The Bible and Alcohol

[0:00] Appreciate that, and I could add a word of encouragement to that as well. The Gideons have taken some heat over the last several years, really, because of the change that's been taking place in our culture.

[0:18] And there are some who are very much opposed to a ministry like the Gideons because in a kind of eclectic society where everything and anything goes, anybody that looks upon any kind of singularity as being special is ostracized, canceled, canceled, because everything is the same.

[0:45] And it's a phony equalization of values, which does not fly, but it's very popular right now. And this started some years ago with the whole concept and the idea of postmodernism and relative morality so that nothing is nailed down, everything is floating, and no matter what you believe about whatever or however weird it is, it is just as legitimate as what anybody else believes.

[1:19] And what that does, of course, is it skews the gospel, because the gospel claims to be the way, the truth, and the life.

[1:31] And if it isn't, and anything that claims to be has to be scrapped, because the name of the game is everything is the same, everything is equal.

[1:43] And, well, you know what we're dealing with today, it's one of the consequences of it. So I cannot recommend the Gideons too highly, but I can remember, by the way, I can't remember, by the way.

[1:55] Okay. 1954, my first day in the Army, Fort Knox, Kentucky, I remember all the guys in the unit were given Gideon New Testaments.

[2:12] I'm quite sure that the military doesn't do that now. It used to be standard operating procedure, but the military doesn't do that now because they're not permitted to do that. The Gideons are not permitted to give them out that way.

[2:25] And that's just one example of what's taking place in our culture today. And it is tragic, to say the least, but it is a sign of the times, and we can expect more of that kind of thing as time goes on.

[2:41] Yes, now Larry? I don't want you to think that this is Gideon morning or anything like that, but Sunday I went to a Kings Creek United Methodist Church.

[2:58] They were having this thing called Following and Place of Halloween. And I have a connection there with the pastor of the Baptist Church, and he called me and asked if I could see about having a Gideon presence.

[3:16] So I said I would come, and so I set up my table. They had hot dogs and stuff like that, and the kids were dressed up. And the very first guy that walked near my table, I asked him if I could give him a free gift, a New Testament.

[3:37] And I said, have you got a couple of minutes I'd just like to share with you? And I opened to the back, and the plan of salvation is there, the verses.

[3:48] I had this guy read through these verses. I said, would you like to pray the sinner's prayer and become a believer in Jesus Christ? And he says, yeah, I think I would.

[3:59] And I went through this training about a month ago called Conversations, a Simple Way to Share the Gospel, and I used those techniques.

[4:11] And I was surprised. I don't know why I was surprised. I shouldn't have been because people are ready for it if we just do it.

[4:24] And he became a believer right there. I gave out three New Testaments, not exactly in numbers success, but the very first guy that walked up to the table became a believer.

[4:37] How about that? Well, you never know how many hungry hearts there are out there searching for answers and have no idea where to find them or that there are any answers.

[4:48] Dan? I'd like to share a story. I said I would put a post in the Springfield News and Sun about this. I did. It wasn't in the paper.

[4:59] I thought every day I'd get them online. He sent the editor. And I said, did you not get it, or have you adopted the philosophy of the name Spring News?

[5:11] It's on Christian editor. I got an email back about 10 minutes. And, oh, somehow there was some kind of a myth.

[5:21] It will be in. So. Good. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. You know, I can play that game with me. Which I did. Yeah. Okay. And then if you tell me the specifics, I'll put it in Urbana says.

[5:36] Because I, people read that, don't they? She had a thing. Yeah. Okay. We'll get that in Urbana. But, yeah, when you let me know, we'll get the details. I'll put it in Urbana says.

[5:47] Good. Okay. And when I do that, when I get that finalized, and today it should be, I'll give you a call. Good. And you can get the email to all the guys and to whomever else you can, advising them of that.

[6:01] Yeah, yeah. Let me know. I can't tell you absolutely, definitely, for sure, but I would say on the scale of 1 to 10, it's probably an 8, that this first class will be November 3 on Friday.

[6:15] The exact time will be announced later. Yes. For a long time, the world has talked about the one world order. Yeah. And there's a lot written on it over the years.

[6:26] Yeah. And, you know, it's kind of in the background. Most people don't know about it, but it's real and it's there. And they talk about the currency of, you know, everybody using the same currency.

[6:39] Yeah. The digital currency or whatever. And then also now they're talking about Christmine. Yeah. The combination of Christianity and Islam. And it's a very construed, twisted religion that they're trying to push.

[6:53] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, somebody said, I don't know who, well, some old preacher from years ago said that a lot of religions today claims this and claims that.

[7:04] He says it's kind of like great nuts flakes. He says it's neither grapes nor nuts. It's passed off, you know, for something like that.

[7:15] So, well, let us pray. We're grateful, Father, for this occasion to be together. Thank you for being at the center of this and at the center of every other group like this across the world that is meeting for the same purpose that we are.

[7:29] We ask your blessing upon them as well as upon us as the truth of God is open to us. Thank you for the day ahead, for the meal that we'll enjoy together, for the presence of each one here this day, for the content that we're now going to consider.

[7:43] We look to you for wisdom and direction that we know we do not have, but we know you possess it. And we ask that you will reveal to each and every hungry heart this morning in accordance with what you know the need to be.

[7:55] Thank you for the meal to be enjoyed shortly. In Christ's name. Amen. Okay. We are, let me see if this critter is going to behave.

[8:10] Questions that you have submitted because it is an effort to simply address issues that are of concern to you. And here is another that has come in of the several.

[8:20] It says there seems to be a very prevalent argument right now among believers in the support of social drinking.

[8:32] And Christians are trying to support it. What do you think that the scriptures really say on this topic? Well, that, again, is the kind of issue that we are dealing with right now.

[8:46] Well, there was a time, I guess it started back in the days of Billy Sunday, who was the Billy Graham of his day. And he ministered primarily in the 1920s.

[8:58] And this is when America was undergoing a campaign for prohibition. And the whole idea was to outlaw and make illegal the manufacturing, bottling, providing of liquor, of alcohol of any kind.

[9:19] And it was a real national divider. I mean, there were the wets and the dries, and they lined up, you know. And there was a women's temperance union.

[9:30] And they got underway and so on. And it was all an anti-alcohol thing. And finally, they passed a prohibition.

[9:40] I think it was the 18th, if I'm not mistaken. And they put it in the Constitution and passed a prohibition against alcohol. And what that did, of course, is that it immediately created a black market alcohol.

[9:57] And everybody, not everybody, but a whole lot of people in defiance of the government saying you couldn't have alcohol, people started making their own. And there were stills and things all over the country.

[10:08] And people that had never made alcohol of any kind got involved in it. It was a big mess. And frankly, it was a big flop. It just did not fly.

[10:19] And as a result, they ended up repealing it and taking it off. And everybody's got 20-20 hindsight, you know. And we do in this, too.

[10:31] And it would have been probably a much more beneficial thing if instead of outlawing the making of alcohol of any kind, which is impossible to police, if they had just said we are going to make it illegal to advertise alcohol in any form, you can't even put a picture on a bottle of beer that you sell.

[11:01] You can make the beer and you can put it in a bottle and you can sell it, but you can't put anything attractive on it. No advertising in any media of any kind. That probably would have been a lot more effective.

[11:14] But then, of course, like I said, that's 20-20 hindsight talking and didn't work out that way. So what are we going to do about the booze thing? And today, we are dealing with changes that are taking place, most of which are not for the better but for the worse in our culture.

[11:33] And the subject of alcohol and social drinking comes up. So I want to just give you a little bit of a personal testimony. When I was 15 years old, no, I was 16 at the time.

[11:48] Remember, you had to be 16 to get a work permit. And I was 16 years old and got a work-in permit to sack groceries on Friday night and Saturday all day at the Big Bear supermarket.

[12:02] And we'd get together, a number of us guys who were just baggers, by the way, and go to the drive-in movie. After we got off of our shift, after the store closed at 9 o'clock, we'd all go out to the Stardust drive-in movie.

[12:19] About a half a dozen guys worked there together. And only one of us was 18 and able to buy beer. And even then, he could only buy 3-2 beer.

[12:33] 6% was the stronger stuff, but you had to be 21 to buy 6%. So he'd get this 3-2 beer. Everything was in bottles.

[12:43] By the way, canned beer then didn't even exist. I guess this dates me a little. Everything was in bottles. And he'd get 3 or 4 six-packs, the 18-year-old guy, the only one that could buy it, and would go to the drive-in movie.

[12:57] And I had never had beer in my life. So they all had caps on them, you know, and he had a pop opener, you know, open up in the cap. The guy handed me a cold beer and says, Here, Wiseman.

[13:11] Well, I wasn't about to tell him this was my first beer. Because, I mean, I got a little bit of male dignity, you know. And I took a big gulp of it. And it was the awfulest tasting stuff I ever tasted in my entire life.

[13:26] And I thought, Sheesh, this is terrible. Why in the world would anybody like this? I was thinking it would be kind of like Coca-Cola or Pepsi or something like that.

[13:37] It was terrible. I mean, it burned my throat. It smelled awful. I couldn't imagine what in the world. And anyway, I thought, and all these guys were swigging this stuff.

[13:48] Hey, give me another beer, you know. And I was saying, Man, what am I going to do? So anyway, somebody said something. This was before air conditioning, too. Somebody said, Well, it's getting hot in here. Let's open the door for a little bit.

[14:00] So I opened the back door, and I was sitting in the back door and on the right-hand seat. And I took my bottle of beer and just started emptying that sucker.

[14:11] I don't want to tell them I didn't drink. And one of them looked over at me and said, Hey, Weissman's bottle is gone. He drank it all.

[14:23] Give me another one. Give me another one. And I thought, Well, maybe there was something wrong with that first one. Maybe this is really, you know, maybe I've got a bad bottle.

[14:35] So I said, No, it was just as bad. So I did the same thing. And I left that night thinking that Weissman had a couple bottles of beer.

[14:46] But I didn't. That's one of my secrets, and now it's out. But seriously, the Bible does not prohibit alcoholic beverages.

[15:01] It does not prohibit it. But at the same time, I want to say there is probably no single thing that has so contributed to human destruction and the destruction of families and the ruination of lives than alcohol in different forms.

[15:30] And I think I can say that on pretty good grounds. And I'm talking about going back all the way. Well, let's go all the way back.

[15:40] Let's go all the way back to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9 is as far back as we can go regarding this alcohol situation.

[15:52] And this is the first instance we have of it, and it did not turn out well. And you wonder if it wasn't setting a pattern for what is going to come.

[16:04] So just let me state up front, I want to get this on the table so you'll know where I'm coming from. I am not condemning the drinking of all kinds of any kind of alcohol.

[16:17] Nor am I recommending it, for sure. But I am saying, contrary to what a lot of people believe, and contrary to what the Bible says, drinking alcohol is not prohibited.

[16:32] What is prohibited is intoxication, is getting drunk. And that comes with the taking in of too much alcohol so that it affects the individual's thinking, acting, everything else, so that you are not your normal self when you are under the influence.

[16:57] And that's why it's so dangerous. And we all know about DWIs and how many have gotten them. And God only knows how many people, how many lives have been wiped out from accidents caused by alcohol consumption.

[17:16] It's just absolutely staggering. So the Bible does not condemn the use of alcohol, but it strongly condemns the use of anything that overtakes you in your faculties and impairs your judgment.

[17:33] And that is a devastating formula for anything to happen. Here in Genesis chapter 9, after the flood is over and things have settled down, we read, beginning in verse 18.

[17:49] Now the sons of Noah, who came out of the ark, were Shem. I just want to inject this. Shem will be the father, the ultimate father of the Jewish race.

[18:05] Shem. If you just drop the H here in Shem, you get Sem, S-E-M. It is part of the word Semitic.

[18:18] Semitic. And it has to do with a race of people that descended from Shem. And when you look at the culture that we're dealing with today, and especially in Israel right now, where there is a lot of anti-Semitism going on, and by the way, it is rearing its ugly head here in the United States, even as I speak.

[18:45] It is becoming more and more prevalent, more and more places. These people are putting Nazi swastikas painted on the side of a Jewish synagogue.

[18:59] And the likelihood is this is only going to get worse. So Jews are direct descendants of Shem, one of the sons of Noah. They are the Semites.

[19:12] And the text goes on to say, Shem and Ham and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah.

[19:24] And from these, the whole earth was populated. Every one of us, guys, without exception. Every one of us is a descendant of Shem, Ham, or Japheth.

[19:37] Most of us, most of us, probably all of us, are descendants of Japheth. They constitute the greater number of Europeans.

[19:49] And the Hamites are primarily Africa and Asia. And they comprise primarily the black and the yellow race and so on. And then, of course, there's a big mix of all of them in between.

[20:02] So that, well, you know, through the international melting pot. And by the way, you realize, of course, that the United States of America is the premier melting pot for races, nationalities, and everything else throughout the whole world.

[20:18] And we have been since our founding. So we've got these three. Everybody is a descendant of one of these three. And we are told in verse 20, Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.

[20:33] And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. This is simply a man acting in an irresponsible manner because of the alcohol content and the way that it affects the brain.

[20:54] It is just one more. Let me give you another prohibition. Actually, it's not a prohibition, but it's another, just another saying, and I hope you remember forever. God has not given humanity any good thing, but what he cannot make a bad thing out of it.

[21:15] Keep that in mind. God has not given us any good thing, but what we cannot make a bad thing out of it. I don't care if it's alcohol or sex or you name it.

[21:31] We can contaminate it. We can corrupt it. We can find some way to mess it up. And you know why that is? That's because of the innate nature of humanity.

[21:42] It is that with which we are all born, and it is a, we are what you would call an impaired people.

[21:54] All of us. Every one of us is impaired. And anybody who says, well, not me. Nothing impaired about me. Well, they just said, you don't ever have to worry about a funeral for me because I'm going to live forever.

[22:08] I'm not impaired. Well, if you are impaired like the rest of us, you're going to die. And that's what's called being a fallen human being, welcome to Adam's race.

[22:21] And that's exactly why Jesus came, was to correct that mess. And that's what he's going to do. So anyway, let's get on. He drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

[22:32] And what he did when he did that, and I don't want to go into what follows here because there's a lot of controversy over exactly what this means. And different translations and so on. And I'm not at peace with any of the renditions that I've read or explanations of it.

[22:47] None of them have just clicked with me. So I just don't, I don't go into this area because I can't give you anything with certainty. It's just speculation. And I deal, spend a lot of time on speculation.

[23:01] I would rather deal with issues in the scriptures that you can take to the bank. This you can believe. And we do know that alcohol, of course, was the beginning of something that was going to be very, very much difficult for the human race.

[23:16] The scriptures do talk about alcohol and moderate consumption. By the way, the principal reason that so many imbibed in alcohol in biblical days was because of contaminated water.

[23:33] Exactly. The water was very often impure. And they didn't have the ability to purify water like we do today or to, you know, analyze it and the source and everything.

[23:44] So what they would do would be to pour a little bit of wine into the water. And that would have a stabilizing effect and kill bacteria and things like that in it because alcohol does that.

[24:01] Alcohol is a godsend for the medical community, especially. I mean, I don't think doctors could get along without alcohol. But they're not drinking it.

[24:11] They're using it as a medicine and as a curative and so on. So when you take this alcohol and put it in a sufficient amount, it will affect the brain.

[24:28] And it intoxicates people. And it causes you to say things and do things that you would not do under normal faculties. And that, of course, is one of the things that makes it so dangerous.

[24:39] So right up front, I'd just like to clarify this. The drinking of alcohol is not forbidden in Scripture. I can't imagine Paul telling Timothy, Timothy, take a little wine for your stomach's sake and you're off in infirmities.

[25:00] He's not going to do that if that's something that God has prohibited. But it is like anything else. Used in moderation. It can be a plus.

[25:11] But it is always available for going too far with it. And that's what happens when people do. Like I said, I can't say that I've ever tasted alcohol that I like.

[25:28] So I just, you know, it's just not on my list. I don't buy it and I don't drink it. Have I imbibed? Yeah. I remember a couple of times I was officiating at a few, over the years, over 50 years, some kind of fancy weddings that I attended.

[25:46] And they served wine with the celebration and everything. And I had a glass of wine. I thought, well, it's okay. But I don't know why everybody gets so excited about it. So anyway, I'm not a teetotaler.

[25:58] But I want to make it very clear, I certainly don't recommend it. I certainly don't recommend it. And anybody who stays away from alcohol entirely is doing themselves a favor.

[26:09] I would recommend it. There are too many other things that are good for you. You don't have to resort to that. But the alcohol issue and the drugs.

[26:21] And by the way, have you noticed the softening attitude regarding drugs? Sure. It's everywhere. And it's right here in Ohio, right here in Springfield, too.

[26:33] And now they're talking about legalizing marijuana. Rick? As long as you're on that subject. I'm on the board of trustees for McKinley Hall, which, for those that don't know, it's the largest rehab facility in Clark County.

[26:45] And we have people from Champaign Green coming for drugs. We just were in a meeting in Washington. And I forget the gentleman's name. I can find him. This guy was pro-legalizing marijuana.

[26:58] He was from Colorado. Yeah. And he was really big. And he's coming out now because we've read all the statistics. He said it's the biggest mistakes you've ever made. Yeah. It just kind of goes to what you're saying, that people just have abused it.

[27:12] Oh, yeah. And they're selling it. Oh, now we can control the tax revenue. And they're making it look good. It's issue two. And issue two is kind of flying under the radar with issue one right now on the state ballot.

[27:24] Yep. Vote no on issue two because it legalizes what is common use or marijuana, not for medical purposes. But he said if you legalize it, he said, and I was all for it.

[27:37] I was one of the biggest proponents of it in Colorado. And it goes to what you're saying. It's been abused. There's been an increase in family breakups and result, accidents, DUIs, whatever.

[27:48] He said it was a great mistake in Colorado, but they're going to live with it now. They're going to get rid of it. Oh, yeah. And the other thing he said, what's happened is people start growing their own at home, but then it's never potent enough, so they start adding stuff to it.

[28:02] Plus all the other dealers are, well, it starts off with marijuana, and he said it's just led to more drug abuse. Yeah, it really has. It sounds great. Yeah. On the ballot, when you read it, why they're doing it, oh, we're going to have control, like they can control alcohol, right?

[28:17] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like they can control other stuff. He said, and now he's out, the biggest person out against it, and he says, do not fall for it. He said, I did. He said, I was really out there.

[28:29] It's a great thing to do. He said, just the opposite. He said, I've won the statistics. Yeah. You'd not fall for it. What? If there was a, if people didn't use alcohol and drugs, jails would be half as well.

[28:49] Oh, my. Absolutely. Absolutely. Nearly every person when we go to the jail ministry at Tri-County. No doubt. Nearly every person is a drug user.

[29:00] No doubt. Not only jails, but you'd be surprised the population of hospitals. How many people are in the hospital because of drug-related things, how it's affected their body, their liver, or their this, or their that, or something else.

[29:13] And it's just, it's a tragedy. And it's just, well, regarding marijuana and these other things, I'll tell you guys, it reminds me, the genie is out of the bottle.

[29:29] Yeah. And you can't put it back in. That's where we are. The genie is out of the bottle. And you can't put it back in.

[29:40] And I've read statistics on marijuana and how many more times potent the stuff is that they make today as opposed to the stuff they were using back in the 50s and 60s.

[29:52] And there's no comparison. And it has been demonstrated over and over again. And although it is still soundly denied, no matter how firm the statistics are, it's still soundly denied that marijuana, no, that's not a gateway to hard drugs.

[30:11] Baloney. Nine out of ten people who are into hard drugs will tell you they started with marijuana, usually when they were a teenager, usually because you had to in order to be cool.

[30:27] And every teenager knows, God forbid, you should spend any years in your teenage life and not be cool. You know, that's, what, Dan? Did I interrupt you?

[30:38] No, it's okay. How does, when Jesus turned the water into wine at wedding reception, how does that play into this? Well, it just provides another illustration of the fact that God is not anti-alcohol.

[30:53] He is anti the misuse of alcohol. Actually, God is anti the misuse of food, too. God is anti the misuse of anything that he has provided for our blessing and benefit.

[31:07] Gluttony. And there isn't anything that God has given us that we can't screw up. It's just, that's just, you know, that's just human nature.

[31:18] That's the way we are, guys. Before we leave, I want to go back to Revelation chapter 20, because there's something important there. And it's just easy to slip by.

[31:29] It's Revelation, actually, it's 21. This is as close to the end as you can get. Revelation 21. I just want to point out a little word to you that is often overlooked.

[31:45] I'll begin reading in verse 6. This is after the big wrap-up. And he said to me, Revelation 21, 6, It says, Unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers.

[32:34] I just want to focus on that word just a little bit. Sorcerers. The word in the Greek is pharmakeia, spelled with a P.

[32:45] P-H-A-R-P-I-P-A-A. I don't know the exact spelling.

[32:56] But pharmakeia. And it is the word from which we get the word pharmacy. And those who work as pharmacists provide a great service to humanity by being, and the word pharmakeia in the Greek means, literally, it means the makers and mixers of elixirs and potions.

[33:25] That's what a pharmacist does. He takes items that nature provides in vegetation and in mineral and refines them and distills them and mixes them in the proper amounts and so on.

[33:47] So that little pill that you are taking is a chemical. It's chemical-based. It is chemicals. And it is compacted into that tiny source so that you can swallow it easily.

[34:01] And some of these things are very, very powerful. It's amazing how much potency can be packed into a little tiny pill. But this is the legitimate use of it.

[34:14] And thank God for the pharmacist and the medications that are subscribed to ease human pain and cure all kinds of ailments and so on. But this is characteristic of the last day.

[34:28] And drugs and the misuse of drugs has always been a problem. But it's going to be intensified in our day. And I don't think there has ever been a time when the world has been so inundated with drugs as today.

[34:44] Anybody ever see a special program on... I'm trying to think of what channel it is. It's not the History Channel.

[34:59] Which channel is that? Anyway, they have this program. It's called To Catch a Thief. It's called To Catch a Thief. And it's all about drug interdiction.

[35:12] And people come through these airports. These are airports all over the world, in the United States as well. And people come in all kinds of luggage. And they talk about how many flights come in and out and everything.

[35:24] And these people who work in the drug interdiction thing are assigned there. And they... It's amazing how they have an eye to spot certain people carrying certain kinds of luggage.

[35:39] And they'll go out and call them aside. And it's the History Channel. Yeah, it's the History Channel. They'll go out and call them aside. And they take them into a room. And they start going through this person's luggage.

[35:49] And it is amazing the ingenuity that these drug makers and manufacturers have of getting this stuff into the country.

[36:00] They'll take a perfectly good suitcase. A brand new suitcase. Expensive suitcase. And operate on that thing. And they open it up.

[36:11] And they cut out... They cut around the lining of it. And then they flatten packages of cocaine. And put them in the lining. And close it back up.

[36:23] And you can't tell by looking at that thing that it's got anything in it. And yet these sleuths who do this as a job, they have an eye for just noticing people.

[36:35] And they really pick up on people's body language and their facial expressions and things like that. And they're taught what to look for. And it is amazing how many times they pull somebody aside just by watching them walk down the aisle and go into this little room.

[36:51] Sometimes they come up dry. Sometimes the person's not carrying anything. It's legitimate. But more often than not, they get a bingo. And then they start reading this person their rights.

[37:02] And you can learn what the sentence is going to be and so on. It's just amazing. And fellas, this thing is worldwide. And it is going to be a much greater factor in the last days than what you can imagine.

[37:18] It is one of the chief ways that people are going to be controlled by the Antichrist. And it's going to be, tell you what it's going to be.

[37:30] It's going to be hell on earth. That's what it's going to be. That's why Jesus said it will be a time such as the world has never seen before and will never see again.

[37:42] Hey, we've seen a lot. But what's coming is going to top all of that. Yes? Doctors today rarely doctor you to get rid of your problem.

[37:55] They doctor you so you don't have the effects of the problem. Well. And commercials on TV for all these medicines, they create them. All the side effects are worse than.

[38:08] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And vaccines and everything, like you said, they're going to control. They're going to mandate that everybody has a vaccine. And in that vaccine, there's things that will control you.

[38:20] Yeah. You know, today we've got a pill for everything. And I'll tell you this, from personal experience, I'm on some meds now. And I don't want to be on one of them. But my heart tells me, hey, Marv, if you want to hang around a while, you're going to have to use this stuff.

[38:35] You know? And my motto is, the less meds you have to take, the better off you are. Oh, yeah. Just make sure that you get a good diet of decent food and stay away from all of the drugs that you possibly can.

[38:50] If your doctor says you need it, well, if you're not a doctor and you can't countermand it, you're pretty much at his mercy, you know? I mean, after all, they know a lot more about medicine and health and disease than what we do.

[39:04] So you've got to trust somebody. And drugs are a wonderful thing when they are used properly. And they are devastating when they're not. Joe? I was just going to say, back in Bible times, this has to do with the sanitation of water and the alcohol thing.

[39:20] Back then, all water was gotten from a dug well or from a spring. And that's what we call surface water source. And it can get contaminated so easy by animals and peas.

[39:31] You take a dug well, all somebody has to do is defecate in there or throw up in there. And if they had a disease, everybody that drinks that water is going to get that disease. See, that's what would happen back in Bible times.

[39:44] But most people were nomads. They didn't stay around that area too long where they were getting that water. They moved on. They kept moving on. If they just stayed there, humanity might have just evaporated.

[39:56] You know, there wouldn't have been any humanity. But alcohol, like Mark said earlier, is an antiseptic. It will kill bacteria and so forth. So it was better to drink wine than to drink water if you wanted to live back then sometime.

[40:10] Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. Larry? Well, there's people that say that they have proof that drinking beer will make you smarter.

[40:22] You said it made Budweiser. Yeah. Yeah. Made Budweiser. Ah. Boo. Made Budweiser.

[40:33] Yeah. Hey, from what I heard, Budweiser's in trouble too. I don't know if they're going to climb out of this or not. But made Budweiser. Oh, my goodness. Hey, guys, have we come to that?

[40:48] That's terrible. It'll make you better to party. Okay. I don't know if I need you. You haven't seen that. We need you to create it. Back to my younger days. I don't know if I'm smart.

[40:58] Okay. Anybody else have anything that I'd like to share? Our time is pretty well gone. Yeah. Yeah. One thing that you didn't mention is as believers, you know, you can be a stumbling block to other people.

[41:16] Absolutely. That aren't believers or that are. Yeah. And maybe they cannot control. Yeah. Control their. You're right. Absolutely. That's a consideration. And Paul addresses that very thing in Romans 13.

[41:28] Amen. About a believer foregoing. Foregoing something that he could do. And he does it for the sake of others who would not understand or who would be led astray by that.

[41:42] And Paul says you can become a stumbling block to someone else. And then the big argument was about whether to eat meat or whatnot, you know. And Paul's conclusion was, hey, I'm not opposed to a good steak.

[41:56] I eat meat. But if eating meat will somehow make my brother to offend or stumble, I won't eat it. Fellas, all that's doing is putting others ahead of yourself.

[42:11] And that too, by the way, is something that is, this generation is hard pressed to do. So, yeah. Joe, did you have something? Yeah. I was going to say about the meat eating thing.

[42:23] God designed us as vegetarians. We have grinding mouths and grinding teeth. And we have long intestines to digest that cellulose material.

[42:34] Meat gets putrid going through your system. It takes so long to go through. So, it's disease causing that God designed us originally to eat fruits and vegetables.

[42:45] And we know that was the truth in the Garden of Eden. Not to eat meat. But later on, it had to be done. Of course, when Noah got off of the ark, they had to give him meat.

[42:55] But we are not designed to eat meat. But only vegetarian type food. Okay, I don't know what the change was. But I do know this. That animal flesh was not eaten before the flood.

[43:10] It just wasn't. It wasn't part of the human diet. But after the flood, it became part. And even so, only certain animals.

[43:21] Not all animals. Because the law, the Mosaic law, lays out and prescribes animal flesh that is available for human consumption.

[43:34] And animal flesh that is forbidden for human consumption. And there are multiple reasons for that. But among them that were not to be eaten was shrimp.

[43:52] And crab. And lobster. You know why? Because they're all bottom feeders. They're all bottom feeders.

[44:03] And even catfish are on the forbidden list. Because marine life, in order to be eaten, is supposed to have scales.

[44:16] Catfish don't have scales. You have to skin them. But again, they are bottom feeders. Now you can cultivate catfish like they do today. And you can cultivate catfish so that they are raised commercially, like a lot of places do.

[44:33] This is very big in Israel, by the way. They have catfish farms. And they are provided in such a way that they are not bottom feeders. And that eliminates the thing.

[44:44] So a lot of the prohibition guys had to do with what was and what was not available back in the time when it was written. And that has been overcome in many respects today because we have different ways of preparing things that didn't exist back then.

[45:02] So that has to be taken into consideration also. Lee? Yeah, going back to what Steve was alluding to there with not being a stumbling block. Something that's always kind of concerned me or a question.

[45:15] You made a question in my mind. When Jesus turned the water into wine in Canaan, why do you suppose he did that knowing well that people were going to get drunk from it?

[45:26] Well, my guess is that his philosophy was and is still, I think, to this day is all things in moderation.

[45:38] And I know and I've heard the arguments. And well, this is the typical Baptist argument. And I know it's Baptist because it was my argument when I was a Baptist.

[45:51] That when Jesus turned the water into wine, it was not real wine. It was grape juice. And that's to this day, the Baptist teetotaler's answer to Jesus turning the water into wine was a real wine.

[46:10] It was just grape juice. And if you can believe that when that first guest tasted that, if you can believe that what he was really saying is, man, this is the best grape juice I ever tasted, then you've got a better imagination than I do.

[46:25] But he turned, Jesus turned it into wine and it was real wine. And everybody knew it was real wine. And everybody enjoyed it. But there is no indication that anybody got rip-roaring drunk from it either.

[46:38] So that's, that's a common place. But it was even said that people would drink and get drunk and then they bring out the cheaper wine because they were already drunk.

[46:49] I mean, that's what the scriptures say. Yeah. So he'd give them even a more potent wine. Well, I don't know. All I know is, I'm not a connoisseur of any of this. All I know is there is cheap wine and there is good wine.

[47:03] And I honestly could not taste both of them and tell you which one was which. But back in that day, I'm sure they developed a palate for it. And still, it was all things in moderation.

[47:15] Isn't there a verse in Proverbs that says something about don't drink the wine when it's red in the cup or something that indicated that there is an aging process that has taken place.

[47:27] And it is stronger and more potent. And that needs to be taken into consideration also. Yes. Jesus stated that he will not drink until he drinks again and he does the fruit of the vine.

[47:42] Yeah. What is the fruit of the vine? Break this. Yeah. Well, when the Lord established at the Last Supper, he took the common cup.

[47:59] It wasn't little tiny cups like we use in communion today. He took the common cup that was filled with wine. And he told them, drink it, all of you.

[48:12] Which literally meant everybody take a drink from this one cup. And nobody was thinking in terms of contaminating or anything like that, you know. And then Jesus made this significant statement, which I think was tremendous.

[48:26] He said, I will not drink of this cup until I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of heaven.

[48:39] And fellas, Jesus hasn't drank from that cup yet. But he will. He will then when the kingdom of heaven has come to earth and Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning.

[48:53] And Jesus said to the 12 apostles, fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[49:05] And the time is coming when Jesus Christ is going to return, establish his kingdom. And guess who is going to sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel?

[49:18] Allah, Luke 19. Those same 12 apostles. Wow. That's the kingdom of heaven come to earth. That's what we're looking for.

[49:29] And guys, in case you didn't notice, this isn't it. And do you know what the majority? Do you know what the majority of Christendom tells you today?

[49:43] This is it. We are living in the kingdom of heaven come to earth now. Right now, today. But it isn't literal.

[49:55] It's spiritual. And if you believe that, I've got a bridge I want to sell you. Hey, enjoy your breakfast in the day, Ed. And thanks, guys, for all your input.

[50:06] I do really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.