Wine Is a Mocker, Strong Drink Is Raging - Part I
Aug 2023
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“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” —Proverbs 20:1
MY DAD’S POWERFUL TESTIMONY
As a boy growing up, I often heard about the negative results of drinking alcohol in my Dad’s sermons. My father, who is in heaven, was converted to Christ from the life of a drunkard. During his young adult years, Dad admitted to all that he lived a very ungodly life—drinking, gambling, and making moonshine whiskey. By the age of twenty-eight, his life was out of control. His first wife had died, and he had become a drunkard. Soon, he came down with alcohol poisoning. With his parents and family praying much, Dad started attending revival meetings at the nearby Happy Hill Church of God and later wrote that he “went to the altar every night and felt nothing.” Being led by the Holy Spirit, Dad located his deceased wife’s old Bible and read Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
This powerful promise inspired him to believe and have faith that he could be saved and delivered from alcohol. Dad writes that he was walking outside between his house and the barn, and the presence of God came mightily over him, and he was born again by Christ Jesus and totally healed and delivered from alcohol. Later on, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and called to preach. In about two years, Dad remarried and became an evangelist and pastor and preached the gospel for the next forty-eight years. With much emotion, He often reminded his children, “If you never take a drink, you will never become a drunkard like I was.” Neither I nor any of my brothers and sisters ever got involved in drinking wine, alcohol, or strong drink. He warned us and preached to us the truth.
The wise and ancient king of Israel, Solomon, penned these words three thousand years ago, found in Proverbs 20:1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” In this one verse, God’s Word describes the destructive results of drinking wine and strong drink.
SHOCKING STATISTICS
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) officially reported in 2023 that “approximately 140,000 men and women die every year from alcohol-related causes.” They reported that 13,384 persons died in car accidents due to alcohol-impaired drivers here in the United States. Twenty-eight percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities are associated with alcohol-related impaired driving. In addition, they reported that in the United States, there were 100,530 deaths due to liver disease and 47.4 percent of those deaths were caused by the drinking of alcohol. Every year, the drinking of alcohol, wine, vodka, and whiskey brings great pain, sorrow, shame, and literal destruction to thousands of Americans.
WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT DRINKING WINE AND STRONG DRINK?
1. In Leviticus 10:8-9, “And the Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die.” Isn’t it obvious that God did not want his priests to be intoxicated while fulfilling priestly duties?
2. Numbers 6:3-4 says, “He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried. All the days of his separation shall…” referring to the Nazarite vow.
3. Judges 13:3-5 says, “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.” The almighty God knew the destructive impact of wine and strong drink on a pregnant woman. The medical term is called fetal alcohol syndrome.
4. In Proverbs 20:1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” The wisest man to ever live says that if we do this, then we are deceived and not wise.
5. Proverbs 21:17 says, “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” Many “good” people become addicted to alcohol, and they lose their families and wealth.
6. Proverbs 23:29-30 “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.” Herein Solomon explains the results of drinking wine.
7. Proverbs 31:4-5 says, “It is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment….” Drinking causes many bad decisions.
8. Isaiah 28:7 says “But, they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink….” How many bad decisions have been made by intoxicated people that led to ruin and destruction?
9. Daniel 1:8 reads, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.” The word defile means “to pollute or stain.” Drinking wine and alcohol can defile and bring shame to a person.
10. Habakkuk 2:15 says, “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!” This is referring to what is now called date-rape. Many people encourage drinking to facilitate their immoral desires.
11. In Mark 15:23, we read, “And they gave him [Christ] to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.” The soldiers thought that it would deaden the pain. Christ refused it.
12. Luke 1:15 reads “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” Note: if “the young John” never takes one drink of wine or alcohol, he will never get inebriated.
13. In Luke 21:34, Jesus says to his disciples, “And take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” Everyone knows that getting “buzzed” or “smashed” can cause much shame, remorse, and regret.
14. Paul wrote in Romans 14:21, “It is good neither to eat flesh, [meat portions associated with heathen idol worship] nor to drink wine [oinos, fermented wine] nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” Alcohol or wine never blesses a society.
15. I Corinthians 5:11 “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 ….” The apostle Paul says to not even hang around anyone who is immoral, a railer, or a heavy drinker.
16. In I Corinthians 6:9-10 Paul declares, “Know ye not know 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 … shall inherit the kingdom of God.” This is the Word of God. Paul is very clear.
17. In I Timothy 3:3 and Titus 1:7, the apostle Paul emphasizes that bishops—ministers in leadership—are not to be given to wine (the Greek word for wine here is paroinos), which means not being a “tippler.” A tippler means, “to drink fermented wine continuously.” The safest way to deal with this is to not drink wine at all.
This article will continue in the next issue of The Evangelist.
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