feast: Alcohol: At The Feast And At Home
John Plunkett
Given 29-Sep-07; Tape #FT07-05; 61 minutes
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When we were first called into God�s true church, there were some of God�s commands that we had much difficulty keeping. There were other commands from God that most of us had little or no difficulty keeping, and there were yet others that most of us actually relished keeping. I would like to talk about one of these today.
Deuteronomy 14:22-26 "You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
In the sermon this morning, I would like to discuss with you the topic of the use of alcoholic beverages, both at the Feast of Tabernacles and throughout the year at home. I would like to talk about God�s authorization for its use and also God�s strict warnings regarding its use.
Benjamin Franklin once said that, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." However, some people disagree with that. One man wrote to the church office some time ago, claiming that all the positive scriptural mentions of wine refer to unfermented grape juice and that negative mentions refer to fermented wine! God's Word disagrees with him, though. God�s Word shows that it is perfectly all right for His people (those who do not have alcohol abuse problems) to enjoy alcoholic beverages in moderation. God�s Word is replete with accounts of the proper uses of wine and other types of alcoholic beverage by people who are considered to be righteous in God�s eyes by God's standards.
Here are some Old Testament examples:
When Melchizedek, who we believe to have been Jesus Himself, met with Abram, He brought wine to that meeting.
Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
When Isaac was giving his blessing to his son Jacob (who he thought was Esau), he drank wine and also asked for "plenty of wine" as a blessing from God:
Genesis 27:25, 28 He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank...."Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine."
Isaac was a man very close to God. Is it likely that he would ask God to bless his son with an abundance of wine if he knew that God forbade it?
God included wine in other blessings, too. For example, through Moses, God promised the Israelites that, if they would obey Him, wine would be included among the many blessings that He would pour out upon them:
Deuteronomy 7:13 "And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you."
Again, these are blessings from God including wine.
Deuteronomy 33:28 "Then Israel shall dwell in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine; his heavens shall also drop dew.
Wine was promised by God as a blessing for obedience. Conversely, God solemnly warned them that if they disobeyed Him, He would take away their wine and their vineyards from them as a curse.
Deuteronomy 28:39, 51 "You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them...And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you."
Also, in many scriptures in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, God commanded that wine should be used in certain of Israel�s offerings to Him and also commanded the Israelites to tithe of all of the wine that they produced.
Deuteronomy 18:4 The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
It was given to God through the priesthood.
Also, as we read in our opening scripture in Deuteronomy 14, God gives us the instructions on the proper use of our second tithe for the celebration of His feasts, where God authorizes the purchase and use of wine and strong drink. The term strong drink is translated from the Hebrew word shekar, which means "intensely alcoholic liquor," and might include the likes of whisky, brandy, fortified wines, etc.
We have seen that the instructions and examples continue throughout the Old Testament. Now I would like to turn to the New Testament and begin with a question: In the transition between the two eras covered by the volumes that we call the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament," did God change His mind regarding the use of alcohol? We see that Jesus and His apostles mention wine and strong drink numerous times in the New Testament.
It is very true that drunkenness and excessive consumption of alcohol are clearly condemned in many New Testament scriptures, as they are in the Old Testament. However, nowhere does the Bible say that moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages is a sin. Some scriptures even strongly indicate that, during His human sojourn, Jesus Himself enjoyed the occasional glass of wine.
Luke 7:33-34 "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
Why would anyone call Jesus a "winebibber" if it were anything other than wine that He had been seen drinking? It does not really make sense. Would His critics have judged Him for drinking mere grape juice? I do not think so.
Also, Jesus drank wine with His disciples at His last Passover service, when He promised them that He would again enjoy a glass of wine with them after their resurrection in the Kingdom.
Matthew 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
Also, the very first miracle that Jesus performed was to turn water into wine:
John 2:1-3, 6-10 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine"...Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"
Not only did Jesus condone the proper use of wine, but He also knew the qualities of a good wine! This fact is confirmed in Luke 5:
Luke 5:39 "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' "
The man who wrote to the church office argued that, at the Cana wedding, Jesus changed the water into unfermented grape juice. Have you ever heard of grape juice connoisseurs? Have you ever heard anyone comparing the qualities of good, old grape juice with that of lesser quality? I do not think so. The Greek word translated wine in John 2 is oinos, which means "fermented wine"!
The Apostle Paul followed his Master's lead on this subject. In the same letter to Timothy in which he soundly condemned excessive alcohol consumption, Paul advised Timothy to drink some wine to help ease his chronic stomach problems.
I Timothy 5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.
The point there is that God gave us wine and other alcoholic beverages not only for our enjoyment but also to learn their proper use and to help us to develop character and the proper exercise of wisdom and self-control. The proper use of alcohol is a great responsibility. It is only the wrong use of it that is sin.
I would like to continue now by discussing the wrong use of alcohol. Just what are some wrong uses of alcohol? In answer to this question, two words come to mind: alcoholism and drunkenness. The Bible does not specifically distinguish between the two. Many people make the common mistake of thinking that these two conditions are one and the same. They most certainly are not! They may well be "two sides of the same coin" and both conditions may sometimes appear in the same person. Some alcoholics are also shameless drunkards, but not always! We sometimes come across what is called a "dry drunk," which is technically termed a "delta alcoholic." This is a person who is very effective in hiding his or her condition from the world and from the church!
Let us define both terms. I just want to touch on alcoholism briefly. Alcoholism, according to the dictionary is
1. A chronic disease caused by addiction to alcohol, which leads to deterioration in health and social functioning.
2. Acute alcohol poisoning.
An alcoholic is a person who is addicted to alcohol and one who abuses alcohol.
Is alcoholism really a disease, an illness? Yes, it is! Though some may disagree or argue the point, the very latest studies on alcoholism prove conclusively that it is a disease. Some of these studies prove that many alcoholics are actually genetically predisposed to alcoholism! I do have access to some of these studies. If you are interested and wish to read them, please let me know. They have some amazing information in there.
However, alcoholism is not the main sermon topic today. I am just touching on it briefly to let you know that alcoholism and drunkenness are not the same thing and also to encourage anybody who is affected by alcoholism to seek help. If you have an alcohol problem, please discuss it first of all with God; secondly, discuss it with your spouse or your parents; and thirdly, please discuss it with your minister. I would be glad to help in any way that I can. I do not claim to be an expert on alcoholism, but I have been researching the topic for the past year and I have already learned enough that I hope I can at least point you in the right direction.
In February of this year, Trish and I attended a wonderful four-day family program at a drug and alcoholic treatment center in Canada. This program was for the family members of alcoholics and drug addicts who were participating in the recovery program there. Neither Trish nor I have alcoholic problems, but alcoholism and drug addiction do exist in the church of God and do exist in the Church of the Great God. Because I had little or no previous practical knowledge about substance abuse, when the opportunity arose to attend this family program, we jumped at it. It was very helpful to us, and we learned a lot.
Now let us move off the topic of alcoholism and onto our main topic for the rest of the sermon, which is drunkenness. Here is a simple dictionary definition:
1. The state of being drunk.
2. Inebriation.
3. The state of intoxication after having drunk an alcoholic beverage.
Here are a couple associated terms: Inebriation means "behaving as though affected by alcohol"; for example exhilaration, or being dumbened or stupefied. Intoxicated means "stupefied or excited by means of a chemical such as alcohol."
These definitions show that drunkenness is different from alcoholism. A case of drunkenness might be an occasional or even a one-time event. It might perhaps occur once a year (at the Feast, for example!) to a person who is totally sober in between. Even then, every case of drunkenness is a sin and needs to be repented of.
Shortly after the Feast last year, I was listening to a news item on BBC radio, which reported that "binge drinking" (that is, drinking with purposeful intent to become intoxicated) is approaching epidemic levels throughout the United Kingdom, especially among young people. There is also great popularity of "alcopops" among young people. "Alcopops" are bottled or canned alcohol drinks which resemble soft drinks or lemonade but have an alcohol content up to 7%, and they tend to appeal more to females. Liverpool�s Alder Hey Children�s Hospital has been admitting nine-year-old children suffering from alcohol poisoning! The British�the once proud, glorious, and powerful Israelite tribe of Ephraim�according to this news item, are among Europe�s biggest drinkers, and they have the fastest increase in drinking in all of Europe.
Why should we be surprised at these statistics, though? God foretold Ephraim�s wretched condition in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 28:1, 3 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine!...The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot.
Alas, if only Ephraim were the only tribe afflicted with this ever-increasing crisis. Let us shift now from Ephraim to his brother, Manasseh. Here is an excerpt from a recent newsletter from the World Congress of Families:
A recent study finds that student drinking�a perennial campus problem�is getting worse, and officials of area colleges are stepping up efforts to curtail it.
"Students know about the movie Animal House, and that's what they think they are supposed to do at college," lamented Lori Lambert, director of residence life at Xavier University.
The study, by the national center on addiction and substance abuse at Columbia University (New York), found that 3.8 million full-time college students (49%) binge drink and/or abuse prescription and illegal drugs, and that 1.8 million full-time college students (22.9%) meet the medical criteria for substance abuse and dependence.
This is the cream of our youth, brethren, at these colleges and universities. That is more than twice the percentage of the general population. The survey saw no significant change from twelve years ago in the percentage of students who drink, but it discovered that the intensity of excessive drinking has jumped sharply. The study found that, between 1993 and 2001, the proportion of students who frequently binge drink increased by 16%, those who drink on ten or more occasions in a month went up by 25%, those who got drunk at least three times a month increased 26%, and those who drink to get drunk was up 21%.
Among the consequences of alcohol abuse on college campuses were 1,717 deaths from alcohol-related injuries in 2001, up 6% from 1998, and a 38% increase from 1993 to 2001 in the proportion of students injured as a result of their own drinking. The report said there was a 21% increase from 2001 to 2005 in the average number of alcohol-related arrests per campus, and noted that in 2005, alcohol-related arrests constituted 83% of campus arrests. In 2001, 97,000 students were victims of alcohol-related rapes or other sexual attacks, and 696,000 students were assaulted by a student who had been binge drinking. These are amazing statistics.
This is what modern Ephraim and Manasseh have come to, two of the most blessed of all the modern nations of Israel! I am sure that, if we were to look a little deeper, we would probably find that the other modern Israelite nations are not too far behind the leaders! What a disgrace.
We may listen to these statistics and say that this problem is only in "the world," surely! That is only in physical Israel, surely! This is not in spiritual Israel; there is no drunkenness or binge drinking in the true church of God, surely! Certainly not in Church of the Great God, is it? It is brethren, it is!
At the Feast of Tabernacles in recent years, I became (and this pains me to tell you this now) more aware than ever that there are some church members who suffer from alcohol-abuse problems. Also, the Church of the Great God can be affected�negatively, of course�by this abuse, either directly or indirectly. That spreads out into the greater church of God, and the whole body of Jesus Christ is affected when this type of sin is being committed.
Brethren, we are a part of the church of God. What kind of light and example are we shining to the world? What kind of example are we giving to the people of Missouri and to the hotel staff right here?
Please do not get me wrong, brethren. I am not a spoilsport. I am not an abolitionist. I am not a teetotaler. I like a good beer, a glass of wine or Scotch. Please do not think that I am picking on anyone specifically; I am not. Please do not think that I am a holier-than-thou hypocrite, because I will admit to you that I have overdone it in the past and have drunk too much. I look back, on just a few occasions, with shame and embarrassment and I pray that God will forgive and forget those sins, for sins they were.
We have already seen that God�s word allows moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages at the Feast of Tabernacles and throughout the year. To qualify that: It is allowable for non-risk adult members who enjoy them; He is not going to force it down anyone�s throat. The same Book, though, condemns drunkenness.
Do some of us sometimes suffer from selective spiritual hearing? Are we sometimes selective in our Bible study? Do we choose to remember Deuteronomy 14 and other scriptures that support the drinking of alcohol, but overlook or ignore scriptures which strictly forbid drunkenness? In the King James Version of the Bible, there are seventy-seven appearances of the word drunk and its derivatives words. Not all of them have a negative connotation; many of them are merely the past tense of the verb to drink.
In our remaining time today, I would like to concentrate on the New Testament warnings against drunkenness. Let us begin with words of our own Savior:
Luke 12:45-48 "But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
Here we see some possible fruits of drunkenness:
� Becoming an evil servant.
� Thinking and saying that "my Lord delays His coming," thus thinking there is plenty of time left to straighten out one�s life and one�s drunkenness.
� Beating his fellow-servants. I have not actually seen that happen, but a drunkard might beat his family and/or his fellow-Christians in this way; perhaps beating them physically, perhaps beating them in other ways: emotionally, sexually, verbally, or socially. I have either seen or been made aware of all of these.
� Coming to prefer the company of fellow-drunkards rather than sober fellow-Christians.
What does Jesus warn will be the results?
� The drunkard will find that the Lord will not delay His coming!
� The Lord (or the drunkard�s death) will come when the drunkard is totally unprepared.
� The drunkard will be cut off from his/her fellow-Christians!
� He will be grouped�not with his fellow-Christians�but with the hypocrites and unbelievers.
� His misery will be so great that he will weep and gnash his teeth, because he failed to heed God�s multiple warnings against drunkenness.
� If he is aware of these multiple warnings�which I am going to repeat to you today�but does not heed them, he will be punished more severely than if he were unaware.
Please note that if you were not aware before this sermon, then God is making you aware of His warnings right now! These are not my warnings. Please do not think that it is John Plunkett who is saying this to you. These are the words of Jesus Christ, so please heed them.
Here we see that Jesus hammers home His warnings even more:
Luke 21: 34-36 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing (surfeiting, KJV), drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Surfeiting means "excess; overindulgence in eating or drinking."
If you and your beloved family were in a situation where severe danger threatened, and you were told that rescue forces were on their way to liberate you and your family from the danger but on the condition that you watch, stay awake, stay alert, stay vigilant, sober, and free from the drowsiness of excessive alcohol, would you not do it to save yourself and your family from this danger? Of course you would! This is exactly what Jesus Christ is warning here!
What makes a drunkard think that the dangers of "that day" are any less perilous than today�s dangers? We know very well what makes the drunkard think it�rather, who makes him think it!
It is Satan, who deceives the whole world. Is the drunkard right to believe that "that day" is somehow less dangerous than the hazards of our day? No! Here is what God says about "that day":
Jeremiah 30:7 "Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."
None is like it! No day has ever been as dangerous as that day will be! Again, please�for your own safety and that of your family�stay awake, stay alert, and stay sober!
Romans 13:13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
"Not in rioting..." The Greek word is komos, which means "reveling; carousal," usually at night.
"...and drunkenness, not in lewdness..." The Greek word there is koytay, which is illicit sexual behaviour.
"...and wantonness..." The Greek word is aselgia, which is lasciviousness; unbridled lust; excess; licentiousness; filthy, outrageous, shameless behavior.
Many or all of these sins can be negative byproducts of excessive drinking. Remember the unbelievable statistics in the Columbia University study�the rapes, sexual assaults, and other violent attacks? Please notice also that, through Paul, God warns us against excessive nocturnal partying. Paul talks about this quite a lot. He quite often associates this nighttime partying with drunkenness.
I Thessalonians 5:4-8 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
Brethren, we are children of the day! Kim Myers, our deacon in Portland, Oregon, has this erudite saying: "Nothing good happens after 11:30 P.M." You may think Kim�s saying is an overstatement, but please take some time and think about Kim�s wise words!
I Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner�not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."
Quite clearly, God, through the Apostle Paul, says that we are not to even keep company with drunkards. Through the Apostle Paul, God groups the drunkards with the sexually immoral, extortioners, and even idolaters! The shame of this particular scripture and today�s application of it is that it is referring not to people outside the church, but to people who consider themselves to be in God�s true church. Look at the people with whom God groups the drunkards in this particular case:
I Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
The warning is clear, brethren. Did God make a mistake? Did Paul make a mistake when he wrote these things? Was this just Paul�s own personal preference to include drunkenness in this list of sins that will keep the unrighteous people out of the kingdom of God? Of course not!
I Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
We are the children of God. Converted children of God must not be doing these things! We have been and we continue to be washed, sanctified, and justified. Rather than continuing in our pre-conversion sins, perhaps thinking that we can safely continue because "our sins are covered by God�s grace," we are told that we must rather use God�s Holy Spirit in order to grow more like our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It pains me to give this sermon, brethren; this is no laughing matter! Drunkenness is one of the deadly "works of flesh." We may not think when we read this that it ranks "up there" with the likes of murder, idolatry, and witchcraft; but our thinking and opinions are relatively unimportant. It is God�s thoughts and opinions and God�s word that truly matter, and He says that unrepented-of drunkenness is a deadly sin that will keep a person out of the Kingdom of God.
Is this a salvation issue? Yes, it is. This is a salvation issue, and this is not just a physical thing�your eternal life depends on this. These warnings are repeated over and over again to make sure that we get it.
At the Feast each year, Mr. Armstrong used to ask us a question, "Why are we here?" Why are we here at the Feast of Tabernacles, brethren? Why are you here at the Feast of Tabernacles? Are you just here to have good time? Are you just here to fellowship? Are you just here to see your friends that you have not seen for a while? Are you here just to eat, drink, and be merry?
We know that there is nothing wrong with any of these, in moderation and balance; but if these things are the only reasons that we are here, then we are here for the wrong reasons. One of the main reasons that we all should be here at the Feast is to learn to fear our Great God! We need to be alert in order to hear and to read what God is saying to us through His ministers and His other speakers.
If there are any of you�and I hope there are not�who do not care what God thinks and says, then you may as well pack up and go home right now! You may as well save your hard-earned money so that you can booze it up at Christmas and New Year with the rest of the world, because they are the people with whom God will group you! I hope and pray that nobody here thinks that way. I am sorry, brethren, if this is a sobering subject, but it is something that we need to hear.
Ephesians 5:11-20 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. [There is another warning against those nighttime activities.] For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul says, "Be not drunk." What we should be doing at the Feast of Tabernacles is "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Thus, brethren, whether occasional or habitual�whether here at the Feast of Tabernacles or throughout the year back in your home area�drunkenness is not worth it! Esau foolishly gave up his precious birthright for a miserable bowl of lentil stew. Is it worth giving up your precious eternal life and your place in the Kingdom of God for one-too-many glasses of wine?
Brethren, please enjoy this wonderful Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day. I hope that you will enjoy your daily life back in your home area until we can be back together again next year.
I hope and pray that you can enjoy the rest of your physical life, and I hope and pray that you can enjoy alcoholic beverages in moderation. Brethren please, for your salvation�s sake, be not drunk!
JHP/pp/klg
