|
The Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Fresno......Prayer Page |
            
|
Drugs ? Drinking ? Just say NO !!!
G5332 φαρμακεύς pharmakeus far-mak-yoos' From φάρμακον pharmakon (a drug, that is, spell giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, that is, (by extension) a magician:—sorcerer.
The Greek and Roman mantis, on the other hand, worked himself up to the necessary ecstatic state by music, drugs (intoxicants, etc.), sacrificial smoke and the like. Sometimes it has been thought a sufficient means of divination to swallow the vital portions of birds and beasts of omen. It was believed that by eating the hearts of crows, or moles, or of hawks, men took into their bodies the presaging soul of the creature (Frazer, Golden Bough (NOTE: Separation, distinction: “I will put a division (the Revised Version, margin “sign of deliverance”) between my people and thy people”
Matthew 24:45 45“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying £his coming,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Wine is little used now in the East, from the fact that Mohammedans are not allowed to taste it, and very few of other creeds touch it. When it is drunk, water is generally mixed with it, and this was the custom in the days of Christ also. The people indeed are everywhere very sober in hot climates; a drunken person, in fact, is never seen” (Geikie’s Life of Christ). The sin of drunkenness, however, must have been not uncommon in the olden times, for it is mentioned either metaphorically or literally more than seventy times in the Bible.
several emphatic warnings are given in the New Testament against excess in the use of wine
Luke 21:34 (msg. bible) 34“But be on your guard. Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, 35for it’s going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. 36So, whatever you do, don’t go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that’s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.”
Ephesians 5:17 (Msg. bible) 17Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants. 18Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. 19Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. 20Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Paul in Gal 5:19 classes with uncleanness, idolatry, etc., what he calls pharmakeı́a (φαρμακεία), the King James Version “witchcraft” the Revised Version (British and American) “sorcery.” The word has reference first of all to drugs use
19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy,
1John2:16
5Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
|
