Wine is a Mocker
By
Shelby G. Floyd
Abraham
Lincoln once said, “Whiskey has many defenders, but no defense.”
President Lincoln was a great opponent of strong drink. It is still true that
whiskey and strong drink has many defenders, but there are no plausible
arguments that can be made in its behalf. Strong drink is one of the greatest
curses that have ever beset our country. There are several million alcoholics.
There are an equal number of persons who are classed as problem drinkers. The
drinking of strong drink and drunkenness cause thousands of deaths annually on
our nations highways. Many times this number of persons is injured for life,
resulting from accidents caused by drinking drivers.
The
Bible has much to say about strong drink, and the evils that are associated
with it. Solomon is noted for his wisdom and the books that are written by him
are inspired. In the book of Proverbs we have some of the greatest principles
on ethics and morality that can be found. Solomon said, “Wine is a mocker,
strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
(Proverbs 20: 1.) Wine is a mocker in that the person who drinks wine mocks
things that are decent and wholesome. Those who drink wine and strong drink are
deceived, and they are not wise. In the New Testament Paul said, “Be not deceived;
God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6: 7.)
Those
who continue to drink wine and strong drink usually come to poverty, because
the labor of their hands is used to buy the fiery liquid. Their families are deprived
of food, clothing and other necessities of life in order to gratify their
desires for strong drink. Solomon said, “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor
man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.”
(Proverbs 21: 17.) He also said, “Be not among winebibbers; among
riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to
poverty: and drowsiness shal1 clothe a man with rags.” (Proverbs 23: 20-21.)
The
liquor industry advertises its products in glowing terms. Strong drink is
usually associated with the young and those who are successful; but such is far
from being a true picture of those who are taken in by such deceitfulness.
Solomon described the humiliation brought upon those who go to wine when he
said, “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.” (Proverbs 23: 29-32.) There are some persons who have tried to use
the Bible as approving the use of wine. But Solomon says, “Look not thou
upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it
moveth itself aright.” (Prov. 23: 31.) Therefore, when wine is mentioned in
the Bible in the sense of intoxicating drink; it is always condemned.
It is a
dangerous precedent for any nation of people to become a race of
alcoholics. There are many examples of
nations who have fallen because of the people being addicted to strong drink.
In the
fifth chapter of Daniel we read about the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belehazzar, who made a great feast for the princes; and
they drank wine out of the vessels of gold, silver and brass that were taken
out of the
It is
high time that the drinking of strong drink be branded for the evil that it
really is. The Christian cannot have any fellowship with such works of
darkness. Paul wrote to the Romans and admonished them to “walk honestly, as
in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness.”
(Romans 13: 13.)
Someone
has said,
“There is an old fable which tells of a man who had the choice of three sins that he could commit—drunkenness, adultery or murder. He chose drunkenness as apparently the least; but when he was drunk he committed both the others. Who shall reckon up the number of crimes committed under the influence of strong drink? Crimes from the very thought of which the individuals who perpetuated them would in their sober senses have shrunk back appalled.”
Isaiah wrote,
“Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
and champions at mixing drinks,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the
innocent. (Isaiah 5: 20-23.)
Copyright © 2007