GOD SAID in Proverbs, chapter 23, verses 29-35:

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

and in Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 15:

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

and in Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 1:

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

MAN SAID a little moderation, a little bit of wine, a little bit of beer, a little bit of whiskey, marijuana, cocaine, etc., and Jesus made wine, didn’t he?

Now THE RECORD. In etymology, which is the study of words, a guideline exists known as the rule of first occurrence. The rule basically states that a word’s definition is typically established during the word’s first use. The word “drunken” is first found in Genesis, chapter 9, verse 21. This is the first account of the existence of alcoholic beverages and of someone suffering the effects of alcohol and it happened to none other than Noah. Scientists note that Noah was blindsided. He was an expert husbandman, making wine for hundreds of years, but this time immediately after the worldwide flood things were not the same. Further on in this feature I will explain. Nevertheless, Noah became drunk and passed out in his tent. His son Ham, in the presence of his brothers, showed disrespect to his father concerning this matter. When Noah awoke, being aware of what Ham did, he cursed Ham’s son Canaan. This young man went to populate the land of Canaan which today is the land of Israel. These people as well as the Ishmaelites and other Arabian people are in the Middle East presently. They are participating in the terrible turmoil and will find themselves complicit in bringing about the great and horrendous battle of Armageddon. Imagine, the first occurrence of alcoholic beverages is participating in the battle of Armageddon.

The devastating effects of alcohol are in fact like an Armageddon on the world’s population. Consider these facts: 13 million adult Americans are alcoholics and another 76 million are adversely affected by it. This year an estimated 100,000 Americans will die as a result of alcohol. This number is nearly twice the number of U.S. soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam war. Alcohol is involved in 50% of all violent crimes as well as 50% of all fatal accidents. Three out of ten U.S. citizens will be involved in an alcohol-related auto accident in their lifetime. Imagine, it is estimated that the U.S. forks out 167 billion dollars a year as a result of the damages of alcohol. One out of four of America’s children resides in an alcohol-abusive home and suffers psychosomatic illnesses. Today it is estimated that 11 million U.S. children and adolescents are drinking alcoholic beverages. Consider the broken hearts of deserted mothers, fathers and children, the broken homes, the adultery, rape, fornication, etc., that are caused by alcoholic beverages.

Another terrible devastation caused by alcohol is the attacking of the unborn in the mother’s womb. It is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It can be caused by a mother drinking as little as one alcoholic beverage during pregnancy. It is the number one cause of birth defects and renders its children with I.Q.s 13 to 16 points lower than their non-affected counterparts. Many cases of mental retardation are the result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Drinking kills neurons, causes cancer, destroys livers, damages the ability to discern between right and wrong, etc., etc. This problem is considerably worse in much of the world’s populations. Surely it is an Armageddon of its own.

With this phenomenal weight of witnesses testifying against the consumption of alcohol, why does so much Biblical confusion appear to exist? Let’s take a look.

The word of God speaks about wine and strong drink (wine is the main focus of this article). I mentioned earlier that Noah was the first man in recorded history to become drunken and that scientists say that this righteous man was blindsided and here’s the reason why: The natural fermentation process that causes the juice of the grape, for instance, to ferment is a result of the atmospheric changes that took place during the days of Noah. Prior to the great Noahitic flood a water canopy encompassed the earth (See “120 Years” on this website). This water canopy was destroyed by God and cast down to the earth. It appears it has since been replaced with an ozone layer. According to scientists, the banished water canopy would have filtered out the ultraviolet killer rays from the sun. For one thing, UV rays cause bacteria (a natural yeast) to form on the grapes in the field as well as all other fruits, which in turn causes the juice to ferment. Prior to Noah, these UV rays were blocked by God’s water canopy. Consequently, Noah would have been unaware of the dangers of fermentation.

The process of fermentation takes place when the yeast, which is a product of UV rays, acts on the sugar in the fruit, converting it first into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas and then unless its protected from the air, into vinegar. In 1790, the Cistercian monks discovered that by adding sugar they could markedly increase the alcohol content of the wine. In addition, most of today’s wine makers add a yeast starter to the naturally occurring yeast in the juice to spike alcohol content yet higher.

In Proverbs, chapter 23, verse 31, it reads:

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

In other words, don’t drink the wine after it has fermented. Also, the wine God commanded us not to drink had a very low alcoholic content in comparison to today’s alcoholic beverages due to the very low levels of sugar in middle eastern grapes. According to the history book, “Archaeology and Bible History,” actual wine and beer in ancient Palestine contained not more than five to eight percent alcohol due to the limitation of natural sugar in the grape’s juice and the malt which was used.

Some of the confusion concerning the drinking of alcoholic beverages is that many erroneously think that the word “wine” in the Bible strictly refers to the fermented juice of the grape. A simple search of the scriptures, however, reveals that unfermented grape juice is called wine as well as the fermented juice. This is shown in the following scripture passages:

Isaiah, chapter 65, verse 8:

Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

Micah, chapter 6, verse 15:

Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 10:

So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Hosea, chapter 9, verse 2:

The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

Joel, chapter 2, verse 24:

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Please note it is called wine as it comes forth from the wine press.

It should be no surprise that a particular word has more than one meaning. For instance, milk could refer to mother’s milk, cow’s milk, the sweet milk of human kindness, etc.

In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words which are both translated in English as the word “wine.” The first word, “tirosh,” occurs 38 times and it means, “must, fresh or new wine.” The word “must” is defined as, “the expressed unfermented juice of the grape.” Again from the text book, “Archaeology and Bible History,” the following excerpt deals with the two Hebrew words translated as wine. It begins discussing the word “tirosh.”

Examination of the use of this word shows that is does not refer to a fermented drink. Eleven times it speaks of wine as a first fruit fresh from the harvest, usually in the phrase, “corn, wine, and oil,” and obviously refers to grapejuice. Seventeen times it is used with grain and oil, as natural products of the field, again clearly implying grapejuice. In three places tirosh is said to be filling the presses, obviously referring to freshly pressed juice (Joel 2:24, Hosea 9:2, and Prov. 3:10). Isaiah 65:8 pictures tirosh as being still in the cluster of grapes, and Micah 6:15 is the clearest of all, mentioning tirosh as the material from which fermented wine is formed. Only in one place is there any association between tirosh and wickedness (Hosea 4:11), “Whoredom and wine (yayin) and new wine (tirosh) take away the heart.” Even here in this particular context there is no mention of actual drunkenness and no suggestion that tirosh in itself is intoxicating.

It is clear, then, that tirosh is regularly used in the sense of “grapejuice,” a beverage with no appreciable content of alcohol.

Concerning the second Hebrew word, “yayin,” it goes on to say,

Yayin is the most common word for wine in the Old Testament, occurring one hundred thirty-five times, and clearly means fermented wine. At least thirty times yayin is definitely associated with drunkenness, and its use is more or less condemned; it was prohibited to the Nazarites (Num. 6:3); Daniel refused the king’s yayin (Dan. 1:8). About half the passages mentioning yayin in the Old Testament are clearly denunciatory. In some places it is mentioned merely as a natural product without praise or blame, just as polygamy is referred to at times without specified condemnation being given at that reference. An examination of passages supposed to support the use of yayin shows that they really do not give such support: the use of yayin in making the drink offering does not support partaking of wine, for this offering was not drunk;

As in the Old Testament, the word “wine” in the New Testament can mean unfermented or fermented wine. When Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, says, “And be not drunk with wine,” it refers to fermented wine and when Christ gets wine on his clothes as he treads out the winepress of his wrath it is speaking of the unfermented grapejuice which is found in the winepress. Wine then can be fermented or unfermented.

Now concerning the marriage supper in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, there is one very obvious reason that certifies that Jesus in fact did not create fermented wine and that reason is that the Lord Jesus Christ was sinless. Had he created fermented wine and contributed to the drunkenness of others he would have been guilty of disobeying the many commandments forbidding it.

Do you suppose that our Lord Jesus would have given the people fermented wine causing men to lust after their neighbors’ wives, fist fight in the parking lot and wreck their chariots on the way home, etc.?

Would it be so hard to fathom that the miracle wine Jesus produced would be the finest wine that man has ever tasted and that the creator of the universe (Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 2) could accomplish this feat without the contamination of alcohol? Wouldn’t you suppose that Christ’s miracle wine would be free of fermenting bacteria caused by harmful UV rays from the sun? The answers are “of course” and “of course.”

In regard to the heavenly miracle wine, Jesus comments in Matthew, chapter 26, verse 29, just before his crucifixion.

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

Note, “...when I drink it new...” not only inferring freshly pressed wine but wine before the contamination caused by man’s sin...before the UV rays that cause fermentation.

A verse commonly cited to support alcoholic beverages is I Timothy, chapter 5, verse 23:

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

First, the passage does not suggest that this wine is fermented or not. It should be noted that unfermented wine (grape juice) is sometimes prescribed by doctors for stomach disorders. Proponents of alcoholic consumption felt vindicated when a 1999 University of Wisconsin Medical School study ascribed great health benefits to fermented wine...at least that’s how much of the media reported it. The research revealed that in wine are found tannins and flavinoids that diminish cholesterol and may fight blood clotting. What most media failed to report is that unfermented wine (grape juice) has the very same health benefits.

All wine as with other juices, that is not pasteurized will be in a process of fermentation. If, for instance, you would purchase a gallon of unpasteurized apple cider without preservatives and left it on the kitchen counter, the process of fermentation with the sugar of the apple juice being converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide gas would begin. You can drink it as it progresses and the very low levels of alcohol will have no serious effect until it reaches critical alcohol mass. So then the mention in Proverbs, “...long at the wine;...,” comes into play. While the alcohol content is at a very low level, in order to have a negative effect one would have to spend a long time drinking it but when the fermentation process is complete, one water glass full can knock you on your backside and the terrible predictions of Proverbs 23 will come to pass. So much then for the moderate drinking of fully fermented alcoholic beverages.

Those who promote the concept of moderation, citing verses such as I Timothy, chapter 3, verse 8, which reads,

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

need to read a few verses above that, in verse two which reads:

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

This word, “sober,” is discussed in the following paragraph in “Archaeology and Bible History:”

The New Testament attitude toward intoxicating drink is shown by the injunction for Christians to be nephalios, translated “sober.” This word is used only three times in the New Testament (I Tim. 3:2,11, and Titus 2:2), but it is used regularly in the classical authors meaning “free from all wine.” This word shows strongly that the New Testament ideal is total abstinence.

The dictionary defines “sober” as: not given or addicted to the use of intoxicating beverages; abstinent; free from the influence of intoxicating beverages.

Another scripture worthy of consideration in Exodus, chapter 22, verse 9:

Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

Webster’s definition of “liquor” reads: liquid fluid substance. Liquor is a word of signification, extending to water, milk, blood, sap, juice, etc.; but its most common application is to spiritous fluids, whether distilled or fermented, to decoctions (which are substances boiled in water to extract their virtues), to solutions (defined as having the parts of any body separated), to tinctures (medicine, for instance, in a spiritous solution).

Finally, from “Archaeology and Bible History,”

In summary, we are left with the Biblical condemnation of alcoholic drink, and a definite denunciation of drunkenness as sin. Nowhere is moderate drinking given approval ... The existence of light fermented wine does not mean that God sanctioned its use for beverage purposes. Furthermore, a different situation exists today with the use of modern strong alcoholic beverages. Solomon’s observation of long ago is just as applicable today, if not more so: “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red . . . at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder” (Prov. 23:31,32).

The Christians’ motto should simply be, “We drink no wine that’s past the line,”...and of course that includes all fermented or distilled alcoholic beverages.

GOD SAID in Proverbs, chapter 23, verses 29-35,

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

MAN SAID a little moderation, a little bit of wine, a little bit of beer, a little bit of whiskey, marijuana, cocaine, etc., and Jesus made wine, didn’t he?

Now you have THE RECORD.