What Do People Who Drink Alcohol Often Say?

Many today plead their case for drinking alcohol, saying: “Oh, we only drink a glass of wine once in a while, or at special occasions with our dinner,” etc. In and of itself this may seem harmless enough. However, many such persons drink often, and far more than “just a glass!” Even ministers and their spouses in these times are known to imbibe at home and in public places, to the point of either partial or total inebriation! Surely this is not exemplary behavior or the worthy testimony of a “more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Sometime ago, an Internationally recognized minister’s wife was seen dining with a group of people in a high class restaurant, where all were imbibing quite freely. She was under the influence to the extent that her speech became slurred, and her third large balloon glass was being held at a precarious angle, threatening to dump its contents on the white linen tablecloth! During this scenario, she had been expounding upon matters spiritual, in an overly loud, disturbing voice; while the others freely interspersed their comments and remarks. Dearly Beloved in Christ, my only response to this is… “Something is wrong! Very, very wrong!!!”

Drinking alcohol “recreationally,” even in moderation, is as dangerous as toying with a deadly cobra!

"At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder" (Proverbs 23:32).

What Has The Church Said In The Past?

Today, many Christian groups hold to a more liberal view on this subject, allowing for “drinking in moderation.” Such was not always the case! In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, the First and Second “Great Awakening” Revivals (as well as other powerful Revivals of Holiness) took place, in which many of the principles of Holiness were widely restored to the Church! John Wesley preached abstinence from alcohol (except in such cases of medicinal use), which became an important teaching in early Methodism!

Furthermore, the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches held largely to the same position during the Nineteenth Century, as did the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements well into the Twentieth Century! In fact, for those who did take such a stand, we can trace their more conservative positions all the way back to the period of the Reformation (the early Sixteenth Century)!

In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, much of the Church embraced the teaching of abstinence from alcohol! Abstinence was widely accepted and declared right into the Twentieth Century by a large segment of the Body of Christ! Nearly all Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Holiness, and Pentecostal groups held to this position through most of the Twentieth Century!

Godly Love:

Abstinence from alcohol is a Biblical standard which should be practiced by all professing Believers in Jesus Christ, and may be better understood by: Examining the Scriptures in light of our responsibility to both God and fellow man; highlighting the nature of Godly love; and showing how such love relates to abstaining from drinking alcohol.

Biblical ethics and morals are based upon the premise of: What God has said, what God has done, and who God is! God has given us the freedom to do what is right! In order to know what is right, one must know not only what God says, through His law, but also by who God is!

"...The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel; the LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:’ this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:29-31).

In Matthew’s Gospel account, after Jesus stated these two commandments, He qualified His statement by saying: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). It is these two commandments by which all the law and the prophets are summed up, and upon which they hang!

Beloved, in consideration of the above, let us realize that God does not specifically mention every law we are to obey, but that He does say what the greatest law is, and it is under this “LAW OF LOVE” that the principles and ethics of all His laws find their rightful place. This includes the principle of abstinence from alcohol! In other words, He didn’t mention “Thou shalt not drink alcohol,” because it was not necessary for Him to do so. It is implied in the concept of wholeheartedly loving your God and loving your neighbor.

It is not for law, BUT FOR LOVE, that we obey the commandments of God! What then would or should someone be willing to do for the sake of love? Hopefully much! The Apostle Paul, anointed and inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9). Paul understood the meaning of Christian liberty as being the freedom to choose to do the right thing, even if it meant abstaining from something which would cause a brother to stumble. He goes on to say: “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak…” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Paul understood that there would be always weaker Believers with whom he would be in contact! Therefore, in order to show the love of God to them, he became like them in the sense that he would not do that which offended their conscience. For example, he states: “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (1 Corinthians 8:13). Paul would have given up the pleasure of eating meat and drinking wine for the rest of his life if it meant that he would be protecting a weaker brother’s conscience! Paul clearly wasn’t concerned about just fulfilling a command to not drink, in order to satisfy and appease God's Law! Rather, he was willing to abstain from alcohol, solely for the love of someone else who might stumble! By “stumbling,” Paul meant “falling” into sin:

"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak" (Romans 14:21).

Paul knew that if people observed him drinking, it could cause them to be offended or feel like they themselves had the liberty to drink! If they could not withstand the temptation, and consequently fell into sin, then Paul would have been guilty of causing them to stumble, and possibly becoming an alcoholic. Therefore, he refrained for the sake of the weaker brother or sister! This, of course, is always the case with those who minister. They especially must be very careful about their example in such matters! Paul had much to say concerning what it means to love one's neighbor. To the Corinthian church, Paul put a capstone on the issue when he stated:

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved (1 Corinthians 10:31-33).

Biblical Warnings And Examples:

While the above is true, it is also true that by way of example, God has given in the Scriptures ample warnings and admonitions against excessive indulgence of alcohol, which brings always serious consequences.

Below are nine references of drunkenness with its dire consequences, as found in the Old Testament:

1. Noah became drunk (Genesis 9:20-24).

2. Lot became drunk (Genesis 19:30-38).

3. Nabal, Abigail’s husband became drunk (I Samuel 25:36-38).

4. Elah, king of Israel became drunk (I Kings 16:8-10).

5. Benhadad, king of Syria and thirty-two kings with him became drunk (I Kings 20:16-21).

6. The Ephraimites, including their priests and prophets became drunk (Isaiah 28:1-8).

7. Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and his lords, wives, and concubines became drunk (Daniel 5:22-31).

8. The inhabitants of Judah became drunk (Joel 1:1-12).

9. The inhabitants of Nineveh became drunk (Nahum 1:9-15).

Below are twelve references of warnings and admonitions against alcohol abuse, found in both the Old and New Testaments:

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1).

"Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags" (Proverbs 23:20-21).

"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again" (Proverbs 23:29-35).

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted" (Proverbs 31:4-5).

"Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory" (Habbakkuk 2:15-16).

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36).

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:12-14).

"But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat" (1 Corinthians 5:11).

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21).

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him" (1 Thessalonians 5:6-10).

Two True Accounts:

Some years ago, a notable Pastor with his wife, while Pastoring in a large, metropolitan area, came to the grim reality that they were completely ineffective in dealing with alcoholics, and with other excessive behaviors in their congregation. They went before the Lord in sincere contrition and repentance, even though they themselves imbibed very minimally. They made a consecration to abstain totally from alcohol, and asked the Lord to place upon them His power and authority to set people free from bondages! Almost immediately, powerful deliverances and dramatic interventions began to occur in their congregation. Many were totally and remarkably set free from alcohol, drugs, gambling, the occult, sexual bondages, pornography, etc. As a result of this consecration, another amazing thing happened. This couple found themselves newly empowered and energized with the authority of Christ to set people free, and with the anointing to operate in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Their ministry enlarged and expanded rapidly from that time of consecration, and carried them to numerous nations of the world, with remarkable results, unto the glory of God!

This principle does not apply only to ministers, but also to folk in the congregations! Please allow me to share a true account of which I was recently personally informed: A young brother of my long acquaintance was powerfully converted some years ago, and lifted out of a worldly lifestyle which included a serious bondage to alcohol. To this day, there is a powerful calling of God upon his life and remarkable giftings and abilities from the Lord. At one point, he was well upon his way to coming into his ministry, but, as is often the case (even though he had been totally alcohol-free for a number of years), he began to observe certain Believers whom he respected in his home-church, as they blatantly and openly persisted in drinking recreationally, and often to excess! He would visit brothers in Christ, seeking Christian fellowship, only to see cases of beer and liquor bottles strewn about, and also being plied with drinks! He held-up for awhile, but it was not easy for him to break these long-standing friendships. Eventually he became very disenchanted and discouraged, until he weakened! Being fed-up and disgusted with their behavior, and with his own vulnerability, he finally gave up trying, and again began to drink (another tragic casualty of hypocritical behavior in the Church).

By his own admission, he has never since been able to regain his former position of abstinence, but struggles still with alcohol dependency. Upon recently learning of this, I was both saddened and angered! Saddened for my dear friend; and angered by the inconsistency of professing Believers, who instead of being role models and examples, became stumbling blocks and hindrances unto others!

One must ask: Are such unfortunate souls completely to blame, in view of the fact that their Pastors have “fallen down on the job,” and have compromised to the extent of departing from the Scriptural plumb-line, and the standards of Righteousness and Holiness established in God’s Word? Who will answer? You may be assured that someone indeed will be held responsible and accountable for every “little one” who has been offended by those, who should have known better!

Ministering To Those Who Struggle With Addictions:

As a Believer, I am obliged to minister to all those struggling with alcohol, and with those sinking into addiction! Were I to imbibe, they may feel that they also had liberty to do so, regardless of what I preached or how I counseled to the contrary! Were a fellow brother to see me exit a bar (even if I did not drink alcohol; but went there just to eat), he may feel justified in going there, potentially with disastrous consequences! It is hardly worth such a risk to a fellow Believer’s soul! We must never forget that the taking of many such non-essential liberties are often the cause of another’s destruction! If, because of a careless witness, I cause my brothers or sisters to stumble, I will have their souls to answer for in the Judgment! Were they to die in such a condition, their blood may very well be required at my hands! While I may find forgiveness for causing someone to stumble, should they die in an unrepentant state, they may suffer an eternity in hell!

How much is a soul worth? ...A million dollars? …A billion dollars? No price can possibly be placed upon a soul, except Jesus’ blood; the supreme sacrifice! Is a soul for whom Jesus died worth the avoiding of unnecessary indulgences, which may cause the loss or injury of that soul? Should not we be willing to walk carefully, in the path of Holiness for the sake of love? Certainly Jesus did! As Believers, we are not only to model the example of Jesus who gave Himself for others, but we are to be “conformed” unto His image (Romans 8:29). Jesus gave up all! He laid down His life for His sheep” (John 10:15). He gave His very life! “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’” (Matthew 16:24).

The unconditional love of Christ that is to be modeled by His children is the love that will give up much for the sake of another, especially for the sake of the weak! Please understand that I do not judge or condemn those who drink! It would be hypocritical for any Believer to condemn the moderate drinker, or even the drunkard, when he himself must trust the grace of God everyday for his own right relationship with God! We are all hopeless sinners; saved by grace! I do believe, however, that ABSTINENCE IS GOD’S WAY FOR ALL BELIEVERS! This is not only my earnest and heart-felt conviction, but I sincerely believe it to be a Divinely mandated commission to teach “abstinence” to the Body of Christ!

Unfortunately, Believers who drink in “moderation” so often wish to be among other fellow imbibers, and thus entice others into such social practices! For this cause, many in the Body of Christ are compromising, and many have fallen into the clutches of alcoholism! There are countless souls in hell today who through drinking, backslid to their own destruction! The Body of Christ must be warned to flee from this lethal deception, and from the sin of laying a stumbling block before those who are weak! So often I hear Christians say: “What would Jesus do?” Jesus would show love to His brother and never lay before him an obstacle or temptation that would cause his destruction!

Jesus is calling His saints to lay down every excuse (justifying their drinking of alcohol) upon His altar of sacrifice in exchange for Resurrection-Power, to fulfill the call He has placed upon their lives! I believe it is a sin to cause another to stumble! Is the Believer who drinks alcohol, knowing that it may cause his weaker brother to stumble, really expressing brotherly, Godly love and concern, or is he deliberately and knowingly dragging a vulnerable soul down into his own quagmire of sin, rebellion, and compromise? Such persons, if they refuse to repent, will sooner or later have their necks fitted for a millstone:

"Then said He [Jesus] unto His disciples, ‘It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through who they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones’" (Luke 17:1-2).

It is true that some persons are determined to drink alcohol, and commit sin no matter what! However, if more Christians would take the stand for abstinence, I believe those who COULD BE influenced one way or the other WOULD BE COMPELLED UNTO HOLINESS!!! It is my urgent plea to all who call themselves “Christian Believers,” to pray very earnestly, concerning the issue of alcohol, and to open your hearts to the conviction of the Holy Spirit!