Did Jesus Have the Truth?

I once met a Seventh-day Adventist who was meaner than the devil. In fact, I have even met a vegetarian who was meaner than the devil. And I have even met a vegan who was meaner than the devil. That is not to say that I don’t belong to all three of these categories myself personally, but some times as vegetarian Christians we get our priorities mixed up.

As a young pastor I met a vitriolic vegan who went around telling other people of their shortcomings. This particular individual was brazen: when the spouse of my head elder discovered that she had breast cancer he was there to make sure that she knew that the reason she had cancer was because she had imbibed of dairy products. This person was completely devoid of all human compassion.

One day I felt a sense of righteous indignation to the point that I decided to be the devil’s advocate for just a moment. I asked this individual: so what do you do with the fact that Jesus ate fish?

Without missing a beat, and in all seriousness, the person replied: “Jesus didn’t have all the truth. He did not have the Spirit of Prophecy.”—a reference to the prophetic writings of Ellen G. White.

I wondered if this person realized what they were saying.

And I thought that perhaps my experience was an isolated one until recently I had a prominent church leader visit in our home and share with me an almost verbatim experience. And now after having pastored I’ve run into several additional ministry colleagues who have met spiritual cousins to this person who I met early on in my ministry.

Please do not misunderstand me: I am not saying that I do not believe in the health message. I am committed to the fact that God wants us to live healthier lives that are an expression of the wholeness that He intends for us. But he also wants us to become “more loving and lovable Christians” as the same prophetic messenger warned our church. When we truly have “the truth as it is in Jesus” then we will not just know the truth, but the truth should change our lives. And this begins with how we treat one another.

The danger is when we put our lifestyle ahead of the Life Giver.