I've seen an increase in Halal stickers on foods even where I live. The actual food itself is not as disturbing as much as the fact that it is a trend in food markets that is increasing.
What is Halal?
The word halal means “permissible†in Arabic. It refers to food, objects, or actions that are allowed in Islam. It assumes that Islam is the authority and that all should submit to it. Halal products are made such by the reciting of a shahada (Arabic for "declaration") over every animal slaughtered or over every product marketed to the public. The words used by Muslim slaughterers or the shahada reciters are
“In the name of allah, allah is the greatestâ€.
So, the animal or product is literally being offered up to allah, a deceptive, satanic, antichrist god and idol of this world whose religion is hell-bent for the destruction of Israel, Jews and Christians. To the Muslim mind, if Christians knowingly eat Halal food, then that reinforces the idea to them that allah is greater, that even Christians are under the supposed authority of allah.
Don’t know where to find Halal products? Check your local supermarket grocer or butcher. Inquire with these notable companies that are selling Halal foods and products: Walmart, McDonalds, the Campbell Soup Co., Subway, Costco and others retail outlets and restaurants. There have been no official press releases advertising “Halal foods†to the general public. It has been very quiet, very subtle. Muslims know what to look for. Everyone else just eats Halal foods or consumes Halal products without being aware of it, until now.
The following links to a Muslim website that advertises the location of Halal foods and restaurants to Muslims in different countries. For example, KFC of Canada offers Halal food while KFC of the United States does not….yet.
http://www.zabihah.com/ci.phpIn case any of the above-named companies are unwilling to comment or answer inquiries about it, just look for a small circular sticker, with “Halal Certified†printed on it and with Arabic script usually imposed on a green background or with green writing. For those in the USA, you can find the restaurant locations offering Halal foods for yourself, state by state. Just visit this Muslim website.
http://www.zabihah.com/b/United-States+125Interestingly, American carriers US Air and United participate with Halal foods on request. Anyone use Tom’s Toothpaste? It’s also been prayed over, dedicated to the idol and antichrist false god allah. Chicken, lamb and beef products, cleaning supplies and things as mundane as toothpaste are all offered as Halal in this growing market.
On the surface, this appears harmless, just another religion’s dietary restrictions. But I think there are some issues that need to be addressed.
What does the Bible have to say about Christians eating foods sacrificed to idols?
What would be the implications for Halal foods and products becoming so widespread that they are unavoidable?
Are Halal foods and products another way cultural jihad is infitrating a Sharia culture into non-Islamic countries?
Could Halal foods and products be used as part of a potential discrimination case against those who object to Halal foods….if they object?
The non-Christian public will not care, mostly because the non-Christian public is not spiritually discerning. Christians have the capacity to discern divine truth which the spiritually dead are unable to comprehend. However, to the unbeliever, there is nothing to be concerned about. To them, all religious dietary restrictions are just obstacles to eating what one wants at will and God has nothing to do with it. There is no further meaning or significance to the unbeliever except that it is foolishness. Like a deaf critic of Bach or a blind critic of Raphael, so is the unrepentant, spiritually and morally unregenerate’s criticism of the things of God.
(1Co 2:14) But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
For Christians, I see the Scriptures as describing four possible responses to this issue.
1. Our response to knowledge of foods sacrificed to idols (and its consumption) in Christian liberty.(Romans)
2. Our response to knowledge of foods sacrificed to idols (and its consumption) with respect to putting ourselves under condemnation of guilt. (1 Cor)
3. Our response to knowledge of foods sacrificed to idols in front of unbelievers.(1 Cor)
4. Our response to others who would try to put us under condemnation for foods eaten (Col 2:16)
Since Halal meat it is physically no different than non-Halal meat, the emphasis should be on the person's spiritual response to the knowledge of either eating or not eating foods sacrifices to idols. On the grounds of 1 Corinthians 8:8, in some contexts eating ritually slaughtered Halal meat cannot bring guilt upon the Christian who consumes it.
(1 Cor 8:8 “Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worseâ€.
However, later on in the same epistle Paul also teaches...
“If any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, EAT NOT for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake ... Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other†(1 Corinthians 10:28-29). [caps mine]
I believe Paul is saying here that we should not eat the meat offered to us by those who have sacrificed it to idols to avoid causing other Christians to doubt their salvation and in so doing, cause them a guilty conscience.
We know now that in certain supermarkets the meat on sale has been offered up to a god who is not the trinitarian God of the Scriptures. We know that allah is a false, satanic god of this world, conceived in the mind of a misled arab suffering from mental illness and demonic oppression. That knowledge is what makes all the difference. We know that the meat has been sacrificed to allah, who is not our God, and we have a duty to our unbelieving brethren, including Muslims (whom we love as our neighbors), not to eat it as a witness to them.
Referring to 1 Corinthians 8:8, yes, in one sense, Christians do have a certain liberty about what they eat, but Paul also teaches in the very next verses that this liberty is not absolute
(1 Corinthians 8:9,11) “Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak ... through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?â€
In these verses ‘them that are weak’ and ‘the weak brother’ refer to our unbelieving neighbors, who are in danger of perishing. Christians are not in danger of perishing, so Paul must mean the unbeliever, when he speaks of the ‘weak brother’. He is using ‘brother’ in the same way that our Lord does in Matthew 5:22,24, and John does in 1 John 3:15 and 4:20, meaning ‘ neighbor’ in a general sense, and ‘weak’ speaks of there as yet being no understanding of the truth of the Gospel.
I believe Paul is saying here is that if we are aware that the person offering us the food or product is sacrificed or dedicated to an idol (like Halal foods and products have been), then for our conscience, the conscience of some other Christian and as an example to the unbeliever, we should NOT accept it or purchase or consume it. For if we did, to the unbeliever it would be an implicit acceptance of the person's pagan, antichrist beliefs, which would only enable the unbeliever to continue in unbelief or rebellion against God. This is no less true with the Muslim.
So, as a testimony to our unbelieving Muslim brother/neighbor who offers or sells foods or products sacrificed to the idol allah, it is better to not accept or purchase such foods or products. It is also better that Christians do not eat halal meat, so as not to cause the unbeliever to “be offendedâ€, i.e. to stumble spiritually and be led into falsehood through a failure by believers to contend for Christ’s uniqueness. In the case of Islam, that is exactly what Muslims need to know, the uniqueness of Christ compared to the immorality and demonic oppression of Muhammad.
Paul was ministering in a society where it would be difficult to avoid ritually slaughtered meat in the market-place; thus, his comforting words to believers in 1 Corinthians 8:4-8 telling them that they are not worse off, if they inadvertently eat, because idols have no true existence anyway.
Judgment From Others:
(Col 2:16) Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day
Colossians 2:16-23 is a further reassurance of our freedom in Christ, that we are not under the condemnation of others based on what we eat, what festivals we attend or on the issues of Sabbath days, things that by themselves do not change our status before God but are merely a foreshadow of what is to come. If we are in Christ, we are therefore unattached to the elementary things of the physical world.
Spiritual Viewpoint:
Islam is an ideology that by the Biblical criteria has been antichrist in nature since its very beginning and as part of Islamic culture (which includes every facet of life), has evident marketplace restrictions through Halal food and products. However, Jesus offers a different kind of food.
(Joh 6:51) "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
While Islam offers its legalistic, all-encompassing ideology, false, destructive doctrines and antichrist teachings that keep people in slavery to sin, Jesus offers the free gift of eternal life in Him, the bread of life. Thus, Halal food represents the enemy's opposition to the our true spiritual food, Jesus, the bread of life,and the life-giving water of eternal life He offers without cost to all who will repent and believe on Him ( John 414, Rev 21:6, 22:17). It’s without cost because He paid for it already on a dirty, bloody Cross.
I believe Halal foods need to be exposed to the generally unaware public and to other Christians. I see the introduction (and growth trend) of Halal markets as a subtle tactic of our common adversary to impose dietary restrictions of an antichrist, dead religion on Christians in the future. It is the beginning of a marketplace of foods and products for Muslims that will have legal, even constitutional protection when Christians object….if they object.
Response:
(Eph 5:11) Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
If Christians are aware of this increasing trend of Halal foods at stores, restaurants and product suppliers and say nothing out of fear of being labeled ‘racist’ or ‘bigoted’ or fear of a discrimination lawsuit, then the Christian has already become a dhimmi, conquered by Islam. On a nationwide scale, this will have significant consequences.
(Pro 14:34) Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.
(Proverbs 29: 2 KJV) “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mournâ€
The scriptures declare that righteousness is key to building peaceful and progressive nation and happy people. Sin, unrighteousness, oppression and wickedness bring disaster and woes to nations and peoples. The Islamization of food and product markets in the non-Islamic west should be resisted as a tangible, non-violent and public expression of the Christian’s rejection of the assumed authority of Islam.
However, if Christians are unaware of Halal foods at stores, restaurants and product suppliers, then it has no effect on them spiritually. But there is a consequence of being uninformed. If Halal foods and products continue have a greater market share, then it will be just one more aspect of cultural jihad that will have found its insidious way into freedom loving cultures without people even being aware of it...until other aspects of Sharia become more obvious and it is too late to legislate against it.
My prediction is that it won't be long before Halal foods will be demanded in US public school lunch programs. The political and multi-culturally correct will, along with the spiritually undiscerning, join with Muslims in labeling those Christians who object to such foods and products as ‘racists’ and ‘bigots’. This will not be a cause of Islamiization in the west. It will be a result of Islamization in the west and the corresponding increase in evil that the days just prior to Jesus’ return are characterized by.
Spiritual Viewpoint:
Since Jesus received all authority under heaven from the Father (Matthew 18:18), and Christians are positionally, seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6), it is we who are in authority over any false god and anything that sets itself up against the one, true Yahweh God and Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit. We need to resist the growing market of foods and products offered to the antichrist idol, allah and to resist its implied superiority over the one, true God of Israel, Jews and Christians.
Unchecked, the increasing market trend of Islamic foods and products that are offered up to the idol, allah will continue to implant itself into freedom loving, non-Islamic cultures, cultural jihad in the market place. Christians should develop a mindset of resistance to invasive Islamic cultural shift, or anything that sets itself against the truth.
(2Co 10:5) We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
Never give in! Never capitulate! And remember... the story has already been told. In Christ, we win! Repent and believe on Jesus while you still can.
(Rev 12:11) "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
