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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: May 14, 2025
Update	: May 14, 2025
Parts	: 03

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part one, as I explained a moment ago, my personal belief is that the reason why God gave humanity permission to eat meat following the Genesis Flood, is because being the Creator of our bodies, He was aware of the fact that we would require extra protein to help minimize the negative effects of the ultraviolet rays which were no longer so heavily filtered by the canopy of water which previously encompassed the Earth. To reiterate, yes, this is a personal theory, but it makes perfect sense to me.

So the question we should ask ourselves is why the person who wrote the commentary we've been discussing chose to not include this important piece of information in his opinion piece. As I said, he totally ignored those four key verses which are found in Genesis 9, as if they don't even exist. The answer should be rather obvious to you. He ignored them because they are contrary to what he was trying to convince people to believe in, which is a strict vegan diet. In fact, in the previous chapter in Genesis 8, there even seems to be an indication that the Lord may have enjoyed the smell of barbecued meat. At least that is the impression I am given each time that I read the following two Bible verses:

"And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."


To make matters worse, in his vain attempt to validate his weak and unscriptural position, then this person continued to purposely twist the meaning of even more verses. The way that he did this just boggled my mind. He begins by stating "Later, as civilization deteriorated, sacrifice and blood rituals spread. But God continually calls His people back to mercy." Then he quotes the following partial verses. I am not sure which version of the Bible he is quoting from:

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice."


"Stop bringing meaningless offerings! . . . I cannot bear your evil assemblies."


Afterwards, he then writes "Even the prophets saw that God was never pleased with blood." My friends, I find it really unbelievable how this person is purposely misleading people, as I will now explain to you. Let me break this down for you so that you can see how extremely deceptive he is actually being. First of all, notice that he begins by saying "later". Well, just so you understand what that "later" really means, as I stated in part one, he selected a few choice verses from the Book of Genesis which support his view, and then he jumps to the above verses. In other words, he jumped forward into the future some 3,300 years from Genesis to the time when the Prophets Isaiah and Hosea prophesied to Israel, leading up to the Assyrian invasion.

In case you don't understand why this point is so important, let me tell you. As we already learned in part one, this man completely skipped over Genesis 9 where God gives permission for man to eat meat. As I already said, I am convinced that he purposely didn't share that information, because it would totally blow holes in his anti-carnivore narrative. However, what he is doing here is just as bad, if not worse. You see, not only has he purposely skipped over everything between Genesis and Isaiah and Hosea, but that includes the Books of the Law, also known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. In short, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Now, do you know what is contained in those five Books? All of the Laws which God gave to Moses, including all of the very specific SACRIFICIAL LAWS! The man who wrote this piece does NOT want to touch that with a ten-foot pole. To him it seems to be "Out of sight, out of mind." He doesn't want you to remember that God gave those Laws. We will come back to this, but let us move on to the next point. After telling us later, he continues by saying "as civilization deteriorated, sacrifice and blood rituals spread."

Do you understand what he is doing there? He is saying that sacrifices and blood rituals spread because civilization deteriorated. In other words, they spread because humanity became more wicked. But here is the weirdest thing. He says "civilization" -- as if meaning the entire world -- but then he partially quotes a few verses which applied specifically to Israel, which at that time was compromised of Ephraim in the north, and Judah in the south.

Now, I can agree that in OTHER parts of the world where they sacrificed to false gods, the sacrifices and blood rituals were indeed done by wicked and fallen men. They were pagans. BUT, the verses he quoted do NOT apply to those people, do they? No they do not! They were directed to Israel. So then, after quoting those verses, he tells the biggest bald-faced lie of all when he writes "Even the prophets saw that God was never pleased with blood." This man is absolutely twisting what Isaiah and Hosea said and wrote, and trying to convince his readers that this is what they meant, by quoting only a tiny part of what they actually said! He is intentionally putting words in their mouths!

In other words, this man wants to convince his readers that the reason why God was so fed up with their sacrifices, was because they were killing and sacrificing animals. They were shedding blood. That is absolutely NOT true at all, as I will now clearly demonstrate to you. But before doing that, let me ask you a simple question. Does it make any sense that God would ordain those animal sacrifices Himself in the Books of the Laws -- as a foreshadow of what Jesus would accomplish in the New Testament as the Final Sacrifice for sin -- and then turn around and condemn those very same sacrifices which He had ordained, because they were so bloody?

Are you starting to see the light yet? So it is evident to me that killing animals is most certainly NOT the reason why God condemned those sacrifices. There must be another reason, and in fact, there most definitely is. However, if you just read the partial quotes that he included in his commentary, you'll miss it. So let's take his first quote. He wrote "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." You see, if you just read that alone -- as this person wants you to do -- without reading all of the surrounding verses, then you'll understand that God does not desire their sacrifices, but you will NOT understand WHY He doesn't want their sacrifices. So let's read all of the verses, and NOT just the one that he quoted:

"O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me."


Now, tell me, my dear friends. Do you see anything in those verses at all which indicates that God hated their sacrifices because they were killing animals and shedding animal blood? It is not there, is it? Yet that is what this very misguided person wants his readers to believe due to his rather extreme pro-vegan agenda. What those verses actually say is that the Lord hated their sacrifices for three primary reasons:

1. The religious and political leaders were no longer being merciful to the poor and the downtrodden. They were in fact seriously abusing them and taking complete advantage of them. If you doubt that this is so, then I encourage you to read the Book of Jeremiah, or even just Ezekiel 34. In fact, in the New Testament, you may recall that Jesus said the very same thing regarding the Scribes and the Pharisees who used the Mosaic Law to financially abuse the widows and the poor.

2. They had lost their knowledge of God, because they had in fact abandoned Him in favor of serving the false gods of the heathen nations around them.

3. They had transgressed the covenant. What covenant? The covenant which God had made with them since the time of Moses when the Lord told them that He would bless them and prosper them as long as they followed Him and obeyed Him only. This they had not been doing for centuries, and that is why God repeatedly sent judgment upon them. This is a topic which I discuss at length in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience".

So as the previous verses clearly indicate, that is WHY the Lord hated their sacrifices so much. In other words, they were absolutely backslidden. They were total apostates. They were hypocrites of the worst kind. And they were merciless tyrants to their own people. They were just giving God lip service and playing church. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that the sacrifices involved blood or killing animals. That is why the author of that commentary is such a liar and a deceiver.

Let's move on now to his other deception in the verses that he partially quoted. Again, if we simply take the time to actually read all of the surrounding verses, we come to see that the reason why God rejected their sacrifices was NOT because they involved blood and the killing of animals. But again, if we just read the partial verses that he wrote, we won't come to that conclusion, because all he actually wrote was "Stop bringing meaningless offerings! . . . I cannot bear your evil assemblies." Just as we saw with the previous verses, while this excerpt shows that God really hated their offerings, it does NOT tell us WHY He hated them. So let's again look at all of the surrounding verses:

"Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 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; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."


Now, while these verses include the phrase "your hands are full of blood", please understand that they are NOT talking about the blood of animals. I believe that they may actually be talking about TWO things. First, as I explain in other articles, and as Jesus himself clearly said, and as the Book of Revelation likewise notes, they were killing their very own Prophets who God in His mercy had been sending to them. Furthermore, they were sacrificing their very own children to the false gods. I amply discuss both of these topics in some of my other articles, so I will not be delving into them in this current series.

But notice what else Isaiah writes. He confirms the very same things that Hosea had mentioned. They are oppressing the poor, the fatherless and the widows. In other words, they are NOT being merciful to them. They are abusing them. Is that not what Hosea also said?

So to reiterate one of my main points, when this deceived fellow writes "Even the prophets saw that God was never pleased with blood," he is absolutely lying, and purposely twisting the meaning of what the Prophets actually wrote. Furthermore, I believe that he knows it too. Considering how many verses he quotes in his commentary, it is evident that he is quite familiar with the Scriptures. So I cannot believe that he does not understand what these verses are really saying.

My friends, if instead of just picking and choosing verses which support his narrative, this person were to read and study said verses IN CONTEXT, he would hopefully come to understand that God's REAL problem was that the Israelites were going through the motions. They were playing religion just like so many churches today. They were pretending to be righteous and holy, and pretending to please God, when in fact they had totally backslidden from the Lord, and had become complete apostates in His sight. As we have already seen, they were also oppressing and abusing their very own people.

Now THAT is why God chastised them multiple times throughout the Old Testament period, and afterwards as well. And THAT is why He hated their hypocritical sacrifices. As I said, it had NOTHING to do with shedding blood or killing animals. I apologize for being a little redundant, but I want to make sure that you fully understand this point.

Now, if God truly condemned animal sacrifices due to the killing of animals as this individual claims, then how does this person explain the fact that on at least one occasion in the Gospels, Jesus told a certain man to go and offer a sacrifice after He had healed him of leprosy? Consider the following sample verse:

"And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."


That incident is mentioned in three of the four Gospels. So exactly what was the gift that Jesus told this man he was supposed to perform according to the laws which were given to Moses? We find a very clear answer in Leviticus chapter fourteen. The required gift -- or sacrifice -- involved the priest taking two birds, and killing one of them, and then dipping the living bird in the blood of the dead bird, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field."


So clearly, Jesus was telling this formerly leprosy-inflicted man to have the priest perform this ritual which involved killing an animal. Is the author of this misguided commentary going to condemn Jesus for telling this man to do what had been commanded by the Lord via Moses? I certainly hope not! That is in fact another one of the great tragedies I see in what this man wrote. In other words, by purposely skipping over and seeming to ignore all of the sacrificial laws which God gave to Moses, this man does not seem to understand how all of the blood sacrifices which are mentioned in the Old Testament were types and foreshadows of what Jesus would do for us in the New Testament when He died on a Roman cross.

As I've mentioned before, the Epistle to the Hebrews offers an excellent explanation regarding how Jesus' final sacrifice for sin is directly connected to the Old Testament rituals. Likewise, the Patriarch Abraham being willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, was also a foreshadow of things to come. So if God so hates sacrifices which involve killing animals and blood, does it make any sense that He would send his very own Son to die a very horrible, agonizing death on a Roman cross? So you see, when we really start looking at this clearly, we begin to see how very misguided this individual really is. He appears to be spiritually blinded by his very own extremist vegan views, in my opinion. Sadly, his mission is to convince his readers to believe exactly as he does.

My friends, remember this: The Bible very clearly says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of our sins. More specifically, without Christ's shed blood, there is no remission of our sins. Period. God demanded a Blood Sacrifice in order that the demands of the Law might be met. This truth is echoed in so many different verses throughout the Bible. Allow me to share some of the key ones with you:

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.‭"


"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."


"And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many."


"And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."


"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"


"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."


"For where a testament ‭is‭, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.‭ ‭‭For a testament ‭is‭ of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.‭"


"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;"


"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate . . . Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."


"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied."


"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."


"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."


"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."


"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"


"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."


While we have now amply covered the topic of whether or not God approved of sacrifices which involved killing animals and the spilling of their blood, let's return our attention to the actual practice of eating meat. While we have already seen from the Old Testament that God most certainly approved of eating meat, does doing so defile our bodies in any way?

As the Gospels make rather evident, Jesus and His followers likewise ate a lot of fish. Furthermore, as most Christians already know, Jesus multiplied the fishes and the loaves. Well, wake up! Eating fish involves killing animals. Is the author of this one-sided piece going to condemn Jesus and His followers for doing that as well? Let me also remind you that Jesus clearly taught that it is NOT what goes into a man that defiles him -- obviously meaning the food that he eats -- but rather what comes out of him, because what comes out of him proceeds from his heart.

Please note that in the following verses, the words "meat" and "meats" are not actually referring to meat, such as beef, chicken or pork. Derived from the Koine Greek words "broma" and "brosis", they really refer to food and eating in general. The word "flesh", however, is derived from the Greek word "kreas", which signifies the flesh of a sacrificed animal.

"And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man . . . Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."


"There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man . . . Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."


I also find it very interesting that in his first Epistle to Timothy where he is discussing the dangerous "doctrines of devils" which have begun to spread throughout the Lord's Church, one of the things the Apostle Paul mentions is "commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Well how about THAT! Consider these verses:

"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."


Lastly, as some Christians will likewise already know, in Romans chapter fourteen, the Apostle Paul outlines his own position regarding the necessity -- or lack thereof -- of observing Jewish feast days, as well as whether or not one is required to observe Jewish kosher laws. In other words, Jewish dietary laws.

The latter includes whether or not it is permissible to eat meat. Paul concludes by saying that we should each do as we feel led to do according to our own faith; that we should be fully persuaded in our own minds; and that we should not allow others to condemn us for our particular actions, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him . . . I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost . . . For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."


So as you can hopefully see, the twisted perspective which this obviously vegan person conveys is based on purposely omitting a number of important verses from his narrative, as well as manipulating of some verses which he does include in his opinion piece.

Please go to part three for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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