It is no surprise that both drug abuse and alcoholism are on the rise in these end times. This too is another sign sign that we are in the end times.
According to Who almost 6% of all worldwide deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption. In 2013 over 24% of people said they binge drank in the last month. Along with an increase in drug use, an increase in alcohol use is a sign of the end times. What does the Bible say about drunkenness?
An addict who partakes in the use of substance changes dramatically so that their own family members do not know them anymore. Substance abuser’s actions grow baser. According to the dictionary, this means that they are “without moral principles; ignoble: “the electorate’s baser instincts of greed and selfishness.” According to the Bible, drunkenness is the total opposite of spirituality. It is a sinful state. Addiction brings base actions to the surface. Addicts will steal from their family members, including their own children. Under the influence, they are capable of all kinds of violence including murder. They also commit adulterous or promiscuous acts. Some while intoxicated will even make sexual advances toward their own family members. They are capable of rape and incest.
Addicts pathologically lie, cheat, and steal. While drunk or drugged, they commit acts they never would carry out if they were sober. Such is the case with many criminals who fill prisons. While sinful behavior is most obvious with substance abuse, each addiction brings out base actions on the part of the addict. Drug abusers will abandon their families, put their children at risk, harm them and commit all kinds of horrible deeds against those they love. Meanwhile, they blame their family members for their addiction and actions. They act as a whirlwind in the lives of their loved ones, causing great emotional harm to their family members. It is as if the substance takes over their entire being. They become irrational, angry, unloving and narcissistic. They, lie, cheat, steal and their lives become all about them. The Bible talks about the fruits of the spirit as love, joy, peace, patience and admonishes against drunkenness. When an addict is high or drunk, they cares only about themselves.
Drunkenness reduces the partaker to all of his or her base and primal emotions. In an attempt to escape, the addict loses him or herself to their addiction. Dangerous substances deteriorate the user’s mind, health, nervous system, and emotions. The substance takes over the addict’s life as if it were an invading monster; a body snatcher. What is left is the shell of a person who once existed. An addict becomes selfless throughout their enslavement but not in a good way. They lose the person they once were and become someone whom their family members no longer know. In the Bible, a Christ following Christian dies to himself and his desires in pursuit of spirituality and a walk with God.
An army colonel told me that once he died to himself that he could emerge a warrior and soldier. He considered himself already dead in the face of a horrific battle. He viewed himself as deceased because he felt that there was no way he could survive the gunfire. He believed this thinking helped him survive. The addict dies to his or her spiritual self. What remains is a person who makes their loved ones miserable, who lies, is angry, and commits horrible acts to sustain their addiction. A substance abuser dies to all three levels of their person: emotionally, spiritually and physically. While physical death does not occur instantly, the self-destructive acts accelerates illnesses that can lead to death. Non-substance addictions also take their toll on a person on all three levels and they too face health risks. Sex addicts are at risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Food addicts risk obesity and other health issues related to their intake of junk foods. Workaholics chance diseases associated with stress. Gamblers also undergo a great deal of stress with the financial ruin they bring on themselves.
A woman addicted to running sprinted so much she broke her femur bone. All addicts give their bodies to the god of their vice. Addicts live for the god of their substance and give this god their time, energy, money and devotion. They discard their lives, their children, and all that is good to pay homage to their idol. An addict is an idolater. God states in the First Commandment of the Ten Commandments, “you shall have no other god before me. ” The substance or vice is the addict’s god. Addicts give their heart, soul, children, and money, whatever it takes to have their substance or vice, i.e. their god. Jesus requests that we leave all behind for Him including our families. An addict leaves all behind, including their families, for the god of their substance.
In the Bible drunkenness is also associated with much sorrow and a curse. Isaiah 5:11-12 records drunkards as Godless and every time we see a woe in the Bible it means a curse they have brought on themselves:
Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
That they may follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
12 The harp and the strings,
The tambourine and flute,
And wine are in their feasts;
But they do not regard the work of the Lord, Nor consider the operation of His hands.