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The pastor of a church once taught his congregation that the apostle Peter had to be corrected by the Lord on his racial prejudices. This Christian leader's aim was to demonstrate, by scripture, that even the closest servants of God may have serious faults that they have to overcome. The message of his lesson was that just because someone may be a Christian, he isn't necessarily completely free of all evil influence. His presentation of the scriptures to teach what sounded like a truth, only presented an opinion that lacked biblical support. The pastor accused Simon Peter of having harbored racial prejudice against gentiles, based on the scripture of Acts 10:28 which says, "and he (Peter) said unto them, 'ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. But, God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for'...." Earlier in the same chapter of Acts, Peter is said to have had a vision of a great sheet knit at the four corners that descended from heaven. In the sheet he saw all kinds of wild beasts and creeping animals, and fowls of the air. Peter also heard a voice that told him to kill and eat. But, he refused saying, "not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean" (Acts 10:13). The voice then said to him, "what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (verse 11). The wild beasts and creeping animals and fowls of the air represented the gentiles who were destined to be cleansed by their faith in Christ. The pastor was without scriptural support to accuse the apostle of racial prejudice when he was simply following a commandment not to consume unclean animals. Such command had been given to Israel by God himself (Leviticus 11:4, Deuteronomy 14:3). Furthermore, when Peter refused to eat, clearly, he was rejecting what he believed to be actual animals and not a mere representation of the gentiles. Peter was also correct when he spoke of the division that rightfully existed in the Old Testament between the children of Israel and the gentiles, also known as "strangers", who at any time, could and did join Israel (Exodus 12:47-50, Esther 8:17). Far too many believers are accepting the numerous erroneous teachings of Christian leaders as biblical truth. Also in the book of Acts is the account of the sharing of the gospel with the Bereans who verified in the scriptures what they were being taught before they believed (Acts 17:11).
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