“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; 2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3. 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. 4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6. 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 good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”
Have you ever had anyone try to discourage you from hunting? Have they ever tried to make you feel guilty for eating meat? What does the Bible say about these matters? You may have heard it said from a non hunter, “How could God be ok with someone killing animals?”, like its something sinful. If we understand our Bible, it wouldn’t take much to silence the mouths of the foolish! Looking at Exodus 20 and The Ten Commandments, yes, we can see the Bible says that killing is against God’s holy law, but most people are good about taking the Word of God out of context. Looking at other commandments we can quickly understand that animals have no place in the context of what is being commanded. “Honour thy father and thy mother” has nothing to do with animals, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, is the context animals? Nope! “Thou shalt not steal”, nope, not referring to animals! Also, look at how Jesus responds to the rich young ruler in the book of Matthew as he references The Ten Commandments; “…Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,” Jesus said that murder is the same term as killing in the old testament in this context. Now lets define murder(Webster 1828); “the act of unlawfully killing a human being with premeditated malice, by a person of sound mind.” The vegetarian non hunter tries to condemn people for this act of eating meat, but God gives us some very clear understanding on this matter of killing in its proper context.
Looking back to Timothy, we see the ones who are degrading the meat eaters; vs 1, those departing from the faith, those giving care to deceiving spirits, and those living by false doctrine which is contrary to the Word of God. Vs 2 continues, hypocritical liars, and those that have rejected the truth in their conscience. As we begin vs 3 we can see that meat is not just the issue these false doctrine hypocrites are having trouble with, they are also forbidding to marry! What does the Bible say about that? I Corinthians 7:1-2 “…It is good for a man to not touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” Hebrew 13:4 “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers(the unlawful indulgence of lust; fornication, or adultery) and adulterers God will judge.” So why cant the catholic priest marry? Could it be they teach false doctrines? Give heed to seducing spirits? They look at Apostle Peter so highly, but do they not realize Peter had a mother in law(Luke 4:38)? You have to be married to have a mother in law! We must allow God’s Word to be the final authority in our lives, not just in eating meat, but in every area of our life.
Its important to remember Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye king one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” If someone chooses not to eat meat, let them be! If someone condemns you for hunting and eating meat, respond in kindness, but show them that the Word of God has given you liberty in what you are doing. Vs 3 -5 “…commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 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.” The word sanctified means made holy. So if eating meat is something God made holy, that would mean eating meat is not these things; unholy, sinful, unrighteous, wicked! Let God’s Word be your final authority and don’t forget to pray for the meat blessing that God gives you. Hunting season is near! Amen! The next time you sit at the table or even stand over a nice big set of fresh backstraps, remember these 3 things; receive it with thanksgiving, its been made holy by the Word of God, its been made holy by prayer! Its time to get your bow in tune and your crosshairs on target!
Memory Verse Week 8/1/21
I Timothy 4:4-5
“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.”
