Breakthrough | Freedom | Dominion.
Anything that goes inside your body that causes you to become distorted or tampers with your ability to think straight or function in a positive manner is bad for you. Many Christians today argue that alcohol consumption does not displease God and neither does it offend the Holy Spirit. Often, they use these scriptures to support their argument:
- Jesus being at a wedding feast and changing water into wine (John 2:1-11).
- Paul advising His protégé Timothy to take a little bit of wine for his often stomach infirmity (1 Timothy 5:23)
When you get around people who have been delivered from or have been rehabilitated from alcohol addiction, they will attest and confirm that alcohol is a poison which they wish they never consumed. The devil often leads people to drink a lower percentage of alcohol and when they encounter a difficult situation in life, he then lurks them into consuming a higher percentage of alcohol to escape reality.
Alcohol influence causes many to abuse their loved ones. Many who have been victims of alcohol addiction confess to falling into depression to the point of contemplating suicide.
I am a Social worker by occupation, a Pastor by vocation. I have dealt with people who have been suppressed by alcohol addiction. I have also witnessed how devastating and destructive this addiction can cause its victims and their family members.
In the book of Galatian 5:19-20, Paul lists the lust of the flesh in which he mentions “drunkard” as a manifestation of the ‘flesh’ and contrasts it with the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:23). This means that alcoholism is a spirit because it is the opposite of the fruit of the spirit according to Paul.
When a person drinks alcohol, they immediately escape reality and enter a different realm. The question is who controls that realm? To answer that question, one needs to look at the fruits (behavior or attitude) of a person who is under the influence of alcohol because Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16).
The fruit or behavior of a person under the influence of alcohol are, increase in aggression, self-disclosure and sexual adventuresomeness. Alcohol can also cause health problems such as high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and stroke.
Excess alcohol causes the liver to undergo inflammation, fibrosis and may cause alcoholic hepatitis. Alcohol can cause acute kidney failure and chronic kidney disease. It can cause inflammation to the pancreas and can cause irritation to the digestive system. It can also cause the immune system to be susceptible to diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Alcohol is one of the tools satan uses to destroy people’s lives. That’s why the Bible says, “do not be drunk with wine where in is excess; but be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:8).
When one is full of the Holy Spirit, the results is the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-25). But when one is under the influence of alcohol, the manifestation of their fruit is the opposite of the fruit of the spirit.
Alcohol causes one to lose their self-control. Instead of gentleness they become aggressive, instead of peace they become disturbed and confused with an impaired memory, instead of joy they become ecstatic but only for a short period. Chronic users may fall into a state of depression, may feel unhappy and sad without alcohol unless they consume alcohol again.
Remember when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the of book of Acts 2:15, many thought the disciples were drunk of wine. Why, because when a person is full of the Holy Spirit, it gives them a bliss, pleasure, happiness, and an unspeakable joy which satan counterfeits through alcohol consumption.
Most people who consume alcohol will confirm that when they do, it enables them to get away from reality, to escape the negativity that surrounds them, to help them relax and overcome stressful situations they may be experiencing at that very moment. Some confirm that it helps them cope with their pain. Satan knows this so he intentionally rekindles events that will ignite emotional suffering that triggers people to pick up that alcohol bottle repeatedly.
Along with rehabilitation, one way to surely break free from Satan’s nests of alcoholism is to connect to God through Jesus Christ who possesses the supernatural power to set you free. The Bible says in Acts 10:38:
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”.
When God wants to deliver people from addiction, He uses chosen vessels whom He has empowered and gifted with the ministry of deliverance. When battling with an addiction such as alcohol, you must connect with a minister who will not judge you and will not waste your time with religious activities and ceremonial events.
Alcoholism is a dangerous form of addiction and requires a minister who is full of the Holy Spirit and has been given the ministry of deliverance. Withdrawal from chronic alcohol use is life threatening and as such, one needs to ensure the minister has an authentic power to deliver you otherwise you may undergo serious withdrawals that could lead to death.
Satan knows the ministers who can drive away the spirit of addiction so he often keeps the abusers away from these ministers and rather allows the abusers to roam around religious environments where he can play with their minds until he eventually destroys them.
God’s desire is for you to be set free. God does not want you to destroy your life or lose your life through substance abuse and bring grief to your family members. God loves you, therefore, he warns His people regarding the consequence of substance abuse.
Whether we agree with what the Bible says or not, God’s Word is infallible. That is, it is incapable of making errors. The consequence of alcohol use in our society testifies that the Word of God is true.
May the Lord grant His people wisdom, understanding and divine strength to abstain from alcohol while mastering the body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Scriptures concerning alcohol:
Hosea 4:11
“Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding”.
Isaiah 5:22
“Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink”.
Isaiah 5:11
“Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them”
Isaiah 28:7
“And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; They reel while having visions, They totter when rendering judgment”.
Galatians 5:21
“envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”.
Proverbs 31:4-5
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire strong drink, For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted”.
Habakkuk 2:15
“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness”.
Romans 13:13
“Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealous”.
Titus 1:7
“For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain”
1 Corinthians 6:10
“nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God”.
Ephesians 5:18
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit”.
1 Corinthians 5:11
“But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one”.
Author: Andrew A Osei
Recommended Reading “Generational Strongholds” and “What Satan doesn’t want you to know” by Pastor Andrew A Osei
To the andrewaosei.org admin, Thanks for the detailed post!