When I was actively involved in treating alcoholics and drug addicts, one of my patients told me that on one occasion he needed a drink so badly he sold his upper denture plate to a bartender for one drink because three of the teeth were lined with gold. The poison is so addictive the captive alcoholic will go to any extreme for another drink.

Drinking intoxicating beverages is not outrightly denounced by the God of creation, but drunkenness is. Personally, I have no love for the stuff—don’t need it, any more than I need a daily dose of Ex-Lax. I worked with alcoholics for decades, and I can assure you that not one of them would have become addicted to alcohol and ruined his life had he left his “social drinks” inside the bottle

Calamity In The Family
I once had a brother-in-law—now deceased—whose biological system was so susceptible to alcohol that to even get a whiff of it sent him on a long drinking spree. On one occasion he was gone on an alcohol binge from his wife and three children for almost a month. It was during his long stay from home that Dad and I—not knowing he was on a bender—visited my sister and her three small children in their ramshackle country rental home. They had almost starved to death. Their plight was so sad that we both wept.

We immediately made a trip to the grocery store and replenished their food cupboard. After “squandering his property on prostitutes” and alcohol and was broken enough to be “sent to the fields to feed pigs” (Luke 15), he returned home “with his tail between his legs,” carrying nothing but the clothes on his back. But praise be to God, he later conquered the addiction and spent the remainder of his days sober but in solitude, without his family. In his own way he loved the Lord, but the flesh mastered him for most of his years.

Biblical Cases Of Drinking
The stories I could tell you about the pitfalls of alcohol and drugs would astound you. Yes, even God’s children are often the victims of alcohol and its after-effects. Righteous Lot, who lost his wife when she turned around to take a look at God’s judgment upon the city of homosexual Sodom, had two daughters who later got him drunk and had sex with him. Both became pregnant by their father and bore sons (Genesis 19:30-38). This incestuous relationship would probably never have occurred if there had been no alcohol in their company.

After the ark landed, Noah planted a vineyard, and “when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.” His son, Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness—probably by accident. When Noah awakened, he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers” (Genesis 9). Ham was not totally to blame. Noah, although a righteous servant of God, should not have gotten drunk. He paid the penalty.

When Moses was upon the mountain with God for 40 days, the children of Israel became bored and corrupted themselves. When he came down off the mountain, he found them singing and dancing—and intoxicated—and bowing down to a stupid idol in the form of a calf. “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies” (Exodus 32). What followed was death to 3,000 of the revelers, decreed by God.

My Fleshly Brother Suffered The Consequences
One of my brothers died from alcoholism and riotous living. He was always in denial, as most alcoholics are. I last saw him in 1985 at Dad’s funeral. He was still drinking. I cautioned him again about the fatal results of alcohol and cigarette addiction and asked him if he had had his liver tested lately. I still remember his words. “I just had a physical not too long ago and the doctor said I was in excellent shape.” Denial again.

By the time he entered the hospital to die, most of his vital organs were shutting down. One happy note, however, about his demise is that just before he died he asked someone to bring him the Lord’s Supper. It was brought to him and he died not too long afterwards. In his own way he, too, loved the Lord, but the flesh enslaved him for most of his years.

Drunkenness And Heaven Don’t Mix!
Now we know why the apostle Paul placed drunkenness in the same arena of wickedness as adulterers, prostitutes, idolaters, homosexuals, thieves, and the greedy, and announced, “They [the unrepentant] will not inherit the [eternal] reign of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

My advice is simple. Don’t start drinking “socially” and you’ll never become an alcoholic. Don’t seek a “temporary high” on drugs to “better solve your problems” and you’ll never become a drug addict.