Eating fish can make you sick or make you healthy, it’s all in what fish you eat. God said not to eat fin-less or scale-less creatures, that live in water. God also told us that fish with scales and fins are good food. Once again we have so called, “experts” who tell us that eating shellfish is harmless. Why? Because of toxin advisories. Experts also tell us not to eat fish with fins and scales. Why? Because of mercury contamination. So, who are you going to believe? The problem stems from the fact that our bodies are infinitely complex; the functioning of our immune systems is beyond complex. We at Wellnessgospel, believe that God created our complex bodies and he knows what foods are good for us and what foods are not. So, let me share with you one story and some science that should encourage us to believe that our God still knows what is best for us.
In his blog, Wandering Earl, Derek Earl Baron describes his bout with seafood poisoning. As he puts it, “Seafood poisoning is less fun than I ever imagined”
Shortly after eating some questionable seafood curry in Goa, he had this reaction.13,14 (in Goa one of the traditional ingredients of seafood curry is shellfish)14
“I only remember a little from the following couple of hours but according to my friend, who has had the most unfortunate job of taking care of me, I was in a most delirious state. I passed in and out of sleep, often times waking up in an instant, muttering some nonsense and then closing my eyes immediately after. My words were jumbled, I couldn’t focus on any one location for more than a second and I wasn’t comprehending much of what she was saying to me. Using my own strength to sit up was impossible and I would alternate between very quick and extremely slow breathing.
After about an hour of this, my friend finally managed to get me to stand up and while she wanted to take me straight to the hospital again, I used my ridiculous stubbornness to convince her that I should eat some lunch and see how I felt after that. And then, on the way to the restaurant in front of my beach hut, I nearly walked into a tree. I didn’t even see it and again, according to my friend, I could barely walk in a straight line at all.”
If you read Derek’s entire story, he had all the classic symptoms of domoic acid poisoning; memory loss, dizziness, itching and shortness of breath, to name a few. Domoic acid poisoning can leave the person with permanent memory loss and, in some cases, death may result.
On Prince Edward Island, Canada, there was a shellfish poisoning resulting in 3 deaths. Blue mussels contaminated with domoic acid were blamed.9,10 In 1987 there was an outbreak of domoic acid poisoning, 14% of all those effected died. 11
Shellfish always contain toxins. They are not always at the “danger” level, but any amount of toxins will put an unnecessary strain on our bodies, especially the kidneys and liver. Both are important to our immune system. The liver actually scans the blood for cells that fight disease. When it recognizes a disease-fighting cell, it selectively enriches that cell. Pretty awesome huh? God has reasons for his food advice, it is great that we can now see what some of those reasons are, but we still don’t know all the reasons. We just know that when God said he would take away sickness from us, and give us a full life span, the condition was that we pay attention him and listen to what he says.
Exodus 23:20-21, 25-26 “I am sending an angel (The angel of the Lord, Jesus) ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him…Worship the Lord your god and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.”
I have been on many mission trips where my friends eat shellfish and get sick. Derek and my friends could have saved themselves a lot of pain and suffering had they listened to God’s advice in the old testament.
Leviticus 11:9-12 “of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales . But all creatures in the seas and streams that do not have fins and scales…you must not eat their meat.”
God’s word is not silent about the benefits of eating kosher fish in the New Testament either. Jesus called fish, “Good gifts”.
“Luke 11:11-13 11 If a son asks for bread[a] from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Jesus was trying to communicate how great a gift the Holy Spirit was, so he used bread, eggs and fish as examples of very good gifts. Jesus ate fish after he was raised from the dead and he cooked and served fish to his disciples before asking Peter, “do you love me”.
Why did God put his stamp of approval on fish with fins and scales? Because fish with fins and scales generally eat living things. Creatures without fins and scales are primarily bottom feeders eating dead and decaying things. Commonly eaten seafood without fins and scales are:
Shrimp, clams, lobster, crab, oysters, abalone, scallops, catfish, sturgeon, shark, crayfish, bullhead, whale, and calamari. As these creatures clean up the seas, they collect toxins that are harmful to our bodies.
My family lives on the Oregon coast; our local radio stations will routinely give a “toxin report.” They will report the levels of toxins in shellfish (clams, crab, etc.). They never say there are no toxins (poisons). One of the most prevalent toxins in shellfish is demoic acid; demoic acid can cause dizziness, nausea, permanent short-term memory loss, which is what Wandering Earl experienced.
My question is this – If toxins are poison to our bodies, how much poison do you want? What level of poison do you consider safe for you and your family? The Bible says to avoid it altogether.
Your kidneys filter out toxins (poison), these toxins inhibit our body’s natural immune system. Also, if our kidneys receive too many toxins they cannot do their other job, which is to control proteins in the body. Why is that so important? Well I’m glad you asked, antibodies which fight disease are made of protein.
But people will tell me, this is a new day, the bible is outdated, the writers of the bible didn’t know that we would pollute our streams, rivers and oceans with mercury. And everyone knows that fish contain dangerous levels of mercury. OK, did you know that sharks contain the highest levels of mercury of any fish. And, sharks have no scales, thus not to be eaten by us.
seafood mercury warning
Next, Greenpeace is promoting this mercury alert. Since when did Greenpeace become a nutritional advisory. They have an ulterior motive. Their goal is to stop as much fish harvesting as possible. Scaring us out of eating fish is part of their strategy and they usually throw in the scare tactic that, pregnant women especially, should not eat fish. So here are the facts.
- Fish is a high-protein, low-fat food that provides a range of health benefits. White-fleshed fish, in particular, is lower in fat than any other source of animal protein, and oily fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, or the “good” fats.
- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists note that, considering all the dangers and benefits, the overall result of eating fish in the United States is likely to improve personal health rather than damage it. The Seychelles Child Development Study traced more than seven hundred mother-child pairs for nine years, and found no neurological problems in the children resulting from both prenatal and postnatal methylmercury exposure. A study done with marketed fish in Oman concluded that, except in a few rare cases, the fish available for consumption had lower levels of mercury than limits defined by various health organizations.[50] Clearly, these studies call into question whether or not normal everyday consumption of fish is dangerous in any way.6
- Mercury is an essential nutrient. We must have mercury in our diets, in order to metabolize carbohydrates. The body uses mercury as a cofactor and expels it after use. Mercury has always been in our water, as a natural element. Yes, we can overdose on mercury, but probably not by eating fish a few times a week.7
- Selenium is an element that is known to counteract some of the dangers of ingesting mercury.[18] Multiple studies have been done, such as those in New Jersey and Sweden, that take into account selenium as well as mercury levels. Fish often do contain selenium in conjunction with bioaccumulated mercury, which may offset some of the dangers associated with the mercury ingested.6
- Mercury in dental fillings is probably a more realistic threat to your health than eating fish. Mercury in dental fillings has been linked to cases of Multiple Sclerosis.8
If you believe God and want to be disease free, living out your full life span, you’ll have to eat fish with scales and fins a few times a week and abstain from all other creatures that live in the water. That means, Flipper and Willie the killer whale will be safe from us. If everyone followed God’s advice about shellfish, it would mean that clams at high tide would not be the only happy clams.
If you believe God knows best, join us and the Wellness Gospel team and spread the word, share this with your friends on social media and may God bless you richly.
If you want to keep improving your health, and enjoy this kind of biblical scientific information, then I would like to recommend three must-read books.
You can get all these books at Amazon,com
- “None of These Diseases” by S. I. McMillen, M.D. and David E. Stern, M.D.
- “Let’s Play Doctor” by Dr. Joel Wallach
- “God’s Guide To Biblical Health and Healing” by Rev. Chris & Shary Schauermann
References
- Explanation of the human immune system webmd.com/immunesystem
- The livers function in immunology http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.21060/pdf
- Kidney function in immunologyhttp://www.kidneyservicechina.com/ckd-basics/1546.html
- Kidneys remove toxinshttp://www.livescience.com/52047-kidneys.html
- FDA recommendation/mercury in fish http://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm110591.htm
- American college of obstetricians and Gynecologist study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_fish
- Mercury in filling may cause MS http://www.gotminerals.com/quackwatch.html
- Mercury is an essential nutrient. https://www.uwsp.edu/cols-ap/nadf/Workshops/Mercury/Mercury-Se-Nutrition%20Effects%20Review%20Chan%202000.pdf
- Deaths from domoic acid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domoic_acid
- Deaths from domoic acid. Gilbert, Steven. “Domoic Acid”. Toxipedia. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- Deaths form domoic acid. http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/etox/resources/case_studies/redtide2.pdf
- https://www.adn.com/outdoors/article/clam-gulch-probable-case-paralytic-shellfish-poisoning-first-ever-reported-popular/2014/06/18/
- http://www.wanderingearl.com/seafood-poisoning-is-less-fun-than-i-ever-imagined/
- Goan fish curry includes prawns. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1121651/goan-fish-curry
- Omega 3 fatty acids edf.org/benefits-eating-fish
- Blue muscle recall https://www.bitterwallet.com/consumer-advice/wham-bam-avoid-ms-clams-70327