Death and Drink
By
Shelby G. Floyd
March, 2009
All philosophy lies in
two words, sustain and abstain. –Epictetus
Recently I listened to Paul
Harvey’s daily news program on the radio as I drove along in my automobile. He
said something that was humorous but also had a very serious tone to it.
Apparently there was a little boy who had watched too much television. His
father took him to a restaurant for a meal. When the waitress asked him what he
would like to have he said, “I’ll have the largest steak in the
house and a bottle of Lowenbrau.”
All of us who watch
television just a little know that the programs are saturated with references
to beer, wine and all kinds of strong drink. Subtly implied is the idea that it
is the “in” thing. The idea is that if you are young, happy and
successful, drinking alcoholic beverages is the thing to do. We know that is
not the entire picture or story of drinking strong drink.
Television stories and dramas
fail to show the broken homes and the people who are maimed and killed on the
highways by drinking drivers. They fail to show the entire picture. I read in
the Indianapolis Star a story by Bob Greene that pictures the other side of the
coin. This is a story about the dangers of drinking alcohol, especially by
young people who start at an early age. It is wrong for anybody. It is
especially sad to see young people start early in life to destroy their lives
and influence by drinking alcohol.
Bob Greene on Alcohol
Bob Greene writes about a girl
who is about eighteen years old and an alcoholic. He calls her a teenage
alcoholic. Following, this girl tells in her own words the tragic story of how
she became an alcoholic. She says, “I started drinking when I was nine or ten
years old. My dad would give me half of his beer. I started to take liquor out
of the pantry. It was easy because both of my parents were alcoholics. It was a
sick family, but it seemed normal to me. I would drink rum and coke every day.
I never knew why I was doing it. It was not for pleasure. All I know is that I
was ten years old and I was an alcoholic.”
She says, “We would go to the
relatives’ houses to visit and they would think it was cute if I was drinking.
You know, a little kid drinking. They would say, ‘Oh, you can have one drink
but no more,’ and they would laugh. I would go into their kitchen and fill my
glass. It did not take me long to go from beer to highballs to straight
whiskey. Giving a beer to a little kid who does not know any better! I mean
people think it is so funny to see a little kid sipping on a drink. They would
be appalled if an adult gave a joint or some pills to a little kid. But letting
a little kid have a drink is okay. That is the whole thing about alcohol versus
drugs. Everyone thinks that drugs are a big problem, but they can handle the
idea of alcohol because it is so readily available. It is part of our society.
It is everywhere. Everyone does it. It is advertised. People do not want to
admit it is a big problem because it is a part of their own lives. They can
handle thinking heroin is a problem, but when they talk about alcohol they are
talking about themselves.
“Meanwhile, I was hooked. I never liked school after I started
drinking. I could not learn. My parents split up because my Mom gave up
drinking and my Dad could not. So with no alcohol around the house I had to
start finding ways to get it myself. I would steal it. I started shoplifting to
get myself booze. My Mom took me to a psychiatrist when I was in the sixth
grade. Psychiatrists always want to put stuff on you, like this guy said
I was depressed and I had mood swings. He said I was hyperactive and he gave me
drugs to calm down. I had to take these drugs for years when the real problem
was obvious. It was alcoholism. It is a disease. It is as simple as that.”
“My Mom knew what was wrong.
She took me to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when I was fourteen. Inside I
knew I was an alcoholic but I did not want to admit it. I thought to myself, I
do not need this AA stuff. I am not that bad off. I knew that I really was, but
I did not want to stop. I thought the skid row type. But actually there are
alcoholics in all walks of life—senators, movie stars, even priests and little
kids like me.”
“I lost all of my teenage
years. I would make my friends drink with me. I started stealing more to buy
the booze. After I started getting arrested, I started having suicidal
tendencies. I always carried a razor blade in my shoe or inside the patches of
my jeans. I told myself that if I got arrested again I would kill myself but I
never did try it. Last year was the year it really got bad. There was one
four-month period when I was arrested twenty times. Mostly it was little stuff
like being drunk in public or shoplifting, but once I got arrested for armed
robbery. What happened was, I was on my way over to the supermarket to purse
snatch and I saw this newspaper delivery boy on his bike. I figured he was
working so he had money. I had a knife on me. I went up to him and said, “Do
you have any money?” He said, “No.” I pulled the knife out and held it to his
side. He promised he did not have any money so I let him go. But when I was
walking out of the store he was there with a policeman and pointed me out and I
was arrested.”
“It was about that time that
I knew I needed help very badly. It was fun up until then and then it was not
fun anymore. I talked to my Mom about it. The time had come when I finally
said, “Gena, you are an alcoholic and you need help.
It is either get help now or end up killing yourself
or getting yourself killed.” So I went to a psychiatric hospital. I was there
for four and one-half months. I did not do too well at first, but I started
doing better. I am not ready to go back into the real world yet, but I am
getting there.”
That is the story of a little
girl who was given beer, graduated to stronger drink and became an alcoholic.
The story shows how her life, the youthful years when she should have been having
friends and enjoying herself the right way, was lost and destroyed.
“There is death in the pot”
In the Old Testament in 2
Kings 4 there is a story about Elisha the prophet. He went down to Gilgal and
there he assembled himself and the sons of the prophets. He said to his
servant, “Set on the pot.” The words “Set on the pot” do not mean he was to get
a pot out and climb up and sit on it. Elisha said, “Set on the pot.” To “Set on
the pot” meant that he was to set the pot on the fire. He said, “Seethe some
pottage for the sons of the prophets are hungry.” Elisha sent his servants out
to gather the materials for the pottage. The Bible says one of them went out
into the field to gather the herbs, spices and whatever else they used then.
This person found a wild vine and gathered some gourds from this wild vine. He
brought all these ingredients back and then shredded them up. The wild gourds
were also shredded into the pot. They stirred in and cooked all the
ingredients. About the time the pottage was ready to serve to the sons of the
prophets, somebody cried out and said, “There is death in the pot!”
Elisha told them to go get
some meal and mix it into the pot. It was an antidote to the poison of the wild
gourds. Having added the meal, it was served to the sons of the prophets and
they were not poisoned.
There is Death in the Drink!
I want to apply this story to alcoholic beverages. We need to
cry out as the people did back then. We need to say, “There is death in the
bottle, or can, or other container in which beer, wine and whiskey is found!”
We need to cry out to our friends and neighbors, “There is death in the bottle,
there is death in the can!” We need to explain to our young people in plain
terms that they will destroy themselves if they drink that stuff. Somebody has
said that alcoholic beverages destroy internally, externally and eternally.
Alcoholic beverages will destroy one physically, morally, mentally and
spiritually.
Social Drinking is Sinful
Someone may say, “Well, I really do not see anything wrong
with drinking in a social way.” He may use John 2 as support for social
drinking. John 2 is the story about a marriage feast held in
From this story some have
drawn the conclusion that Jesus condoned social drinking. They conclude he
would encourage us today to drink wine, go to marriage feasts, cocktail lounges
and anywhere else to drink socially with people. Let me tell you that it simply
is not true.
Biblical Usage of the Word “Wine”
In the Bible the word “wine” is
used three ways. Sometimes it is used for the grape while it is still hanging
in the cluster on the vine in the field. It is used in the sense of fresh grape
juice that is on the vine, not yet gathered and squeezed out. The second way it
is used is for fresh grape juice squeezed out of the grape. That is the way it
is used in John 2.
I would encourage reading a
book called “Bible Wines.” The ancients had many ways to preserve grape juice
to keep it as fresh and sweet as Welch’s Grape Juice you buy at the supermarket
today. They could preserve it for a year at a time. When it was opened it would
be as fresh and sweet and unfermented as the day it was squeezed out of the
grape. For a party or wedding back then, it was the mark of a good host to
serve grape juice that was still fresh and sweet, despite whether it was in or
out of season. This undoubtedly is the sense in which the word “wine” is used
in John 2 concerning the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee.
The Use of Fermented Wine Condemned
The third way the word “wine”
is used is in the sense of fermented wine or strong drink. In both the Old and
New Testaments, when the word “wine” is used in the sense of fermented wine, it
is always condemned. Let me give you an example in the Old Testament. Solomon
was the Sage of the nation of
“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath
redness of eyes?” Then he answered those questions. “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 color 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 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.”
Nowhere else in the Bible can a passage be found that
condemns drinking wine, beer and strong drink more plainly! Notice Solomon
said, “Who hath wounds and contentions
and redness of eyes and babblings?” It was the people who tarried long at
wine and mixed drinks. So they had mixed drinks back then. Then he said,
“Look not thou upon the wine when it is
red.” That is a prohibition. It meant the people could drink wine when it
was fresh grape juice. When it was red and moving itself, or fermenting, they
were not to “look upon it.” That meant they could not drink it. The Old
Testament is very clear in its condemnation of drinking fermented wine. There
are other passages also. The Book of Proverbs says, “Wine is a mocker, but strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise.” This covers any other strong drink.
New Testament Teaching On Alcoholic Drink
What does the New Testament
say about drinking alcoholic beverages? In Ephesians 5:18-19 Paul said to the
Ephesians, “And be not drunk with wine
wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord.” Notice he said, “Do not be filled with the one thing, but be
filled with something else.” Do not be filled with wine. Why? It will cause
drunkenness and the loss of self-respect. Be filled with the Spirit.
How are we filled with the
Spirit? Colossians
In 1 Corinthians 6 the
apostle Paul wrote words to some Christian people who had come from very
immoral backgrounds. They had done just about everything named in the Gentile
world, but had been baptized into Christ. Paul told them to leave their former
manner of life because now they were God’s people. He said, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the
I appeal to all who are
Christian people. Maybe you have done things in the past mentioned in 1
Corinthians 6:9-11. If you have been baptized into Christ, you should do those
things no longer. Paul said, “Such were some of you.” In other words, you did
those things in times past, but can no longer do them and be consistent with
the doctrine of Christ. Why? You have been washed in the waters of baptism. You
have been sanctified by the name of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God has
justified you. Is it consistent for a washed, sanctified, justified person to
drink alcoholic beverages? No! Nor is it consistent to do any of the other
sinful things that might previously have characterized his life.
I especially appeal to those
in their teenage years. The Devil is trying to work on you and tempt you to
drink alcoholic beverages. He uses every avenue, every means and every media to
try to get you away from serving God and to cause you to lose your spiritual
influence. If somebody tries to get you to take a drink, cry out and say, “No,
there is death in the pot! There is death in the bottle and I will not destroy
my soul, my body and my influence.”
The Bible tells us that our bodies are the temples of the
Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6). The Bible says that if we destroy our
bodies that are the temples of the Holy Spirit, then God will destroy us. Let us
not think of our bodies as receptacles for strong drink, cigarettes, drugs and
things of that nature. Let us instead tell ourselves, “I will keep my body as
healthy as I can. It is a gift from God and I will not mistreat it. I will not
put poison into it. I will try to stay as healthy as I can so I will have good
years and good influence to serve God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the
way we ought to think.
Think seriously about the
lesson. Think seriously about a teenage girl who is an alcoholic because her parents started
giving her beer when she was just a little girl. Think about what Solomon said.
Think about what Paul said, and think about your influence as a Christian.
If you are not a child of
God, the Church is the best place on the face of this earth to be. There are no
better people than Christian people, even with all of their faults and
shortcomings. Christian people are the salt of the earth and the light of the
world. I believe that if the Church were taken off the face of this earth, God
would have to destroy it because we could not stand to live on it. We are the
influence on this earth to change the hearts of men and women. We can change
them with the gospel of Christ. We can change them when people see the gospel
changing and molding our lives and making us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Let us not partake of anything that would cause us to lose our influence.
If you are not a Christian, confess your faith in Jesus Christ, repent
and be baptized and live the Christian life. If you have lost your influence
and are no longer faithful to Christ, be restored. God will forgive you. You
can start where you left off and grow unto eternal salvation.*
*A Sermon Delivered By Shelby G. Floyd,