DOCTRINE
There are doctrines of men and there are doctrines of God (see Matthew 16:12; Mark 7:7–13). How can one know if the doctrine is of God or man? “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). Today the word “doctrine” has a bad name, but it did not to Christ and the New Testament church. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…” (Acts 2:42). Remember that the word “doctrine” only means “teaching” (Strong’s).
DRUNKENNESS, DRUGS, AND SMOKING
If one never starts to drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette or take illicit drugs, he will not have to fight the temptation or be controlled by it. Do not start. Why have an expensive, unhealthy habit that very often leads to addiction?
I have found that most every drunk knows the Bible verse where Christ worked a miracle and turned the water into wine. There are ministers today who defend their drinking habit, and yes, some become drunk and give Christianity a bad name. Some quote those who say the word “wine” in the original languages “always and only” means something alcoholic, but this is not sustainable when one looks at certain Bible passages. There are many words in both the Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek translated “wine.” The words “grape juice” are not found in the Bible (KJV), yet there are some passages where this is the obvious meaning of the word “wine.” And though it was much more common in the Bible, even today wine and beer can be found without any alcohol content.
We are sometimes hindered by our understanding of what wine is in our day and the use of it. We cannot look at a modern-day map, which has the boundary lines of Israel today, and then assume these were Israel’s boundaries in biblical days. In King David’s day, Israel’s border went all the way to the Euphrates River (1 Chronicles 18:3; 2 Samuel 8:3; Genesis 15:18). So how words are used in the Bible and what was meant by them is not always the same as today. In the Bible there is wine that has alcohol and leads to nakedness and a curse (Genesis 9:21–25; 19:32–35; Habakkuk 2:15; and Proverbs 20:1), and there is also wine that has no alcohol (non-fermented). And even the wines that were intoxicating in the Bible had a much lower percentage of alcohol, with many people believing Bible wines contained only half as much alcohol as today’s brands. And Bible wines were often boiled down to a syrup and later diluted with water, much the same way we do with frozen concentrated juices and would not have had alcohol. (See the book Bible Wines and the Laws of Fermentation, by William Patton.
The word “bread” in the Bible sometimes refers to unleavened bread, as on the night that Christ instituted the Passover. “That the Lord…took bread” (1 Corinthians 11:23–24). But as will be brought out later, Jesus Christ could not have had leavened bread on the Jewish Passover. And unleavened bread is not at all like the bread we buy in stores but is cracker-like in appearance. Also the word “meat” in the Bible often refers to food in general, not beef, ham, chicken, or fish. “I have given every green herb for meat” (Genesis 1:30).
But how can one know when Bible “wine” means fresh grape juice? The context determines this. If someone is drunk or disrobes, it is alcoholic, but if another crushes the grapes and it is called wine, then it would be grape juice. “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!” (Habakkuk 2:15). But Nehemiah 13:15 says, “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath.” They were squeezing the juice from the grapes, yet he called it a winepress, but one does not get alcoholic wine from squeezing grapes. Isaiah 65:8 says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster…” but there is no alcohol in a cluster of grapes. Deuteronomy 11:14 says, “I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil” (see also 2 Chronicles 31:5). We all know one cannot gather alcoholic wine from the vine. “Wine” in these passages is generic and would mean fresh grape juice. Proverbs 3:10 says, “So shall…thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Similarly, Jeremiah 48:33 says, “I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses.” Isaiah 16:10 says, “The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses.” Of course, pressing grapes cannot produce the wine we have today. Yet in these last two verses (Jeremiah 48:33; Isaiah 16:10) the word “wine” (Strong’s H3196, “yayin”) is the same Hebrew word for “wine” in Genesis 9:21, where Noah drank and was drunk (Genesis 9:21). To say that the word “wine” in the Bible is always with alcohol is not sustainable. This needs to be kept in mind when discussing wine used in the Bible. In John 2, where Christ turned the water into wine, it was a miracle and therefore done instantaneously without time for fermentation.
The Lord’s Table was made from the “fruit of the vine” (grape juice). Never is the word “wine” used in connection with this. Yeast plays the main role in the fermentation process, with the correct amounts of water, sugar, temperature and time in order to make alcoholic wine. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines yeast: “a type of fungus that is used in making alcoholic drinks (such as beer and wine) and in baking to help make dough.” The Lord’s Table was instituted on the night of the Hebrew Passover (Matthew 26:17–19), which forbids the use of leaven, which is made by yeast. “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14–15). Yeast is added to make the bread rise, and to grape juice to make it alcoholic. Exodus 34:25 says, “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.” Leaven in the Bible is a type of evil (Matthew 16:11–12; 1 Corinthians 5:6–8), and Christ would not have used this as a symbol of His blood.
Wine in the Bible is sometimes given as a medical remedy (Proverbs 31:6; Luke 10:34). 1 Timothy 5:23 says, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” Today most doctors would strongly recommend against using any alcohol to heal yourself. They tend to say, “Why don’t you go to the pharmacy and buy something that is much better for you with better results?” But in Timothy’s day, he had limited resources for prescription drugs. So when he had stomach problems (not for social drinking but medical reasons), he took a “little wine.” Also observe that Timothy normally did not drink any wine. “Drink no longer water.”
We have a testimony to guard and obligation to others not to be a stumbling block. “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Romans 14:21). In every group there are potential alcoholics who cannot handle any alcohol. There are different reasons given for this, but why be a temptation? “Whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”
The Bible teaches that drunkenness will send a person to hell. “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” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; see also Galatians 5:19–21). This does not mean drunkards cannot be saved, for the next verse says, “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 6:11). Though everyone who drinks does not become intoxicated, still almost everyone who has drank would have been drunk at some time in their life, and this is strictly forbidden in the Scriptures: “Let us walk honestly…not in rioting and drunkenness” (Romans 13:13; see also Isaiah 28:1–7; Ephesians 5:18; Isaiah 5:11; Titus 2:3).
Nazarite or Nazarene?
The Bible Nazarite abstained not only from wine but also vinegar, grapes, and raisins (Numbers 6:1–4; see also Jeremiah 35 about the Rechabites). This also shows that Christ was not a Nazarite, for he drank from the fruit of the vine. But he was called a “Nazarene” because of the city he lived in. “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23). Acts 24:5 Christ is spoken of as “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (not Nazarites). But it is believed that John the Baptist was a Nazarite. “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” (Luke 1:15).
It is interesting that when the Bible commands, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) that it sets drunkenness against being filled with God’s Spirit—just as John the Baptist had no wine but was filled with God’s Spirit. Both wine and the Holy Spirit seek to control you. You may be filled with one or the other, but not both. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” People will argue that they only want a little wine or just one can of beer. Then they could only have a little (not be filled) of the Holy Spirit, but it was a command: “Be filled with the Spirit.”
Some will use Bible verses that say we are not to be “given to” or have “much” wine as an open door to argue for a little wine. Titus 1:7 says, “Not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.” If I were to use their argument, then a little “filthy lucre” is fine. The only time the Bible says to drink a “little wine” was to Timothy for his chronic stomach problems.
Be a Daniel
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat [Jews at that time could not eat pork or chicken], nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8). This refusal of Daniel would not have made him any friends and would have made him an enemy of the king (v. 10, same chapter). Today if the average Christian had a sword put to his neck and was told to drink, he would not refuse as Daniel, but say, “How much?”
“And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 29:5–6). A whole generation did not drink any alcoholic beverages. Why? Because God led them, so they “might know that I am the Lord your God.”
“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: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean” (Leviticus 10:9–10; see also Isaiah 28:7–8). The implication was that wine and strong drink are “unholy” and “unclean.” God told the priest that if they entered His sanctuary and He smelled liquor on their breath, they would die. Someone may think that they could have drank outside the tabernacle, but the verse quoted just before this said that for 40 years they had not had any wine or strong drink, and Leviticus 10 was at the beginning of the 40 years. Though later when Israel entered the Promised Land, some may have snuck a drink away from the tabernacle or the Temple of Solomon; still, this death penalty was not for water, juices, or anything else, but “Do not drink wine nor strong drink…lest ye die.” Today our bodies are the temple of God: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Also Christians are both “kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6) “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink” (Proverbs 31:4).
What verse in the Bible says, “Thou shalt not smoke”? There is none. What verse says, “Thou shalt not take illicit drugs”? Again, there is none. But for both we apply the principle of God’s word: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Our bodies are not for smoke (cigarettes), pills, or injections (illegal drugs), and not for alcohol. Alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, hard liquor) have caused more trouble to man than anything else found in a store. Besides being a bad testimony, they have ruined the lives of countless people and their loved ones. How many car accidents, how many unfaithful spouses, how many medical operations, how many marriages, how many homes, how many fights, how many arguments, how many children and adults have been hurt by alcoholic beverages? How many alcoholic fathers have taken their paychecks and spent them in the bars on their friends while Mom is left at home trying to figure out how to make ends meet? What good has it done? “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). Drinking does not make one more sophisticated or special. Hosea 4:11 says, “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.”
“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’s addictive. That first drink or cigarette was the start of a harmful and expensive habit.
The first time I smoked a cigarette, I had a friend who encouraged me. It hurt my lungs. I would rather have eaten that cigarette than smoked it. My body was saying, “What are you doing to me?” The same for hard drink, which to me tasted like gasoline, and I did not like the taste of beer. But after a time I liked my new habits, and then I found it hard to stop. I had woken up the lion in me, and he said, “You woke me up. Now feed me” (see TATTOOS).
Even bartenders will tell you not to drink “too much”, but they would not like Daniel. The bartender is not your friend. If you die in a car accident where liquor is involved, he will not show up at your funeral. Are we not the light of the world? Do we need to be the salesman for the liquor industry? The same arguments used today to get one to take his first drink (the worst one) or smoke his first cigarette are the same ones that drug pushers will use on the streets to get you hooked so you can become their client and buy more drugs from them. It always starts with one drink, “Just a little.” It would be like someone trying to tempt another to look at pornography, saying, “Just one page of pornography.” Or “Have a beer; it’s not going to hurt you.” “Just try one.” “Only one glass.” “It doesn’t hurt to try, right?” “Only one cigarette.” “Just one pill. Try it—you’ll like it.” “It will help you relax.” “Come on. Be sociable and have a drink with me.” “Let’s shoot up.” But the Bible says, “Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Be a Daniel.
For drugs, body piercing, tattoos, smoking and gambling, see TATTOOS.
There are doctrines of men and there are doctrines of God (see Matthew 16:12; Mark 7:7–13). How can one know if the doctrine is of God or man? “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). Today the word “doctrine” has a bad name, but it did not to Christ and the New Testament church. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…” (Acts 2:42). Remember that the word “doctrine” only means “teaching” (Strong’s).
DRUNKENNESS, DRUGS, AND SMOKING
If one never starts to drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette or take illicit drugs, he will not have to fight the temptation or be controlled by it. Do not start. Why have an expensive, unhealthy habit that very often leads to addiction?
I have found that most every drunk knows the Bible verse where Christ worked a miracle and turned the water into wine. There are ministers today who defend their drinking habit, and yes, some become drunk and give Christianity a bad name. Some quote those who say the word “wine” in the original languages “always and only” means something alcoholic, but this is not sustainable when one looks at certain Bible passages. There are many words in both the Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek translated “wine.” The words “grape juice” are not found in the Bible (KJV), yet there are some passages where this is the obvious meaning of the word “wine.” And though it was much more common in the Bible, even today wine and beer can be found without any alcohol content.
We are sometimes hindered by our understanding of what wine is in our day and the use of it. We cannot look at a modern-day map, which has the boundary lines of Israel today, and then assume these were Israel’s boundaries in biblical days. In King David’s day, Israel’s border went all the way to the Euphrates River (1 Chronicles 18:3; 2 Samuel 8:3; Genesis 15:18). So how words are used in the Bible and what was meant by them is not always the same as today. In the Bible there is wine that has alcohol and leads to nakedness and a curse (Genesis 9:21–25; 19:32–35; Habakkuk 2:15; and Proverbs 20:1), and there is also wine that has no alcohol (non-fermented). And even the wines that were intoxicating in the Bible had a much lower percentage of alcohol, with many people believing Bible wines contained only half as much alcohol as today’s brands. And Bible wines were often boiled down to a syrup and later diluted with water, much the same way we do with frozen concentrated juices and would not have had alcohol. (See the book Bible Wines and the Laws of Fermentation, by William Patton.
The word “bread” in the Bible sometimes refers to unleavened bread, as on the night that Christ instituted the Passover. “That the Lord…took bread” (1 Corinthians 11:23–24). But as will be brought out later, Jesus Christ could not have had leavened bread on the Jewish Passover. And unleavened bread is not at all like the bread we buy in stores but is cracker-like in appearance. Also the word “meat” in the Bible often refers to food in general, not beef, ham, chicken, or fish. “I have given every green herb for meat” (Genesis 1:30).
But how can one know when Bible “wine” means fresh grape juice? The context determines this. If someone is drunk or disrobes, it is alcoholic, but if another crushes the grapes and it is called wine, then it would be grape juice. “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!” (Habakkuk 2:15). But Nehemiah 13:15 says, “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath.” They were squeezing the juice from the grapes, yet he called it a winepress, but one does not get alcoholic wine from squeezing grapes. Isaiah 65:8 says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster…” but there is no alcohol in a cluster of grapes. Deuteronomy 11:14 says, “I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil” (see also 2 Chronicles 31:5). We all know one cannot gather alcoholic wine from the vine. “Wine” in these passages is generic and would mean fresh grape juice. Proverbs 3:10 says, “So shall…thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Similarly, Jeremiah 48:33 says, “I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses.” Isaiah 16:10 says, “The treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses.” Of course, pressing grapes cannot produce the wine we have today. Yet in these last two verses (Jeremiah 48:33; Isaiah 16:10) the word “wine” (Strong’s H3196, “yayin”) is the same Hebrew word for “wine” in Genesis 9:21, where Noah drank and was drunk (Genesis 9:21). To say that the word “wine” in the Bible is always with alcohol is not sustainable. This needs to be kept in mind when discussing wine used in the Bible. In John 2, where Christ turned the water into wine, it was a miracle and therefore done instantaneously without time for fermentation.
The Lord’s Table was made from the “fruit of the vine” (grape juice). Never is the word “wine” used in connection with this. Yeast plays the main role in the fermentation process, with the correct amounts of water, sugar, temperature and time in order to make alcoholic wine. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines yeast: “a type of fungus that is used in making alcoholic drinks (such as beer and wine) and in baking to help make dough.” The Lord’s Table was instituted on the night of the Hebrew Passover (Matthew 26:17–19), which forbids the use of leaven, which is made by yeast. “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14–15). Yeast is added to make the bread rise, and to grape juice to make it alcoholic. Exodus 34:25 says, “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.” Leaven in the Bible is a type of evil (Matthew 16:11–12; 1 Corinthians 5:6–8), and Christ would not have used this as a symbol of His blood.
Wine in the Bible is sometimes given as a medical remedy (Proverbs 31:6; Luke 10:34). 1 Timothy 5:23 says, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” Today most doctors would strongly recommend against using any alcohol to heal yourself. They tend to say, “Why don’t you go to the pharmacy and buy something that is much better for you with better results?” But in Timothy’s day, he had limited resources for prescription drugs. So when he had stomach problems (not for social drinking but medical reasons), he took a “little wine.” Also observe that Timothy normally did not drink any wine. “Drink no longer water.”
We have a testimony to guard and obligation to others not to be a stumbling block. “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Romans 14:21). In every group there are potential alcoholics who cannot handle any alcohol. There are different reasons given for this, but why be a temptation? “Whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”
The Bible teaches that drunkenness will send a person to hell. “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” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; see also Galatians 5:19–21). This does not mean drunkards cannot be saved, for the next verse says, “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 6:11). Though everyone who drinks does not become intoxicated, still almost everyone who has drank would have been drunk at some time in their life, and this is strictly forbidden in the Scriptures: “Let us walk honestly…not in rioting and drunkenness” (Romans 13:13; see also Isaiah 28:1–7; Ephesians 5:18; Isaiah 5:11; Titus 2:3).
Nazarite or Nazarene?
The Bible Nazarite abstained not only from wine but also vinegar, grapes, and raisins (Numbers 6:1–4; see also Jeremiah 35 about the Rechabites). This also shows that Christ was not a Nazarite, for he drank from the fruit of the vine. But he was called a “Nazarene” because of the city he lived in. “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23). Acts 24:5 Christ is spoken of as “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (not Nazarites). But it is believed that John the Baptist was a Nazarite. “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” (Luke 1:15).
It is interesting that when the Bible commands, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) that it sets drunkenness against being filled with God’s Spirit—just as John the Baptist had no wine but was filled with God’s Spirit. Both wine and the Holy Spirit seek to control you. You may be filled with one or the other, but not both. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” People will argue that they only want a little wine or just one can of beer. Then they could only have a little (not be filled) of the Holy Spirit, but it was a command: “Be filled with the Spirit.”
Some will use Bible verses that say we are not to be “given to” or have “much” wine as an open door to argue for a little wine. Titus 1:7 says, “Not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.” If I were to use their argument, then a little “filthy lucre” is fine. The only time the Bible says to drink a “little wine” was to Timothy for his chronic stomach problems.
Be a Daniel
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat [Jews at that time could not eat pork or chicken], nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8). This refusal of Daniel would not have made him any friends and would have made him an enemy of the king (v. 10, same chapter). Today if the average Christian had a sword put to his neck and was told to drink, he would not refuse as Daniel, but say, “How much?”
“And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 29:5–6). A whole generation did not drink any alcoholic beverages. Why? Because God led them, so they “might know that I am the Lord your God.”
“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: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean” (Leviticus 10:9–10; see also Isaiah 28:7–8). The implication was that wine and strong drink are “unholy” and “unclean.” God told the priest that if they entered His sanctuary and He smelled liquor on their breath, they would die. Someone may think that they could have drank outside the tabernacle, but the verse quoted just before this said that for 40 years they had not had any wine or strong drink, and Leviticus 10 was at the beginning of the 40 years. Though later when Israel entered the Promised Land, some may have snuck a drink away from the tabernacle or the Temple of Solomon; still, this death penalty was not for water, juices, or anything else, but “Do not drink wine nor strong drink…lest ye die.” Today our bodies are the temple of God: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Also Christians are both “kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6) “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink” (Proverbs 31:4).
What verse in the Bible says, “Thou shalt not smoke”? There is none. What verse says, “Thou shalt not take illicit drugs”? Again, there is none. But for both we apply the principle of God’s word: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Our bodies are not for smoke (cigarettes), pills, or injections (illegal drugs), and not for alcohol. Alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, hard liquor) have caused more trouble to man than anything else found in a store. Besides being a bad testimony, they have ruined the lives of countless people and their loved ones. How many car accidents, how many unfaithful spouses, how many medical operations, how many marriages, how many homes, how many fights, how many arguments, how many children and adults have been hurt by alcoholic beverages? How many alcoholic fathers have taken their paychecks and spent them in the bars on their friends while Mom is left at home trying to figure out how to make ends meet? What good has it done? “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). Drinking does not make one more sophisticated or special. Hosea 4:11 says, “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.”
“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’s addictive. That first drink or cigarette was the start of a harmful and expensive habit.
The first time I smoked a cigarette, I had a friend who encouraged me. It hurt my lungs. I would rather have eaten that cigarette than smoked it. My body was saying, “What are you doing to me?” The same for hard drink, which to me tasted like gasoline, and I did not like the taste of beer. But after a time I liked my new habits, and then I found it hard to stop. I had woken up the lion in me, and he said, “You woke me up. Now feed me” (see TATTOOS).
Even bartenders will tell you not to drink “too much”, but they would not like Daniel. The bartender is not your friend. If you die in a car accident where liquor is involved, he will not show up at your funeral. Are we not the light of the world? Do we need to be the salesman for the liquor industry? The same arguments used today to get one to take his first drink (the worst one) or smoke his first cigarette are the same ones that drug pushers will use on the streets to get you hooked so you can become their client and buy more drugs from them. It always starts with one drink, “Just a little.” It would be like someone trying to tempt another to look at pornography, saying, “Just one page of pornography.” Or “Have a beer; it’s not going to hurt you.” “Just try one.” “Only one glass.” “It doesn’t hurt to try, right?” “Only one cigarette.” “Just one pill. Try it—you’ll like it.” “It will help you relax.” “Come on. Be sociable and have a drink with me.” “Let’s shoot up.” But the Bible says, “Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Be a Daniel.
For drugs, body piercing, tattoos, smoking and gambling, see TATTOOS.
