Beware the Hebrew Roots teachers who insist ALL meats are considered “clean”….

People, be VERY careful about the teachers you choose to follow, because there are plenty of Hebrew Roots teachers who are busy leading many astray with their dangerous, off-the-mark teachings!

Take, for example, the command to abstain from “unclean” meats. Many attempt to use Genesis 9:3 as "proof" that God said ALL meats were considered “food” – but one needs to include this passage in context with what the REST of the Torah states!

Let's take a look at the context:

Genesis 9:1 God blessed Noach and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will be upon every wild animal, every bird in the air, every creature populating the ground, and all the fish in the sea; they have been handed over to you. 3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything — 4 only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat. (CJB)

Yes, it certainly SEEMS to suggest ALL meat is edible - and one of these teachers even added the following to help underscore his idea that we ARE allowed to eat pig, shellfish and carnivorous birds! This teacher wrote:

“Some people point to the fact that Noah knew which were the clean animals (see Genesis 7:2 and 8:20) and while this is true, they wrongly conclude that Noah must have kept kosher, which is an assumption and contrary to the biblical texts…. “

Well, to that I say, NOT SO FAST, buddy! Let’s ask ourselves a few questions, shall we?

1. If it’s true that Genesis 9:3 suggests that ALL meats are considered “clean” then why did YHWH knock Himself out to show His people during their 40-year exile in the wilderness why they should NOT eat “unclean” meats? (For instance, Leviticus 11:2-7.)

2. Why was Noah told in Genesis 7:2, “Of every clean animal you are to take seven couples, and of the animals that are NOT clean, one couple”? Surely that meant Noah KNEW the difference between clean and unclean - and if he KNEW what the word "unclean" meant, then surely he would not have been eating "unclean" animals, fish and birds!

3. Why does Leviticus 11:2 (and plenty of other passages well after the time of Noah) specifically tell us that the pig is NOT a "clean" animal, and go into great detail as to WHY it’s not clean?

Take a look:

Leviticus 11:2 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'These are the living creatures which you may eat among all the land animals: 3 any that has a separate hoof which is completely divided and chews the cud - these animals you may eat. 4-6 But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a separate hoof. For example, the camel, the coney and the hare are unclean for you, because they chew the cud but don't have a separate hoof; 7 while the pig is unclean for you, because, although it has a separate and completely divided hoof, it doesn't chew the cud. (CJB)

Take a really close look at these verses and ask "What is it about these animals which differentiates them?"

Do you see it? Clean edible animals only eat grasses! They are distinguished by a completely split hoof and chewing the cud! All others eat meat (or junk - the pig for example)! Same goes for carnivorous birds and sea life designed to clean the ocean or river floors....

YHWH/Yahweh was clear from the beginning about what we could and couldn't eat. Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 provide a list of animals that are not to be eaten as food; and included in this list of "unclean" foods are some of man's favorites: pork, shrimp, lobster, crab, catfish, squid, rabbit, squirrel, etc. - things that YHWH is using as "garbage disposals" to clean up the earth!

Some “New Testament” passages, on the other hand, seem to indicate that God changed His mind about "unclean" meats somewhere along the line – but did He? Perhaps we need to ask WHY would He have done such a thing, BEFORE ordering that lobster or pepperoni pizza!

Here's one of those confusing passages:

MARK 7: ¹⁸ He replied to them, “So you too are without understanding? Don’t you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine.” (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.) (CJB)

NOTE: This chapter showcases one of the greatest discussions of oral versus written Jewish law that exists in these writings of the Renewed Covenant. In many ways this presages the heated exchanges that would be recorded in the Talmud some 200 years later. However, a major misunderstanding of this verse found its way into the modern translations with the parenthetical comment "in so doing Yeshua declared all foods clean."

Neither Aramaic nor early Greek manuscripts include this in the text, which is clearly an attempt by Gentile or Christian editors to abandon Torah's dietary laws. The point being established is that if you plot things like murder, lies, adulteries and so forth, then why be concerned about the food you eat, when weightier things are making you much more unclean than your food?

Even if a person kept a perfectly kosher diet, but had such unclean thoughts, such a one would rank among the most unkosher of people. See Luke 11:40.

If you still have some doubts, please take a look at what Paul wrote here:

2 Corinthians 6:16. Or what agreement has the temple of Elohim with that of demons? For you are the temple of the living Elohim; as it is said, I will dwell among them, and walk among them, and will be their Elohim, and they will be my people. 17. Wherefore, you come out from among them, and be separate from them says Master YHWH; and don't come near the unclean thing, and I will receive you; 18. And will be to you a Father, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says Master YHWH the Almighty. (AENT)

The bottom line is, it would be VERY unwise to eat or justifying eating something unclean if you wish to be a son or daughter of YHWH!

Those who don't know their Bibles very well will argue that, since the death of Jesus, we can eat whatever we want. But, fact is, Jesus didn't die to change the meaning of "clean and unclean" foods or to change His Father's Torah/Divine Instructions in Righteousness in any way; he died to redeem us and remove our PAST sins!

Furthermore, since Malachi 3:6 declares that YHWH does NOT change, why would He have changed his mind about what constitutes "clean" and "unclean" foods? Why would the forbidden foods listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 now be okay to eat?