The First Angel’s Message part 1
Health Reform
We will study the first angel’s message addressing the meaning of fearing God and giving glory to Him.
Disclaimer: The principles we share in these lessons on the Three Angels’ Messages are not the only doctrines that comprise the message. It is called the ‘everlasting gospel’ and thus all of scripture coincide with it.
1. Read Revelation 14:6, 7. The first thing the angel says is to “fear God.” What does it mean fear God? Proverbs 3:7; 8:13
2. Based on Revelation 14:7, to fear God is connected with giving glory to Him. What is one meaning of giving glory to God? 1 Corinthians 10:31
Note: It is clear that a part of giving glory to God covers what we eat and drink. Let us ask this question and answer it from scripture: ‘Lord, what shall I eat?’
3. What was the original diet given to mankind at Creation? Genesis 1:29; 3:18
Temperance, 160: It is unnatural to have a craving for flesh meats. It was not thus in the beginning. The appetite for meat has been made and educated by man. Our Creator has furnished us, in vegetables, grains, and fruits, all the elements of nutrition necessary to health and strength. Flesh meats composed no part of the food of Adam and Eve before their fall. If fruits, vegetables, and grains are not sufficient to meet the wants of man, then the Creator made a mistake in providing for Adam…. {Te 160.1}
4. When was meat introduced into man’s diet? Genesis 8:1, 2; 9:3
Note: Notice that God reminded Noah about the herb of the field as He gave Noah permission to eat the flesh of animals. It was temporary diet given to man until the herbs should grow back on the face of the earth.
5. What was the consequence of eating the flesh of animals? Genesis 9:5 (Compare the lifespan of the antediluvians in Genesis 5 with those who lived after the flood. See also Psalm 90:9-12).
6. Did God give permission to eat all kinds of animals or did He classify them into groups? Leviticus 11:46, 47 (Read all of Leviticus 11 to identify the clean and unclean animals).
7. What other specifications did God give to man regarding how the meat should be prepared and eaten? Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11; 3:15, 16; Psalm 37:20
Note: All of the meat sold at stores today, unless specified as kosher, have blood in it. Some meats are sold with the fat, and the organs of animals are also sold as food. Therefore, even if someone claims to be eating clean meats, they are not following the Biblical guidelines if it is not kosher.
8. Even though God allowed meat to be eaten by mankind, which diet did He confirm as being superior? Daniel 1:5, 8, 10-15
9. What does God’s Word say about the state of the world, people, and animals in these last days? Hosea 4:1-3; Jeremiah 12:1-4; Isaiah 24:1-6
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7. 135: Let the diet reform be progressive. Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. The time is near when, because of the iniquity of the fallen race, the whole animal creation will groan under the diseases that curse our earth. {7T 135.1}
Further Study: When Adam and Eve sinned, the very nature of the earth and the animals changed (Genesis 3:18, 19). The lion and the lamb who once were playmates now became predator and prey. Therefore, even if someone today says they raise their own livestock, flesh foods are still unsafe to eat since the animals are affected by the existence of sin itself.
10. Many today use the fact that Jesus ate fish to justify eating flesh foods (including sea creatures) today. See Luke 24:40-43. How would you respond to a critic who uses this argument?
11. How was the meat prepared which Jesus ate? Koshered, free of blood, fat, or organs (based on the OT guidelines).
The meat eaten in Jesus’ day was not as diseased as meat and seafood today.
Hosea 4:1-3 gave us guidance as to the condition of flesh foods in these last days as reason to avoid them.
We must follow the Lamb (Jesus) wherever He goes. He is currently in heaven where there is no death or eating of animals
and those preparing for translation should give up flesh foods (Revelation 14:1, 4; 21:4; 22:2; Isaiah 65:17, 25).
12. Did God condone the eating of unclean animals in Acts 10:11-16? Acts 10:1-7, 25-28
1 Timothy 4:1-5 is another scripture people use to justify eating all kinds of flesh foods in these last days. What is the meaning of this scripture? To answer this, focus on verse 5. Compare it with Leviticus 11.
13. As we seek to give God glory in these last days and cease from eating flesh foods, who will give us the power to fulfill this? Philippians 4:13; 3 John 2
Further Study: Read Patriarchs and Prophets page 91.3. What was one of the many reasons God destroyed the earth with a flood? Compare that with Matthew 24:37-39. Also, study Numbers 11 when God was leading the Israelites to the promised land and they clamoured for the flesh pots of Egypt.
Polygamy had been early introduced, contrary to the divine arrangement at the beginning. The Lord gave to Adam one wife, showing His order in that respect. But after the Fall, men chose to follow their own sinful desires; and as the result, crime and wretchedness rapidly increased. Neither the marriage relation nor the rights of property were respected. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence. They delighted in destroying the life of animals; and the use of flesh for food rendered them still more cruel and bloodthirsty, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference. {PP 91.3}
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 382: Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people to walk no more with them.” {CD 382.1}
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 380: Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us. All who are connected with our health institutions especially should be educating themselves to subsist on fruits, grains, and vegetables. If we move from principle in these things, if we as Christian reformers educate our own taste, and bring our diet to God’s plan, then we may exert an influence upon others in this matter, which will be pleasing to God. —Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 119, 1890 {CD 380.4}
Maranatha, The Lord is Coming, 62: The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome. {Mar 62.5}