Cheers!

Every family has a favorite kid story they like to bandy about. One of my family's took place some thirty years ago, back in the day when to be a serious Christian meant abstinence.

My baby cousin, some three years old, toddled behind his parents at the local grocery store. His parents, a well respected coach and just as respected schoolteacher/administrator, not to mention their being pillars of their local assembly, turned to address their son's question. They stopped in horror. Their precocious child was toting not a can of juice, not a can of soda, but (gasp!) a large can of beer. Their immediate response of, "Son, let's put that down," was met with wails of protestation. They took the beer, put it away, and continued their trek through the store. The wails began again. Looking back, there was their baby. He had picked up the offending object again. Now their reiteration of putting the beer away was met with, "But you know I love it!" The condemning glares from passers by didn't help. My uncle and aunt wanted to shrink and hide ostrich-like.

They say children always tell the truth, but that is not always the case. My uncle and aunt did not drink and their son knew nothing about beer except what he saw on TV (and believe you me, he did watch a lot of sports, even at that tender age, which, as you well know, are riddled ad nauseum with drink advertisements--from which, we surmise, he picked up the "beer is good" thought). He had not had it at home, but from the scowls thrown their way, everyone in the store thought the babe spoke truth. It was humiliating at the time--but later morphed into a funny story that became funnier with every retelling. The sad thing is, nowadays no one would blink twice to see a child profess profound love of spirits. How times have changed.

Now, I am not going to get into the "should you drink" discussion. Paul said to avoid disputing that which would yield no fruit (2 Timothy 2:16). This is such a delicate subject (yielding angry disputing similar to "fights" about politics), that every Christian really needs to search out the Scriptures for their own self. What I would say is: don't swallow what someone else tells you hook, line, and sinker. Unfortunately, there are many people out there who just want to pat you on the back, make you feel good, and tell you what they think God should say/feel rather than what His Word says. I will also tell you what some of my favorite preachers think as well as some thought provoking stories. Stories do have a purpose--that's why God included some in the Bible, so we could learn from them (Romans 15:4).

My first husband, who passed away, Steve Muse, was a die-hard teetotaler. We discussed drinking many, many times. My mother was a working alcoholic till I was 55 and I feared to err in my interpretation of Scripture because of what I had suffered personally from the over-imbibing of someone dear to me. I can see him now, waving his hands around emphatically (he might not have been a Mexican by birth, but he sure got into the typical Hispanic trait of using his hands and body thing to make a point), saying, "Suppose, just suppose, that technically it's okay to drink. Where do you draw the line? Alcohol is okay, but marijuana isn't? Alcohol is okay, but drugs aren't? There has to be a line drawn. It has to be no to it all or, by logical extrapolation, all forms of getting high are acceptable. I say we need to stand firm at no drinking at all." I might add that Steve Muse left a good testimony in the church, in his family, and was respected and loved by all who knew him. He was neither a weirdo nor a wacko. Now to husband number two.

Dennis is just as adamant about being a teetotaler. After living with an alcoholic parent, I wouldn't have married him otherwise. (Two decades of living on the edge of hell-like circumstances is enough for one lifetime, thank you very much.) He has a series on Scriptural reasons why he believes this way, but they are not yet on our website. I intend to advocate for his putting them on there as a good resource for God's children. Dennis's testimony? He is universally known as a stalwart Christian, minister of God's Word, and I can testify that he walks the walk not only in public but also within the hidden confines of his home. In a word, he is true blue--and doesn't cotton to drinking. Do you see a pattern here?

Now to some of our favorite ministers.

A missionary we love and respect, Dr. Oscar Brooks, is an anointed and untiring minister of God's Word, carrying the torch God has given him the world over. I have heard him speak about the evils of drinking and his stance about not drinking in various sermons.

Then there is one of our favorite ministers of olden days, Charles Spurgeon. Initially, this famous Baptist preacher actually did promote drinking in moderation. But there came a time when the devastating effects he witnessed in society as well as in his congregation caused him to make a 180 degree turnabout. As to the change in his stance on this subject he said, "I abstain myself from alcoholic drink in every form." By 1882 he was so convinced of the importance of abstinence, that he said, "Next to the preaching of the gospel, the most necessary thing to be done in England is to induce our people to become abstainers."

I find it interesting that in Leviticus 10, after Nadab and Abihu are killed for offering strange fire before the Lord, the Lord tells their father he better not mourn them because of the nature and cause of their death. Later on, in verses 9-11, the Lord says, "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; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." Putting two and two together, it seems that Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord (thus signing their death warrant) because they had been drinking. Their loss of cognitive acuity led them down a path of blasphemy before the Lord. From that time forward, no priest was to approach the tabernacle having drunk wine or strong drink.

Let me ask you, what was to be found in the tabernacle of the Lord? His presence (Exodus 25:8). Think about it. In God's presence (the tabernacle) His priests were not to drink strong drink or wine. Under the New Covenant, God's temple is no longer a fixed place--we are His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). What's more, we are now His priests (1 Peter 2:9)! God changes not (Malachi 3:6). If in the Old Testament He didn't want His priests to approach the temple with strong drink, do you think He wants us, those who are in this age considered His priests, to introduce it to our bodies, His temple under this New Covenant?

While we found that legislating abstinence during Prohibition led to some pretty bad unintended consequences, I can commiserate with the broken hearts and broken lives that led to fighting for it. I can tell you story after story of people I have known personally--even ministers--who took the path of "moderate" drinking, only to have it become all consuming, leading to broken families, destroyed lives, and, in the case of some ministers, distorted judgement with regard to sin that led to devastating consequences.

Some teetotaling friends, both ministers, were mocked by their pastor, one who, surprisingly enough, hailed from a "conservative" denomination, for abstaining. "Get with the program," he jabbed at them. He sure got with it. From one drink with a meal his consumption grew to a whole wine bottle in the same time frame. The result? He turned a blind eye to egregious sin in his congregation with understandable church-shaking/life-distressing results.

"Cultured" people drink. Those from Europe--the mecca of all things "high society" --drink. But what does God say? Does He say, "Be cool--do what everyone else is doing"? You might want to take a gander at Ephesians 4:17-20.

Check out His Word. Find out for yourself. Dare to live for Him, regardless of what the upper-crust and avant-garde Christians say. It might come with a cost--shunning from more "enlightened" Christians for one--but the rewards are priceless.

"Let your moderation be known unto all men" (Philippians 4:5).

"Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak ... Wherfore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend" (Corinthians 8:9, 13).

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).