Our society for the most part condones the consumption of alcohol. The makers of strong drinks will market it as a “good time” and “lets all party” all for the sake of money. It is nothing uncommon to see people drinking beer in family TV programming. Even from years gone by, the media was training our world through light hearted comedies like the Beverly Hillbillies. Everyone would laugh as Granny would break out the rheumatism medicine or Otis Campbell in the Andy Griffith show would come into the jail staggering drunk.
In this article I am not trying to judge anyone’s salvation nor motives but I have no problem saying that the Bible teaches Christians to be a teetotaler, period. Most of the reasoning for acceptance by a Christian to drink in what is called “moderation”, I perceive as flat out deception within Christianity. The problem started infecting the church when the ministers of God stopped taking a stand for total abstinence in lieu of better attendance.
No drunks in Heaven
Full blown alcoholics did not start out that way, it was one drink at a time until they eventually lose control and no longer care. Don’t be fooled, drunkards will not make it into heaven “ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God”[1]
One Drink Leads To Many Problems
Probably more than any single one question asked by Christians. “Is it ok to drink a little alcohol?” The best answer to this question would be 1st Thess 5:22 “Abstain from all appearance of evil”. When we become a new creation in Christ after repentance unto salvation, all the old things are supposed to pass away and a new creation in Jesus should come forth. So if we truly are born again, a drunken lifestyle in any capacity is certainly not of God and can also be a stumbling block to those around us.
We have to honestly ask ourselves, would the Lord condone alcohol that is responsible for more than 70% of home violence, kills more than 10,000 people on US highways every year, plays a role of more than 25% in suicides?
Abstinence is the healthy choice
I have personally watched many people die from the long term effects of alcohol. It is heart wrenching to watch someone die a painful death when the body shuts down because of the effects alcohol has on the body. Liver damage and liver cancer are very common in even moderate drinkers. In 2018 scientist released a report backtracking on previous “benefits” of small amounts of wine.
Doctors now say that abstinence is the best healthy lifestyle choice. Alcohol led to 2.8 million premature deaths in 2016; it was the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability in the 15 to 49 age group, accounting for 20 percent of deaths, according to the researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.[2]
All of these studies and statistics merely confirm what the Bible has said for thousands of years – Drinking makes you forget your responsibilities, and you mistreat the poor. Beer and wine are only for the dying or for those who have lost all hope. – [3]
Is one drink ok?
I cringe when I hear the statement “I only drink just one” because I know that is very dangerous ground to be on spiritually and physically. The Bible instructs the Christian to be sober and vigilant because the devil desires to crush you and your family with it. Many verses in the New Testament tell us to be sober. The Greek word for “sober” is nepho – it means to abstain from wine (keep sober) [4]. 12 verses in the New Testament tell preachers [5] and their wives[6] to keep sober. It instructs older men[7] to keep sober. It tells young men and women to stay sober.[8]
Especially as the end of days is at hand, be SOBER! [9]
Jesus Made Wine
Let us look at the most often used excuse to drink wine or alcohol “Jesus made wine at a wedding” or “Jesus drank wine at the last supper”. The word wine as we know it in our modern culture is only singular in meaning , a fermented alcoholic grape juice. But wine translated in the KJV could have meant many different things.
Dr. Ferrar Fenton, translator of The Holy Bible in Modern English, showed six different meanings of the Greek Word for wine “oinos”. Actual grapes, raisins, syrup, fresh grape juice, jam and a fermented grape juice. The word we use “wine” came into the current meaning as a drink of alcohol during the Prohibition Days of the United States. Words like “wino” evolved out of that.
To argue whether the wine Jesus made at the wedding was fermented or grape juice would not be productive. It would take an exhaustive amount of words to explain in depth the Greek words that were in the original text and in what context they were used. Then there would be rebuttal over different translations. We must use a word for word translation and the KJV is undeniable the best according to Jewish historians. The Bible clearly shows the wine at the wedding was grape juice and not fermented.
What would Jesus do?
It is a perversion of the Word of God to claim that Jesus produced or drank alcoholic wine. Let it not be said among Christians that we think that “a little drunk” is ok, because it’s not.
Path To Victory
Lastly, my heart goes out to you if you are struggling with drinking. Maybe God put you in the path of this post to help you. I accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord as my life in 2005. I still struggled with beer and cigarettes after I was gloriously saved. God stripped a severe drug addiction and many other things from me the day I repented at an altar, but I still had things going on I did not understand. There was no doubt that Jesus had saved me. Extreme conviction would sweep over me when I would drink even a few beers. I went searching for the answers. I found the truth I was looking for by supernatural intervention of God.
The answer to victory He showed me was in the Cross. I am not speaking of the wooden beam, I am talking about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Daily God wants the same faith from me that saved me, faith in Jesus and His Cross. I had tried under my own will power and strengths to put down those things that I knew were wrong. I had tried to even condone it with “a little is ok”.
The Truth of the Cross
God showed me that correct faith is in Christ and Him Crucified. That correct faith gives the Holy Spirit the means to work in my life. After I discovered God’s prescribed order of victory, I was forever changed. When that hit me, I told God “if this thing is real, take the cigarettes and alcohol from me”. The next day I woke up free from the bondages that had held me for so many years.
Your victory over alcohol, or any sin, may not be instant. You may struggle with it. But don’t quit, don’t give up. God will bring you the victory. The danger is in when we think it is ok and we no longer allow the Holy Spirit to convict. We must never condone sin in any shape form or fashion. But God loves the sinner and wants you to change in all areas of your life. It is one thing to struggle under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. But it is something completely different to condone sinful activity. A Christian is deceived to think that drinking alcohol in any capacity is ok.
The idea of total alcohol abstinence may not set well with many. There is no doctrinal ground to stand on for consuming alcohol in any capacity.
God bless and may you discover the victory that awaits you in the Message of the Cross.
Pastor F. L. Wilson
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” – 1st Cor 1:18