Contrary to what Christians teach, one does not simply pray the “sinner’s prayer” to become saved. He does not simply designate himself as a Christian by believing Yahshua is the Son of God or that he died for his sins. Salvation is caused by the life-long practice of full obedience to Christ and the application of his teachings. This is exactly how faith is defined. It is an action of obedience to God’s commands and doing the will of the Father, just as Yahushua lived his life according to the Father’s will. If one does not bring himself to live according to the example that Christ gave and to obey everything that he commanded, then this one’s faith is dead and he has no hope of salvation. This is why James the Just stressed in his letter that “faith without works is dead.”

[James 2:17-19] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Here’s what Yahshua and Paul had to say too:

[John 17:11] And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

[Matthew 7:21-23] Not every one that saith unto me, Master, Master, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Master, Master, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

[Romans 2:13] For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

[Ephesians 2:10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Yahshua unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In light of this, it needs to be shown that the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” is not scriptural. The Bible actually states that God is deaf to the voices of sinners:

[Isaiah 1:15-16] And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil

[Job 27:8-9] For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?

[Psalm 109:7] When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

[Proverbs 15:29] Yahweh is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

[Proverbs 28:9] He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

[John 9:31] Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

[Psalm 5:3-5] My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Yahweh; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

[Psalm 34:16-19] The face of Yahweh is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and Yahweh heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Yahweh is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but Yahweh delivereth him out of them all.

[1 Peter 3:10-12] For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of Yahweh are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of Yahweh is against them that do evil.

Yahshua was the living manifestation of the Law, not just of Moses, but also of the Heavenly Law, which has an even higher bar than the Law that was given to the Israelites. Yahshua told the whore in John 8 to “go and sin no more” and expects us to do the same, and nothing short of it (John 17:11). He came to show us an example of a righteous lifestyle that will reconcile us to the Father through his teachings and his obedience to God. Then he demonstrated what would happen for living this kind of life: a life of persecution and ridicule by the world by going to Jerusalem, knowing that he would be tried and killed for preaching the Father’s truths and admonishments. This was for the purpose of his resurrection, which was to demonstrate the reward for enduring persecution, even to death. This would cause repentance in any believing sinner, giving him confirmation that God will also give him the same reward of a resurrection to everlasting life in return for his full obedience to Christ and spreading the Gospel no matter what the personal cost, which necessarily means that all sin is removed from that point on in the believer’s life, and there is no salvation outside of that.

[Matthew 19:16-17] And, behold, one came and said unto him, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” And he said unto him, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

[John 14:15, 23-24] “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” …  Yahshua answered and said unto him, “if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”

[1 John 2:3-5] And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, “I know him”, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

[Revelation 22:14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Yahshua did not come to remove the punishment for sin, but to remove sin completely from our hearts. We cannot be dead to sin and still commit sin, as Paul wrote in Romans 6, and as long as you still sin then you are not alive in Christ and are still under the Law.

[Philippians 2:13-14] For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world

[Matthew 5:48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

As you can see, there is no such thing as “imputed righteousness”. God does not dwell in the hearts and flesh of sinners. There is only applied righteousness, without which we do not know Christ. Yahshua said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If we are not walking his Way, learning/preaching his Truth, and living his Life, then we are in trouble. It is up to us to practice the righteousness of Christ, and anyone who tells you that this is impossible is a liar and an antichrist.

[1 John 3:7-8] Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

If anyone reading this would like to bring up “but John also said, ‘if we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves’” as an argument, fair enough. It’s a good argument to make if one reads this without understanding. This is the choice passage that Christians use to justify the abominable doctrine of original sin (which came from Gnosticism). Let’s take a look at the whole passage:

[1 John 1:5-10] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The first thing to point out here is that John is saying that we cannot possibly have fellowship with Christ if we walk in darkness, which means if we are in a continual state of sin, then we are in a continual state of darkness which makes fellowship with Christ virtually impossible. The proper context here is that John is writing to the Christian initiates who believe they were previously without sin before joining the faith. To believe the traditional meaning that this applies to all Christians is to make the passage contradict itself, and also implies that John contradicted himself by what he wrote in chapter 3.

Verse 9 makes it clear that Christ cleanses of from all unrighteousness, meaning we are cleansed from all sin moving forward, and of course verse 10 reinstates verse 8 by using the past-tense. The implication is not that we are all still sinners if we have been redeemed, but that we are all sinners unless we have been redeemed. This is an obvious conclusion in light of what is written in the verse that comes next, in 2:1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.”

There’s also the passage from Romans 3 where Paul writes passages like, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God,” (v. 10, 11) and, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (v. 23). Let’s address verse 10 first.

Paul is quoting from Psalm 14, where it is talking about fools—people who don’t believe in the God of Israel, namely pagans (it can also be applied to atheists and secularists of modern times)—people who don’t actively seek God. This cannot possibly be a reference to any reverent Christian.

[Psalm 14] The fool hath said in his heart, “there is no God”. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Yahweh looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon Yahweh. There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when Yahweh bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Since Paul is borrowing from Psalm 14 is in his words, then he recognized the existence of “the generation of the righteous” which can only mean that he was not referring to every single human being that has lived and will live. His letter to the Romans was written for the community of believers in Rome, or somewhere located within the bounds of the Roman Empire that was not part of Asia Minor. Paul was paraphrasing from Psalm 14 and other passages from the Old Testament to describe the common citizen of Rome—people who were immersed in a culture chock full of immorality, drunkenness, violence, thievery, rioting, gambling at gladiator arenas, and worshiping pagan gods and goddesses—everything that can be attributed to ancient Roman culture—and it can be inferred that the common Roman was not seeking the God of Israel, and didn’t care to.

The Christian community in Rome, however, separated themselves from said culture, even so much to the point that they saw unbelievers as being irredeemable given the moral depravity of the culture they were called out of. When Paul tells the assembly that “all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God,” (v. 23) he was reminding them of their former ways so they don’t boast in their separation and refuse to preach the Gospel to sinners. The fact that the passage says “all have sinned,” and not “all do sin” indicates that it does not apply to every individual human or, especially, to those who have already been saved, but that “all Romans have sinned,” given the proper context of to whom Paul’s letter was written. The passage from Romans 3 cannot possibly be used to hang the doctrine of original sin (or the doctrine of sin nature as it’s called by the Protestant and Evangelical churches) because it is asinine to so.

Peter stated in his second epistle that many people were distorting Paul’s letters, those without understanding:

[2 Peter 3:15-16] And account that the longsuffering of our Master is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

This applies to all ecumenical and evangelical Christian churches who teach a “faith”-based salvation and that our works cannot please God, because they don’t even know how Paul defined faith and works, much less understand the context of his letters to the Romans and Galatians. They also do this with John’s letter, as discussed above, as well as the entire Bible.

Paul rebuked the Galatians for the same thing Yahshua rebuked the Pharisees for: going through the outward motions of the Law while ignoring the more important teachings, or as what Yahshua described as “the weightier matters of the Law” (Matthew 23:23) The Galatians were observing Sabbaths, feast days, New Moons, circumcision, sacrifices, etc.—putting more importance into “the works” and neglecting the love for God and neighbor. That’s not to say that observing the Sabbaths and Feasts are not important, as it is mandated by God to observe them. But if one is just going to pretend to be set-apart and neglect their neighbor’s needs and/or fail to love God with all heart, mind and soul, and practice pagan customs (which is what the Galatians were doing), then why even bother with the ordinances at all if one’s heart is not true? This is exactly what the Pharisees and the Galatians were doing, and what they were admonished for. Legalism is not defined as obeying the Law, but is rather defined as seeking loopholes in the Law while simultaneously pretending to obey it.

The Law was designed to be a light to guide the Israelites towards the path of righteousness, but they went astray seeking their own desires, wanting to sacrifice to and worship other gods. This was not because of any “sin nature”, but because they deliberately refused to love Yahweh and obey his commands. They were not interested in seeking Him (and this is the proper context of Romans 3:10 in which Paul quoted from Psalm 14, which tells of a “generation of the righteous”). The first covenant that God made with His people was imperfect (Hebrews 8:7), but not because the Law was imperfect, but because the people with whom he made his covenant broke it on purpose (Psalm 95:9-11). If you love God, you’re going to want to obey with fullness of His Law, having it “written in your heart” (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10). If you are so filled with love and obedience to God then your heart will have no room for sin.

[1 John 3:4-9] Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

[John 14:6] Yahshua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

[Psalm 119:1] Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of Yahweh.

[Psalm 119:142] Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

[Proverbs 13:14] The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Being a Christian was never supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be a life of self-discipline and self-control. It is about having continual awareness of one’s thoughts and actions and making sure they are in line with Yahushua’s way of living every day in the Christian’s life. It is your actions that define you as a Christian, and not mere belief, for a Christian is known by his fruits. Belief alone is not sufficient for salvation because in the end we will be judged by our obedience, and not by our belief.

[Romans 12:2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

[Matthew 7:13-14] Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

[Revelation 20:12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

[John 5:28-29] Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

It is a Christian’s vocation to live as that Good Samaritan and always going out of the way to practice compassion on those less fortunate than himself. But having compassion doesn’t end just for fellow man, but also for the animals as well. For as Yahushua stated in Matthew 12:7 “But if ye had known what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” This is actually him quoting the prophet Hosea from the book of the same name (6:6). Hosea wasn’t the only prophet who testified that God hates sacrifice, but all the prophets did. They all went and admonished apostate Israel to cease the slaughter because it wasn’t what God had in mind in the beginning.

[Genesis 1:29] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

All the animals who are slaughtered for meat are guiltless, and humans condemn them by the billions every year. Even those that undergo “humane” slaughter have done nothing wrong to deserve to have their lives deprived of them, as they value their lives as much as we do. As Scripture states “the compassion of the wicked is cruel” (Proverbs 12:10). Consider the wisdom of the command “love your neighbor as yourself.” The Earth is our home, and considering we share it with the animals, they are our neighbors. By slaughtering them we fail to obey this command.

Under the system of Moses, sacrifices were allowed, but done begrudgingly and with tight restrictions, and Moses would have preferred if they hadn’t done it at all, but to become a nation of prophets (which means vegetarians) as recorded in Numbers 11:29. In that same chapter, it is recorded that the Hebrews detested the manna and had cravings for meat, so much to the point of crying about it, and this was regarded as evil to Moses and to God.

[Numbers 11:1-35] And when the people complained, it displeased Yahweh: and Yahweh heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of Yahweh burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto Yahweh, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of Yahweh burnt among them. And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto Yahweh, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness. And Yahweh said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Yahweh will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised Yahweh which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And Yahweh said unto Moses, Is Yahweh’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. And Moses went out, and told the people the words of Yahweh, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And Yahweh came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, and that Yahweh would put his spirit upon them! And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. And there went forth a wind from Yahweh, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.

Even though the Law of Moses allows for certain “clean” animals to be eaten (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14) this list of animals were the ones acceptable to be presented as sacrifices before a priest. Nobody was allowed to kill and slaughter any animal himself, and if anyone did then he was cut off from his people.

[Leviticus 17:3-5] What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto Yahweh before the tabernacle of Yahweh; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto Yahweh, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto Yahweh.

The fact being that all meat sold in the supermarkets today are not slaughtered according to the mandates of the law renders it all unclean to eat. Given that all the meat today still contains its blood, is pumped with hormones and chemicals and is slaughtered from animals who are fed genetically modified soy feed makes it not just all unclean, but abominable.

[Deuteronomy 14:3] Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

Even though Yahshua says in Matthew 15, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man,” this is by no means an allowance to eat anything we want. Earlier in that chapter (v. 3), he asks the Jews “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” So, in the context of the passage, it is implied that Yahshua was already obeying the Law, and certainly wouldn’t give us permission to eat whatever we want, especially what was forbidden by God in his law, for God “does not change” (Malachi 3:6)

That fact that Yahshua had to ask his disciples, “Are ye also yet without understanding?” meant that they didn’t understand this parable and had to have it explained to them. This means that Christians, who have much less understanding than the apostles, don’t understand it at all, yet pretend like they know how to interpret the passage in which they claim Yahshua was doing away with the Law’s dietary restrictions. This is absurd considering in the same chapter, Matthew 15, verse 3, Yahshua asks the Pharisees, “why do you forsake the Law for your own tradition?” which implies that Yahshua was already obedient to the Law, and could not have possibly been doing away with it, much less the dietary prohibitions. This is actually a bearing of false witness against Yahshua, and a hostile contradiction to Matthew 5:17-18 where Yahshua said that the Law is still in effect “until Heaven and Earth pass away,” which obviously has not happened yet.

Because the Pharisees were criticizing the apostles for eating with unwashed hands, Yahshua is explaining that any dirt that is ingested is not going to defile them, but what comes out of the mouth comes from his heart is what defiles him, which consist evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. The thought of depriving an animal from its life is an evil thought. The act of killing an animal is murder. The act of eating what God did not intend for you to eat is to adulterate your body. Whoring is to eat food sacrificed to idols, considering that we are supposed to be the “bride” of God, and in the ancient world, meat was the common food that was sacrificed to idols (see the article What is Adultery?). Theft accounts for milk and eggs being stolen from cows and chickens, as well as to the Temple practice of sacrifice (cf. “den of robbers”). False witness is to allege that Yahshua taught what he did not, and blasphemy goes along with the false witness.

The narrative in Mark 7:19 “He declared all foods clean” is not found in any of the Greek manuscripts or in the King James Version or the other English translations that predate it. This narrative was clearly manually inserted to suit translators’ bias. What doesn’t make any sense is when the NASB reads the passage as “because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) We all know that food is not eliminated in the stomach, but is expelled through the bowels! The ASV and the ERV actually render the narrative “This he said, making all meats clean” when the word that is used in the Greek is bromata, which means “food” and not “meat,” otherwise the word used there in Greek would be krea.

It should be mentioned here that in the Authorized Version of the Bible (the KJV), “meat” had a meaning of “food” (actually spelled ‘meate’ in the 1611 KJV), and the word is never used to denote any kind of flesh. The KJV never uses ‘meat’ and ‘flesh’ interchangeably, but the inference is made only due to cultural norms and laziness in word associations. Any Christian who doesn’t know this should be ashamed of himself, and if he insists on applying the modern understanding of speech to an archaic text of Scripture, then he shouldn’t even call himself a Christian.

The notion the any theologian can claim that Christ had any power to do away with the whole of God’s Law in a single phrase because he wanted to declare that the sin that his disciples committed was no longer a sin God’s eyes is ridiculous. Theologians altered the context and meaning of this entire passage to imply that they were eating what was unclean, and that Yahshua was okay with it. The Pharisees were not criticized for their desire to obey the Law of God, but for denying its authority in favor of their own tradition, kind of like what Christians do today. Just as the Pharisees were labeled as hypocrites by Yahshua (by which both words have the same connotation), Christians today are no different considering that they regard anyone who obeys God’s Law as His enemy, and those that dismiss it find His favor and grace, especially the Catholics who follow the tradition of the Church fathers via the Catechism. Do you see the hypocrisy here?

Anyone who would like to invoke any passage from the Bible to justify their wanton violence to the animals is legalism—the same kind of legalism of the Pharisees. This means that Christians are only fixated on the text of the Law and Gospel, and ignore the spirit of it. As Paul stated, “All things are permitted, but not all is profitable” (1 Cor. 6:12). Just because God permits something doesn’t mean he approves of it, or that it’s beneficial to us. Just consider that God permitted the Israelites’ gluttonous feast of the quails. God gave them exactly what they wanted, but they all died.

God prohibited the consumption of blood in Genesis 9, and is written into Law by Moses in Deuteronomy 12. All meat contains blood cells, even a steak that is cooked extra-well done. Even the priests had to squeeze and drain out as much blood and fat as they possibly could, and then cook the meat until it was burnt before serving sacrifices as meals to ensure all the blood was cooked out, hence it was called a “burnt offering”. The spirit of the law would suggest to just abstain from meat altogether. Wouldn’t it be wise to just avoid it completely rather than to provoke God by pretending He is okay with eating it—even the “clean” meats?

Who enjoys eating burnt meat, especially without seasoning? It’s not like the priests were running a steakhouse restaurant. The strict procedure that the Levitical priest had to follow was designed to deter the Israelites from sinning. The way it was done is that the sinner making the sacrifice had to bring a year old lamb that he raised himself, and then place his hand on the head of the lamb while the priest slit its throat. This was intended to inflict guilt on the sinner that he knows that is really he who should die instead of the innocent lamb. Then he had to eat an unpleasant-tasting burnt carcass of the said lamb, which was an allusion to the Israelite’s consumption of water mixed with the ground up metal of the golden calf, which shortened their lifespans due to toxic heavy metal poisoning, similarly to how meat causes elevated levels of oxidative stress, causing damage to DNA, which contributes to diseases like cancer, atherosclerosis, as well as boosted aging; thus, reducing our lifespans, “for the wages of sin is death.” Genesis tells us that God reduced the human lifespan to 120 years after the Flood. If we’re not living up to that age, or close to it, then we are doing something wrong.

So, eating meat necessarily implies that you are still making continual sacrifices, in which the letter to the Hebrews makes it clear the Yahshua did away with sacrifice. His death is not applicable to you as long as you keep contributing to the sacrificial practice of animals made by the meat farming industry because you’re still under sin—still under the law of death.

Do you remember when Yahshua overturned the marketplace in the temple and drove out the merchants? The moneychangers were a group of bankers whom designed a system of currency exchange and also exchanged animals for slaughter as a profession. It was the world’s first industrial farming firm. This currency exchange was usury (lending money with interest for profit) which is forbidden in the Law. Temple coins were given to sinners because the moneychangers deemed Roman currency as “unclean” due to the graven images on the Roman coins. The temple coin (that probably cost several Roman coins due to the interest) was used to purchase an animal that the sinner never even met, and the animal was used to purchase atonement, while the moneychangers made a profit on it, and the sinner left broke and impoverished. And, of course, it’s worth mentioning that these animals were blessed and slaughtered in the name of their god, Ba’al (Molekh/Lucifer).

[Matthew 23: 31] Therefore ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets.

[John 8:42-44] Yahshua said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

This was an implicit violation of the system of sacrifice that was set up by Moses, which began to be abused after Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, and just got worse and worse until Yahshua’s time when it became a bank. This is why Yahshua just wanted to destroy all sacrifice once and for all, and this is the very reason why the Pharisees wanted him killed, and they wanted it so bad that they threatened Pontius Pilate, and even cursed their own posterity.

This exact firm exists today. It’s exactly what our meat industry is today. It is run by Jewish bankers whom carry on the legacy of the Pharisees, whom are at the top of the industrial animal farms—the ones who are cursed by their ancestors—by which they bless all the meat that is slaughtered in the name of Lucifer. Anyone who eats meat sold at a restaurant or the local supermarket is literally eating food sacrificed to an idol, or more specifically, the Devil. Even if one slaughters his own animals for food, he is worshiping his stomach in the same way the wicked Israelites who ate the quail did, in direct rebellion to the food given to them by God: manna. Your stomach becomes an idol when you put death into it, for “your throat is an open grave.”

Now, let’s address meaning from the passage in Mark 7, and then I will discuss the passage from 1 Timothy 4 because that is the passage that is the most cherry-picked used to combat vegetarianism. Let’s quote the Greek with the word-for-word meaning of Mark 7

ὅτι [because] οὐκ [not] εἰσπορεύεται [(what) enters] αὐτοῦ [(of) him/it] εἰς [into] τὴν [the] καρδίαν [heart/mind/character] ἀλλ’ [but] εἰς [into] τὴν [the] κοιλίαν [abdominal organ] καὶ [and] εἰς [into] τὸν [the] ἀφεδρῶνα [draught/drain/latrine] ἐκπορεύεται [expels (itself)] καθαρίζων [purifying] πάντα [all] τὰ [the] βρώματα [food]

“Because it enters him not into the heart/mind/character, but into the stomach and into the intestines, (where it) is expelled—purifying all the food.”

What Yahshua is addressing here is that any dirt that gets transferred onto your food from your unwashed hands is not going to defile you because the body purges it out through digestion, but whatever is “ingested” by the mind has the capacity to defile you. This is probably the strongest metaphor in Scripture; Yahshua is comparing the Pharisees’ vain inquiry to feces, right in this context which Christians like to use to justify their dismissal of God’s Law and breaking it! What you put into your stomach has proceeded from murder, then what comes out of your character is the murderous intent is exactly what the defilement is!

[1 Timothy 4:1-5] 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; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 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. 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.

First of all, vegetarians and, especially vegans, do not have a “seared conscience with a hot iron” given their compassion for animals, neither do any of them preach against marriage. Secondly, ‘foods’ in verse 3 (βρωμάτων, G1033) is rendered ‘meats’ in the KJV, a mistake which is repeated by the other versions, like the ASV, the ERV, Darby, and the Catholic Bible (i.e. the most subversive of the English translations, minus the NIV) as ‘meat,’ when it should be translated as ‘food’. I’ve already addressed this argument above. Nowhere does Scripture state that God created animals as foods, especially to be received with thanksgiving. If this was the case, it would have explicitly stated so in the account of the Garden of Eden, which actually states the opposite, that God gave the first man “every fruit bearing tree as food”. Meat is the product of when God’s creatures are desecrated and butchered.  

Unless we assume Paul contradicted himself by declaring his vegetarianism in 1 Corinthians 8:13 only to endorse meat here, we must see this passage as addressing two vegetarian groups: lacto-ovo vegetarians and strict vegans. Paul resolves a dispute between Christians and those only influenced by Essene traditions, but not believers, as he notes, “of them which believe and know the truth.” His stance is clear: no compromise on God’s truth!

When Paul declares that permissible foods are “consecrated by the word of God and prayer,” he unequivocally affirms that these foods comply with both sacred Essene traditions and the teachings of Scripture. Far from opening the door to meat consumption, Paul passionately upholds the established vegetarian way of life! He was not writing new rules for the Christians, but reinforcing time-honored customs. The “hypocrites” are those peddling “destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1) by daring to condemn foods God Himself sanctioned in the Garden of Eden. Can we not see the glaring irony? This accusation points squarely at Christians who champion or follow low-carb diets, or any other diet that is not part of God’s original design.

The Essenes, who were the first Christians, were not opposed to marriage. They were only opposed to lasciviousness and sexual passions. Josephus wrote that they “do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women” because women, at that time, were seen as having characteristics of “quarrels, jealousies, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions” and “envy” as Paul lists in Galatians 5:19-21, as the Essenes were so focused on maintaining their strict lifestyle of holiness and obedience, and did not want such influences to cause strife and drama in their community. This is why Paul forbade women from speaking in the assembly and from teaching men. This is not to say that only women have these characteristics, but these characteristics are more common in women than in men. Men who behaved in such ways were seen as being “effeminate”.

The Essenes were a communal sect, but not all of them were commune-dwellers. There were some who lived outside of the sect and lived with their families. These only had sex for the strict purpose of procreation and posterity and not for pleasure. This is why Paul wrote that celibacy was good for those who could handle it, but those who could not handle it should marry due to emotional dependency, or to avoid guilt if one believed he was abandoning his girlfriend. But even the propagation of the sect was no concern because of Yahshua’s words, “men do not marry and women are not given in marriage,” and Paul believed the Kingdom of Heaven was going to be established in his time.

Josephus wrote that the Essenes were vegetarians in Antiquities (15.10.4), describing them as ‘Pythagoreans’, which was synonymous with ‘vegetarian’ in the ancient world, and the Community Rule scroll (1QS) states that they abstained from eating “the flesh of holocausts”, meaning sacrifices. ‘Essene’ is a Greek variation of ‘Nazarene’, a sect which Yahshua belonged to, dating back to Zadok, in whom the priesthoods of Melchizedek and Aaron were merged. This is why Yahshua is called the high priest of the Order of Melchizedek in the letter to the Hebrews. ‘Nazareth’ was actually a sect label to describe any community of the Nazarites, but it was not a place name. Both the Nazarenes/Essenes and the Pythagoreans taught non-violence and forbade all slaughter, and it’s safe to assume that Yahshua himself was a vegetarian, despite our modern English Gospels say he ate fish and fed it to others, which were translated from Latin and Greek gospels that were tampered with by the early Church. Please see Did Jesus Eat Fish? for more information.

Many associate Biblical vegetarianism with ancient Gnostic sects, which is based on ignorance of both the Gnostic and the Essene/Christian beliefs and practices. Paul is describing a particular group which both shunned marriage, but celebrated the Eucharist, as the Gnostics prohibited the practice of sex and procreation due to their belief that the world and its Creator is evil, and even mandated the initiates who were married to divorce their wives in order to join.

It is erroneous to just assume that anyone who advocates just one out of the many “heresies” in 1 Timothy 4 is a “damnable heretic”. Paul is describing a particular group that practiced all of them simultaneously, namely the Zealots. In the passage, he calls them “hypocrites”, or “hypocritical liars” in the NIV, which means ‘actors’ in Greek, the same word used by Yahshua against the Pharisees (out of whom the Zealots sprung). The Zealots had the “appearance of godliness” as they too practiced vegetarianism, but was the only thing they had right. They were violent radicals, and sought the restoration of the Temple and its sacrifices. This is why Paul called them “hypocrites”. It was not their diet he was condemning, but their hypocrisy.

It is easy to get the Essenes mixed up with the other sects that existed in the apostolic era due to the discovery of the scrolls found in the Qumran caves. Many assume that all the scrolls were written and practiced by just one sect, but the caves were just the site where the scrolls were placed and hidden away, not the location of the Essene sect. Some of them were written by the Essenes, such as the Community Rule, some were written by the Zealots, like the War scroll, and some of them were Gnostic writings. Even writers like Josephus and Philo had these sects mixed up, as anyone who did not live in Judea at the time slapped a collective label on all the different sects.

I could go on and on about this, but the full argument has already been written in an e-book I have been promoting called The Abomination of Desolation. I invite the reader to click the link, download and read it.

What I do want to point out that is very important is Yahshua’s command to “be wise as serpents, but innocent like doves.” What does it take to be innocent like a dove? Do doves eat meat? This innocence is impossible to achieve if we fail to practice mercy and compassion on all sentient life. Consider the spirit of the command. This not only means having compassion on the animals, but also on our Savior, who died for you so that you should live for Him, which necessarily means living with full obedience to Him, and without sin. This is so important because when you have already acknowledged Him as your Savior, but still sin, then you continuously crucify Him to the cross after every sin committed, and this is an act of perpetual murder to the Son of God, which will get you shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven (Revelation 22:15). Please read my Atonement is A Lie article for more information.

[Hebrews 9:25-26] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The ultimate goal is to correct the mistakes of our first parents and return to their innocence before they sinned. This happens simply turning to God and doing what He says and by returning to the original human diet, which is described above in Genesis 1:29.

[Jeremiah 6:16] Thus saith Yahweh, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” But they said, “We will not walk therein.”

Christians also say “we will not walk therein” because somehow, in their imaginations, the ancient way was done away with on the cross. I have been using the true name of the Messiah, Yahshua instead of Jesus, because the meaning of it means “Yahweh is salvation”. With this in mind, let’s plug this into Hebrews 13:8:

“Yahshua Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

“[the salvation of Yahweh] is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Nothing has changed. Repentance brought salvation in the Old Testament as it did in the New Testament, as it does now. The only thing that the cross did was restore the covenant with the promise of everlasting life to those who obey Yahshua and do everything he commanded and live by his example—those who take God’s Word seriously, applies it, and abstains from violence.

[Hebrews 5:8-9] though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.

Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Go and sin no more!

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