The Devil knows all too
well that drinking alcohol will eventually ruin your life and that of others,
so he loves for you to love it, and therefore he invites you to have another
drink!
Over the years, I have
heard countless of testimonies about the devastating effects of alcohol. Here
is one of those stories:
I grew up in a Christian
home of five children where my father was a deacon in the church and an
alcoholic. When he got drunk he became very abusive toward my mother and us. He
often yelled profanities, screamed, and hit my mother. He also punished us for
nothing by slapping and pushing us around. One day I saw him choking my mother
in the kitchen, which was a very traumatic experience for me. Till this day, I
keep seeing these images in front of me. We all feared my father greatly, and
constantly had to walk on eggshells to not get him angry. My mother tried as
hard as she could to comfort us, but she was very afraid to talk to anybody
about what my father was doing to her and the children. My oldest brother was
very angry with my father and often told my mother to leave him, but she kept
saying that God might change him one day. This made me think that God must hate
us for allowing all this to happen to us. I built an enormous resentment and
hatred toward God in my heart.
After graduating from
high school I left home to go to college, which was a great relief for me.
In college I struggled
daily with feelings of hurt and loneliness. I started experimenting with
drinking wine and beer since most of my college friends loved to drink alcohol.
The more I drank, the more free I felt from the pain of my upbringing. I became
addicted. During my second year in college I was discovered to become a fashion
model, and I decided to leave school and move to New York City. I started
getting high paid modeling jobs, but at the same time my life was spiraling out
of control. I was now addicted to drinking hard liquor. I was going to wild
parties almost every night where drugs and alcohol were flowing freely. I was
promiscuous; having sex with men and women, often total strangers. Even though
I felt dirty and used, it kind of gave me a sense of belonging, feeling wanted
and accepted, something I desperately missed growing up.
One day on one of my
modeling trips I was caught driving under the influence, which caused me to be
incarcerated. It happened again a second time, and this time I almost hit a
pedestrian. I squandered much of my money on lawyers and fees to bail me out.
Even so, I kept drinking and partying in clubs till the morning hours, and
often found myself in the midst of brawls and fights of intoxicated men who
wanted to have me, and saw me as their trophy. When family members and friends
would confront me for my excessive drinking, I justified it by saying things
like; Jesus turned water into wine, so it is perfectly okay to drink… I only drink
occasionally and socially… I only drink one glass of wine before going to bed…
and so on. I would say anything to get them of my back. Soon I found myself in
deep financial trouble because my modeling agency wasn't booking any work for
me. They became apprehensive to do anything for me because of me being a
drunkard and living an erratic lifestyle. I was becoming more and more
depressed, and by now I was drinking all day long.
Due to a court order in
connection to one of the DUI tickets I received, I was forced to go into rehab,
which turned out to be my salvation.
In the beginning it was
very difficult being in rehab, especially when I was going through the
withdrawal phase. It was during this time I heard myself singing a song my
mother taught me when I was a little girl; “Jesus
loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I broke down weeping and
could not stop crying for many hours, and suddenly I realized that the craving
I had for alcohol was gone! I screamed: Jesus I love you, I want you, forgive
me, help me, I need you!!!
It was a miracle, I was
free! I was able forgive my father for hurting me, and forgive my mother for
not being there for me and for allowing my father to abuse me.
As of this day I still
have a long ways to go, but God in His loving grace is healing and restoring me
every day, bit by bit!
The above story is
precisely the reason why the Bible warns us against the consequences of a
lifestyle of consuming alcohol and getting drunk!
“Come,”
they say, “let’s get some wine and have a
party.
Let’s all get drunk.
Then tomorrow we’ll do it again
and have an even
bigger party!” Isaiah 56:12 NLT
Wine produces
mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be
wise. Proverbs 20:1 NLT
It is not for
kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol. For if
they drink, they may forget the law
and not give justice to the oppressed.
Alcohol is for the dying,
and wine for those in bitter distress. Let them
drink to forget their poverty
and remember their troubles no more. Proverbs
31:4-7 NLT
What
sorrow for those who get up early in the morning
looking for a drink of
alcohol
and spend long evenings drinking wine
to make themselves flaming drunk.
They furnish
wine and lovely music at their grand parties—
lyre and harp, tambourine and
flute—
but they never think about the Lord
or notice what he is doing. Isaiah
5:11-12 NLT
What
sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine
and boast about all the
alcohol they can hold. Isaiah 5:22 NLT
Because we
belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t
participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual
promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Romans 13:13
NLT
When you
follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual
immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility,
quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension,
division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let
me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will
not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
Don’t
be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life.
Ephesians 5:18 NLT
Night
is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.
But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of
faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.1.
Thessalonians 5:7-8 NLT
You have had enough
in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and
lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their
terrible worship of idols.
Of course, your former friends are
surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive
things they do. So they slander you. 1. Peter 4:3-4 NLT
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