Deciphering our spiritual heritage of food, drink and incense sacrifices

At the Last Supper, Jesus used food and drink to signify the new covenant that He was making with His disciples. Food, drink and incense have long been used as important parts of spiritual covenants and worship. In the Old Testament, God promised to bless the Israelites whenever His name was remembered with their offerings. Food, drink and incense offerings are also made to idols, but these don’t bring blessings. They only incur curses. 

(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 解读我们在祭物，奠酒及烧香献祭上的属灵基业 | 繁體中文 > 解讀我們在祭物，奠酒及燒香獻祭上的屬靈基業)

Luke 22:19-20 ESV And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Exodus 20:24 ESV  An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

Counterfeit sacrifices in idol worship

Old Testament offerings varied from offering meat, bread, wine, incense and fragrances to dedicating our firstborn children and first-cut of our incomes. King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem for these very purposes.

2 Chronicles 2:1,4-5 ESV  Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord… Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him, and for the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.

Over time, however, people’s hearts became divided. They started to move away from God, eventually gave in to making sacrifices to Satan (also known as Baal) and demons through false idols and gods instead. Here is some evidence of that.

The sacrifices that the people made to false idols did not go unnoticed. After tolerating their demon offerings for years, God eventually stopped blessing them. Even then they would not wholeheartedly repent and return to Him. This only brought further disaster on themselves (i.e. they suffered curses).

Jeremiah 44:19-23 ESV  And the women said, “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”  Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: “As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

Idol worship and sacrifices in Asia

Segments of the idol worshippers mentioned in the Old Testament would have been the forefathers of Asian families. It is therefore not surprising to see various forms of idolatrous offerings and sacrifices carry on throughout Asia.

People open ceremonies with roast pig offerings, burn joss sticks in temples to honour spirits, dedicate their children to spiritual deities for “guardianship”, drink water mixed with paper talismans, and burn offerings to their ancestors, just to list a few examples. Offerings are made in exchange for good fortune, guidance and “protection” on behalf of individuals, families, villages, businesses, festivals, and sometimes, entire regions and territories.

Many of these practices are often seen as “hallmarks of Asian culture and traditions.”

Warnings against participating in idol sacrifices

Like the early Gentile disciples, some of us may be concerned about what God’s Word says about Asian customs of sacrificing to gods, spirits, ancestors, as well as dead kings and generals.

As believers, we eat bread and drink wine as part of communion in honour of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and to identify ourselves as His followers i.e. His Church.

1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 10:17 ESV  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

The apostle Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 10 that when we take part in idol or ancestor worship offerings, however, we are seen to be participating in sacrifices made to demons.

1 Corinthians 10:14,20-22 ESV  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. … what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Psalm 106:28-29 ESV Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead; they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

Practicing wisdom on the food we eat

The apostles advised the first believers to avoid consuming sacrifices made to idols – not because the food has any real significance or that idols are real gods – but because we are called to honour God and honour people.

Acts 21:25 ESV  But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

1. Repent for any past idolatry

First, let us start with repenting in Jesus’ name if we have voluntarily made food offerings to things or people in the past.

Ezekiel 14:6 ESV   … Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

2. Do not be anxious about food bought in markets and restaurants

Many food markets and restaurants in Asia dedicate their goods to idols before selling them. This does not change the nature of the food. We should not be anxious about consuming them nor seek to know their spiritual source. Food does not defile us spiritually. Rather, it is our failed consciences that do.

1 Corinthians 10:25-26 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

Matthew 15:17-20 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.

3. Be alert to how others view the food we eat

We are, however, called to honour the people around us. If they are worried about food that has been offered to idols, it is best we refrain from eating it.

Romans 14:15-19 ESV  For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

We ought to draw a clear line and avoid all food or drink that we know has been dedicated to idols. Even though we may be indifferent towards where the food came from, we don’t want to send mixed messages about who we worship.

1 Corinthians 10:27-29 ESV  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?

1 Corinthians 8:4,7-8,11-13 ESV  Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” … However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. …And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

4. Do not become religiously dogmatic about what we eat or drink

Neither are we to impose our views on one another with regards to what we can or cannot eat or drink. Ultimately, God does not look at what we put into our mouths but what comes out of our hearts. 

Colossians 2:13-14,16,20-23 ESV And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. … Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink. …If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

5. Give thanks with a clear conscience for all our food

Last but not least, let us give thanks to God for everything we consume and invite Him to make it clean for our spiritual and physical health.

Romans 14:6 ESV  … The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Testimony 1: Repenting of meal at funeral to send off the dead

“When I went for inner healing and deliverance prayer, one thing we covered were the rituals and the meal I had at a funeral that I attended at our ancestral village. After the funeral, we attended a meal that was done as a “send-off” in honour of the deceased. I started by cutting ungodly soul ties with the village, relatives, and spirits worshipped there, including the traditional sacrifices and divination done at my grandpa’s funeral. I repented of bowing before my ancestors and immediately felt lighter. Even though I had no emotional connection with all these, my tears began falling. My prayer counsellor explained that I was being delivered from ancestral strongholds and the evil spirits were sad to leave.”

Testimony 2: Repenting of food eaten in different countries

“I recently felt led by the Holy Spirit to ask Him to cleanse me of defilement from food that I have eaten in different countries. As I prayed about each country, I felt different sensations and a release in different parts of my body. Some of the bigger releases were from Middle East countries, US cities and Cambodia/Thailand area.”

May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love God with all your heart.