[RICHARD FOSTER]
Anyone who has spent any length of time within Adventism, or around Adventism, knows that food is a big deal to Adventists! Specifically, the big deal is to avoid eating certain foods. At a bare minimum the Old Testament laws of avoiding meats that were identified as ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14) are required to be followed. But Ellen White went far beyond simply mandating Old Testament law (which the New Testament makes clear we are no longer under—Colossians 2:16, Romans 14:17-20, etc.), and added numerous lists of foods that Adventists should not eat if they are to obtain the character perfection that she taught is necessary for salvation:
By precept and example make it plain that the food which God gave Adam in his sinless state is the best for man’s use as he seeks to regain that sinless state (Testimonies for the Church vol. 7, p. 135).
As our first parents lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, our only hope of regaining Eden is through the firm denial of appetite and passion…. The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, then they would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. (Testimonies vol. 3, p. 491).
Going far beyond the levitical food laws, Ellen condemned the consumption of everything from cheese, vinegar, and black pepper, to spices, condiments, and tea and coffee:
Cheese is still more objectionable; it is wholly unfit for food (Ministry of Healing, p. 302).
Spices at first irritate the tender coating of the stomach, but finally destroy the natural sensitiveness of this delicate membrane. The blood becomes fevered, the animal propensities are aroused, while the moral and intellectual powers are weakened, and become servants to the baser passions (Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, p. 47).
In this fast age, the less exciting the food, the better. Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of a like character, irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. The inflamed condition of the drunkard’s stomach is often pictured as illustrating the effect of alcoholic liquors. A similarly inflamed condition is produced by the use of irritating condiments. Soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. The system feels a want, a craving, for something more stimulating (Ministry of Healing, p. 325).
Tea and coffee drinking is a sin, an injurious indulgence, which, like other evils, injures the soul (Letter 11, Manuscript 44, 1896).
Most notably she condemned the use of “flesh meat” (as she calls it) for food. She claimed that those preparing for translation must quit eating meat if they would properly control their passions and prepare for translation. Here are some of her statements:
After the curse was pronounced upon the human family, God permitted man to eat flesh meat. This He did that life might be shortened. The punishment of death has been pronounced upon the race, and the permission to eat flesh meat was one of the means used by God to inflict this punishment (Manuscript 16, Letter 83, 1901).
Those who use flesh-meat disregard all the warnings that God has given concerning this question. They have no evidence that they are walking in safe paths. They have not the slightest excuse for eating the flesh of dead animals (Pacific Union Recorder, Oct. 9, 1902).
Meat should not be placed before our children. Its influence is to excite and strengthen the lower passions, and has a tendency to deaden the moral powers. Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven. The less feverish the diet, the more easily can the passions be controlled (Testimonies vol. 2, p. 352).
Does the Bible give any hint at all in support of Ellen’s food prohibitions? Does the Bible give any hint at all that being vegetarian could make us more spiritual and better able to control our “passions”? Does the Bible give any hint that it is evil to use spices or condiments, or that tea and coffee consumption is sinful?
The answer to all these questions, of course, is a resounding and emphatic no! We can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and we will not find Ellen White’s food prohibitions or her claims that avoiding certain foods will help us be more spiritual or perfect our characters. On this point alone the Adventists’ claim to be Sola Scriptura is exposed as a dishonest deception.
What we will find, though, from a careful reading of Scripture, is not only that the foods Ellen condemns are not prohibited, but the Bible even warns us against teachings like hers. Many texts of Scripture could be cited, which give a radically different message from Ellen’s.
Here is a sampling:
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person (Mark 7:14-15, 17-23 ESV).
One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him (Romans 14:2-3 ESV).
I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT A MATTER OF EATING AND DRINKING but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:14-17 ESV).
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of FOOD OR DRINK, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17 ESV).
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, DO NOT TASTE, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an APPEARANCE OF WISDOM in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of NO VALUE IN STOPPING THE INDULGENCE OF THE FLESH (Colossians 2:20-23 ESV).
From the above texts of Scripture a clear message emerges over the relationship of diet and our Christian life. We learn:
- Nothing that goes into us can defile us, specifically what we eat cannot defile us. Instead, it is the evil that comes from our sinful human hearts that defiles us, makes us unclean, and in need of the cleansing blood of Christ.
- We are not to judge or despise Christian brothers and sisters who eat differently than we do. If someone wants to be vegetarian we are not to make issue of it. If others eat meat, issue is not to be made of that.
- In addition to judging others, we are not to allow anyone else to judge us in regard to our food or our drink. The Old Testament laws concerning these things were a shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ.
- Nothing is unclean in itself. Now Paul makes clear we shouldn’t eat against our conscience. Some of the Jewish converts to Christ could not in good conscience eat foods that had been ceremonially unclean. But for others who did not have such scruples, they could in Christian liberty eat freely. And neither group was to pass judgement on the other.
- The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. God is not concerned with our diet, but he is concerned with our hearts. The Kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And these virtues come from the Holy Spirit, not from what we do or don’t eat.
- Regulations, such as “do not taste”, may have an appearance of wisdom. But they are useless in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Furthermore, these regulations are according to human precepts and teachings. Such regulations and ideas are said to actually be part of the world and the spiritual dark side, and not from God. Christians are to be free from such gospel-undermining inventions of men.
Now if the Bible gives us such a message concerning food, what are we to make of Ellen White’s message concerning food?
The Bible says what we eat does not contribute to our spirituality, yet Ellen White says it does. The Bible says nothing is unclean in itself, yet Ellen White claimed numerous things that people eat are unclean and unfit for food. The Bible says regulations such as not eating certain things provide no help in stopping the flesh, yet Ellen White claimed it could provide much help, and that God was displeased if we are a certain way or did not eat a certain way.
There’s another text from the New Testament which clearly indicates the source of Ellen White’s extra-biblical dietary restrictions:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV).
The Apostle Paul clearly tells us that some people will depart from the true faith and turn to teachings of demons. One such teaching that he identifies as being of demonic origin is to require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving. Did Ellen White require abstinence from foods that God intended for human consumption?
The biblical answer is a resounding yes:
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood (Genesis 9:3-4 ESV).
From the Noahic Covenant (which God has never repealed, and which applies to everyone descended from Noah) we learn that every moving thing that lives was to be food for humans (it should be noted there’s not a hint of evidence in Scripture to support Ellen White’s claim that meat eating was given as a punishment). Just as God had given Adam and Eve the green plants for food after they sinned, now after the cataclysmic environmental change following the flood, God freely gives His people animals as another food source. The only restriction God placed was against eating blood, which in old times was a pagan practice, and which in our modern context must be drained from the meat anyway to prevent spoilage.
In the passage from 1 Timothy 4 we find re-echoed just what God had said back in Genesis: everything created by God is good, and not to be refused if received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Make no mistake about it: Ellen White’s “gospel of health” is not the gospel of the Bible, but “another gospel”. In fact, such a message of abstinence from divinely-given food sources is not only absent from the New Testament but is identified in the New Testament as a doctrine or teaching of demons.
The sad reality is those who rigorously follow Ellen White’s dietary restrictions will perish in their sins just as quickly as those who have no care for what they eat, unless they trust in Christ alone as the One who can alone provide all of the righteousness needful to salvation, as a free gift through faith in Him.
If you have thought that eating a certain way can get you somewhere spiritually, that it can in some way contribute to God’s being able to save you, please renounce such ideas. Please realize that Jesus Christ alone is the only one who can save you! Trust in Him and His righteousness alone today, if you haven’t already.
On the other hand if you are still plagued with guilt and negative feelings over eating certain foods given by God due to your experience with Adventism, please know that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Please know that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Embrace the freedom to which God has called you, and be free from regulations of human origin, which have an appearance of wisdom, but are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13-14 ESV).
Richard and Virlinda Foster
See their testimony.
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- Should I Really Leave Adventism? - February 1, 2024
- The Chain of Grace Not Found in Adventism - November 23, 2023