You can trust him, in truth, he’s the only one you can trust, Jesus, Holy Spirit, God, trinity as unity. Every man woman and child on Earth is fallen and capable of letting you down. Trusting Jesus is a brave act, because in this world, trust is placeable only in the things of this world, and all of them are fallible. For this reason it is also a wise thing to do, a reasonable and logical and intelligent thing to do. He’s the only one you can actually trust to know what is best for you and to act in your interests, and his interests, as one. He’s the only one you can totally trust. Including one’s own self. Give Jesus Christ along with every material thing, everything in your past, everything that forms and has formed your entire identity and self, and everything in and of the future, and also, your self confidence. This world is all about wanting you to have confidence in yourself. Self confidence. Once you have given your life to Jesus you will not need self confidence. Indeed, you must repeatedly give it to him as it attempts to reassert itself. Faith in Jesus will come to replace confidence in yourself. The more you trust him, the more you will come to know him, and the more you come to know him the more you will trust him. Trust him with your life and he will not let you down. What else must we give him? Our trust. Our obedience. Our love. These three grow with every step of the walk with him. We must give him our fears. And all of our suffering. “Lord Jesus I give you this suffering, this pain, it’s not much, but it’s all I have.” He is mighty. The great healer, mighty counselor. When we visit a human counselor they sit us down, they listen, they ask questions and try to prise from us the words to express our suffering. Then the hour is up, and we go away, perhaps feeling a little better for having ‘talked it through’ or perhaps not feeling better at all. When we go to Christ with our pain and suffering, we are able to give it to him, to place it at the foot of his cross, to give it to him to carry, and he will, he will take it upon himself and carry it for us. Give him your suffering. And he will give you his peace and joy in return. He will give you himself. For when we give him ourselves, he gives us himself. This is why we must give him all. Everything. Even and especially that which we do not want to give, which we are ashamed of, which we are proud of or afraid to let go of. We must give him everything. Because he wills to give us everything. And he cannot and will not divide himself to give us only a part of that which he is. He gives all. Has already given all. We must give all to receive all. Else we receive nothing. And when you do, when we do this, when we give him all our house, he gives us in return all of his house. His house is a Kingdom, an infinite beautiful beautiful heavenly Kingdom. And he gives it to us, shares with us, co heirs with him, in exchange for our grubby past and short lived future and ill thoughts and broken hearts. For our dust and clay and tears he gives us paradise. He gives us himself. For our death he gives us life eternal. He is the Kingdom of God. And to think we even hesitated to hand over the keys of our shack in the slum. And whilst we are giving him everything, give him this also. Our thanks. Our gratitude. For he has done a mighty thing, and pulled us from the pit and the mire, and from the claw of death. And saved us as his own into the Kingdom of God. His life for your life. Your life for his life. Give him your heart and soul. Your mind and body. Your past and future. And be free of this world.

It’s a good question. Let us consider, what does one’s life consist of? Your body. Your mind. Your soul. That’s the components if you like, of what we are. Yet when giving our lives to Jesus Christ, in order for him to have control and Mastery over our lives, to choose the direction and destination and everything therein, we may also consider more deeply the aspects of self we are handing over. Let us include all that we have ever done. So then, we hand him our past. Our sins. Or successes. Our failures. Our mistakes. Our wrongdoings. Our childhood traumas, our education, every harsh word we ever said, every unkind thing we ever did, ever loss of control, raised voice, act of violence, every theft, every injustice we ever did, every judgment we ever made about another, every crude profanity, every sexual act, every immoral act, every lie, every profane word. All guilt. All resentment. Every ill we ever received. Every unforgiven act received and given. The hurt we did. The hurt we received. Our health. All of it If all these and more are rooms in the house of our lives, we must, when handing over the keys and deeds, hand him everything. All our money. Ahh there’s a hard one, yes. Rare indeed for a ‘rich’ man to enter the Kingdom of God. Why? He cannot hand over the storehouse, the treasure room, the chest of gold he spent a lifetime working for and hoarding onto. He cannot hand it to God. Why? Because he fears God may tell him to do as he told the rich man in the gospel, “Go, sell everything you have, give all you have to the poor and return and follow me.” Matthew 19:21 I believe if the rich man had said “Lord, have it all, take it all, right now, you give it to the poor, or throw it into the sea, do as you will, I give it you all and now please may I follow you?” I believe he would have followed Jesus that moment. The point wasn’t to give the money to the poor. The poor will always be with you. The point was to remove the money from the heart of the man, and thereby have only Christ. The money was an obstacle, and Jesus saw this, and that’s why he said what he said. Give everything you own to Jesus. Everything. Now. Everything. What was that resistance? What was it you felt fear of, attachment for? That’s the thing that you must certainly hand over. Even as you do so, saying to the Lord, Lord, this I find hard to give to you, please however take it from my hand and heart, I give you all, including this. Even your sons and daughters. What else must we hand over when we give our lives to Him? Our past. Our present. Our every material thing. Our everything. Our sins. Our thoughts. Our hopes. Our ambitions. Our present, ever lived continuous and forever. Our future. Everything in that future. …to be continued.

‘They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God,” they said.’ Acts 14:21 “We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God,” Remember that line, dear reader, at the times of needing it. Modern Christianity is often presented as a way to avoid hardships. In truth, it avoids some, brings others, and introduces an entirely new category of challenge, within which there are both hardships and joys unspeakable. By surrendering to Christ, giving ones self to him, one begins a process of personal transformation. Included in this is a transformation of priorities. The spiritual becomes the priority, indeed as we read earlier, “the Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. See John 6:63 The spiritual consequence of every thought word and action becomes the gauge by which the outcome is judged. No longer is material gain or worldly rewards the measure. Nor is material loss and worldly scorn. The determining factor becomes the Spiritual one. Nothing else really matters. Indeed.

…They perform a healing miracle, followed by the crowd totally missing the point and welcoming them as Roman gods, followed by a vehement denial of such divinity and a trying to explain about Jesus, followed by the crowd being turned against them and stoning them half to death. It does highlight the situations of the days most eloquently. Paul and Barnabas and the other disciples and converts had to try to convince people to change gods. Or in the case of the Jews, to continue worshipping God but add into that the Messiah Jesus, whom they had unfortunately crucified. These days, what’s changed? The default state in 2023 is non belief. Un belief. Or belief in ‘something’ but a rejection of Christianity based largely on the failings of Christians to make a clear case for Jesus and to live it accordingly. Christians. Those who are followers of the Way. The Way back to God. The Way. The Way is Jesus, and the Way is the process he created to Himself. Christianity has been somewhat diluted since then, weakened, watered down to a religion, a set of things to believe, or say one believes, not a Way to live and not die by laid down by God as man and confirmed by God as Spirit. These days people don’t try to stone Christians to death. At least not in the UK. They just ignore us. Whilst continuing a full speed aheadlong plunge into the obvious abyss they can already see opening up before them. Read the news for 60 seconds and tell me it’s not all a direct consequence of the rejection of God as the flawed nature of humanity tears itself, and the rest of life on Earth, apart. It’s only going to get worse, more obvious, and more of a sign to do what must be done. Where then is Jesus now? He is in Heaven, at the right hand of Power. And he is here. On Earth. In the body of the true Church, that being the people who have received that Holy Spirit of God, and with that Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. For he is not separable from the Holy Spirit And never was. And never can be. Back to the Holy Scriptures.

His oration was met by comprehension by some, and angry rejection by others. Sometimes they would have weeks and months before being actively persecuted, other times it would be almost immediate. They would offer the truth to all, Jew and Gentile, and when rejected by the Jews, which was what tended to happen, sooner or later, they would shake the dust from their feet in protest and move on, filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Some days they experienced the highs and lows in such quick succession it must’ve made their heads ache. ‘In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that the man jumped up and began to walk.’ Acts 14:8 ‘When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabus they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.’ Acts 14:11 ‘But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.’ Acts 14:14 ‘In the past he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Even with these words they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.’ Acts 14:16 ‘Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.’ Acts 14:19 Extract from All People Must Know

Soon the Church will come under fierce persecution, lasting for centuries, and being a Christian will have been on one hand extremely life threatening, but more so, life enhancing, sufficiently so that the followers of the Way would only ever increase in number, regardless of the pressures. Only the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God could give men and women the absolute conviction to face death by torture in their hundreds of thousands. They were the Truth. And Truth lives on. We get ahead of ourselves. Back in Antioch the Holy Spirit is giving instructions. ‘While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.’ Acts 13:2 Time to hit the road Saul. That internal guide, counsellor, comforter, Spirit of truth and wisdom, has a plan for you and Barnabus. ‘The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish Synagogues. John was with them as their helper.’ Acts 13:4 On that journey they came across a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet, calling himself Bar-Jesus (Bar translates as Son), he was an attendant to the Proconsul Governor for the region. The Proconsul sent for Barnabus and Saul, he’s undoubtedly heard of them, it’s his business to know what’s going on in his region, and he wants to hear the word of God they preach and teach. The sorcerer opposes them, and tries to turn the Proconsul away from the faith. ‘Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit looked straight at him and said “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.’ Acts 13:9 When the Proconsul saw what happened he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.’ Acts 13:12 I like this. Remember who else was acting against the right ways of the Lord and was struck blind for a time? Nice for the circle to be complete. And of course the Proconsul believed, and knew. And who knows what influence he was to have in the future. Perhaps just the non persecution of the Way. Paul, as we shall now call him, and Barnabus, carried on their travels to Pamphylia, an area now in the country of Turkey, where John parted company with them to return to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabus arrive in Pisidian Antioch, (which is not the same city as Antioch, hence differentiated by prefixing the region of Pisidia). Paul and Barnabus have a way of delivering the news of Jesus Christ to the people. They visit the synagogue and deliver an oration of the Jews history, from Egypt to the time in the desert, to the wars of conquest, to the evolution of their culture, the appointment of judges until the time of Samuel the Prophet, whereupon they asked for and received their first King, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, before appointing David, the King who started as a shepherd with a sling, and from whose descendants God brought forth Jesus, as prophesied, historically and simultaneously by John preaching repentance and preparation for the Righteous One. Paul and Barnabus would give them a history lesson, and bring it right up to the present day in seamless explanation. They would quote from the scriptures to highlight their case, and highlight the harsh truth of history. ‘The People of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognise Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.’ Acts 13:27 62 ‘Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: “Look you scoffers, Wonder and perish, For I am going to do something in your days That you would never believe, Even if someone told you.” Hab 1:5 Acts 13:41 Extract from All People Must Know, by Bird Lovegod

Remember when Stephen was killed, and the followers of the Way scattered like seeds under the persecution? Those scattered followers had been spreading the message only to Jews, for the assumption was this was a Jew only thing, and Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles anyway. But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to a city called Antioch, in modern day Syria, and began to speak to Greeks as well, perhaps they spoke the same tongue and had some cultural similarities, telling them of Lord Jesus. Or perhaps the Holy Spirit just guided them to do so. ‘News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabus to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the Grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.’ Acts 11:22 ‘He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.’ Acts 11:24 I’m feeling that Barnabus had more than his hands full, thousands of people coming to faith, Gentiles many or most of them, exciting but chaotic, without structure or deep foundations. Who to teach all these people? Who to guide them, instruct them, school them in the Way? He needed help. “Saul”. The Counsellor within will only have needed to say it once and he was off. ‘Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch.’ Acts 11:25 Speaks volumes of Saul’s lessoning that he hadn’t already travelled there and got stuck in but had instead waited, knowing a spiritual revival was happening in Antioch as he surely did, but waiting for the Lord to send for him, if He wanted him at all, rather than acting on his own authority. Saul had changed. ‘So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples of the Way were called Christians first at Antioch. Acts 11:26 Christians. The anointed ones. Anointed in and by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is at this time that Saul also changed his name, or at least added a new one. Paul. A reborn man indeed. Antioch will have been reborn as well. A man is transformed. Reborn of Spirit and Truth. A city is transformed. Reborn of Spirit and Truth. The World can be transformed. It is the one and only Way. It’s about this time that the new Christian Church comes under persecution from Rome. The first of the disciples to be killed is James, put to the sword by King Herod Agrippa, the grandson of King Herod who had tried to kill Jesus as a babe. This seemed to please the Jews and so Peter was also imprisoned, to be executed, until being miraculously released. See Acts 12.

As well as the example of acting in faith, all parties not knowing why they were being brought together until God shows them through the act of himself. One. God accepts people from all nations equally. There is no favouritism and any thoughts contrary to that are our own bias. Easy to have. Hard to shake. Two. The Holy Spirit came upon the Gentile listeners for the first time. This shows the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all people. Three. The Spirit confirms the spoken testimony as truth, and delivers forgiveness of sins in a spiritual transfer. Four. They were baptised in the Holy Spirit prior to being baptised in water. It’s not the ritual of the baptism of water that brings the Holy Spirit, although it may, it’s the hearing and accepting of the truth of Jesus Christ. Some years later Peter is again retelling the experience to some Jewish men, believers, but who came from the class of Pharisees, who are wanting to impose Jewish customs and laws upon the Gentile converts. He tells them. “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them.” Acts 15:8 Ultimately this last point is the beginning and end of the matter, and the beginning and end of all theology, and of all religion. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving them the Holy Spirit. God gives the Holy Spirit to those whom he accepts. It is not just a sign of his acceptance, it is his acceptance, an indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God within the person. He’s accepting the person into the Kingdom of God by bringing the Kingdom of God into the person. You must be born again. One might also infer that the baptism of the Spirit is the true confirmation and passed test of the heart and faith of the believer. Back in 30 something AD Judaea news of this encounter and development spread fast. Peter has to explain the whole thing again to the Jews in Jerusalem who were initially critical of him for even entering a Gentile house. “Then I remembered what the Lord had said. ‘John baptised with water but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit’. So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I should oppose God?” Acts 11:16 58 Once God had baptised these Gentiles in the Holy Spirit, thereby fully accepting them into Christ, how could Peter then deny them water baptism, or anything else? Had not God made them clean? Of Spirit. ‘When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” Acts 11:18 From a Jew of the day perspective, this is a radical progression. Jesus isn’t just the Saviour of Israel, the Messiah of the Jews, he’s the Saviour of everyone, the Messiah of the World. Indeed, did not John tell them such, right at the beginning. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29 Not just the sin of the Jews. The sin of the World. …tbc…

The men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ‘They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision the Spirit said to him “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them for I have sent them.” Acts 10:18 Peter went down and asked them “Why have you come?” It’s an obvious and natural question, but because it’s a divine appointment, none of them really know the answer. They’re just all following orders. The soldier explained that Cornelius had an angelic vision telling him to tell Simon Peter to come to his house, and to hear what he has to say. Given that Peter is used to miraculous and inexplicable things happening, and he’s used to acting in accordance with the Holy Spirits’ guidance, and has faith that it’s all Gods plan, and given that he himself is still digesting a vision of his own, he invited the men into the house to be his guests, and the next day he and six of the brothers from Joppa went with them back to Caesarea, as instructed. ‘The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house Cornelious met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up, “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” Acts 10:24 Cornelius is evidently less used to this kind of situation than Peter is. And Peter has also arrived at the interpretation of the previous day’s vision. ‘Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you have sent for me?” Acts 10:27 Given the legality and cultural appropriateness of Jews visiting non Jews, it’s fair to assume that without the vision Peter would have been reluctant at least to visit, especially as no one still seems to know why. Cornelius passes the buck back to Peter by reiterating his angelic vision to call for him. “So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” Acts 10:33 ‘Then Peter began to speak: “I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10:34 Peter goes on to confirm that they know of Jesus Christ “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” Acts 10:36 “You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him.” Acts 10:37 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen; by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Acts 10:39 ‘He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:42 ‘While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they had heard them speaking in tongues and and praising God.’ Acts 10:44 Then Peter said; “Can anyone keep these people from being baptised with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.’ Acts 10:47 To be continued … extract from All People Must Know and The Bible

‘As Peter travelled the country he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bed ridden for eight years. “Aeneas”, Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and tidy your mat.” Immediately Aenaes got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.’ Acts 9:32 A compelling miracle in the likeness of one Jesus himself did, in fact, it was Jesus that did this one as well, and that was the point of it, and did not Peter say so even as it was happening? “Jesus Christ heals you.” It is Jesus that has healed him. This proof of Christ’s power and continuum ripples out in waves of conversions, the talk of the towns, tipping the scales of balance fully in favour of belief in the risen and now God Jesus. ‘In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, (which when translated is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him “Please come at once!” Acts 9:36 ‘Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made whilst she was still with them. Acts 9:39 ‘Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning towards the dead woman he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.’ Acts 9:40 Miraculous healings and resurrections, of which there have been quite a few, as a means to show and demonstrate the nature of Christ, and the power of Christ. It is in his nature to heal. His nature is to bring life. His nature is to deliver from despair. His nature is to transform one state to another. Cripple to whole, dead to life, blind to seer, non believer to devoted follower. Thousands are coming to believe. Not from compelling theological arguments delivered by skilled oration but from simple acts of direct heaven forth mercy. And the next one is, in modern parlance, a game changer. At Caesarea, (the port near to Jerusalem from which Saul had sailed home) there was a centurion named Cornelius. He was a Roman, of course, in the Italian Regiment, and not a Jew. Up until this time, pretty much everyone the disciples were actively preaching to and evangelising were Jews. The whole Jewish faith was a run up to the coming of the Messiah, the Jews Holy scrolls were the source of all the prophecies, all the prophets were Jews, the entire thing was a Jewish thing. Jesus was a Jew. All his disciples were Jews. It was a given that this was salvation for the Jews, for Israel, which was not a land, but a people. However, Cornelius and his family were devout and God fearing, having heard of this Jesus and the Way, and their hearts were sufficiently right for God to respond. Cornelius has a vision, an angel of God, who tells him; “Your prayers and gifts have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” Acts 10:4 Cornelius does as instructed, impressive given the minimal amount of information given, especially the reason why. But Cornelius is a centurion, a soldier, so understands how to follow direct orders without needing to question them. So he sends two servants, who would actually be slaves, and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants to Joppa. Around noon the following day as they were approaching the city, Peter was having a vision of his own. ‘He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him “Get up Peter, kill and eat.” Acts 10:11 Peter was a Jew, and the Jews had strict and quite nuanced regulations regarding what they could and could not eat. Some birds yes, others, no. Rabbits no, sheep yes, pigs no, cows yes, camels no, and so on, depending on whether the animal chewed the cud and or had cloven feet. They also had rules regarding the killing and preparing. It really wasn’t as simple as ‘kill and eat’. “Surely not Lord!”, Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” Acts 10:14 ‘The voice spoke to him a second time. “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Acts 10:15 55 ‘This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.’ Acts 10:16 To be continued … Extract from All People Must Know and The Bible