by J.K. McKee
I don’t watch a huge amount of Christian television. In fact, many of my fellow seminarians and I used to make fun of it on a regular basis—often by calling stations like TBN the “Total Blasphemy Network.” Yet this recent post I received via YouTube just had to be resent. The ever-popular Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, recently taught on pork and shellfish not being food according to God. Before his 90,000 plus mega-church he declared how he now no longer eats pork, shellfish, and has switched over to turkey bacon. He still likes pizza, but no more pepperoni.
I normally don’t share a lot of the same opinions as Osteen—and in all honesty thought that this was a practical joke when I first heard about it. Yet, when you watch this short clip, perhaps your diligence of keeping kosher will not seem so weird now that you can tell your detractors that Osteen keeps it along with you.
Is it your view that Christians are to observe dietary laws?
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JKM: Please consult our ministry websites at http://www.outreachisrael.net and http://www.tnnonline.net. We are a Messianic ministry, and we do believe in the continunce of the kosher dietary laws for Believers today, our positions being explained in various articles.
By: Stephen Garrett on 19 February, 2009
at 4:13 am
Just received your blog about Joel Osteen. I, just as you, have my issues with him…Maybe this is just the beginning of the last revival. He has 30,000 members and a many more watching by TV. If Osteen is figuring out how to be obedient in this, maybe the rest of the Torah will follow. GOD IS ABLE.
Let’s hope and pray.
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JKM: I think this is going to be a wakeup call to a lot of Messianics. If we hope to have an influence on the kind of people who hear these kinds of remarks made by Joel Osteen, then we will have to get ourselves in gear. Rather than trying to tear down the work of Christians who have preceded us in faith, maybe we will learn to build on their work instead.
The good part about this is–even though Osteen keeps a level of kashrut for health reasons–it means that people like us don’t have to act like we’re all alone any more.
By: Dagmar Marrero on 20 February, 2009
at 2:12 pm
Wonderful! It is so gratifying even to see little things like this come to pass. My brother told me recently that his pastor (traditional church) is talking too much about obeying the 10 commandments!!! This is the same brother who told me several years ago when we started keeping the feasts and Sabbath that if Paul said the “law was nailed to the cross” and that if Christ said “if you love me keep My commandments” then Christ was wrong…needs to go without saying that I was dumbfounded….but now his pastor is starting to talk about obedience…Yeah!!! One step at a time in His time.
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JKM: There are significant Christian theological traditions that have always held to a very high view of the Torah’s moral law, namely embodied by the Westminster Confession and the sermons of John Wesley. This accounts for about two of the three streams of historical Protestantism. (Lutheranism never held to a high view of the Law.) Many of my colleagues and I believe that we if can express commonality with these strands of past Christendom, we will make a more sizeable impact than what we have witnessed in the past with people who just want to tear down the work of those who have preceded us.
By: Lori Cummings on 20 February, 2009
at 2:19 pm
WOW…that is good news!! With his audience, it will indeed be interesting to see what impact it has. I was raised not to eat Pork, but that was because my dad observed that the relatives who died of intestinal cancers were big pork eaters. It has only been in the last about 5 or 6 years that hubby and I have abstained from eating pork or shellfish. (You certainly have to read labels however, cause some parts of those things are in other things like chicken sausage, etc). I do feel it is a health issue, but we should obey even if things do not necessarily make sense to us. Someday at a later time…likely it will make sense. Thanks for your articles and remarks!
By: Elizabeth on 21 February, 2009
at 6:19 am
When I became a Christian I had no religious background. I started to read the Bible and could not put it down, read it several times – the whole Bible- including the Torah, and there when I would read the food laws the Holy Spirit would tell me: “that’s the way I want you to eat.”
Every time I read it, He would tell me that. In church there was no mention of those laws, and I knew Christians paid no attention to it. But eventually I stopped eating the unclean things, because I wanted to obey the Holy Spirit.
There is a lot more to this… but this much I want to share with you: the food laws are for Christians also.
By: Mitsi on 19 March, 2009
at 1:52 am
I am so glad, that even some Christians finally start to follow the word. for some reason, it is mentioned so clearly in Leviticus 11 verse 3, that not to eat pork, but just make it easy for people, ministers and pastors don’t even touch those verses because they are afraid that they will lose people and won’t have enough people to listen to them, what a shame, for their own ease they deny the word of God. or may be they are just scared that it will bring them close Muslims and Jews who at least follow the word of God. come on Christians wake up and follow the word of God for the sake of God not for the easiness of your daily routine. I don’t think that God thought, oh OK, i was wrong in Leviticus 11, so now i am gonna give a different envision to Peter.
Come on ya’ll, it is stupid if you even think that way. no wonder Christianity is going down and down because ministers, pastors, different churches and different versions of the bible can not make their mind what they want in life. because they themselves are so confused about the true meanings of the word. which i don’t blame them because if the word has changed over the years in form of revisions to make it fit to the present time then what is the authenticity of the word is left.
it is for you to decide.
By: your friend on 17 August, 2009
at 3:38 pm
I understand some of your frustration with contemporary Christianity. Yet eating unclean meats is by no means on the same level as murder or adultery. It can better someone’s health, but there are bigger sins in the Torah.
I would respectfully ask, is there a better way we can inquire of our Christian brothers and sisters? Is there a more productive, edifying manner we could employ–respectfully asking questions and taking people to the Biblical text?
By: tnnonline on 18 August, 2009
at 8:53 pm
I have just stumbled upon this blog, and I have some questions. I have studied the Word, both testaments, extensively since I was a very small boy. My understanding of the relationship of the “Law” (a better understanding of Torah is Teaching) to the believer in Yeshua as Messiah, Gentile or Jew, is that the truth of the Teaching still applies, sin is still sin, however we are now longer bound to the ceremonial aspects of the law. This is not to say that one who chooses to do so is wrong, so long as they don’t equate as part of their salvation. Please explain or direct me to a past article that outlines your understanding of the application of the Teaching to the believer in light of the Apostolic writings of Paul and Peter, and Luke and the writer of Hebrews.
By: Gregory on 13 September, 2009
at 9:34 pm
Thank you for your inquiry. Obviously, we do not see eating kosher as being a salvation issue, but following it can be very useful for better health. In fact, we do not see obeying any part of the Torah as a “salvation issue,” but rather a sanctification issue as a part of a Believer’s lifestyle maturing in faith.
Our TNN Online website (tnnonline.net) includes a variety of articles that address the subjects you listed. In particular, you will want to read “To Eat or Not to Eat?” I have got some other related articles on the Sabbath and appointed times, as well as my Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Hebrews commentaries.
Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.
By: tnnonline on 13 September, 2009
at 11:24 pm