-Isaiah 5:11
"Much drinking, little thinking."
-Anonymous
"O God! That men should put any enemy to their mouths to steal away their brains."
-William Shakespeare
"Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks. Don't let the sparkle and smooth taste of wine deceive you. For in the end it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like a viper. You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things. You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. And you will say, 'They hit me, but I didn't feel it. I didn't even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can have another drink?"
-Proverbs 23:29-35 NLT
Alcoholism is responsible for 50 percent of all auto fatalities, 80 percent of all home violence, 30 percent of all suicides, 60 percent of all child abuse, and 65 percent of all drownings. Add to those percentages anguish, sorrow, fighting, complaining, unnecessary bruises, bloodshot eyes, the bite of a serpent, the sting of a viper, hallucinations, crazy conversations, staggering, forgetting, and somebody has all the reasons in the world to say, "I'll never touch liquor again." Instead, the Bible says, the drunkard asks, "When can I have another drink?"
"'Come,' they say. 'We will get some wine and have a party. Let's all get drunk. Let this go on and on, and tomorrow will be even better'" (Isaiah 56:12). No, tomorrow and the days after will be even worse and worse.
"Destruction is certain for those who are heroes when it comes to drinking, who boast about all the liquor they can hold" (Isaiah 5:22).
Charlevoix, Michigan has a December festival that is the perfect mix of snow, alcohol, and fast snowmobiles. In the winter of 1996-1997 two brothers attended the festival on the north side of Charlevoix, consumed large amounts of alcohol, and decided to hit another party on the south side of town. Instead of choosing a longer, safer route to the south side of Charlevoix, they decided to take a shortcut across Round Lake which separates North and South Charlevoix.
Round Lake is known for its fast-flowing currents as the water flows through a narrow channel into Lake Charlevoix. This narrow passage is known for having thin or no ice, even in the dead of winter, because of the swift current.
A short time later a woman along the shoreline heard cries for help and through a break in the blowing snow she saw someone struggling in a hole in the ice. She contacted the Coast Guard and the Ice Rescue Team was deployed to the scene.
The struggling drunken young man was rescued and hospitalized where he was warmed and revived. As he was regaining his senses, he asked, "How's my brother?"
"Brother?"
The Ice Rescue Team rushed back to Round Lake where they found a hole in the ice and at the bottom of the lake discovered two snowmobiles, but no brother. Ten days later and still no brother. It was almost two years later when the brother was found, still in his snowmobile outfit.
If you're looking for an example of alcohol and destruction, they don't get much better (or worse) than this!
Let me suggest a way to get drunk that honors and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ:
"Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you" (Ephesians 5:18). This intoxication will do incredible things in our homes plus place examples of Christ and his church right in the middle of our neighborhoods . . . in our homes.
Hangovers, anyone?
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