Are you eating food sacrificed to idols?

World Net Daily ^ | January 27, 2011 | Joe Kovacs

[Objective Scrutator]

When you bite into a delicious pizza, succulent sandwich or luscious lamb chops, are you possibly eating food that has been sacrificed to idols?

An outspoken American pastor says yes, and he's sounding the alarm for Christians to be aware of the Islamic influence he calls "backdoor Shariah" now nibbling its way across the fruited plain.

At issue, says Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., is eating food that's "halal," in other words "lawful" or "permitted" for the Muslim diet.

Muslims join many Jews and some Christians in avoiding the consumption of certain animals such as pigs and birds of prey, but those of the Islamic faith also have their meat blessed in the name of their god, Allah.

"From the Christian standpoint, Allah would be an idol," Biltz told WND.

In a sermon last weekend which he posted online, Biltz explained, "In order for it to be halal, they have to slaughter the animal facing Mecca ... and they have to say this prayer about Allah is great and greater than all other gods. Muslims can only eat food that is halal, that has been sacrificed to their idol, Allah ... and with Allah's name prayed over it."

"You could be eating beef, chicken, etc., offered up to Allah and not even know it. I can just imagine at a Passover Seder the caterer unbeknownst to anyone is serving halal meat! It could be on your pizza without you knowing it, or at your favorite restaurant. People don't realize they could be eating meat sacrificed to idols!"

[aruanan]

According to the Apostle Paul, eating food that you KNOW was sacrificed to idols is no different from eating food you didn't know was sacrificed to idols or food that wasn't sacrificed to idols, except if a weak brother observes you eating food sacrificed to idols and his faith is harmed.

Selective quoting can be a bad thing.

OTOH, if there is the phrase “HALAL Restaurant” in big neon letters at the door of the restaurant, you should avoid it.

There is no reason for me to avoid it. There are no Christians whose faith is going to be harmed because I eat halal food. We don't have anything equivalent now in our culture to what Paul was writing about.

[Mr Rogers]

I avoid most anything that caters to Muslims any more. I didn’t use to care, but I’m fed up with all the demands that we Gentiles bend over and kiss Muslim butt. So now, I avoid their businesses.

[RobRoy]

>>
Selective quoting can be a bad thing. <<

Yes it can. But I’m missing your point. The part you bolded is a foregone conclusion. Several of us have been discussing that aspect. It is why I made my comment on alcohol.

>>There is no reason for me to avoid it.<<

Regarding HALAL, my reasons are that I don’t want to support anything islam related. I am thinking more and more that there is a strong possibility that the false religion of the end discussed in Revelation will be islam.

I do see from the rest of your post that we are in agreement that the pastor in the article is wrong in what he is claiming here.

[topcat54]

Kosher food is not “blessed” nor “sacrificed to idols”; kosher food refers to the manner of supervision, selection, slaughter and preparation.

Generally, it is special treatment for religious purposes.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“Farewell to you, too.”

Oh, that wasn’t me. That was the last line of the letter from Peter to the Gentile churches “farewell.”

[Tax-chick]

One reason I love Free Republic is that there are so many people with even less of a sense of humor than I.

[Objective Scrutator]

Biblically speaking, Matthew 15:11 refers specifically to food prohibited by the Mosaic Law, not foods which have praise lavished upon them by false religions. (Within the context, Jesus is warning His followers against bile spewed from the mouth; however, verse 13 states that God will uproot any plants He did not plant, which would certainly include plants blessed by moon gods and whatnot.) The only thing which Christ says does NOT defile a man in Matthew 15 is eating without washed hands.) In addition to the numerous admonishments seen in Acts against eating tainted meat (which, if ignored, have little context), 1 Corinthians 8:4-9 specifically states that Christians should be careful if they consume the meat of idols. Forearmed is forewarned, and many Muslims do NOT mark their meat as halal within the supermarket. How can one be careful of that which he is ignorant of? [.......................................................................................................................] Of course, for the secular humanists who refuse to see the foresight of the LORD in dealing with Islam, I offer you simple wisdom: every time you purchase halal meat, you put money in the pockets of Muslims or those who are willing to be the Muslims' useful idiots. That money will go towards giving them more power within a community to force their ridiculously antiquated laws on an unwilling community. [.......................................................................................................................] Either way, why risk potentially defiling yourself? We are never educated enough in the way of the LORD, and it is beyond arrogance for us to assume we are. The fruits of Islam are readily available for all to see; bilious, poisonous fruits, driving those who consume those fruits into madness and damnation. Any food that is halal should be required by law to be marked as halal, bottom line. To rail against this standard is to tacitly endorse the doctrine of Al-taqiyya. [...............................................................................................................] (BTW, sorry for the horrible formatting. Whenever I go into preview, it refuses to acknowledge that I hit the enter key. Could someone more computer literate than I tell me how I could fix this in ways other than shortening my posts?)

[TheThirdRuffian]

Kosher is distinct from halal, in that Kosher has unecessary (for Christian gentiles) precautions taken in in preparation.

Halal, in contrast, is pagan, and sacrificed to a demon.

While Mathew makes clear that this would not make one “unclean” (in the Jewish sense), Acts and Corinthians makes clear such pagan-sacrificed meat should be avoided.

It’s black-letter, New Testament stuff.

Surprised at the resistance of supposed sola scriptura people here.

[TheThirdRuffian]

LOL.

I’m sorry, I took your post as being mad that I said “Fairwell” -— like I was posting and running.

I didn’t want to offend you.

[Tax-chick]

LOL! I was running out the door to Walmart, having been informed by my egregious offspring that they were getting ready to eat the dog.

Anyway, I hope your day is going fine.

[topcat54]

Acts and Corinthians makes clear such pagan-sacrificed meat should be avoided.

Only for conscience sake, that is, for the sake of the conscience of one offering the meat sacrificed to idols. We need to be cautious for the sake of weaker brethren. The Christian is under no absolute prohibitions in eating meat sacrificed to idols.

Besides, no one here has established that this is food actually “sacrificed to idols” in any biblical sense. It’s merely a WorldNutDaily author repeating the theory of this right-wing pastor.

Frankly, it makes Christians who repeat it look foolish, but that’s nothing new.

[The Theophilus]

Halal, in contrast, is pagan, and sacrificed to a demon.

Really? (sigh)

So I went and read Halal Guidelines for Food Preparation and nowhere in the text did I see anything about sacrificing the meat to demons. In one document I did see the requirement for the slaughterer to utter "Bismillah" while performing the slaughtering, but that requirement is absent in this document.

Quite frankly I don't see much difference in Halal foods and the freakishly anal-retentive regulations issued out and enforced by the USDA and FDA.

If you are self-classified as "weaker brother" and find your soul in mortal danger, then I would advice against Halal and Kosher foods and eat pigs, dogs, rats, eagles, bears, tigers and other non-demonic foods - Just to make sure that God still approves of you.

[topcat54]

From the right-wing pastor:

"At a restaurant, you're not going to know [if the food is halal] unless you ask,"

Hmmm, and what did Paul tell us?

25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience' sake; 26 for "the earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness." (1 Cor. 10)

The point is, you shouldn’t really care, even if it were “sacrificed to idols” (which it’s not).

Why are Christians so dumb?

[beandog]

I don’t think Christians are any dumber than other religions that won’t eat pig, seafood, mix certain foods, or who think cows are some kind of religious icon.

Dumb is in the eyes of the beholder.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“Really? (sigh)”

Yes. allah is a false god. Or do you also deny the crucification? The fundamental core of halal slaughter is facing Mecca, praying to this false god, and sliting the throat of the animal.

“If you are self-classified as “weaker brother” and find your soul in mortal dange”

No, merely one who can read.

I don’t avoid halal for myself, but do so for the weaker brother -— the weaker brother being the “all roads lead to heaven” brother who might be persuaded that islam is acceptable by not my rejecting its practices.

[paulycy]

Since Allah doesn’t exist, I don’t think that prayers to him are going to change anything in the food I’m going to eat.

I feel safe from Allah.

From the islamic idiots? Not so much.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Acts 15:29 (New International Version, ©2011)

29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Seems to conflict with Paul, eh?

But not really.

Paul was talking about PERSONAL cleanliness and ability to talk to God -— diet being completley unimportant.

Acts, in contrast, was talking about being a stumbling block to weak brotherws who believe all roads lead to heaven by appearing to endorse a pagan religion like islam.

The posters here who are mocking the avoidance of halal meat are selfish, and not caring for the weaker brothers.

islam and other pagan religion must be rejected completely, down to their food.

[ExGeeEye]

I Corinthians 8.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“Acts and Corinthians makes clear such pagan-sacrificed meat should be avoided.
Only for conscience sake”

A very pharsitical answer.

The text says “You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. “

“Must”

Not “it’s a good idea”

“Must”

Is “sexual immorality” also OK? You know, since no one gets hurt? It’s the same list.

It amazes me the ability people have to justify actions that are clearly stated as “don’t do it.”