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Daniel: The Pulse Experiment

Daniel and his three friends decided not to eat the king’s food or drink his wine. The chief eunuch, who was their overseer, was troubled by this, believing that they were rejecting the healthiest diet in the empire. Daniel 1:8-10 says,

⁸ But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

It is most likely that the king’s menu included meats that were unclean according to the laws in Leviticus 11. The spiritual law of the same passage teaches us how to eat clean spiritual food, so that we might grow spiritually during our Babylonian captivity. I discussed the details of these laws in my fourth book on Deuteronomy, chapter 2.

⁹ Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, ¹⁰ and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king.”

He was afraid that if these Judahites were presented to the king looking gaunt and sickly, that he himself would be held accountable and might lose his head. So they devised an experiment. Daniel 1:11-13 continues,

¹¹ But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables [zeroa, “pulse”] to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then let our appearance be observed in your presence, and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

What was this food that Daniel and his three friends preferred to eat? We know that it was not a single food but included a number of vegetables. The most important part of it was its preparation. We will have more to say of this shortly, but first let us see the result of the pulse experiment. Daniel 1:14-17 says,

¹⁴ So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵ And at the end of the days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. ¹⁶ So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables [pulse]. ¹⁷ And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.

We see that the experiment was a success. Was it due to the nutritional quality of the food, or was it their obedience to the law of God that made the difference? I believe that both factors were at play, each in its own way. Good food (by itself) certainly will enhance our ability to think properly, because body and soul are interconnected. But Daniel’s ability to understand “visions and dreams” is a spiritual intelligence that cannot be acquired by diet alone.

No doubt Daniel’s relationship with God made the difference. I believe also that Daniel was not a mere legalist in his adherence to the law of God. I believe he understood how the biblical food laws taught spiritual truths about the characteristics of clean and unclean meat (and its preparation). The food laws show us how to distinguish truth from falsehood and how to discern its manner of delivery or preparation.

These truths also show us how to turn Bible study into revelation by meditation on the word (or, “chewing the cud”). Daniel’s gift, then, was based on more than a mere knowledge of the food laws. He understood, as did the Apostle Paul many years later, that “the law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14). Most importantly, since Daniel was a type of overcomer during the long Babylonian captivity, this pulse experiment teaches us how to maintain the revelation of the Word in a non-biblical culture.

We may also see in this story the contrast between the Babylonian King’s Table and Christian communion, whereby we sit at the true King’s Table during the long captivity to Babylon (and all of the beast empires).

What is Pulse?

Many years ago I met a man who had discovered the secret of pulse. His name is Don Tolman. As a child, he had become fascinated with the story of Daniel and wanted to know what Pulse was. His parents could not tell him. So he asked the preacher, but the preacher had to admit that he did not know either. In fact, no one seemed to know.

Many years later, he happened to meet a curator of a historical museum (in a coffee shop, if I recall), who befriended him. The curator allowed Don to come to the museum and to see the archeological items in storage areas that were not on display to the public. There he found the “formula” to make pulse. Don now owns a company that makes pulse and sells it to the public. The company is Don Tolman International. Its home page is here:

http://www.dontolmaninternational.com/

On the company website he tells how the formula for pulse originated in ancient times:

After scouring the globe for nearly two decades as a young adult to unlock the history and mystery of Pulse, I’m thrilled to have it finally back in people’s hands. Direct from nature’s table, Pulse is a raw blend of specific wholefood ingredients that for thousands of years, was the secret to optimal health.

Pulse was understood by only a select few throughout history. It harnesses a unique code found within nature (the Phi Ratio) to optimise every single cell of your body - dispatching toxins, delivering energy and helping you to elevate your mental clarity and focus to entirely new levels.

The Ancient History of Pulse

For thousands of years the secret to optimal health has been passed through the ancient mystery schools of learning. One of the main goals of evolving cultures was to appeal to and enhance all of the five senses.

Leonardo Da Vinci used sacred geometry in all of his paintings. The Greeks and other cultures relied on sacred geometry to create their statues, buildings and cities. Pythagoras developed music using the sacred geometry found in octaves.

Today we know that all of these brilliant individuals created the highest levels of experience in sight, smell and sound, but most people don’t know that combining these sacred proportions into meal offerings was the highest work that could be achieved. 

It was anciently referred to as “golden measured meals”. Pythagoras called it the “Meal of Hercules”. Daniel from the Old Testament took this information and called it "Pulse."

Pythagoras was known as the father of numbers because he laid the foundation for modern mathematics. He identified that all of creation can be mathematically mapped out. Pythagoras developed the 7 octaves of our modern day musical instruments and he created the Renaissance that brought about an age where Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and others were inspired by his profound knowledge.

Just as there are 7 notes of the octave, Pythagoras noticed that there are 7 colours of the rainbow, 7 days of the week and he observed that there are 7 systems of the body that can be harmonically tuned, just like that of a piano or guitar.

Through his ties to the ancient mystery schools of knowledge and his understanding of mathematics, Pythagoras learned how to create the sacred meal that enhanced all 7 systems of the body.

He understood the secret wisdom of the PHI and PI ratios, which lead him to observe the relationship between plant wholefoods and human anatomy. Pythagoras wrote about these specific ‘signs’ in nature and called it the “Law of Similarities” or the “Signum Natura” which meant, “A thing unto itself is drawn”.

Today, Pulse is meticulously handcrafted in our purpose-built facility in Northern New South Wales, Australia using the exact same ratios, measures and ingredients that was anciently prepared and consumed for optimum health and wellbeing.

http://www.dontolmaninternational.com/pages/pulse

The book of Daniel does not tell us how Daniel and his three friends were introduced to pulse. It appears that they learned of it after arriving in Babylon. Whatever the case, they saw its value, and used it as an alternative to the diet at the Babylonian king’s table.

Daniel 1:18-20 continues,

¹⁸ Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them [i.e., after three years of intense study], the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. ²⁰ And as for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

Babylonian culture (especially in occult societies) seeks for the “lost wisdom” of the ancients, but they seek for the wisdom that the “magicians and conjurers” had in the time of Daniel. If they would but seek true wisdom and understanding from God, they would find not only the truth, but the wisdom to apply it by the mind of Christ. Unfortunately, wisdom that is derived by eating from the Babylonian King’s Table motivates men to use knowledge to gain power over men. The wisdom that is from the true King’s Table teaches men how to use the knowledge of God to set men free.

Daniel 1:21 concludes,

²¹ And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.

Daniel apparently died shortly after King Cyrus of Persia came to replace Darius the Mede, who had organized the kingdom for the first three years after the fall of Babylon.