Drunkenness And The End Of The Age
Social drinking is not the solution to the
problem of alcoholism. Rather the social glass is the starting point of the
majority of alcoholics.
If legal age barriers are eliminated in the sale of alcoholic beverages, and boys and girls are encouraged to drink in the homes, in society, and at church sponsored functions, what would be the result ? There would be increased slaughter on our highways due to drunken driving including that of teenage drivers. The national crime bill, already the highest on record, will be greatly increased.
As strong drink destroys the mind and body and
removes all moral inhibitions, the nation would be further weakened to
subversive forces boring from within. The rich owners of huge liquor
monopolies and big investors will become richer still as families are
reduced to abject poverty, and youth winds up in a gutter. Increased
drunkenness is one of the given signs of the last days: "But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a
thief... Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be
sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day be sober... For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ" (1st Thessalonians 5:4-9).
Those who are drunken in the night are not the children of light. Only the children of light are appointed to obtain salvation. Those who are of the night and darkness including drunkards, are appointed to wrath. What will drunkards do, when in the last great war of this age, the vintage is cut off, and there is no more wine? They will awake and weep and howl as forecast by the prophets. (Joel 1:5; Isaiah 24:1)
In view of His sudden return, Jesus specifically warned Christians, saying "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares" (Luke21:34). But sad to say, many do not heed this warning. Likewise there are ministers today, who, like the householder in Jesus' parable, have said in their hearts, "My Lord delayeth His coming," and are now engaged in smiting their fellowservants and eating and drinking with the drunken. Upon such, the Lord will come in an hour when they think not, and shall appoint their portion with the hypocrites where "...there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24.51).
~The Flaming Torch.
