical passages mentioned in the first part of the book. These include Leviticus 11, Mark 7, Acts 10 and 15, and several parts of Paul’s letters (1 Corinthians 8-10 and Romans 14 in particular). This provides the book with a bit more weight and helps to back up what Hope Egan has already outlined from personal experience. As a ‘double act’, this works well.

This is a very readable book throughout and can also feature as a reference guide to the topic. It contains useful appendices, including a list of clean and unclean animals, as well as a substantial bibliography and two helpful indices (scriptural and subject) to enable the reader to find passages and topics easily.

‘Holy Cow!’ (157 pages) is available from Amazon for around £10. Also on Kindle.

‘Biblically Kosher’ by Aaron Eby (First Fruits of Zion, 2012)

This is a full review of everything you could possibly want to know about keeping kosher and the scriptural mandate behind it. Although it is quite technical in places it provides a substantial study for those wanting to dig a little deeper into the biblical texts.

After reading this book you will not be in any doubt about the more contentious passages, for instance why Jesus did not declare all foods clean (as many translations of Mark 7:19 make him say). And if you wondered whether Acts 10 was suggesting God had changed his mind about eating unclean animals, this book will help you avoid this error. The author also tackles the more complicated passages in Paul’s letters. Each piece of biblical analysis has a helpful summary of bullet points, just in case you get a little lost in the details.

Overall, the book is in three parts. Part One explains the reasons for keeping kosher and also explores objections to it. Part Two is a thorough account of what the Torah has to say on this topic, including clean and unclean animals, abstaining from blood, and the meat and dairy issue.

The last of these is a fascinating word-by-word exposition of the single verse about not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk, which will help you understand how this simple yet rather perplexing verse has come to mean so much in Jewish dietary habits. Eby is also honest enough to explain where rabbinic tradition has taken over from correct interpretation.

Part Three has two sections, the second of which is particularly interesting and important for Christians. Entitled ‘Kashrut for Gentiles’, this will enable Christians to embrace aspects of kosher without going too far down the Jewish path.

The book also has an excellent bibliography, glossary of Hebrew terms and indices of both scriptural passages and subjects.

This is a book which will certainly change the way you think about the Bible and food. It has the potential to bring you closer to the ancient Jewish way of life that Jesus and his disciples practised, and enable you to discover how the simple act of eating can become an expression of worship.

Buy ‘Biblically Kosher’ (190 pages) for £11.85 from Amazon, or download the e-book for $12 from the FFOZ website.

Further Resources

Together, the above two books tell you everything you need to know about what the Bible says regarding food and eating. But on the more practical matter of how to go about incorporating these principles into our daily lives, the following three books are worth considering.

They also tap into the biblical passages explained elsewhere but go on to give advice on how to create meals and a diet for healthy living:

• What Would Jesus Eat? by Don Colbert (Thomas Nelson, 2005. Available here).
  
• What the Bible Says About Healthy Living by Rex Russell (Revell, 2006. Available here).
  
• The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin (Siloam, 2005. Available here).