Biblically unclean animals responsible for pandemics

Nearly every influenza pandemic for the last 1,000 years would have been prevented if the Bible's prohibition against "unclean" animals had been headed, argues Bible teacher David Rives.

The host of TBN’s "Creation in the 21st Century" and the author of "Bible Knows Best," Rives noted that the majority of such animals are scavengers that are prone to passing on diseases to humans.

Among them are bats, which are believed to have been the transmitter of the coronavirus to humans in Wuhan, China.

"Do you find it even slightly curious that this pandemic — responsible for countless tens of thousands of deaths around the world — originated from what appears to be the consumption of BATS in China?"

Such animals are "here for good reasons," Rivas said, such as cleaning the environment.

But eating them is not one of those reasons.

"Was God simply placing oppressive rules upon His people so that he could punish them when they broke His commands?" he asked. "Or do we believe that everything commanded by the Lord is not only just, but for our own good as well?"

Rivas noted that, genetically, some animals are remarkably adept at passing on deadly diseases to humans.

Would eating only biblically clean animals reduce the risk of pandemics?

Research into past pandemics shows the following animals, along with mosquitoes and fleas, have been responsible for pandemics:

Pigs (Spanish Flu, Asian Flu, Swine Flu)
Bats and certain other avian creatures (SARS, MERS, and Covid-19)
Pangolins (possibly Covid-19)
Chimpanzees (HIV/AIDS)
Rats (Black Death, Great Plague of London, Third Plague)
Camels (MERS)
Dogs (Hong Kong Flu, Asian Flu)
Civet Cats [mongoose-like creatures] (SARS)

Those animals are on the list God gave to Moses of animals forbidden for the Jewish people.

"If a fortune-teller or magician could somehow 'divine' the next few thousand years of disease, they couldn’t have made a better list of animals not to eat," Rives said.

Arguing the mention of clean and unclean animals was not exclusive to the Jews, he pointed out it goes back to the time of Noah.

"Noah clearly knew the difference between clean and unclean, since God Himself caused only two of each unclean kind to enter the ark, but called seven pairs of each clean animal."

The early Christian church also followed the Lord’s commands regarding unclean animals, Rives said. Peter's vision of unclean animals didn't rescind the instruction not to eat unclean food, Rives argued. The point was that no man should be called unclean.

Rives said that, conservatively, an estimated 280 million lives have been lost to pandemics originating with unclean animals.

"Is it possible that we've been ignoring the practicality and divine instructions regarding health practices? Instructions which prohibit the eating of bats as food, and encourage washing our hands under running water, and practicing distancing and isolation from people who have diseases?"

Rives said he's not judging anyone regarding their eating preferences.

"I have merely stated scientific facts that confirm what the Bible teaches," he said. "What I am suggesting is that, once again, the Bible knows best.

See Rives' video: