Men who never changed their minds never changed anything! So spoke Winston Churchill, and he was right. In Acts 10 the Apostle Peter falls into a trance and experiences a God-given vision. In the extraordinary vision this is what he sees;
“A great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again”.
What was all this about? To get what is being communicated here we need to understand that Jews would only eat certain foods- these were deemed ‘kosher’ with everything else being considered ‘unclean’. What the Lord is trying to get through to the apostle is that neither animals nor people should be considered ‘unclean’ and beyond the pale of God’s mercy.
At that very moment three men who weren’t Jews were knocking on the door wanting Peter to come and tell them the Jesus story. Bit by bit the penny drops; the message of forgiveness isn’t just for Jews but for people from every nation (even us crazy Irish!) who will repent and trust in Jesus alone for forgiveness.
We may look down on Peter and smile at his very traditionalist mindset, but are we any better? How many of us are willing to ask how much of my religious practice is simply a product of my tradition and upbringing rather than mandated by God’s Word? Have you ever taken up the opportunity to find out what the Bible actually says? So why don’t you take up our offer of popping into our bookshop- ‘Good news 4 U’ on the Octagon in Westport and ask for a free Bible?
Bertrand Russell once said that ‘man would rather die than think’- don’t let that be true of you.
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