O Lemuel, Do Not Drink Strong Drink: It Is Not for You.

 “The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him:

‘What, my son? And what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

‘It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

‘Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart. ‘Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

‘Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.’ ” 

~Proverbs 31:1-9

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According to Sky News Australia, Kamala Harris is a ”Low IQ Wine Mom.”

Think about it! Why did they call her that? Why should anyone care whether the Vice President of the United States drinks wine? Why would that be that a scandal?

Not only that, it’s easy to find videos that claim Joe Biden also appears in public drunk and that has to be refuted by left-leaning Snopes. The NY Times claims he has never taken a drink of alcohol his whole life, it’s just his lifelong speech impediment that makes him slur his words and talk foolishness. But why would it be a problem if he were drunk?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was arrested this week for drunk driving. Nancy hadn’t commented on this and it wasn’t clear if she was with him, but now it appears he also ran a red light and his Porsche was struck by a jeep. I know that looks bad, but are appearances the only matter? 

One more: Fourteen years ago, a Carroll County Indiana judge was driving home from a party in Indianapolis. He was observed vomiting along the side of the road and pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. He was not thrown out of the judiciary, he did not resign, he wasn’t even formally admonished, but Judge Currie had lost enough credibility with the public to lose the next election. Who would vote for someone to sit in judgment over drunk driving cases when he had clearly done the same thing?

The stores these days are FULL of alcohol. In many areas of the country, during Covid, that seemed to be the only thing left to people on lockdown besides groceries—they could still get booze, and plenty of it, where they bought their groceries, and they could get takeout from liquor stores. The drinking rate spiked, when people had nothing left to do but drown their troubles. When we decided it was important to put sanctions on Russia more recently, the stores stopped selling Russian vodka. But really that wasn’t too much of a problem, since there’s plenty of vodka made in other places.

Drinking is not a modern problem, of course. My own grandmother died from alcohol abuse at age 47. Here’s what I wrote about it back in 2020:

“Grandma Burchie died on the 4th of July, 1968, at the age of 47, when we were living in Iowa and I was in 6th grade. Somehow Mom was able to make it to the funeral in California, but we didn’t go with her. Mom told us how much she hated funerals. Of course, then I hated them too, along with hating the Beatles. Children are like that—they hate what their parents hate, without questioning why.

“When she came back, we learned that Grandma had ‘drunk herself to death,’ that her mother (Grandma Coopie) had arranged for a Mormon funeral for her, and that Mom heartily disapproved of that and totally disagreed with the idea that Grandma had lived the life of a good Mormon! Grandma Burchie was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea. 

“But despite the problems and disagreements with her mother, Mom mourned the loss. I sometimes caught her crying, and she somehow took solace in the notion that her mother was watching over her from Heaven. I wanted to say something about this questionable theology, but decided I should just let Mom mourn in whatever way she needed to.

“Yes, I do have a problem with ‘recreational drinking,’ and I don’t like the fact that large swaths of the major retailers like Wal-Mart and Meijer, and even several aisles in pharmacies, have become liquor stores. I thought it disgusting that liquor stores were open and considered “essential” during the Pandemic of 2020. I have witnessed the devastating effects of the Demon Liquor in a family, and I know that had I been alive in the days of the Temperance Movement, I would have campaigned for it and signed the Temperance Pledge in the family Bible. I would have been devastated to see Prohibition repealed. 

An example of the Temperance Pledge found in family Bibles during the late 19th Century

I’m well aware that there are religious traditions that hold to using real wine in their communion services, and people who would argue that Germans and Irish can “hold their liquor better” than other cultures. But the statistics say something different. And grape juice is just fine for communion. 

A full discussion of this topic would take up more room than I want to use in the end of this post, but suffice it to say, I never want to run the risk of being an alcoholic—or as the Bible calls it, a drunkard. It is far better and safer to stay totally away from a cliff, than to see how close you can come to the edge without falling off. This is something I can take away from the discussion of these, my grandparents. 

Well, it’s high time for a full discussion. Know that I have been unfriended on Facebook for my beliefs, I have seen friends and relatives vehemently defend the practice, I have seen other relatives who grew up in households with drinking parents condemn the practice just as vehemently, and I just found an article addressing the question of whether it is sin to drink, where the author only gingerly stepped around the question and gave it a yes-and-no answer.

Here is my answer, as concisely as I can make it: 

Are you an influencer? If so, the word “sin” means “missing the mark.” When you drink, are you exactly on target with what God wants to do through you? If not, that is sin.

In an article in Prophecy News Watch, entitled “Compromised Church Leadership & Preaching Is Contributing To Our Cultural Rot,” author Michael Brown says:

“And how, exactly, do Church leaders influence their followers? They do it by their message and by their example. If they are preaching rightly and living rightly, they will produce healthy congregants. If their preaching is unbiblical and their lifestyle is compromised, they will produce unhealthy congregants.”

What does Revival look like? Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills says, at the beginning of his Real Life program here:

“A nation goes as a home goes. But a home doesn’t know what to do unless the Church steps up. It begins in the Church. By the way, that’s true in the Bible, it’s true in sociology studies, and it’s true in American History. The Church has gotta catch fire. That affects the family. Drunks stop drinking, abusers stop abusing, and womanizers and manizers … uh … and Budweisers … stop, stop doing that. And they make their home work. And then, you know what happens? Then, the community changes, and the county changes, and the state changes, and the nation changes. That’s the only hope for America.” 

Here is a list of influencers, people others will look up to and emulate. See if you’re on the list.

1. Kings and Rulers

2. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Executive Officers

3. Cabinet Members, Ambassadors

4. Governors, Mayors, County Commissioners, Township Trustees

5. Military Commanders and Senior Officers and NCO’s

6. Pastors, Priests, Elders, Deacons, and their wives

7. School Teachers, Coaches, Principals, Class Presidents

8. Judges, Justices

9. Sunday School Teachers, Bible Study Teachers

10. Worship Leaders, Youth Leaders

11. Bosses, Supervisors, Managers

12. Congressmen, Senators, State Representatives

And then:

13. Fathers and Mothers

14. Big Brothers and Sisters

15. All Christians who have any dealings with anyone in The World

I know, some of you were doing fine until I got to the end. I’m sure you have noticed that I left out rock stars, movie stars, TikTok influencers, NBA players, and American Idol winners. But if you are a Christian, you at very least come under these categories:

Priests, Kings:

“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: 

"‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’"

~Rev. 5:8-10

Judges:

“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

“Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?”

~1 Cor. 6:1-3

Not to mention that we are ambassadors and teachers of various kinds, as well as mothers and fathers, who are perhaps the most influential of all.

The qualifications for a Bishop—in our church, that would be an elder or a pastor—include the ability to rule one’s own household well (be good parents), and at least three times in the list, references to not drinking appear.

“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

“Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. “

~1 Timothy 3:1-7

This list, folks, does not include in any way, shape or form, a tendency to partake in friendly recreational drinking with those on the outside so that we can show we are “good old boys.” No, a pastor is an influencer. He must be different from those on the outside, so that they can catch a glimpse of what it would be like if they were on the inside too.

Now take a look at the verses I showed you at the beginning:

“The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him:

‘What, my son? And what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

‘It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

‘Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart. ‘Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

‘Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.’ ” 

~Proverbs 31:1-9

The reason for sobriety, as taught to King Lemuel by his influencer mother, is so that your judgment will not be marred. When you drink alcohol, you kill brain cells. If you didn’t like the brain fog you experienced when you had Covid, why would you purposely kill any of the thinking and judgment resources God gave you when you were created? We must think with clarity during these troubled times. It is not time to “eat, drink, and be merry.” It is time to think soberly.

Only then can we see injustice, and to rise up to challenge it. Only then can we hear the voice of our Lord urging us to be strong, to stand in for another, to be an Abraham Lincoln, a Papa tenBoom, or an Atticus Finch. 

We must not violate our own good judgment by succumbing to strong drink, risking our lives with drunkenness, drunk driving, or liver disease. We must not bring shame to our mother and father, our church, the office we hold, or, in the case of the Vice President or the Speaker of the House, bring shame to our entire nation. This is unspeakable humiliation. But spiritually, drinking puts us on the road to bring shame to our Heavenly Father, the Kingdom of God, and the Savior who bought us. That may be worse.

With all those negatives, do you really want to spend time arguing that “Jesus turned water to wine, so it can’t be all that bad”? Do you really want to get off on a technicality?

Let’s not do that. Instead, let us remain sober, tee-totalers, if you will, and be a good influence on our families and other people with whom we come in contact, giving them a reason for hope in Jesus. As Pastor Jack says, it begins in the church. And that is the only hope we have for America.

Finally, let me go back to the context of this passage in Proverbs 31. This whole chapter was a well-remembered and appreciated admonition from Lemuel’s mother, and it came from a mother’s heart. This is the underlying truth of Proverbs 31:

A good mother always wants what is best for her son. 

There is a bond between mother and son that begins in the womb and continues for life. The last thing any good mom would want for her son is to see him waste his life, and if he does, it brings great pain to her. Every. Single. Day. It was predominately mothers and wives who championed Temperance and eventually brought about Prohibition.

And so, as a mother many times over, and as a mother of sons, I make my final appeal, O Christian. Alcohol is not for you. You have better things to do with your life, more noble things. Alcohol destroys, and that is the work of the devil.

Dear Father, I pray for those reading this post, that they will remember the wise words of Lemuel’s mother. We must not give our lives to that which destroys kings, because You have made us a nation of kings and priests. Help us to depend upon You and shatter any dependency we have on strong drink, by the power of Your Word.

In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.”