The question arises, "When is a man drunk?" If it takes ten drinks to make a man drunk, then he is one-tenth drunk when he takes one drink. When one drink is taken, it induces some degree of drunkenness.
The person who takes the first drink, is different from who he was before he had a drink. If I ask a person, after he takes a drink, "Are you drunk?", he is going to say, "No", but the fact remains that, in some degree, he is drunk. In some way, alcohol has impaired his facilities. A driver who has had one beer cannot react as fast as he could before he had that one beer. Drunk Driving Tests have proven this.
The old Japanese Proverb sums it up very well, "The Man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes the man."
They tell a Jewish Legend, "When Noah planted a vineyard, after the Flood, the devil sneaked in that night and buried a Lamb, a Lion, and a Pig because he knew that when a man takes the first drink, he is like a Lamb, the next he roars like a Lion, the next he wallows like a Pig."
Someone asked the question,"What's wrong with a social drink?" The word, social, means relating to pleasant companionship. The so-called social drink is the culprit. It is far from being a good companion. The person who drinks to be "sociable usually has more problems than the confirmed alcoholic, in that he will not admit that he is as drunk as he really is. If things happen to rub him "the wrong way" he becomes belligerent, gets in fights, drives while drinking and resists arrest more than the confirmed drunk.
Should I ask Evangeline Booth, "Is Drinking Really That Bad?", she would be quick to reply, "Alcohol has drained more blood, hung more crepe, sold more houses, plunged more people into bankruptcy, armed more villains, slain more children, snapped more wedding rings, defiled more innocence, blinded more eyes, twisted more limbs, dethroned more reason, wrecked more manhood, dishonored more womanhood, broken more hearts, blasted more lives, driven more to suicide, and dug more graves than any other poisoned scourge that ever swept it's death-dealing waves across the world."
How could anyone living read this and still think that drinking really is not that bad?
Men and women around the world are finding that the greatest deliverance from alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs is the glorious infilling of the Spirit of Jesus Christ!
You can find that deliverance at our Church, where Pastor Aldridge welcomes everyone. Where we are reaching out to those wanting to be reached.
Article taken from:
Freedomline, A Ministry in Family Alcoholism & Drugs
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Article written by: Fred Hyde
