Ep 42 - Should Christians Eat Halal?

We wrestle with a simple question that turns out to be spiritual: should followers of Jesus eat halal meat when a prayer is invoked over it during slaughter. We read key Bible texts about food offered to idols, talk honestly about conviction, and share practical ways to respond without fear or judgement.

Transcript

Welcome And The Halal Question

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Shalom, shalom saints, welcome back to the Unfiltered Christian podcast. It's your girl Cece.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

It's your girl Shay.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So we have a discussion because Shay asked me this question.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Did I?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

In February, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

We're now in April.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

And I decided to do research on it. Um, and the question was, um, should we be eating halal?

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Oh, did I ask you that in February?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah, because your friend asked you.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah, the time's flown by. Jeez. Um, yeah, yeah, she asked me, and I was just like, um, yeah, she was asking me about the the prayer over the meat. That's what she was asking me about.

What Halal Means Spiritually

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And for those that don't know what halal means, it's basically um it's a it's the meat that has been slaughtered according to the Islamic law, so Muslim law, um, while invoking the name Allah. So the key is that the meat is dedicated during slaughtering to another deity. So they believe that hanging the animal upside down and like slitting their throat, but they say a prayer. So us as uh or like children of yah or Christian people should be eating it if it's um if the if it's been prayed to another god. And I looked it up because I didn't know what they said, because to be honest, in London, or let me not even use London, within my community of the people that I know, um, we tend to go for halal meat. Because I remember back in the day we didn't go to her for halal meat, but then it was we were just made to say like it's more cleaner and stuff like that, so we just jumped on board to be like, oh, let's just get halal, even though my butchers is Irish. Um, but if something was halal, I wouldn't question it because it would just seem like oh, it's more clean, like that's what because yeah, it hasn't been around for that long, to be honest. I mean it. What I mean by that that long in terms of halal meat has always been there, but the way how it's introduced, like now we've got halal like in the in our supermarkets and stuff, it doesn't we didn't grow up like that, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like you bought you bought whatever meat was there, you bought supermarket meat or you went to any butchers, but now you just heard about halal, halal, halal, you know. And this is no disrespect to people that are Muslim or whatever. We we're just trying to understand it from our Bible. So, what did you come up with? Like when you thought about it.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Yeah, because I didn't research. I'm not the researcher like CC guys.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

I just um let me say the prayer first. So the prayer says, um, and sorry if I say it wrong, but it says Bismanlah Allah Allah Akbak. And Bismla means in the name of Allah, and Allah Allah Akbak means like Allah is the greatest. So it basically means in the name of Allah, Allah is the greatest.

Feeling Convicted In A Halal World

SPEAKER_02 3:42

So is it being when you said it's being prayed, like dedicated to a specific do you say deity? Yes, so it's not to Allah, it's to when I say deity, deity just means like God. Okay, okay, fair enough. Okay, so it's being dedicated to God, yeah. Um, well, you see, I don't know. Do you know I didn't get too much thought for it too thought to it? And do you know why I didn't? Because I was thinking, oh Lord, this is another thing. Because I'm just like, to me, now halal meat is everywhere, and I'm talking everywhere, like even in like say if you go to buy chicken and chips, like they'll say it's halal meat, and it's just everywhere. So it's either for me, my mind was just like, it's either I'm gonna stop eating meat, because I was just like, it's everywhere, or um I'm gonna continue eating meat, it's one or the other. Um, so I didn't really go too deep into it. But when I discussed it with my friend, for her, I she didn't do research, but she was just more concerned about the praying over it. And I think that made her feel uncomfortable because I guess she didn't know what the prayer meant. So when she saw that, it's kind of like, you know, as a Christian, you're like, oh, that's a bit um, is that is that biblical? Is that is is something spiritual being put over the meat or whatever? I think that's where I was perceived because her and her sister was like, oh my gosh, maybe we need to stop eating halal meat. Um, because that that was a bit of a worry to them. So they decided, like, she's started asking me, do I know any other butchers that she can buy meat from? And then that's how we went into like this discussion of like, oh, maybe we need kosher meat. And then we're like, oh, where's a Jewish butchers? And then they just it just went into this whole thing. And I'm like, where would we find a Jewish butcher's? We wouldn't find that on this side of London, and it was just like a whole thing. Um, funny enough, I haven't had a discussion with her to actually ask her, like, what did she decide to do? Um, and I was thinking to her, to be honest, I don't go to the butchers anyways, I go to the supermarket. Um, so it's not too much of a worry to me. But I don't think I've really given it much thought after asking you about it, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Well, you put up it was it's been on my mind.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

It has been on my mind.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, because I thought you were the best person to ask, because I thought maybe you knew, but because I like I like guys, I know Cece knows a lot of stuff. So I thought, yeah, you know, she knows about this, and um, yeah, maybe she knows. So I totally forgot about it, to be honest, completely forgot.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

And I think the reason why it's been on my mind is the prayer aspect of it because when I was looking into kosher, which is for people that don't know, kosher is just the way how the Jews will um slaughter um an animal, and they don't pray, it focuses on like the animal being clean, and they make sure all the the blood is drained because you know we're not meant to eat um meat with blood in it, right? And they're very big on not mixing meat and dairy together, um, and then I thought to myself, Jesus was a Jew. Um, they drain so it's really interesting. We shouldn't be eating chicken and chips because that's got blood in it. I'm like when you gap when you if you bite the bone, but yeah, which I don't do anymore. But um it it it really I was it was on my mind. I was thinking to myself, like, who and this podcast is not about what is right and wrong, it's about you praying and asking Yahoo like for your designment. It was a question that she asked me, and I thought, should we be eating halal me? Because it is offered to another God, and God is like in the Bible, it talks about like things that are offered to idols, things that we shouldn't be doing. But again, I feel like the lazy part of us, like what Shay was saying, is it's everywhere, but when you think about it, it's not really everywhere. Um, because most of our chicken and chip shops is like either Indian or Arab, but um, but when you go into like supermarkets, you yes, you have the halal owl, or when you go to certain places, it's like the sh most of the restaurants that I've eaten at recently, it's not halal. Um yeah, and I just thought to myself, like, oh, maybe I shouldn't eat it. Because but and then I was thinking, oh, but what if you pray over it? But I now know that is it was different when we didn't know, and I think like y'all winks at ignorance, but when it's been when you've been convicted, and this is the importance that I want to say about this podcast. If you listen to this podcast and you haven't been convicted, that's fine. Um, but it's about like if you have been convicted, ways to ways around it. And I think when Shay asked me that question, I got convicted because I was thinking, like, why do I eat halal? What is why they even say it?

Kosher Blood And Christian Choices

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah, yeah. But I think that's what happened to my friend. She felt convicted, and she was just like, no, this is not this, this is like um like what you were saying, isn't it? Like, what did you just say about worshiping another god? Um, but yeah, she was just, I think that's what she felt, and she was just like, I don't, yeah, and she likes going to the butchers. So she was like, How do I find the butchers? That's just do you know what I mean? Um that's not necessarily doing that. So she was asking, even like you said, you have Irish butchers, she was asking for it, and I was like, Well, the only one I know is in your area. I don't know. I just said, I don't even, because she was asking if I have any in my area, and I said, No, I don't. So I was just like, Oh, this is difficult. So she she was genuinely on the hunt to actually look. Do you know what I mean? Like, like you said in it, like, are we are we really being lazy? She was not trying to be lazy, she was actually trying to look and see like where can I, you know? Yeah, um, so I get you're right, actually. Yeah, it's I guess I feel like it's everywhere, but it's not everywhere. The reason why I say it's everywhere is because it's like, okay, even if I don't have to necessarily buy it from the butchers, I mean like when you go to a chicken, yeah, you can go to a supermarket, but I'm saying if you go to like a chicken and chip shop, all of them say halal though.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

So even though, like, yes, you said it's run by different types of people, all of that stuff says hello.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So also one of my friends um who is in between, so she's learning about Islam. I remember many years ago, she was saying a lot of shops lie, um, they just put it there, but they're not actually they're they're not actually they're saying the prayer, but they're not doing what they're meant to be doing.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

It's just to bring in the customers, mmm.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

And um, and again, it goes back to why we should just be vegetarian.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah, that's what I was just saying. That's what I'm just saying. It's all so complicated, isn't it? It's just like that's why people are just there's so many quote unquote fine lines or whatever. Everyone's like, you know what, this is too much work. Let me just be vegan or be vegetarian. Do you know what I mean? Because there's too many, too many areas. Um, too many areas. Yeah, by God's grace, one day I'll be there. Because I feel like my child is drawing me to that place. He wants to be uh healthy, he says. Um, so you know, one day.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

But how did you look at some Bible text on it? Um if you can find 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 20 to 21, like it was very hard because obviously you got to read in context.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, you do.

Acts 15 On Food And Idols

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Um because you know me, you know, I like to bring the Bible and everything because that's what we should be doing. Um, Acts 15 verses 29 says oh well let me read from 28. So it says, for it's for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no gathered burden than these unnecessary things that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things that are strangled, and from things sexual immorality, if you keep yourself from these, you will do well.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Oh, deep. Wow. How did you come across these by the way? How did you get drawn to scripture that you could find to relate to this subject?

1 Corinthians On Demons And Tables

SPEAKER_00 13:21

In my Bible, I look for like you know, like I have like certain keywords, so even though it took me a long time, I was looking for like things like food and like blood and like finding like the verses.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Okay. Um you said 1 Corinthians 10, 20, 21, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah.

Deuteronomy Warning Against Copying Worship

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of the demons. That's the New King James version, but I'm gonna read the new Living Translation version as well, because I thought, oh, I thought it saw it in that version first. I thought, wow. So once again, it's 1 Corinthians 10 verses um 20 and 21. And it says, No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God, and I don't want you to participate with demons. You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons too. You cannot eat of the Lord's table and at the table of demons too.

unknown 14:47

It's deep.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

That is deep.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Um, and then uh Deuteronomy 12 verses 38 to 31. Trying to find them.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Deuteronomy is the book in the Bible that speaks about a lot of food, isn't it? What we can and can't eat. I think that is that book.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

No, my mind is that is that Leviticus? But I feel like both of them go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I I always aim for Deuteronomy, but yeah, someone will say Leviticus.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yeah. Deuteronomy 12, verses 30 to 31.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Take heed to yourself that you are not ensneared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you. Am I reading the right thing? Yeah, I am. Um, sorry. Let me do that again. Take heed to yourself that you are not ensneared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. That's a quote unquote. You should not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord which He has, which He hates, they have done to their gods, for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Right, that one is the reason why I looked at that one is because with me, um I followed because I have a lot of Muslim friends, and they said, Oh, it's clean. And I just followed because it was clean. I didn't look to see what my Bible says about it. I didn't question it, and like, you know, as we could see, like, and this is not all Muslims, but you've got some Muslims that are killing Christians, yeah, which is happening right now, but yet we're trying to be like, oh, it's it's clean, but it's been offered to it's it's been offered to their God.

Taking Faith Seriously Over Habits

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Can I can I please break down this that that um I'm gonna break this down, I'm gonna read the new living translation because I feel like that was really deep. Um, and sometimes my brain does not process the new King James. Yeah, that's not true. This this goes straight. Do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example. You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods. For they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates, they even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. Wow, that's deep. I'm gonna be sending this um this to my friend if she hasn't um, and I'm gonna have a discussion with her. This is definitely deep. That's deep. But yeah, I I what you were saying just now, uh I did the same thing. Like, you just hear halal, it's clean, you know. Oh mama gosh, you know, halal's clean. Telling my mom, you know, we're all bad in halal, you know, this is what we should do, um, and stuff like that. And once again, this is not, please, please, please, please, please, please, this is not anything against anybody, especially against anyone of a different religion, because for you for you in your religion, that's what you should do. Us as Christians, we should be looking at what we or as followers of Christ, let me let me break this down, right? As followers of Yeshua, we should be looking at what we should be doing. What does our Bible say? And I think that is what we don't do enough of. And I think that's the reason why people look at us and laugh. We just don't look serious. And this is why people are turning to other religions because they're like, well, they're serious. They take, do you know what I mean? No matter what other, no one can come and say anything because they are focused, they are serious, and they are convicted by what their by the what their I was gonna say Bible, but what their book says, right? And we should be convicted by what our word says, right? We should be diving into our word and we should be able to do what we're doing now. Well, what Cece has done now, actually, by finding these scriptures and saying, Do you know what? Where does it say? Because our Bible says everything, it has everything that we need to know. And like you said, it's about reading everything in context. This, even this um same uh Deuteronomy 12, 30 to 31, can apply to other things. So, in this area, we can apply it to this, we can apply it to other things, but we do need to get more serious. Um we have a campaign at church going on right now, and on uh Wednesday, um the pastor was speaking about the the the title of the sermon was Mind Your Own Business. And he was just talking about the fact of um what story was he talking about in the Bible? I'm getting I'm getting to our point here, guys. Um, but he was talking about the fact of um it was the disciples that were having a discussion, they were looking at somebody else doing something, basically. And then they were asking Jesus, like, so what about him? Like, what about what he's doing? And then Jesus was just like, what's his what's the concern got to do with you? Like, what are you it's about what you like, yeah. What's it got to do with what they uh let me say this again. What has it got to do with you about what they are doing? What about what you need to do? Do you understand? So it's like we don't do enough of that. We're always focused on what others are doing, but actually, what are we meant to be doing? So, as followers of Yeshua, what are we meant to be doing? Right? And we're not we need to stop being lazy. I put my hands up at that. We need to stop being lazy. What are you meant to be doing? What am I meant to be doing? As followers of our God. And so we need to refocus our mind and start doing what we're doing right here. Breaking down things that we see that seen we're seen as like normal or tradition every day. It's the same way that I grew up with this whole tradition of like my family when they walk in the door, they turn their back, you know, so that the the bad spirits don't follow you and all this stuff like that. I stopped doing stuff like that. Because I realized that was there's no such thing, and it was it was idle. Like, what are we doing? Do you know what I mean? And I thought, mercy, I was doing that, you know? So it's like you need to start. Questioning things, and it's alright, you know. Jesus says you will be um condemned for his sake. You know, people will come for you, your family will come for you. But guess what? What is it really about? That's what we need to go back to. What is it really about? It's about your relationship with Yah. It's about living for Him who created you. And there are Christians out there dying for the word right now, but it will not be in vain. So we must continue to speak up and we must continue to fight, and we we definitely need to pray away fear because I think this is another thing why a lot of people would not want to have this discussion, especially on the platform that we're speaking on right now, because we're all walking in fear, and like we say, this is not, we are just speaking about what we should be doing as followers of Christ. This is not, well, you oh, you're you're you're attacking, no, this is not that space, we are not those people, right? And like Cece said, it's about your conviction and about your prayer. We're just speaking about something that just came up and we just thought, you know what, let's share it with you guys. But this is not anything of an attack towards anybody and their belief. Yeah, because whatever you are drawn to believe is the same way people might look at us and be like, you guys are being over the top. Like, it's not that deep. Do you know what I mean? So it's about what Yah is convicting you of.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah.

Practical Options For Meat And Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 23:50

And I also want to note that if you are in a country that is a predominantly Muslim country, everything will be halal. I feel like y'all will see your heart. Like, even if you wanted to try and but you can't, because everything is halal, there's nothing that you could do, your hands are tied. But for those of us who is in a country where we don't have to have half halal, you know, um, we ain't got no excuse. And and also the fact that you can be vegetarian, and I don't know if Shay was reading the NIV version, but um I wanted I wanted to read it in the NIV version, and that's 1 Corinthians 8, and it's 1 to 4, and it basically says, Now about food sacrifices to idols, we know that we all possess knowledge, but knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know, but whoever loves God is known by God. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there's only and that there is no one and oh let me read that again. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all in the what in the world, and that there is no God but one.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

So again, he's showing us over and over again, and for a lot of us, we just do things by habit because we were taught. But I looked into it and I just thought, like, what does halal mean? And I know that if how can I put it? Some people may see it as it's not that deep, but if it's being offered to another God, and a Muslim person would not eat anything that is not offered to Allah unless they're Christian, because that's something that I've learned as well. Like they're allowed to eat from Christian people, however, if they was meant to go to a restaurant and it's not halal, they wouldn't, they wouldn't dare go into it. So for us as Christians, we need to uphold the same principles. If if if Yah is telling us that we shouldn't be eating anything that is sacrificed to an idol, um or a uh or a or a god, because they're they're that Allah is their idol, if that kind of makes sense, it is their God. So we shouldn't we shouldn't be eating it. Um and I think it's good for us because then it pushes us to eat healthy, which we should be doing anyway. Um and it makes sense because when we do follow his word through and through we'll be more better. And it's more like meat really damage our body anyway. Like chicken, the beef, the lamb. It's it's yeah. I'm not trying to do the health message here, but yeah, it did make me think about it, and I was thinking, oh, let me do a little bit. I only researched it this morning, you know. I was just like they're looking for something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Oh in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Yeah, I guess early, you know me. So I was just like, oh and so it's because since you've asked me that question, it's it's been on my mind, I've been convicted. I was just like, hmm. Like, what what does it mean? What does halal mean? Like, what is the process? Because I know, like, if people knew, like, for example, if they had something called, I don't know, uh something called blah, and they prayed to Satan, then like we would be like, nah, stay away from that. So, what's the difference? Do you know what I mean? It's just like it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

It's true, you know. I mean, I'm convicted now to at least this conviction doesn't stress me out. Because you know, most convictions, I'm like, oh Lord, that's always I know it's not good, but it's always my first reaction before I can have a calm, calm reaction. I'm like, Lord, how am I gonna go? Because it's the same thing that happened with like the birthday, like we spoke about the um uh the birthday episode, and that was just like, oh, geez, like the thing stressed me for so long. I was getting pain at the back of my neck. I was like, Lord, how do I balance this? How do I do this? How do I, you know, like you know, and I realized it had to come with time and it had to come with like prayer and just but my gosh, when you feel it, it feels so heavy, and you're just like, mercy.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

But the main thing is to pray about it, pray about it because a lot of us we don't know where to go, especially a lot of a lot of our things is habit, yeah. But for me, the reason why it's it's not hard is because I don't just stick to I don't even what do I buy that's halal? Probably chicken and chips, but in terms of what is cooking. Yeah, that's it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In terms of my cooking, like it's not halal.

Trust Research And Your Leaders

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah, yeah, I agree, yeah. So you're right, like, and you know what you and I think that's where at first that's when my mind was like, oh my gosh, you know, like my mind started going, then I started thinking, but actually, I don't really buy from there, I don't buy from there, I don't buy so, and you've just kind of confirmed that again with like me going into panic mode thinking, Lord, but actually, I don't do I don't really buy from the butchers or whatever. And to be honest, it's just a question you can actually ask as well. Um, because like what if they might think you're a bit crazy? What if you're going to be like, can I have meat that's not halal? They might be like, Are you okay? But you know, you're allowed to ask that question. Yeah, um, I don't know how it is in North America, because I'm thinking, is it like that in North America? Like, guys, share, if you're listening in North America, you know, what is it like? You know, where do you is it mainly the supermarket? Wherever super, yeah, wherever country in, like, share. I would, you know, I would love for us to hear different, you know, things. How is it? How is it in Japan? How is it in you know, Bangladesh? How is it in North America? You know, I know a lot of places in North America they do normally buy their meat in the supermarket like we do. Um, but I think the reason why people go to the butcher's hair is to get a bigger portion because people like to freeze it and you know that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Um I'm like the halal section in the supermarket, but it's uh I think y'all made it expensive on purpose. So because I remember one time I went there and I was thinking like, oh, that's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like now that's where the butchers can play with you as well, because it can be like, oh, you know, it's halal, you know, it's cleaner, that's why it's all this money, you know, they kind of come for you. But yeah, this is this was this was powerful. Yeah, definitely. This is definitely powerful. I'm like, oh wow, definitely gonna be talking about this. Um, when this episode is out, I'm gonna be sharing it everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Convicted, like, pray about it. If you don't feel convicted, that's fine too. It's this this this podcast, as Shay was saying, it's not about judgment, yeah. Um, it's just questions that come up. Should we, should we not? Um food for thought. Just let Yah um move you um because he will. Like the same way how even you even came onto this podcast, or certain things that is being revealed to you. Um, some people are doing it and some people are not, and we're all on different levels with our journey, with our walk, um, because following ya is not easy. The narrow path is hard. And I'll let Shay like pray for us over this because even we all need prayer. Like, do you know what I mean? Yeah, because even when I went into I went into a Thai place and I was thinking, is this is this halal? Like I'm looking to see if this is halal, because if it is, I ain't gonna eat it. Like wow, I'll pick something else, like rice, or like I have a vegan vegetarian option.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

True, true, true, true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you said, it's it, you know, you could be pushed to be healthy in it, and that's that's what's good for our body, anyways. Um, you know, and you know what? I will say as well as you said something in general. This is a general statement. Sometimes we do stuff, like say, say for example, like because someone might say something is healthier or better, even though, like, just how to describe it. What's what's my point? I'm trying to get my my thoughts out of my head. Um, you might do something just because someone says it's good, even though, like, like so, just because someone says something is good, you'll do it, basically. But you don't necessarily like, say, for example, you know that actually, I don't know, walking down that pathway is not it, it actually is a bit dodgy or it could be a bit dangerous. But someone said, No man, like I prayed on it, it's good or whatever, and you're just gonna do it, and it's like, you know, why are you testing faith? Why are you testing God to see if He's gonna when you're aware that something is not good to do, or something, what do you know I mean? So you'll just roll with it just for the sake of it. I don't think my thought is making sense of what I need to say. No, it's not, it's not making sense, but you know, sometimes we will just do stuff because people say like this is what you should do, or this is tradition, or whatever it is, but we need to once again we just need to question, like, actually.

Grace When Conviction Feels Heavy

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Do you know what Shay is basically saying? Yeah, what She's basically saying is that um we go by trust. Um, you know, like I could say something and Shay will trust what I'm saying, she won't question it, or like, because that's the way how we're raised, right? Um, you know, you listen to your mom, your mum says, do this, do that, and especially if you don't have knowledge about something, and you know that that person has knowledge about it, anything, anything, it could be anything. Somebody could say, like, these trainers are more better to run in, but it could be because they're flat footed and they don't have an archer, it's better for them, but not for the other person. But you're just going by trust, and I think we just need to like sometimes research and then it's okay. It's okay to like as the the last episode that I just did about why we eat fish on Friday. We have to question everything. Is it right for me as an individual? Pray about it just because one person is doing it and the others may follow, like Meshach, Shadrach, and Abendago is a typical example. Like, you know, everybody bowed down, they didn't because they they remembered what Yah taught them. They they followed their Bible, they they had fear of Yah because of love, and they didn't bow down, and Yah still kept them. But sometimes we just fall in, we just we're just like sheep, innit? We just all follow each other just because Right, exactly. Um, because if the part if your pastor said, like, oh, you know, there's nothing wrong with eating, halal, just you know, just pray over it. You're praying over the food, and you'd be like, Oh, well, my pastor said, but it's just like but have you researched it for yourself? Have you prayed about it for yourself? Because your pastor's just man, as I said in the last episode. Um like he's man. Your leaders and everybody around you, we're we're human, we make mistakes. Like me and Shay was back in a halal. We were like, you know, yes, you know what I mean, but now we've been convicted. It doesn't mean that we're now we're bad or anything like that. Yah has just said, you know what, it's now for it's now time for my child to to know the truth because where she is, she can handle this information. Because sometimes we're not ready for whatever information that we're going through because life is hard.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

It's true. Yeah, that was well said. Thank you for saving me, girl. I was just rambling. Um, yeah, that's so true, it's very, very powerful.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Um and don't feel bad about it. Like if you had if you're now convicted and you've been eating halal or anything in general, if God, if it we always talk about sex, I don't know why, but like if you was having sex all the time and God says stop having sex, it doesn't mean that you're a bad person. You know what I mean? Like he's convicted you now. Like he says, Um, what eat oh something is made anew. I can't remember the the Bible text, but we're made anew each day. The Bible says, live each day as your last. So when we say a prayer, he's already forgiven us. Is us is that the one that is holding it to our head, you know?

Prayer And Lamentations Promise

SPEAKER_02 37:11

It's true, it's so it's so true, it's very true. Because even me, I prayed about something today that happened. Oh my gosh, like, I don't even know, eight years ago, nine years ago. Do you know what I mean? Like nine years ago, but it just came to my head like, oh my gosh, mercy, like I I participated in such a thing, or I was a part of that. And it's like, I know God has forgiven me, but the fact that it's been brought to my attention, and I'm like, Lord, please forgive me, you know, I shouldn't have. So it is literally like Cece said, Look, there's no judgment here, once again, and every time you're convicted of something, which is something I need to learn, do not think that you start attacking yourself. Oh my gosh, what have I been doing? No. God did not convict you at that time. Like, and I what I love what Cece just said. Maybe you were not ready at that time to receive that information. As we go through our journey, literally we forget it's a journey. We say journey, but we don't realise how much it actually is a journey, a real full-on journey. We don't realise that at that time, maybe you weren't, it wasn't the right time to give you that information. The same way, like, you know, if you need to give someone some type of news that may not be good, telling them in the middle of, I don't know, when them at when they're at work may not be the right time. Maybe you need to wait until they finish work, or you need to wait until you see them face to face. Do you know what I mean? So everything has timing, and God's timing is always the right timing. So whenever God convicts you of something, that was that's the time. And that's the time you need to take heed. And that's the time that it may not necessarily kick in straight away, and we need to have grace, and we need to continue to pray, like, Lord, you know what, I'm still doing this thing. I know it's not correct, but I am struggling. So, yeah. That is that. So I'm gonna end with prayer. Blessed, holy, and wonderful Yahshua, Yahweh, our Alpha and Amiga, our beginning and the end. Holy Father, thank you so much once again, Lord in heaven, for this day that you've blessed us with. Father Lord, thank you, Lord, that we were all on your wake-up list. And thank you, Father Lord, for all who are gathered here listening right now to this podcast, Lord in heaven, whenever they get to listen to it, Lord. Thank you, Father, Lord in heaven, that you are moving in us, that the Holy Spirit is working, that you're convicting us of things heavenly, Father Lord. And first of Lord, first of all, Lord, I just want to thank you. Help us, Lord, to not see conviction as a negative thing. Help us to see, Lord in heaven, that when you convict us, this is your way of molding us, this is your way of working within us, this is your way of growing us in character. And Lord, as we give ourselves to you, Lord in heaven, we are made anew. But Lord in heaven, for you to make us anew, you have to undo the habits that we have when that were not good for us. The traditions and the patterns that we have embedded in us, Lord in heaven, years and years of things that we have been doing, you're working on undoing in us. And that takes time. And so, Father Lord, help us to remember, Lord, some of us that do not have grace upon ourselves, help us to remember that change takes time. That as long as we are still continuing to move forward, even when we fall, help us to remember that we must continue to still move forward, Lord, not go backwards, Lord. That fall does not mean that that's it, we're done, that we failed. It's just a bump in the road as we continue to push forward on the narrow path that you have us on, Father Lord. Help us, Lord, to not give up. Help us continue to push, Lord. And for those of us who've been convicted by this podcast and this subject that we've discussed, Holy Father Lord, please, Lord in heaven, continue to work with us, guide us, may the Holy Spirit be present with us at all times and guide us, Lord in heaven, in taking the right steps, showing us where to go, what to do, how we should take care of our bodies, how we should nurture our bodies, Lord. Father Lord in heaven, help us, gracious God in heaven, even financially as well, Lord in heaven. Because Lord, eating healthier, it really isn't the the world has done it where it's not even financially easy in some parts of the world to eat healthier. And so, Father Lord, unless we're living in lands where we're able to grow our crops and do things, it is actually expensive to eat healthy. And so, Father God, I just pray, Lord, you may guide our finances, guide us to the places so we can buy things, Lord, so that we are able to feed the temple that you have blessed us and given us, Lord. That you have borrowed to us, Lord. Help us to remember, Heavenly Father, Lord, by feeding our temples right, and that is our bodies, Lord. That Lord in heaven, we can do your works, we can draw closer to you, Lord, in heaven, and we can draw closer to you spiritually, Lord. So thank you, Lord, for being present. Thank you for being in charge. And Lord, may your will be done, Heavenly Father, Lord, in us, Lord, through this discussion, through this, um, through this episode, Lord. Thank you for listening for your time. Bless the name as we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

Amen. And the Bible text is Lamentations, which is found in the Old Testament, and it's um chapter 3, verses 22 to 23, and that's Lamentations, chapter 3, verses 22 to 23, and it says, Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because his compassions fell not. They are new every morning, but great is your faithfulness. So you could put that on your heart, and we'll see you soon. We'll see you soon, guys. Take care.