The Pig on the Plate

A couple who were planning to be married came for marriage counseling.  If our congregation was to officiate, three marriage counseling sessions were required.  At the end of the meetings, I had each of them sign a covenant before God.  The core of the agreement was Ephesians 5:22-33.  The bride agreed to serve the Lord with her might and to submit herself to her husband in all things, and to love and honor him.  The groom agreed to serve the Lord with his might and to lead their new home in righteousness, and to love and cherish his wife—even as Christ did the church, even giving His life for the bride, the church.  I instructed the couple that troubles and conflicts might arise in their union, but if they would honor their marriage covenant, their marriage would be strong because it would be built upon the Rock. 

Several years ago, a married couple was having difficulty and came for counseling.  I asked them whether they honored the covenant they had entered into.  Both answered, “Not entirely.”  After a short conversation with this couple, I counseled them to go home, to honor the covenant, and when they did, their problems would disappear.  These simple, childlike acts of obedience to the commandments of God make everything beautiful.  The irreconcilable becomes reconcilable.  The bitter and acrimonious becomes sweet and harmonious. 

The ultimate commandment–or instruction—to the sons of Adam is John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

This born-again principle opens the very doors of eternal life and grants access to all the beautiful promises of God.  The new birth is literally being born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God.  Here, all sin and shame is expunged from your record.  Here, a very real, new life begins, full of God’s Son-shine and promise.  Have you been born again?  Will you enter into this beautiful place today?  Do it now—right now!   Click onto “Further with Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.  

GOD SAID, Leviticus 11:1-8:

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.

8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

GOD SAID, Deuteronomy 14:8:

And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.

MAN SAID: Biblical prohibitions are not founded on any real science; one can disregard them without fear. 

Now THE RECORD:  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 828 that will again certify the full inerrancy of Holy Writ.  All of these powerful features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the edification of the blood-bought and as a platform from which to convince the gainsayers.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one. 

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A global scientific field study has been ongoing since the beginning of time and it involves billions.  GodSaidManSaid uses a four-step proof pattern and one of them is titled GodSaidManSaid—The Record.  Here, a commandment of God is noted, man’s general disregard for it is cited, and the devastating results of man’s disregard are detailed.  If you’re looking for proof that God is, you needn’t look any further.  Thousands of years before man’s science begins to understand why, God’s Word stands up with the perfect direction. Those who honor and follow reap the marvelous benefits of obedience; those who disregard suffer the curse—the result of doing the wrong thing.  Truly a global field study is underway and this feature is an excellent example. 

God spends a considerable amount of time in His beautiful Book addressing diet.  There appears to be a type of spiritual umbilical cord that tethers soul and spirit to the physical body.  God, the Creator of all, knows the biological construction of all His creation and instructs concerning our interaction with them—especially in the matter of the supper plate.  Foundational excerpts from previous GodSaidManSaid features are shown before the latest information. 

▶ GodSaidManSaid, “Pigs Deadly As Cigarettes—And a Whole Lot More!”

GodSaidManSaid has posted many features on Old Testament dietary laws, and this feature will add to this series.  It is true that the New Testament believer is no longer bound by these dietary laws and that we can sanctify the supper table unto God with the prayer of faith, but keep in mind that the vast, vast majority of this world cannot.  It behooves the unsaved to observe these Old Testament laws, and when they don’t, the consequences are quite deadly.  Also keep in mind that the earth’s basic biology has not changed from the time of Moses until today. 

Today’s news reports on the problems with processed meats, with pork products getting special attention.

The headline of the NewsMax.com, October 23, 2015, feature reads, “Bacon, Processed Meats as Dangerous as Smoking: Report.”  Several paragraphs follow:

Maybe you should rethink putting pork on your fork.  Global health authorities are issuing a new warning that bacon and other processed meats contain cancer-causing substances with the highest of five possible rankings—making them as lethal as cigarettes.  

The World Health Organization is preparing to publish a report by the World Cancer Research Fund International—a leading global authority on cancer prevention research related to diet, weight, and physical activity—that strongly advises limiting the amount of processed meats in the diet to prevent cancer, according to The Telegraph.

It is expected to list processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans”—the highest of five possible rankings, the same classification as cigarettes, arsenic, asbestos, and alcohol. 

The WCRF, and other health authorities, have warned for several years that there is “strong evidence” that consuming a lot of red meat can cause bowel cancer.  But it now says there is “strong evidence” even small quantities of processed meats increase cancer risk.

Processed meats are also often manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite, used as a color fixer to turn packaged meats a bright red color so they look fresh.  The chemical can result in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body. 

Last summer, the WCRF completed a detailed review of 7,000 clinical studies examining links between diet and cancer.  The analysis concluded processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. 

A recent University of Hawaii study also found that processed meats increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 67 percent.  Another study revealed that every 50 grams of processed meat consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

Food items that can include sodium nitrite: bacon, beef jerky, sausages, hot dogs, sandwich meats, frozen meals and canned soups containing meat, pasta foods with meat sauces, and products sold at public schools, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, and theme parks. [End of quote]

Headline, November 6, 2015, in The Week, “Bacon: The Threat on Your Breakfast Plate.”  Excerpts follow:

“Perhaps no two words together are more likely to set the internet aflame than ‘bacon’ and ‘cancer,’” said Sarah Zhang in Wired.com.  So it’s unsurprising that yelps of devastation and disbelief were heard across the planet this week when the World Health Organization classified the processed meat, along with hot dogs, as a group 1 carcinogen—the same high-risk cancer category as cigarettes, asbestos, and plutonium.  Just 1.8 ounces of bacon daily—the equivalent of two strips—raises a person’s risk of colorectal cancer by 18%, warned the WHO.  Sadly, “bacon and hot dogs aren’t the only meats that have been fingered,” said Maura Judkis in WashingtonPost.com.  A whole range of salted, cured, and smoked meats have also earned the high-risk classification—most probably because the nitrates used as preservatives can form carcinogenic compounds in the body. 

Count me out, said Phil Rosenthal in the Chicago Tribune.  Some of us are true Americans, and we’re standing strong.  “You can have our bacon and Italian sausages when you pry them from our greasy, dead hands—which may be no more than a decade or two from now, if this report is right.” [End of quote]

Pork in particular has numerous negative health consequences devoid of problematic processing.  Excerpts from several GodSaidManSaid features follow, which will demonstrate that eating Biblically unclean foods is a very bad practice. 

▶ GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Pig Came Knocking:”

It’s simply not possible.  If the Word of God, His judgments, precepts, and commandments are true and righteous altogether—and they are—disobeying them must, by necessity, come with negative results.  It is simply not possible to generate any other outcome. 

God doesn’t give His instructions seeking some kind of self-gratification, but, being the wise Creator of everything, He is fully aware of the deadly results of disregarding them.  Inherent within every commandment of God is a blessing or a curse.  Obey and receive the blessing of doing the right thing, or disobey and suffer the curse of doing the wrong thing.  It is just that simple. 

The absolute inerrancy of God’s Word not only proves its supernatural source, but it is also simply breathtaking.  Line after line, precept after precept, is woven into a most marvelous record that never ceases to inspire and deliver those who embrace it with ears bowed down.  Words such as enlightening, empowering, exhilarating come to mind.  All other books, which are the compilation of the thoughts of men and of devils, must bow down to the Book.

Consider this short list of problems with disregarding God’s commandments concerning swine:

• The toxicity of the swine’s flesh is ranked extremely high, on about the same level as the rat and the groundhog.

• Trichinosis: Dr. E.A. Widemer of the School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, had this to say:

Pork consumption is now associated with coronary heart disease, cancer, and certain communicable diseases.  Pigs are noteworthy as hosts for the intestinal trichina roundworm, Trichinella spiralis, which causes the disease trichinosis, a disease with symptoms that doctors often attribute to intestinal flu, pneumonia, or rheumatism.

A more complete list of symptoms of the trichinosis infection was listed by the Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center of Infectious Diseases.  Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, fever, and abdominal discomfort are the first symptoms of trichinosis.  Headaches, fevers, chills, cough, eye swelling, aching joints, muscle pains, itchy skin, and diarrhea or constipation follow the first symptoms.  If the infection is heavy, patients may experience difficulty coordinating movements, and have heart and breathing problems.  In severe cases, death occurs.  [End of quote]

• The tapeworm, reaching lengths of 21 feet, can simulate brain tumors, epilepsy, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders.

• Yersinia enterocolitica: 103 lots of 3,375 pigs were tested and 92.2% were carrying YE (Yersinia enterocolitica).  Children are most frequently affected with signs of abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.  The disease can range in severity from self-limiting gastroenteritis to potentially fatal septicemia. 

• Campylobacteriosis: Common symptoms are diarrhea with traces of blood found in the stool, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.

How can man, with his science, finally just discover the wisdom of God while still discounting its credibility?  The following excerpt is from an article written in 2008 in Discover magazine titled, “Superbugs in the Fridge:”

Never mind E. Coli in your spinach or botulism in your canned beans.  There could be an antibiotic-resistant superbug in your fridge.  Until recently, scientists believed that the dangerous bacterium Methiclillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) thrived primarily in hospitals.  But MRSA was recently found for the first time in live pigs in North America, confirming suspicions that it has entered the food chain. 

In Canada—a country that provides 80% of the United States’ pork imports—a strain of MRSA was found in a sample of pigs and their farmers.  One-fourth of 285 pigs studied were infected, according to a report in Veterinary Microbiology, with a 20% rate of transmission to the pig farmers. 

Since proper cooking will kill MRSA just as it does E. Coli, risks of food poisoning by Staphylococcus Aureus are low for those who eat well-done pork.  However, the USDA has found that food-borne outbreaks have occurred due to contamination by food handlers who spread bacteria from pork products to other people.  Proper handling and more sanitary living conditions for pigs can minimize such risks, the USDA says.  [End of quotes]

The following excerpts are lifted from the April 2009 issue of Scientific American under the title, “Healthy Growth for U.S. Farms:”

Much has been made in recent years of MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria, and for good reason.  In 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available, about 95,000 MRSA infections caused the deaths of nearly 19,000 Americans.  The disease first incubated in hospitals – the killer bacterium is an inevitable evolutionary response to the widespread use of antibiotics – but has since found a home in locker rooms, prisons and child care facilities.  Now the bacteria have spread to the farm.

Perhaps we should not be surprised.  Modern factory farms keep so many animals in such a small space that the animals must be given low doses of antibiotics to shield them from the fetid conditions.  The drug-resistant bacteria that emerge have now entered our food supply.  The first study to investigate farm-bred MRSA in the U.S.—amazingly, the Food and Drug Administration has shown little interest in testing the nation’s livestock for this disease—recently found that 49 percent of pigs and 45 percent of pig workers in the survey harbored the bacteria.  Unfortunately, these infections can spread.  According to a report published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, MRSA from animals is now thought to be responsible for more than 20 percent of all human MRSA cases in the Netherlands.  [End of quotes]

▶ From the GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Truth Remains True—Pigs—Lot’s Wife—Flush It:”

The following information is from the January 2009 issue of Nature under the heading, “Ebola outbreak has experts rooting for answers:”

When the Ebola Reston virus was discovered in pigs in the Philippines last year, it marked the virus’s first known foray of a potential threat to human health. 

Last week, a joint mission of 22 international health and veterinary experts returned from investigating the outbreak with more questions than answers about the virus’s pathology and epidemiology.

The Ebola Reston virus was first discovered, in 1989, in crab-eating macaques imported to the United States from the Philippines.  Since then, the virus has killed most infected monkeys, yet had no effect on the 25 people that it infected—unlike three of the four other strains of Ebola, which kill between 25% and 90% of the humans they infect.

Because few people come into close contact with primates in the Philippines, the risk of catching Ebola Reston in this way is relatively low.  By contrast, the appearance of the virus in an important livestock species was unexpected and worrying, says Pierre Rollin, an Ebola expert at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, who was part of the mission to the Philippines.  “We never thought that pigs could be infected,” he says.

Once inside the pig, it may be possible for the virus to mutate into a version that is deadly to humans, as the avian influenza virus is thought to have done.  “And we still don’t know what it might do to someone who is immunocompromised by HIV or by drugs,” Rollin adds. [End of quotes]

Excerpts follow from an NBCNews.com feature published December 6, 2016; under the heading “Rare Superbug Gene Discovered on U.S. Pig Farm:”

Researchers have found a rare and frightening superbug gene on a U.S. pig farm and say their discovery suggests raw meat could carry the dangerous germ into the human population. 

No pigs scheduled for slaughter carried the mutant gene, the researchers stressed, and they haven’t found any threat to people yet.  And none of the pigs were sick.  But the mutant should not have been on the farm at all and they have no idea how it got there. 

“It’s an extremely rare gene.  How it got on this farm, we don’t know,” said Thomas Wittum, chair of the veterinary medicine team at The Ohio State University, who led the study team. 

The gene is called bla-IMP-27 and it gives bacteria the ability to resist the effects of a class of antibiotics called carbapenems. 

Carbapenems are considered an antibiotic of last resort, so germs that resist their effects are very difficult to kill. 

Worse, this superbug gene is carried on an easily-swapped bit of genetic material called a plasmid, and the researchers found it in several different species of bacteria on the farm. 

The worry is that the gene will get into bacteria that infect people.  A type of antibiotic-resistant germ called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are especially dangerous.  If they get into the bloodstream and cause an infection, CRE germs kill half of their victims. 

Just this summer, researchers sounded the alarm about a drug-resistant E. coli sample carrying a gene called mcr-1.  It was also carried on a plasmid, and the fear is such an E. coli bacteria with the mcr-1 gene could pass it to another superbug with other mutations—creating a truly super superbug that resists all known antibiotics. 

Something similar could potentially happen with the bla-IMP-27 gene found at the pig farm. 

They swabbed pigs, took fecal samples, tested pens, fences, and equipment. 

“I stayed here in my office and did important supervisory and coordination work while the grad students went out and collected poop samples,” Wittum said. 

The farm was a moderate-sized, family-run operation, Wittum said.  He declined to identify it any further than that.  It has 1,500 sows and raises the pigs from pregnancy to sale for slaughter. 

They made multiple visits last year to the farm, where the sows give birth in tight pens and the piglets are taken to separate pens of 25 each after they are weaned.  They found samples of the bla-IMP-27 gene in several different samples and in several different species of bacteria, including E. coli and Enterobacteriaceae. 

Several of the bacteria found resisted more than one type of antibiotic. 

They were also found in some of the sows and piglets, although the animals appeared to have cleared the germs; none were found in pigs ready for slaughter, although the team is watching for them. 

But it’s bad news to find this rare superbug gene in bacteria infecting food animals, Wittum said. 

“The implication of our finding is that there is a real risk that CRE may disseminate in food animal populations and eventually contaminate fresh retail meat products, the researchers wrote. 

Even if it doesn’t make people sick right away, it could colonize people who handle the raw meat.  Colonization means people (or animals) carry a germ but don’t get sick from it—but if they do become ill with something else, the bacteria can multiply.  Plus, colonized people can infect sick or frail people.

“The emergence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) has been described as heralding the end of the antibiotic era with their global expansion presenting an urgent threat to public health,” the researchers wrote. 

“These potential pathogens can harbor highly-mobile genes that confer resistance to the most critically-important, life-saving antimicrobial drugs.” 

“As is common in the U.S. swine population, piglets receive ceftiofur at birth, with males receiving a second dose at castration,” the team noted. 

This routine dosing [of antibiotics] may be helping drive the development of mutant bacteria, Wittum said. 

“We need to examine some of the practices of farms, and evaluate whether they are really appropriate, and whether the benefits outweigh the risks,” he added. 

“To save our miracle drugs, we have got to stop wasting them on animals that aren’t sick,” said Dr. David Wallinga of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which opposes the routine agricultural use of antibiotics. 

“The last terrible shoe may have just dropped when it comes to drug-resistant infections.  This is just one more warning that doctors may soon have nothing left in their toolkit to save patients when these bugs strike.”  [End of quotes]

The following excerpt is from VegNews.com:

David Wallinga, MD, of the Natural Resource Defense Council says this gene may lead to doctors’ inabilities to treat people for common illnesses. Similar superbugs have been found in meat in the United Kingdom.  In September, the United Nations met to discuss the danger of antibiotic resistance, calling it a “fundamental threat to our planet.”  [End of quote]

Approximately 3,500 years ago, our Creator gave Moses dietary laws to protect His followers from the consumption of bad food.  His Word was true then and truth never changes.  Today’s science is beginning to understand. 

 GOD SAID, Leviticus 11:1-8:

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.

8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

GOD SAID, Deuteronomy 14:8:

And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.

MAN SAID: Biblical prohibitions are not founded on any real science; one can disregard them without fear. 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Starostinetskaya, A., “Rare Superbug Gene Found in Pig on U.S. Farm,” VegNews.com, December 13, 2016

Fox, M., “Rare Superbug Gene Found on U.S. Pig Farm,” NBCNews.com, December 6, 2016

GodSaidManSaid, “The Truth Remains True—Pigs—Lot’s Wife—Flush It”

GodSaidManSaid, “Pigs Deadly as Cigarettes—And a Whole Lot More!”

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